The Northwest Coast

Evolutionary Anthropology 19

ARTICLES

The Northwest Coast

KENNETH M. AMES

Over the past several decades, archeological research on the Northwest Coast According to Donald,5 the key fea- of North America has focused on the evolution of the coast’s well-known native tures of the coast’s cultures are: societies. This research has two broad goals: building local and regional culture 1. Marine/riverine orientation in histories spanning the Holocene and answering processual questions about the subsistence, ideology, and “outlook”; evolution and persistence of cultural complexity among hunter-gatherers. Cultural 2. Sophisticated, highly evolved complexity includes relatively dense populations, partial to full sedentism, corpo- technology for exploiting marine rate groups, some degree of occupational specialization, permanent social in- (neritic) and riverine resources; equality, and control of property.1–3 Recently archeologists have begun to inves- 3. Highly developed woodworking tigate whether the coast was a possible route for the peopling of North America. technology (plank houses, canoes, art Presently, the earliest known sites on the coast date to about 9,000 BC, although objects, and watertight storage box- it is likely that the initial occupation was earlier. Some aspects of cultural com- es), as well as a wealth of basketry plexity had developed on the coast by 2,500 BC, with permanent inequality items; present by 900 BC, if not earlier. Central to this development were large corporate 4. Some of the densest human pop- households, intensive food production and storage, and technological innovations ulations in North America, including including water-tight wooden containers and large-capacity boats. Patterns of some in agricultural areas; complexity on the coast continued to change through the arrival of Europeans in 5. Emphasis on property, with con- the mid-1700s. trol of wealth central to social impor- tance and success; 6. Tripartite system of social strati- THE NORTHWEST COAST century, this was linguistically one of fication, including a lowest stratum of slaves; Region and Societies the most diverse regions of North America, with eight language families. 7. True slavery; The Northwest Coast stretches Nevertheless, Northwest Coast cul- 8. No intercommunity political or- 1,800 km from Cape Mendocino, Cal- tures shared many common cultural, ganization; even communities not al- ifornia, to Yakutat Bay, Alaska. It is social, and economic traits. It is im- ways political units; usually divided into three or four sub- portant to stress that local expression 9. No major political offices. regions (Fig. 1), with the Oregon and of these traits varied, so that while the I would add a tenth trait to his list: northern California coasts the most coast’s cultures look similar at the 10. The basic economic unit was ambiguous in their assignment to the areal scale (the entire coast) or the large coresidential corporate house- Northwest Coast. In the nineteenth regional scale there was also consid- holds. erable variability at the subregional The corporate household, ranging and local scales.2,4 in size from 15 to well over 100 indi- Donald5 gives a useful summary of viduals, was the coast’s fundamental social, economic, and political unit.6 Kenneth M. Ames is Professor of Anthro- the defining characteristics of North- Households owned and controlled es- pology of the Department of Anthropol- west Coast culture. The key resources ogy at Portland State University. He is tates of corporeal and noncorporeal are cedar, primarily western red cedar currently conducting research on hunger- property that included rights to ex- gatherer economies along the Lower Co- (Thuja plicata), and salmon (five spe- lumbia River of the western United States ploit resources in particular patches. Oncorhynchus and working on comparative analyses of cies of the genus ). Ce- They also had outright ownership of long-term complex hunter-gatherer evo- dar trees, which are tall and large with lutionary sequences. some patches as well as privileges straight grain, were used for a star- such as titles, songs, and dances. tling range of purposes, from making These rights were conveyed through Key words: hunter-gatherers, archeology, com- cloth to constructing very large household oral traditions and repre- plexity, social evolution houses and, of course, the famous sented by the supernatural beings de- carvings. Salmon are an anadromous picted in masks and other art. Large Evolutionary Anthropology 12:19–33 (2003) fish that once occurred in great abun- post-and-beam houses were among DOI 10.1002/evan.10102 Published online in Wiley InterScience dance and were central to the coast’s the household’s major possessions. (www.interscience.wiley.com). subsistence economy. These large houses sheltered people, 20 Evolutionary Anthropology ARTICLES

Glossary

Egalitarian—differentiation is generally based on sex, age, are those in which each step can be done sequentially, one after personal characteristics and qualities, and sometimes on kinship the other. Simultaneous tasks are those in which at least some and family relationships. Aside from age and sex, there is equal steps can be or must be done at the same time. There are simple access to status and positions of prestige. Positions of prestige and complex simultaneous tasks. Simple simultaneous tasks are are fluid, not fixed. Egalitarian societies value reprocity and essentially linear tasks in which steps are done concurrently, generosity. There may be strong social expectations and rules saving time—everyone is doing the same thing at the same time. against accumulation of material goods; prestige may come by Complex simultaneous tasks are those in which the tasks are giving things away, by being generous rather than thrifty. In different and must be done simultaneously. Playing symphonic sum, egalitarian societies are those in which there is equal ac- music is a highly complex simultaneous task. Large households cess to positions of prestige and the means of production. arise in economies where the organization of technology and/or Ranking—ranking societies include rank and stratified soci- the spatial and temporal structure of the resource base requires eties. Both have permanent elites but differ in fundamental complex simultaneous task organization. ways. Basically, in rank societies there is differential access to prestige, but not the means of production. In stratified societies, Circumscription—limitations on people’s options, usually there is differential access to both prestige and to the means of mobility. These limitations may be environmental or social. 19 production. Further, stratified elites exercise power based on Boone suggests that the inextricable ties of large populations, economy, ideology, or direct coercive force. politics, and economy are another form of circumscription, re- Task Organization—two broad categories of tasks can be stricting variation toward smaller, less complex forms of orga- distinguished: linear tasks and simultaneous tasks. Linear tasks nization.

