THE NORTHWEST COAST
(Garden of Eden?)
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Environment
- from Yakutat Bay to Cape Mendocino; a narrow strip of rugged,
mist-shrouded coastline
- rugged topography; Coast Mts, Cascade Mts, fjord coastline in north
- temperate rainforest; high precipitation, especially in north
- heavy forest cover in north (cedar, spruce, hemlock) becoming more
open farther south
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Cultures at Contact: The Developed Northwest Coast Pattern (DNWCP)
- CHG with maritime focus; classic examples of “rank society”
(stratified, according to some), importance of prestige
- complex redistributive exchange -- surplus production, “food-for-wealth”,
potlatch
- concept of ownership -- applied to almost everything (from salmon to
songs)
- salmon/storage-based economy (but be careful of “salmonopia”)
- warfare, prevalent-to-endemic; a means to wealth
- slavery, the basis of a “class-divided” society
- large, permanent villages (+1,000); multi-family, corporate
households
- world famous art style, totem poles, painted house fronts
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North/South Diversity at Contact
- matriliny in the north (Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian)
- bilateral descent with serial ranking on the central coast (Wakashan)
- bilateral descent without serial ranking in the south (Coast Salish)
- increasingly rigid social structure from south to north: why? --
resource distribution (patchiness) and ownership
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North/South Differences Before 5,000 BP
- technology: microblades (N), leaf-shaped points (S)
- subsistence: maritime (N), terrestrial big game (S), hmmm...
- settlement pattern: poorly known, probably forager mobility N&S
- no distinct coastal adaptation pre-5,000 (hmmm... Chuck Lake, Bear
Cove); no clear distinction between north coast and north interior, or between
south coast and south interior
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After 5,000 BP: Evolution of DNWCP
- begins with emergence of distinct coastal (maritime) adaptation --
best seen in many deep, shell midden sites
- north and south coasts show greater similarity in terms of...
1. development of ground stone and bone/antler technologies
(5,000-4,500 BP)
2. deep shell middens (mussels early, clams later) -- evidence of
greater sedentism (5,000-4,500 BP)
3. salmon intensification and storage (production of surplus)
(3,500-3,000 BP?, but see Namu)
4. permanent winter villages (3,200 BP)
5. large, corporate households (2,000 BP)
6. pronounced social inequality (rank societies) (3,000-1,500 BP)
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The North Coast (5,000-3,500 BP)
Prince Rupert Harbour III
- shallow midden accumulations; small sites, mainly residential
(foragers?); limited tool assemblages, stone and bone (no diagnostics)
Kitselas Canyon (lower Skeena River)
1. Gitaus phase -- dated 4,300-3,600 BP at two sites, Gitaus
and Paul Mason site
- both summer fishing camps (used by coastal groups?)
- lithics similar to PRH-III (cobble tools and large flakes), but no
bone tools
2. Skeena phase (3,600-3,200 BP), recognized only at Gitaus
- major technological changes include formed unifaces and lanceolate
bifaces; extensive use of green chert
- how to explain the Skeena phase?: Athapaskan incursion (L. Allaire,
J. Ives), or seasonal aspect of lower Skeena/coast settlement system (GC)
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Central B.C. Coast (4,500-2,500 BP)
Obsidian culture
- Queen Charlotte Strait region, current dates cluster 3,000-2,400 BP)
- chipped stone predominates, especially small, obsidian tools
- leaf-shaped points, bone bipoints
- fauna: fish diversity (salmon @ 35-50%); deer more prominent than sea
mammals
- D. Mitchell suggests Obsidian culture similar to southern B.C. coast
(Charles culture)
Namu
- just north of QCS; deposits dated 4,500-2,800 BP include mainly
salmon and shellfish -- different from Obsidian culture; but lithics and deer
emphasis similar
West Coast of Vancouver Island
- Yuquot, on N.W. coast of Vanc. Is.; dated to 4,000 BP
- very different from Obsidian culture and Namu; bone tools, almost no
chipped stone
- fauna: poorly known for this period, byt probably mainly sea mammals
- Chu’maa’ta, ca. 100 km south of Yuquot; dated to 4,000 BP
- mainly chipped stone tools; similar technology to Charles culture
Q: why is Yuquot so different from Obsidian, Chu’maa’ta? -- cultural
tradition or adaptation?
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Southern B.C. Coast (4,500-3,500 BP)
- Charles culture, covers large area including Fraser Canyon (Eayem
phase, Esilao phase), delta (St. Mungo phase), and Gulf of
Georgia (Mayne phase)
- best known from three delta sites; St. Mungo, Glenrose,
Crescent Beach
- probably directly evolved from OCC; similar tool assemblage, but with
addition of ground slate
- fauna: same taxa as OCC, different proportions; shellfish much more
important (mussels); fish more important (salmon, starry flounder); elk still
important, followed by harbor seal, deer
- subsistence trend to more maritime adaptation
- settlement pattern: forager?, most known sites are residential camps
- burials (Namu, Glenrose) have few offerings; suggests egalitarian
social organization
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The North Coast (3,500-1,500 BP)
- SE Alaska, Favorite Bay fish weir; salmon weir dated 3,000 BP
-- intensive fishing and probably storage
- at Kitselas Canyon, Paul Mason site; small village (10 houses,
small and uniform in size); earliest dated NWC village -- egalitarian?
