Reflections on North American Pacific Coast prehistory

The Pacific Coast of North America was occupied by many distinctive groups of coastal hunter-gatherers at the times of early contacts with Europeans. Despite significant cultural diversity, Pacific Coast peoples shared lifeways oriented toward generally similar marine, nearshore, littoral, and estuarine habitats. In this paper, we examine some major issues that guide much of the archaeology done along the Pacific Coast, then discuss some of the theoretical and methodological problems that limit the efficacy of archaeological reconstructions. Most archaeological research conducted on North America's Pacific Coast has been oriented toward the search for the origins and development of a variety of cultural patterns. A comparative review of California and Northwest Coast sequences provides interesting parallels and discrepancies in the approaches taken in studying some of the major issues in Pacific Coast prehistory.     

A humerus story: Albatross element distribution from two northwest coast sites,North America

The distribution of the skeletal elements of albatross from the Maple Bank site is compared with those for ducks and gulls at that site and others on the northwest coast of America. The element distribution was very different between species and between sites. The proportions of albatross bones found suggest that there was a cultural reason for the elements present, probably the curation of wing bones for toolmaking and other uses. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An archaeological test of the “Exchange Expansion Model” of contact era change on the Northwest Coast

Recent anthropological studies show that traditional views of indigenous communities in the wake of European colonialism are constrained by Eurocentric biases. These biases can be overcome, in part, by greater reliance on archaeological data as an independent line of evidence and increased attention to indigenous internal sociocultural processes. This study uses these strategies to examine colonial era shifts in indigenous exchange systems on the Northwest Coast of North America. Obsidian artifact data from late precontact and early postcontact deposits are used to test what I call the “Exchange Expansion Model” (EEM) of colonial period shifts in Northwest Coast exchange systems. According to the EEM, both the volume and geographic scope of supralocal exchange among indigenous communities increased as a result of European influences. This study tests the model using obsidian artifact data from three Lower Columbia River sites – Cathlapotle (45CL1), Clahclellah (45SA11), and Meier (35C05). The results support the hypothesized increase in volume, but not the hypothesized increase in geographic scope, of indigenous supralocal exchange. To explain the departure from expectations, I propose a revised version of the EEM which considers more fully how Native demography and internal sociocultural dynamics developed in the context of introduced diseases, horses, and the fur trade. I suggest these variables facilitated increases in the flow of prestige goods, but declines in the flow of less valued goods such as obsidian, from interior sources to the Lower Columbia River. Exchange alliances between Lower Columbia Chinookans and nearby Willamette Valley inhabitants were more resistant to disruption, so obsidian importation from the Willamette Valley to the Lower Columbia stabilized, and perhaps intensified, during the postcontact era. These findings illustrate the power of archaeology for empirically testing ethnohistorical models of colonialism and for illuminating the significance of indigenous internal sociocultural processes in colonial entanglements.     

Pinniped behavior, foraging theory, and the depression of metapopulations and nondepression of a local population on the southern Northwest Coast of North America

Models derived from foraging theory suggest that high-value prey will be depressed (encounter rates will decrease) relative to low-value prey as human predation intensifies. Numerous case studies in ethnographic and zooarchaeological settings indicate depression of prey is very common. Exceptions to depression are few and have been cited as evidence of conservation and resource management. Reanalysis of pinniped and ungulate data from sites on the Oregon coast indicates that the metapopulation (entire population in the region) of otariids was depressed but a single local population of Steller sea lions exploited over a span of 600 years reached an equilibrium with human predation and was not subsequently depressed. This local population was not historically documented, and thus must have been extirpated by commercial sealing in the late nineteenth century. This singular case of prehistoric epiphenomenal conservation was an unintentional result of human predation that took advantage of the lack of escape behaviors among breeding male Steller sea lions.     

Ships on Hero Stones from the West Coast of India

Hero stones have been erected since early times to remember those who died in battle, and have been reported from various provinces of India. Most show land-battles, but those in the Archaeological Museum, Goa and Eksar in Mumbai show naval warfare. The Old Goa stones belong to the Kadambas who ruled Goa from 950–1300 AD. The Eksar stones to the reign of king Bhoja of Malwa in 1020 AD. Similar hero stones with boat motifs of the 18th to 19th centuries AD have been reported from Aramda in Gujarat. This paper examines these stones and assesses their significance for the maritime history of India.
© 2005 The Nautical Archaeology Society     

Hunter-gatherer tobacco smoking: earliest evidence from the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America