but were also the centers for food pro- mendous array of terrestrial, riverine, tury, whole towns, including house cessing and storage, as well as social and marine resources. Resources planks, storage boxes, and everything and ceremonial life. They represented were tightly clumped in time and else were regularly moved during an great labor investment.7 widely dispersed in space, requiring annual cycle, sometimes relatively fre- Northwest Coast societies were complex, simultaneous task organiza- quently and sometimes over long dis- stratified into two classes, free and tion to procure and process them. tances, using large canoes and rafts. slave.8 Free individuals were grouped Large corporate households provided With canoes, it was also possible to into what Donald has termed “incipi- this organization. haul large volumes of unprocessed re- ent classes”: a chiefly elite who con- Salmon have often been invoked as sources back to village and town sites trolled most of the household estate, a the “cause” of the evolution of North- rather than field process them.13 large group of free individuals with west Coast social ranking, their sheer more limited rights in the estate, and abundance underwriting the wealth free individuals with no rights to a necessary for maintenance of the Environments house’s estate. Chiefs had the power ranking system. However, while There are actually two Northwest of life and death over slaves. While salmon were abundant, this abun- Coasts. One is the classic Northwest sometimes exercising great authority dance was subject to enormous varia- Coast of British Columbia and south- over other household members, they tions in time and space at a variety of east Alaska, the “archipelago”5 coast did not have power over them.9 temporal and geographic scales.10–12 of islands, bays, deep fiords, sheltered There were no permanent polities Household economies had to take full coves and broad, hidden passages; the beyond the household, although some advantage of salmon abundance when other comprises the straight coasts of households were as large as villages it occurred, but also to weather fluc- Washington, Oregon, northern Cali- and polities elsewhere. There were no tuations in the availability of salmon, fornia, and parts of Alaska, which are paramount chiefs who controlled which sometimes were extreme. only sometimes broken by bays and multiple villages, although the influ- Hence, a wide range of resources were estuaries. The Northwest Coast’s so- ence of some chiefs extended far be- harvested and stored, while labor or- cial and economic systems seems best yond their own house and commu- ganization and mobility patterns were suited to the archipelago coast. nity. Chiefs operated in regional attuned to temporally and spatially The primary environmental zones systems of trade, exchange, marriage patchy environments. are the pelagic zone, the deep waters ties, warfare, and prestige competi- Northwest Coast mobility patterns of the North Pacific off the continental tions. were complicated and may not be di- shelf; the neritic zone, the more shal- The Northwest Coast economy fo- rectly comparable to patterns among low seas of the continental shelf; the cused on producing large volumes of fully terrestrial hunter-gatherers or Outer Mountains; the coastal lowland storable foods. Salmon were a key re- farmers. Logistical moves might in- or coastal trough, which, in Washing- source because of their abundance volve entire villages or village seg- ton and Oregon, is generally above sea and storability. However, Northwest ments rather than smaller specialized level (the Willamette-Puget Trough), Coast peoples actually harvested a tre- task groups. In the nineteenth cen- but is drowned in British Columbia ARTICLES Evolutionary Anthropology 21

The drowned trough in British Co- lumbia and Alaska was an extremely productive neritic zone, a major source of ﬁsh, marine mammals, and shellﬁsh. The Coastal Mountains cre- ate a second barrier to air masses and a second north-south band of heavy rainfall and rainforest. The Coastal ranges are penetrated by deep fjords and spanned in only a few places by rivers such as the Stikhine, Nass, Skeena, Fraser, Columbia, and Klam- ath.

While the primary north- south marine ecozones are the pelagic and neritic zones, a temperate rainforest is the primary terrestrial ecozone. Generally, the productivity of terrestrial ecosystems was highest in the south and declined going north. These contrasting patterns in marine and terrestrial productivity are reﬂected in human subsistence practices, which become increasingly oriented toward neritic Figure 1. Map of the Northwest Coast showing its major subregions and the archeological sites mentioned in the text. The sites are numbered in the order in which they are discussed: environments moving 1) Manis site, 2) Ground Hog Bay, 3) 49-PET-408, 4) Namu, 5) Bear Cover, 6) Blue Jackets Creek, 7) Pender Canal, 8) Hatzic Rock and Maurer, 9) Paul Mason, 10) Palmrose, 11) Prince north. Rupert Harbor.