- Prince Rupert Harbour II, key site is Boardwalk site
- several deep, stratified shell middens, intensive site occupations
- many burials (2,500-2,000 BP), some clearly high status (copper,
dentalia)
- warfare complex: osteological evidence of conflict (forearm parry
fractures), stone and bone clubs
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Central B.C. Coast
- Queen Charlotte Strait culture (poorly dated, 2,500-1,500
BP?); very different from preceding Obsidian culture
- no chipped stone; ground stone and bone tools only
- fauna: salmon and sea mammals predominate
- similar to Yuquot -- Wakashan incursion?
- similar technological and faunal changes farther south on outer Vanc.
Is. coast -- southward Wakashan spread?
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Gulf of Georgia
Locarno Beach culture (3,500-2,400 BP)
- once thought to have “Eskimoid” origins (toggling harpoons), now
thought to have evolved directly from Charles
- increased use of ground stone; slate knives, points, nephrite adzes
- subsistence: generally diversified (deer, sea mammals, variety of
fish, shellfish); but at Crescent Beach site, salmon and starry flounder @ 40%
each; salmon storage? (no head bones)
- site location not optimal for intensive fishing (D. Mitchell)
- settlement: deep shell middens, but so far no evidence of permanent
LBC villages
- social organization: burials do not reveal pronounced status
differences (D. Burley)
Marpole culture (2,400-1,600 BP)
- once thought to have represented a down-river migration from Fraser
Canyon or Plateau because of specialized salmon fishing
- now thought to have evolved directly from LBC
- climax of complexity on B.C. south coast; large permanent winter
villages; big houses (by 2,000 BP); salmon storage economy; burial evidence of
pronounced status differentiation (Burley) -- DNWCP complete
- technology: barbed harpoons replace toggling variety, but few other
functional changes
- increases in personal ornamentation (dentalia shell beads) and stone
sculpture (seated human figure bowls, and other anthropomorphic bowls)
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A Tale of Three (Marpole) Sites
Beach Grove site
- winter village in Fraser delta
- subsistence data similar to Crescent Beach (salmon and starry
flounder)
- several large (but never measured), deep house depressions
- richly interred infant burials (dentalia, copper) -- hereditary
status?
Tualdad Altu site
- winter village (one house?) In Puget Sound, south of Seattle (J.
Chatters)
- large house feature, 17x7 m
- significant differences in artifacts and fauna between east and west
ends of house -- intra-household specialization?
Dionisio Point site
- winter village site in Gulf Islands (C. Grier)
- excavation of large house feature shows intra-house spatial
differences between “producers” and “consumers”
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The Last 1,500 Years
- thought to be consistent with ethnographic cultures over entire NWC,
but...
- Developed Coast Salish culture (Gulf of Georgia) may have
placed less emphasis on salmon, more on sea mammals (as new avenues to wealth
opened up)
- on north coast (Prince Rupert Harbour I), McNichol Creek site, dated
ca. 1,500 BP; winter village, but houses much smaller than historic Tsimshian
houses -- important domestic changes in last 1,500 years
- change in mortuary pattern over much of NWC; from midden burials to
burial away from village -- social implications of this change?
Ozette
- famous Makah village, northwest tip of Olympic Peninsula, dated 500
BP
- catastrophic mudslide buried village in 18th C, resulting
in superb organic preservation -- wet site excavation
- +90% of technology, wood or wood fibre
- excavation of four large house features reveal status differences
within and among houses
- high status items mainly concentrated in one corner of each house
(chief’s quarters?)
- high ranked(?) House 1 had more high status artifacts (and whale
bone) than other houses
- low ranked(?) House 5 had more and more varied shellfish than other
houses
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Meanwhile, Back in Southern California
- good evidence for CHG in the Chumash region (J. Arnold)
- 1,100 BP (Transitional Period), combination of drought and high sea
surface temperatures (SST) created resource stress, especially in Channel
Islands
- aspiring elites (who own tomols) respond by encouraging
Olivella shell bead production, and trading beads to mainland Chumash (for food
resources)
- archaeological evidence: huge numbers of chert microliths (bead
making tools), and huge numbers shell beads and bead blanks on island sites
- most sites show either evidence of microlith manufacture or shell
bead manufacture, but not both -- example of extreme craft specialization for
HG
- CHG in southern California: opportunistic elites respond to resource
stress by controlling labour of craft specialists