Chemical analysis of residue extracted from stone pipes and pipe fragments excavated at sites in the southern Pacific Northwest Coast of North America demonstrate that hunter-gatherers smoked the psychostimulant tobacco (Nicotiana sp.) by at least AD 860. Non-farming ethno-historic Native Americans throughout the west gathered and sometimes cultivated tobacco for ritual and religious purposes, but until now the antiquity of the practice on this part of the continent was unknown. Method validation includes chemical characterization of a suite of smoke plants and experimental reproduction of “smoked” pipe chemistry; results indicate biomarkers are traceable for several species commonly smoked by ethnographic native peoples, including tobacco (nicotine, cotinine), tree tobacco (anabasine), and kinnikinnick (arbutin). Developed methods—where residue is extracted directly from the stone or clay matrix of whole and fragmentary archaeological pipes—may be applied in similar studies investigating the spread and use of ritual smoke plants in the ancient Americas and elsewhere.     

Resource Intensification and Resource Depression in the Pacific Northwest of North America: A Zooarchaeological Review

In the Pacific Northwest of North America, researchers routinely suggest changes in human use of animals explain hunter-gatherer organizational changes and development of cultural complexity. For example, most models developed to explain developing cultural complexity invoke salmon in some fashion. Yet until recently, fish remains were not carefully studied and more generally, zooarchaeological evidence has not been systematically used to test models of culture change. This study reviews the 10,000-year-old faunal record in the Pacific Northwest to test predictions drawn from models of resource intensification, resource depression and hunter-gatherer organizational strategies. The records from two subareas, the South-Central Northwest Coast (Puget Sound/Gulf of Georgia) and the Northern Columbia Plateau, are examined in detail, representing 63 archaeological sites. While minor changes in animal use are evident, the overall record is characterized by stability rather than change.     

Long-term developments in complex hunter-gatherer societies: Recent perspectives from the pacific coast of North America

The Pacific coast of North America is ideally suited to the study of long-term developments in complex hunter-gatherer societies. This paper synthesizes current research in California and the Northwest Coast on three related research problems. The first concerns the timing, spatial distribution, and economies of the earliest coastal peoples in the region. The second problem involves the growth and florescence of complex Pacific hunter-gatherer societies. What constitutes archaeological evidence of hunter-gatherer complexity, when and where it occurs, and the interpretations proposed to account for it are reviewed. The final problem addresses how complex hunter-gatherer peoples responded to European exploration and colonization, and how these early encounters affected the Pacific coast societies recorded in early ethnohistoric accounts and later studied by ethnographers.     

Modeling ground slate knife production and implications for the study of household labor contributions to salmon fishing on the Pacific Northwest Coast

Despite longstanding anthropological concerns with the origins of intensive delayed-return subsistence economies and the timing of the development of increasingly complex political systems on the Northwest Coast, the use and production of slate knives—one of the most archaeologically visible tools used to process seasonally available salmon—has received little attention in the archaeological literature. This can be attributed, in part, to the persistence of artifact typologies that have failed to generate behavioral implications for variability in slate artifact assemblages. In this article, I use data derived from ethnographic, experimental, and actualistic research to develop an approach to the classification of slate artifacts expected of knife-production activities. Emphasis is placed on framing slate knife production as a temporally emergent and situated activity, but also as an operational sequence that can be modeled due to regularity in the decisions and motions expected of tool makers producing functionally specific tools. Using slate assemblages recovered during the partial excavation of seven Late and Contact period Coast Salish houses in southern British Columbia, I then evaluate and demonstrate the utility of this approach by considering variability in household labor contributions to salmon fishing.     

Diversity in North Pacific shellfish assemblages: the barnacles of Kit’n’Kaboodle Cave,Alaska

Although the dietary importance of barnacles is recognized in Europe and elsewhere around the world, indigenous use of barnacles on the Pacific coast of North America has not been well-documented. On the Northwest Coast, most shell middens located along estuaries are dominated by clams (such as Saxidomus, Protothaca, etc.), while those on the outer coast are dominated by mussels (Mytilus californianus). At Kit’n’Kaboodle Cave in southeast Alaska, the acorn barnacle Semibalanus cariosus is unusually abundant over a 3500-year period, but is replaced by mussels over time. These results are placed within a larger geographic context to more closely examine patterns of barnacle use by First Nations of the Pacific Northwest.     