and southeastern Alaska; and the high shellfish, birds, and marine plants. While the primary north-south ma- inner coastal mountains that divide The Outer Mountains are a barrier for rine ecozones are the pelagic and the Northwest Coast from the Inter- cool, wet air masses moving east from neritic zones, a temperate rainforest is montane Plateau and subarctic re- the Pacific; their western slopes often the primary terrestrial ecozone. Gen- gions to the east.2 receive the heavy rains for which the erally, the productivity of terrestrial Northwest Coast peoples did not di- Northwest is famous and which water ecosystems was highest in the south rectly exploit the pelagic zone, but it is the coastal rainforest. The coastal and declined going north. These con- the zone where salmon matured and lowland in Oregon and Washington trasting patterns in marine and terres- on which other marine resources de- supported an oak savanna in the trial productivity are reflected in hu- pended. The neritic zone includes the south and forest openings to the man subsistence practices, which littoral (or intertidal) and the sublit- north, both perhaps anthropic in ori- become increasingly oriented toward toral zones. These were directly ex- gin, which were important sources of neritic environments moving north. It ploited for marine mammals, fish, a range of plant foods and materials. seems likely that this pattern in pro- 22 Evolutionary Anthropology ARTICLES ductivity existed throughout the Holo- though their distribution patterns coast that early.19,20 Such evidence cene. may have changed markedly.2,4 will be exceedingly difficult to find be- The northern and central coasts cause most of the Late Pleistocene were extensively glaciated during the coast is now under deep water. Efforts last glacial advance, reaching their THE NORTHWEST COAST to locate relic Late Pleistocene sur- maximum extent between 19,000 and SEQUENCE faces that would have been on or near 17,000 years ago. In contrast, the the Late Pleistocene coastline are on- First Occupants (PaleoIndian, outer coast of Washington and the going. People certainly were on the coasts of Oregon and northern Cali- Paleoarchaic, Archaic) coast by 11,000 years ago. I stress here fornia were never glaciated. Until re- (>10,500 BC to 4,400 BC) that the archeological sample for this cently, researchers assumed that the The Northwest Coast is one of the entire period, the Archaic, is small last glaciation buried the entire coast- possible routes along which people and geographically spotty. This is par- line of Alaska and British Columbia from northeast Asia initially entered ticularly problematic, given the great and that the glaciers presented a solid North America.14 The other is through length of the Northwest Coast. unbroken front to the sea. This was an “ice-free corridor” along the Rocky The coastal route would initially not the case. Extensive areas were un- have been feasible only for people glaciated, while others were only with a high-latitude marine adapta- briefly glaciated. These areas, or refu- Current tion. Such an adaptation would in- gia, permitted both plants and ani- clude the use of boats, the sustained mals to persist and potentially pro- paleoenvironmental ability to operate in cold-water envi- vided habitat for humans moving evidence suggests that ronments, and the capability to har- along the coast. Deglaciation began as vest a range of resources from littoral early as 16,000 calendar years ago movement along the and perhaps pelagic environments. along some portions of the coast and coast was possible by There is presently no evidence of such was well advanced by 12,000 years an adaptation or its antecedents dur- ago. 16,000 years ago. ing the Late Pleistocene on either side Sea levels along the entire coast However, despite of Berengia. Until recently, the Ushki were lowered by 100 to 150 meters, Lake sites on the Kamchatka Penin- exposing the entire continental shelf considerable effort to sula have been thought to represent a at the glacial maxima. With deglaca- find it, there is at present Late Pleistocene culture in western tion, sea levels rose rapidly. However, no direct evidence of Berengia that had these capabilities. local differences in eustacy, isostacy, These sites now appear to be very Late and tectonics make it difficult to re- humans on the coast Pleistocene or earliest Holocene, and construct Holocene sea-level histo- that early. Such thus too young for that role.21 Of ries. The nature of the coastal envi- course the relevant evidence may be ronment and its potential to support evidence will be under water. humans and allow movement is, of exceedingly difficult to This issue is relevant not only to course, central to recent theories questions about the peopling of North about the peopling of the Americas. find because most of America but to a very old and central In addition to sea-level rise, the the Late Pleistocene question in Northwest Coast archeol- postglacial was generally marked by coast is now under deep ogy: the degree to which the econo- rapid warming, punctuated around mies of the coast’s initial inhabitants 10,800 cal BC (all dates are calendar water. were primarily maritime, littoral, riv- dates based on calibrated radiocarbon erine, or terrestrial in orientation. dates) by the cooling of the Younger Here I follow Lyman’s22 distinction Dryas. Warm temperatures peaked between maritime and littoral econo- around 8,000 years ago. Relatively mies. The former employs specialized modern temperature and moisture re- Mountain front through what is now tackle, including harpoons, special- gimes existed by 6,000 years ago. the Yukon and Alberta, between the ized boats, and floats to take sea mam- There have been two subsequent ma- Cordilleran ice sheet to the west and mals and other marine resources. Peo- jor cooling events. Postglacial reveg- the Laurentide sheet to the east. Until ple can navigate out of sight of land. etation patterns were complex, with relatively recently, this route was as- Resource patches can include pelagic plants spreading both from below the sumed to be the only feasible way into environments. Littoral economies em- former ice margins and from refugia. the continent south of the glaciers.15 phasize littoral and sublittoral envi- The rainforest developed within the Current paleoenvironmental evidence ronments and may have boats, but last 4,000 years. The archeological suggests that movement along the lack specialized gear and tackle. record suggests that all of the animals coast was possible by 16,000 years Scholars have generally assumed that that were major resources in the nine- ago.16 However, despite considerable the earliest economies were either teenth century have been present on effort to find it,17,18 there is at present maritime or terrestrial in emphasis the coast throughout the Holocene, al- no direct evidence of humans on the along the entire length of the coast. ARTICLES Evolutionary Anthropology 23

