signatures in the soil which can be analyzed to determine the sorts of plants living at Big Eddy at different times. By tying C3 and C4 analysis of the site to these dates, the climate of the entire region can be determined. Reasons for occupation In the archaeological record of the Big Eddy site, we see a nearly continuous occupation of 13,000 to 14,000 years. This remarkable record raises the question, why did the early Americans find this site so appealing that they would return here again and again over the millennia? The answer comes down to the available resources at the site. Situated at the border of the Ozark forest and the prairie lands (Chandler 2001a; Lopinot et al. 1998:39; Ray 1998:73, 2000:68), this site provided rich resources from multiple sources; the forest, the plains, and the river. This would have provided a wide range of different food sources for any inhabitants. During pre-Clovis and Clovis occupations, local hunters would have been able to find bountiful hunting. Game would have included mastodon, tapir, ground sloth, deer, giant beaver, and horse (Chandler 2001a). Later occupants, during the Holocene, would have been able to subsist on white-tailed deer, small game, mussels, fish, waterfowl, and edible aquatic plants (Chandler 2001a, CAR 2006). In addition to good food resources, material for tools was also readily available. Several different kinds of chert were available in the area. It could be found readily in the gravel bars of the river, and also in the slopes of the surrounding bluffs (Chandler 2001a, CAR 2006). The future of the Big Eddy For 14,000 years, the regular flooding of the Sac River has sealed and preserved this remarkable site. Now, each time the Stockton hydroelectric dam releases water, it cuts away at the bank. That bank is now just from the site, and eroding that bank at the startling rate of per year (Bush 2006; Joiner 2001). In only a few years, the site will be gone. Since 1997, Ray and Lopinot have worked 5 seasons at the site, the most recent in the summer of 2006, trying to save what they can before it is lost forever. In addition to the organized digs, they come here to work weekends whenever they can. Funding from the Army Corps of Engineers has now run out, and the CAR is seeking donations from individuals and corporations to continue the work.