Investigating the peopling of North America through cladistic analyses of Early Paleoindian projectile points

The initial colonization of North America remains a controversial topic. There is widespread agreement that Clovis and related cultures of the Early Paleoindian period (∼11,500–10,500 BP) represent the first well-documented indications of human occupation, but considerable differences of opinion exist regarding the origins of these cultures. Here, we report the results of a study in which data from a continent-wide sample of Early Paleoindian projectile points were analyzed with cladistic methods in order to assess competing models of colonization as well as several alternative explanations for the variation among the points, including adaptation to local environmental circumstances, cultural diffusion, and site type effects. The analyses suggest that a rapidly migrating population produced the Early Paleoindian projectile point assemblages. They also suggest that the population in question is unlikely to have entered North America from either the Isthmus of Panama or the Midatlantic region. According to the analyses, the Early Paleoindians are more likely to have entered North America via either the ice-free corridor between the Laurentide and Cordilleran ice sheets that is hypothesized to have opened around 12,000 BP, or the Northwest Coast.     

Trace element and Pb isotope provenance analyses of native copper in northwestern North America: results of a recent pilot study using INAA,ICP-MS,and LA-MC-ICP-MS

Several indigenous groups in northwestern North America used native copper prior to EuroAmerican contact. The Arctic, Subarctic, and Northwest Coast culture areas all have archaeological finds and geological sources of native copper. The copper-rich region of south-central Alaska and southwestern Yukon has often been credited as the source of archaeological native copper found on the Northwest Coast despite the presence of native copper sources further south. This paper presents the results of a pilot study using INAA, ICP-MS, and LA-MC-ICP-MS to assess the potential for native copper provenance research in Alaska and the Yukon Territory. Discrete native copper sources could be distinguished from one another intra-regionally. Difficulties associated with future native copper provenance research in northwestern North America are discussed.     

Current Research on the Gulf Coast of Mexico

The Gulf Coast of Mesoamerica is a culturally and environmentally heterogeneous area that encompasses the lowlands along the Gulf of Mexico as well as rugged inland highlands. Blessed with a wealth of valued resources and a favorable geographical setting, the pre-Hispanic Gulf Coast played a critical role as a cultural and economic crossroads, and its cultures contributed vital elements to other Mesoamerican traditions. Gulf Coast archaeology currently is experiencing the most active period in its history. This recent research underscores the diversity and dynamism of the area's cultures and environment. An enormous expansion of settlement pattern studies reveals considerable diversity in sociopolitical organization, urbanism, and human–land relationships. A second important trend focuses on documenting and understanding variation in craft production and exchange systems. A third is the continuing emphasis on interregional interaction through all time periods. These three foci merge in a growing interest in variation and change in Gulf Coast political economies. Future research will need to incorporate theoretical perspectives that focus on the generation of cultural variation, including agency-based models of technological choice and political economy, as well as those, like Darwinian approaches, that emphasize the differential persistence of variation.     

Rural Transformation and Cultural Industries: Popular Music on the New South Wales Far North Coast

This article explores the emergence of popular music as a niche cultural industry, connected to economic and social transformations on the New South Wales Far North Coast (also known as the ‘Northern Rivers’ region). The various images of the New South Wales Far North Coast as a ‘lifestyle’ region, ‘alternative’ locale and coastal retreat have attracted a diverse mix of ex–urban professionals, unemployed persons, youth subcultures, backpacker tourists and retirees. Yet, despite population growth, the region continues to suffer unemployment rates among the highest in Australia. Against this backdrop, diverse popular music ‘scenes’ have emerged, constituting an industry with linkages to cultural production in Sydney, Melbourne and overseas. While the region’s unique cultural mix has been suggested as a key site of comparative advantage, future employment is likely to remain transient, insecure, and governed by industry–wide labour relations. This case study illustrates some of the complexities underpinning contemporary urban–regional change in Australia, and provides cautious assessment of the capacity of the cultural industries to reinvigorate rural economies.     