With one possible exception, the They had boats. The types, sizes, and ine, littoral, and sublittoral habitats. oldest archeological sites on the seaworthiness of these boats are un- Faunal remains include small num- Northwest Coast date to 9,000 BC and known, but the indirect evidence of bers of sea mammals. The Bear Cove later. The exception is the Manis their presence is clear. Insular sites in site on the northeast side of Vancou- Mastodon site on the northeast corner southeast Alaska contain obsidian ver Island is the sole exception to this: of the Olympic Peninsula, which dates from sources on other islands and the Its faunal assemblage is overwhelm- to ca. 11,875 BC2 and contains the mainland, sometimes hundreds of ki- ingly of dolphin and porpoise. These remains of a mastodon. No artifacts lometers distant, so boats on the may date to the late Archaic and not or features are directly associated northern coast were capable of be representative of earlier subsis- with the elephant. Rare Clovis materi- lengthy trips. Sites on the southern tence capabilities on the coast. How- als have been collected on the coast and northern coasts have fish that ever, they do clearly show that at and east of the Cascades. However, no could only have been taken from a some time during the Archaic people one has ever suggested that Clovis boat, but none are from distant off- had the capacity, including the gear peoples moved down the coast; shore environments. Minimally, Ar- and the knowledge, to take small coastal migration is always seen as chaic-period people had hooks and whales in large numbers. Finally, having been either pre-Clovis or in ad- lines, but they probably also had nets bone chemistry analysis of the re- dition to Clovis. However, it is likely and basket traps. Bottom fish that remains from 49-PET-408 suggests that that people were on the coast by quire hooks and line to catch are virtually all of this individual’s protein 11,000 BC, if not earlier. There are present in sites on the southern and came from marine sources. However, cultural complexes in interior Alaska northern coast. A stone net weight this does not tell us whether that pro- and Washington State that date to tein came from sublittoral or more 11,000 BC, and it is implausible that distant habitats. there were people in the interior at Despite a general lack Archaic peoples on the coast were this time but not on the coast. most likely foragers with low popula- The earliest sites on the coast date of evidence, some basic tion densities who were very mobile, to about 9,000 BC. These include statements can be shifting residences to available re- Ground Hog Bay and 49-PET-408 sources and not reliant on storage. (also known as On-Your-Knees-Cave) made about the coast’s Given the environmental changes of in southeast Alaska and Namu on the earliest inhabitants. They the Late Pleistocene and Early Holo- central coast of British Columbia. 49- cene, adaptive flexibility and resil- PET-408 produced human remains had boats. The types, ience were essential. There are no dating to ca. 8,000 BC.18 These are the sizes, and seaworthiness clearly residential sites nor any sub- oldest known human remains on the of these boats are stantial structures. However, struc- Northwest Coast. Other early Archaic tures are present east of the Cas- sites tend to be younger, some post- unknown, but the cades,24 and so may have been part of dating 6,500 BC. The material culture indirect evidence of the repertoire. Limited structural evi- of the earliest sites on the northern dence on the coast suggests that small coast contrasts sharply with that of their presence is clear. circular huts were present. There is no sites on the central and southern evidence of storage. It seems unlikely coasts. North coast assemblages are that there was absolutely no storage dominated by microblades and micro- or that people were ignorant of tech- liths; bifaces are quite rare or absent. niques for making stored foods. Boat- was recovered from the Hatwai site in Central and south coast assemblages based mobility, perhaps over long dis- central Idaho in deposits dating be- are dominated by foliate bifaces. tances, was probably the primary tween ca. 11,000 and 10,000 BC. If Where preservation permits, both means of coping with resource varia- nets were present in riverine environ- contain bone and antler tools. The mi- tion. There is evidence of long-dis- ments far in the interior, their pres- croblades are attributable to the Pa- tance interaction. As noted, obsidian ence on the coast seems reasonable. leoarctic Tradition,23 a technological sometimes traveled great distances complex or tradition marked by the Basket traps dating to 6,000 BC occur from sources, particularly on the use of microblades that extended in southeastern Alaska. People also northern and southern coasts. How- from Siberia and northeast Asia used barbed points, although it is un- ever, mobility and subsistence pat- across Berengia into western North known whether these were fixed terns may have varied along the coast. America. The central and south coast points or harpoons. However, there is The coast’s earliest inhabitants may assemblages are broadly similar to no evidence of the highly evolved spe- not have been uniformly maritime, lit- contemporary Archaic materials east cialized tackle such as toggling har- toral, or terrestrial in economy. of the Cascade range in the Columbia poons or ground slate lance heads Fitzhugh25 has recently argued that River drainage. that are present during the subse- mid-Archaic hunters on Alaska’s Ko- Despite a general lack of evidence, quent Pacific period. Subsistence data diak Island were maritime foragers. some basic statements can be made suggest that Archaic-period people His reconstruction may be applicable about the coast’s earliest inhabitants. took resources from terrestrial, river- to southeast Alaska and adjacent Brit- 24 Evolutionary Anthropology ARTICLES ish Columbia. The central coast may have been most marked and impor- these Early Pacific burials represent have occupied by foragers exploiting a tant on the “archipelago” northern formal cemeteries. Multiple graves broad array of terrestrial and littoral and central coasts, rather than on the dating to ca. 3,400 BC at Namu on the resources,26–28 while foragers along straight southern coast. central British Columbia coast raise the Oregon and California coasts may the possibility of cemeteries, with im- have been even more heavily reliant The Pacific Period (4400 BC plications for territorial social groups. on plants and shellfish.29,30 Carlson By 2,500 BC, cemeteries definitely to AD 1775) and Cannon31,32 have long argued that were present on the northern coast, at Namu on the central coast represents It was during this period that the Blue Jackets Creek on the Queen a sedentary community as early as coast’s distinctive cultures evolved Charlotte Islands and on the southern 6,000 BC, if not much earlier. If that is into their modern forms. At its core, Coast at the Pender Canal site in the the case, it suggests great diversity in that usually meant the evolution of Gulf Islands. The mortuary program mobility patterns on the coast during sedentism, corporate households, in- the Archaic. Carlson and Cannon ar- tensive exploitation of salmon, food gue that it indicates that sedentism storage, and permanent social in- Terrestrial hunter- was widespread on the coast by that equality. Researchers are interested in gatherers are time, but that claim is not generally the timing of these developments and accepted. The existence of possible their causal relationships. As in all constrained by what differences in subsistence and resi- histories, it is becoming increasingly they can carry on their dential patterns remains a major em- clear that this evolution did not occur pirical question. If these differences in a linear, gradual fashion, but in fits persons. Their prove to be real, they will have signif- and starts. Paleoenvironmental his- technology must be icant implications with respect to our tory is also important given the theo- understanding of cultural evolution retical stress on subsistence econo- geared to mobility. Their on the coast, as does the relative role mies and environmental quality. The decisions about hunting, of boats. history and development of the coast’s 33 butchering, gathering, Boats have implications beyond famous art idiom is also a major subsistence and the movement of ob- research issue. and food processing are sidian. Archaic populations were The archeological sample for the also affected by matters small and thinly scattered along the Pacific period is much larger than that coast. In a rugged terrestrial environ- for the Archaic, but retains a strong such as how far things ment, equivalently small populations geographic bias. The great bulk of ex- have to be carried. might have problems maintaining the cavated sites are located in southern mutual contacts that ensure access to British Columbia. Some portions of Boats ease or eliminate mates and alternative resource loca- the coast still are archeologically un- these problems. tions. Boats would have facilitated known. that contact. Terrestrial hunter-gath- Foragers with boats can erers are constrained by what they Early Pacific: (4400 to take an entire carcass can carry on their persons. Their tech- 1800 BC) home; they do not have nology must be geared to mobility. The climate became cooler and wet- Their decisions about hunting, butch- ter in the late Archaic. Sea levels were to butcher it in the field, ering, gathering, and food processing close to their modern positions, lead- for instance. are also affected by matters such as ing to stabilization of the sublittoral how far things have to be carried. zone and perhaps of salmon runs. The Boats ease or eliminate these prob- coast’s rainforests developed. Large lems. Foragers with boats can take an shell middens appeared on much but entire carcass home; they do not have not all of the coast (Fig. 2). Shell mid- at both sites indicates the existence of to butcher it in the field, for instance. dens are present from the Archaic, but some form of status or wealth differ- Conversely, residential moves in boats they are generally small and thin. As entiation. can be of an entirely different scale archeological sites, they are excellent Generally, the available evidence in- than those of pedestrian people: Bulky for the preservation of organic re- dicates a diverse resource base. There items can be taken; everyone from in- mains. Consequently, there is better is some intensification of production, fants to the elderly can ride. In short, evidence for Pacific Period subsis- particularly in neritic environments. boats can ease many of the technolog- tence and technology (bone and antler The shell middens themselves indi- ical and demographic constraints that tools) than there is for the Archaic. cate increased collection of marine mobility imposes on terrestrial forag- The Early Pacific period is also mollusks. Sea-mammal hunting was ers. Boat-borne foragers might have marked by midden burials, part of a intensified. Specialized marine hunt- been demographically and organiza- varied mortuary program in which ing gear is now present, including a tionally different from classic terres- some but not all people were buried in variety of large harpoon heads and, trial foragers. These differences may the middens. It is not clear whether for the first time, ground slate points ARTICLES Evolutionary Anthropology 25

North Pacific. A diverse range of fish, including salmon and herring (at Namu), were taken. While salmon could be caught with a range of tackle, including fish spears, herring required small-gauge nets or herring rakes, which basically were boards with bone points driven through them so the herring could literally be raked into boats. Small-gauge nets are time- consuming to make. The herring certainly indicate boats. Terrestrial resources, no doubt including plants, were also exploited, but only the faunal record is known. Deer were the primary terrestrial mammal. Analyses of human bone chemistry suggest that people were getting more than 90% of their protein from neritic or pelagic sources. Other innovations are adz blades (celts) of shell or ground stone and ground stone hammers. Bone and antler chisels were present in the Archaic and continued to be present. The ad- ditional equipment indicates an increase in carpentry and woodworking. One aspect of the evolution of the rainforests during this cultural period Figure 2. Pacific Period shell midden, Prince Rupert Harbor, British Columbia. was the expansion of the range of red cedar and the growth of individual trees into useable sizes. The trees were presumably used in a variety of ways, (Figs. 3 and 4). These would arm use against whales, but it demon- including houses and boats. lances for killing harpooned sea mam- strates an increased capacity to hunt The earliest known substantial mals at sea. None of the recovered sea mammals such as seals and sea structures on or near the coast are on sea-mammal gear is large enough for lions in open waters. This trend is not the Fraser River above Vancouver, limited to the Northwest Coast, but British Columbia, at the Hatzic Rock occurred over a broader region of the and Maurer sites.34,35 Each structure is rectangular with multiple posts, although the nature of the superstruc- tures is unknown. The Hatzic Rock structure is more firmly dated than that at the Maurer site, to between 3,600 and 3,300 BC. Semi-subterra- nean pithouses become relatively widespread in the interior of Cascadia between 4,400 and 2,800 BC, with a peak in numbers around 3,500 BC. I have proposed elsewhere that large Early Pacific shell middens on the coast were associated with a settlement shift that included the construction of pithouses.2 Some recent evidence sup- ports that speculation. Some sites were occupied year-round or long-term by the end of the Early Pacific. The presence of adzes, chisels, and wedges certainly indicates a carpentry capable of Figure 3. Early Pacific style harpoon head. Figure 4. Ground slate point. building substantial dwellings. 26 Evolutionary Anthropology ARTICLES