南宋海防初探

南宋偏安东南所形成的海疆形势和立国态势使得海防在南宋的国防格局中具有事关全局的地位。为了应对来自海上的军事威胁,南宋政府加强了对海防的统一领导,设立了沿海制置司。在防御上,实行了以海上防御为主的海防战略,在沿海建立了多支水军,并建立了相应的警戒和通信系统,同时又依靠巡检、县尉等其他政府武装以及民间武装,在千里海岸建立起了严密的防御体系。南宋在海防上采取的措施和战略保证了东南沿海地区长期的安全。     

Use-wear analysis of obsidian artifacts from Later Stone Age shell midden sites on the Red Sea Coast of Eritrea,with experimental results

This paper presents results of use-wear study on lithic artifacts from two Later Stone Age sites (Gelalo and Misse) on the Red Sea Coast of Eritrea. The sites produced large quantities of lithic artifacts in association with mollusk shells and ostrich eggshell beads, but it is unclear if all the stone tools were required for bead and mollusk shell processing. The study involved recording of microfracture damage traces in order to infer the use-material and the manner in which the artifacts were used. A large percentage of the analyzed samples from Gelalo and Misse preserve wear patterns suggestive of human use. The diagnostic wear types include: (1) dense step, snap (crushing) and hinge fractures typically confined on the working edges, and (2) feather scars organized in a scalar manner visible on the ventral and dorsal surfaces of the active parts. The observed damage patterns suggest cutting and engraving medium to hard materials. The evidence is incomplete for more generalization about the specific activities carried out at the sites. A brief experimental study involving ostrich eggshell drilling, oak twig sawing and bark scraping, meat slicing, and mollusk shell sawing and drilling was carried out to aid interpretation of wear features observed on the archaeological specimens. Wear traces produced by sawing mollusk shell and oak wood showed close affinity to those observed on the archaeological specimens. The study contributes important information about early Holocene site use on the Red Sea Coast of Eritrea. The close association of used lithic artifacts, symbolic objects (beads) and broken shell remains indicates that the sites were habitation areas.     

Defensibility of large prehistoric sites in the Mid-Fraser region on the Canadian Plateau

Based on Geographic Information Systems (GIS) analysis, this paper assesses the defensibility of winter village sites in the Mid-Fraser region on the Canadian Plateau during the Late Prehistoric Period (ca. 3500–200 B.P.), particularly the Plateau and Kamloops Horizons (ca. 2400–200 B.P.). Although there is variability in prehistoric village locations in terms of defensibility, highly defensible prehistoric sites in the Mid-Fraser region are concentrated in two localities. The high defensive values of these village sites indicate that the threat of intergroup conflict had a significant impact on choice of settlement location. The approach used in this paper demonstrates the importance of past defensive considerations in the decision making processes pertaining to settlement locations. As conflict is a common feature of many cultures and time periods throughout the world, this approach has potential applications to other defensive sites globally.     

Clam growth-stage profiles as a measure of harvest intensity and resource management on the central coast of British Columbia

Examination of growth-stage profiles of shells from nine Northwest Coast shell midden sites shows a majority of senile-stage shells at longer-term residential sites and a majority of mature-stage shells at shorter-term encampments. This pattern indicates less intensive harvest in the vicinity of residential sites, which is consistent with management and conservation of resources for anticipated future needs. Consideration of environmental and taphonomic factors does not account for the observed inter-site variability. Shellfish conservation in the vicinity of residential sites is evident for the period of the past 7000 years.     

Inter-site variability in the season of shellfish collection on the central coast of British Columbia

High-resolution stable oxygen isotope analysis of the bivalve Saxidomus gigantea from shell midden sites was applied to identify seasonal patterns of resource procurement on the central coast of British Columbia, Canada. A total of 90 archaeological shells were examined from eight distinct sites spanning a 4500-year period. Combining micro-growth pattern analysis with high-resolution stable oxygen isotope sampling allows for a precise season of collection to be determined in estuarine bivalves recovered from archaeological sites. The results of the stable oxygen isotope analysis provide insights into seasonally structured harvest of S. gigantea (butter clam), which is associated with different types of sites. The results show a variety of patterns, including multi-seasonal collection, intensive seasonal harvesting and casual, supplemental use of butter clams at different locations.     

A new perspective on Late Holocene social interaction in Northwest Alaska: results of a preliminary ceramic sourcing study

This research examines the evidence for prehistoric ceramic exchange networks over the last 2000 years in northwest Alaska through the use of neutron activation analysis of ceramic artifacts. Results from ceramic analysis on eight coastal and inland archaeological sites identified three source macrogroups and three associated subgroups. Clay source diversity and shared source macrogroups between geographically distant sites suggest the use of multiple sources and/or the movement of pots between production locales, mirroring related patterns in pottery stylistic data. Although additional analytical work is needed to fully understand the changing character of clay procurement and ceramic distribution across this time period, this study provides exploratory data on past ceramic production and distribution that hints at changes in exchange and territoriality in northwest Alaska during the late Holocene.