Figure 5. Map of the Paul Mason site, showing the two-row village arrangement.

By the end of the period, a few Middle Pacific (1,800 BC to AD There is also evidence of important carved bone and antler objects 200–500) technological innovations and im- carry motifs that can be considered provements. Most of these innova- ancestral to Northwest Coast art. Ap- Sea levels were generally in their tions were in place by ca. 800 to 500 propriately, one of these is an an- modern positions and the modern cli- BC, if not well before 1,000 BC. Cu- thropomorphic handle of a carving matic regime was in place. Rainfor- mulatively, these innovations and knife. ests were well developed. During the other changes point to significant in- Warfare was endemic along the en- Middle Pacific there is clear evidence tensification of food production, in- tire coast. Twenty-one percent of hu- of sedentism, including houses, cluding greater capacity to harvest man remains dating to this period towns, and villages (Fig. 5); perma- and process foods. Intensification is display trauma attributable to inter- nent social inequality; a storage-based also indicated by the increased labor personal violence.36 economy; and intensive warfare. invested in subsistence-related equip- ARTICLES Evolutionary Anthropology 27

mobility. Woodworking tools diver- sify and are made of more durable materials. In many areas of the coast, celts were made of nephrite, a particularly hard stone, rather than shell. Celts increase markedly in numbers, as does the range of forms and sizes of mauls or hammers. However, the most important of these innovations is rectangular houses, presumably plank houses. The Paul Mason site in northern Brit-

The development of watertight wooden boxes is analogous to the development of pottery and is as important. Historically, these boxes were used to store dried food and oil and to boil water. They were also used as coffins, which is how they are archeologically first visible. They came in many sizes and were stackable in ways that Figure 6. Composite toggling harpoon of the type that became common during the Middle Pacific. pottery is not. The presence of boxes at the beginning of the ment (boats, boxes, subsistence wooden boxes is analogous to the de- tackle) and the increased array of that velopment of pottery and is as impor- Middle Pacific indicates equipment. tant. Historically, these boxes were the capability for Among the innovations is the wide- used to store dried food and oil and to spread use of composite toggling har- boil water. They were also used as cof- storage on a large poon heads (Fig. 6), watertight fins, which is how they are archeologi- scale. wooden boxes, and, perhaps, large cally first visible. They came in many seagoing freight canoes. Composite sizes and were stackable in ways that harpoons did not replace earlier har- pottery is not. The presence of boxes poon forms, but represent tackle used at the beginning of the Middle Pacific for a greater variety of prey, particu- indicates the capability for storage on ish Columbia contains the earliest larly salmon, other fish, and small sea a large scale. known such structures, which date to mammals in more diverse habitats. Indirect evidence of large canoes in- ca. 1,450 to 950 BC.37 The Paul Mason Other marine hunting tackle also di- cludes the presence of sites on small site is also the earliest village site on versifies; there are greater numbers of offshore islands, which, to be habit- the coast that clearly displays the lay- net weights, indicating expanded use able, would have required the trans- out of historic Northwest Coast vil- of nets, and large fish weirs and traps. portation of drinking water and large lages. It was a linear village in which However, this increase may also re- volumes of processed foods, the latter ten of its twelve structures were ar- flect taphonomy and sampling biases. from harvesting locales to residential rayed in two rows facing the Skeena The development of watertight sites. This is also evidence of logistical River. A large rectangular house on 28 Evolutionary Anthropology ARTICLES the Palmrose site, on the southern mand for labor may also have led to curred through two processes: imita- coast, may date to as early at 800 BC. slave raiding by the beginning of the tion of Northwest Coast organization Plank houses were certainly in wide- Middle Pacific.41 by ambitious individuals on the geo- spread use along the entire coast by Competition for household mem- graphic margins of the region and fis- the end of the Middle Pacific, al- bers was probably played through and sioning of houses and the establish- though there is some evidence sug- fueled by competition for prestige ment of new ones, also in marginal gesting the continued use of pit dwell- among household leaders. General areas. ings. optimization models42,43 predict com- Mortuary evidence demonstrates The presence of residential sites im- petition among wealthy households the existence of territorial groups and plies some degree of sedentism, which for clients and among poor house- ranking, at least on the north coast. is also indicated by seasonality studies holds for patrons, which historically Formal midden cemeteries are and other lines of evidence,38 and the was the case on the coast. It is theo- present, some of which may have been existence of corporate households by retically possible for these large used for close to a millenium. Perma- the middle of the Middle Pacific, if not nent status differences, or ranking, ex- earlier. I view these large households isted on the north coast in Prince Ru- as a response to the increased labor The presence of pert Harbor by 900 BC, if not earlier. demands and sequential tasks pro- This evidence also raises the possibil- duced by intensification of food pro- residential sites implies ity that residential groups and com- duction and expanded storage. Such some degree of munities were ranked, at least on the households, perhaps having more northern coast. than fifteen members, would have had sedentism, which is also The evidence of status differences a competitive (reproductive) advan- indicated by seasonality seems at first contradictory. The tage over smaller ones because of studies and other lines of houses of the Middle Pacific, particu- their greater effectiveness in both larly on the northern coast, are all rel- scheduling and accomplishing multi- evidence, and the atively small, leading some investiga- ple tasks, particularly when those existence of corporate tors to conclude that there was no tasks were widely separated in permanent ranking of individuals or space.39,40 For example, harvesting households by the corporate groups at this time.45–47 and processing fish such as salmon middle of the Middle Historically, the houses of high-rank- cannot be separated into a linear task ing households with their high-rank- in which the fish are taken, then set Pacific, if not earlier. I ing chiefs were markedly larger than aside for processing while more fish view these large those of lower-ranked households. A are taken. Drying or smoking of households as a community might contain only one or salmon must begin within hours of two such structures. Communities or- when the fish is caught if the fish is to response to the ganized this way do not appear in the be preserved well, if at all. Conversely, increased labor record until the beginning the Late small households have an advantage Pacific. Consequently, some infer that when most tasks are linear.40 For ex- demands and ranking did not develop until then. ample, many plant foods, such as sequential tasks However, the burial record is clear. roots, unlike fish, need not be pro- What we are seeing is the continued cessed for storage immediately after produced by evolution of the ranking system. harvesting. They can be set aside until intensification of food As noted earlier, some form of rank- the harvest is complete, then pro- ing may have been present in the late cessed. A small group can accomplish production and Early Pacific. One of the key archeolog- all the necessary steps. expanded storage. ical measures of ranking is the presence The evolving economy of the North- or absence of labrets (Fig. 7), which are west Coast probably conferred an ad- lip or cheek plugs. Historically, labret vantage on large households through wear was restricted to free women on their ability to field labor. Historically, the northern coast. Early Modern la- households competed for members; households to have persisted for a brets were all lip labrets. In the late 44 that is, for labor. Household size re- millennium. Archeological evidence Early Pacific (after ca. 2,400 BC), both flected economic success. Large also indicates that such households cheek and lip labrets were worn. By the households were successful because did persist for at least 500 years and early Middle Pacific, only lip labrets they could accomplish a range of perhaps longer.7,44 Thus, there may were worn, but by both men and tasks, and their success attracted new have been a dual pattern in which women along much of the coast. How- members. This advantage would ulti- some households persisted for very ever, labrets appear to have been worn mately be reflected in the differential long periods while others failed and by less than 10% of the population. reproductive success of individuals af- new ones formed. Expansion of During the Middle Pacific, labret wear filiated with big houses relative to Northwest Coast culture beyond the was virtually restricted to males on the those in smaller households. The de- “archipelago coast” may have oc- northern coast. On the southern coast, ARTICLES Evolutionary Anthropology 29

Island may have been a fourth such region.48 The evidence supporting this includes patterns of obsidian distribution as well the developing Northwest Coast art style (Fig. 8). The distribution of some stylistic elements, for example, suggests the possibility of close ties between the mouth of the Columbia River and southern British Columbia. The Paul Mason and Palmrose sites indicate

The three or four interaction spheres of the historic period, the north coast, central mainland coast, and southern coast, are clearly in place by the Middle Paciﬁc. The west coast of Vancouver Island may have been a fourth such region. The evidence supporting this includes patterns of obsidian distribution as well the developing Northwest Coast art style (Fig. 8). The distribution of some stylistic elements, for example, suggests the possibility of close ties between the mouth of the Columbia River and southern British Columbia. Figure 7. Labret types.

it was gradually replaced by cranial de- female, as being free or having high sta- formation, which was practiced more tus and from the northern or southern that the span of the Northwest Coast by or less equally on both sexes. These coast. These changes also indicate con- the Middle Paciﬁc was from the Colum- changes indicate a regional dimension tinuing evolution of the ranking system. bia River to at least northern British to the emergence of a Northwest Coast The three or four interaction spheres Columbia. Evidence of specialization elite. The regional patterns of labret of the historic period, the north coast, includes copper working in the north, wear, cranial deformation, and perhaps central mainland coast, and southern carving and basketry in the south, and tattooing would have allowed a person coast, are clearly in place by the Middle the development of the art style. to identify someone, whether male or Paciﬁc. The west coast of Vancouver The evolution of Northwest Coast art 30 Evolutionary Anthropology ARTICLES

bodied fish.50 One effect was to make Northwest Coast material culture more uniform along the entire coast. In contrast, there is great regional variation in recovered fauna, implying that while there were broad, overall economic similarities along the coast, important local differences existed as well. Per- haps the shift to bone and antler reflects a change to more flexible gear. There is relatively widespread evidence of plank houses, multihouse communities, and one- and two-row villages. In the north there are marked

Midden burials ﬁrst decline in frequency, and then cease by AD 1000. In the south, in the Late Middle and Early Late Paciﬁc, construction of burial mounds increases, in some cases producing large well-appointed

Figure 8. Whalebone club pommel from late Middle Pacific showing formal attributes of earthen tumuli. This Northwest Coast art style. The humanoid has a nose ring, a marker of high status. practice appears to end by AD 1,000. In the is traced through carved bone, antler, people’s lives. Skeletal evidence also north, the wearing of and wood objects. The defining ele- suggests the possibility that slavery labrets shifts from being ments of the historic style, including had developed, at least in the north, motifs, carving techniques, and organi- by the beginning of the Middle Pacif- a male prerogative to a zational principles, are clearly present ic.36 Although this is very difficult to female one, as it was at by the end of the Middle Pacific. How- quantify, populations appear to have ever, the regional styles of the Early grown during this period, reaching contact. Labret wear in Modern Period were not yet fully visi- their peak in the subsequent Late Pa- the south was replaced ble. It is worth noting that in contrast to cific. by cranial deformation. the extraordinary numbers of “art” ob- ject dating to the Early Modern period Late Pacific (AD 200–500 to (perhaps as many as 500,000 in muse- ca. AD 1775) ums49) such objects are exceedingly The coast’s current environment, in- differences in house sizes, mirroring rare in archeological contexts, number- cluding relative sea levels, was present the ethnographic pattern in which ing many fewer than 500. by AD 1. Technological changes during house size directly reflects household The level of warfare intensified on the Late Pacific include the almost com- status and prestige. This increase in the northern coast but was much plete replacement of chipped stone house size is paralleled by the appear- lower in the south. Much of this evi- tools on the central and southern coasts ance of heavy-duty woodworking dence is derived from analyses of hu- by bone and antler tools, including a tools, including large adzes, mauls, man remains from burials. It is inter- diverse array of bone and antler points. and pile drivers. esting that overall there are much This is generally thought to reflect in- Midden burials first decline in fre- higher levels of trauma from all tensification of neritic resources, partic- quency, and then cease by AD 1000. In causes in the north than in the south, ularly salmon. The new tackle appears the south, in the Late Middle and Early pointing to interesting differences in to have been suited for taking large- Late Pacific, construction of burial ARTICLES Evolutionary Anthropology 31 mounds increases, in some cases pro- The ethnographic societies of the changes. Populations may have grown ducing large well-appointed earthen tu- Northwest Coast are epitomes of rapidly during this period. muli.51 This practice appears to end by complex hunter-gatherers. Their ar- The sequence shows that aquatic AD 1,000. In the north, the wearing of cheology is a key sequence for un- and maritime economies by them- labrets shifts from being a male prerog- derstanding the evolution of social selves do not lead inevitably to hunter- ative to a female one, as it was at con- complexity among hunter-gatherers. gatherer complexity. Neritic environ- tact. Labret wear in the south was re- Archeologists have long looked to ments have been exploited on the placed by cranial deformation. both their ethnography and archeol- coast since its initial occupation. Warfare continues, perhaps fueled by ogy to validate theories about the However, there may have been con- the introduction of the bow and arrow. causes and consequences of com- siderable variation along the coast in Fortifications become widespread plexity. the forms of these Archaic economies. along the coast,52 reflecting shifting The sequence clearly shows that so- Overall environmental productivity strategies that now included sieges.53 cial complexity, including ranking, alone also appears insufficient to have These tactics are fully described in oral triggered the evolution of complexity. evolved by ca. 1,000 to 800 BC, if not traditions. It is during this period that The modern environmental regime Northwest Coast culture may have ex- was essentially in place by ca. 4,400 tended beyond southeast Alaska. BC. However, the environment con- The frequency of decorated objects The sequence shows tinued to be marked by what may appears to decline in the south, which, that aquatic and have been extreme short- and long- coupled with the cessation of midden term fluctuations in local and regional burials, has led some archeologists to maritime economies by production. suggest an overall decline in the de- themselves do not lead The evolution of complexity on the gree of social complexity in the south coast was dependent on key techno- relative to the north. These apparent inevitably to hunter- logical changes. Boats were the most changes may also be the consequence gatherer complexity. fundamental. They were doubtless in of sampling. Neritic environments use along the coast from its earliest occupation and eased some of the de- Modern period (1775–present) have been exploited on mographic and economic constraints This period begins with sustained the coast since its initial that affect terrestrial foragers. How- ever, large-capacity, seagoing boats contact with Europeans at ca. 1775. I occupation. However, distinguish between the Early Modern were central to the economy that de- (1775 to 1850) and the Late Modern there may have been veloped at the beginning of the Middle (1850 to present). The modern period considerable variation Pacific. Other carpentry innovations is marked by the incorporation of the include waterproof boxes and plank Northwest Coast into a developing along the coast in the houses. Maritime hunting and fishing world economy through the fur trade forms of these Archaic tackle appear to have undergone con- and the persistence of key cultural tinual refinement and change during traits, including large corporate economies. Overall the entire Pacific period. households. This period is, of course, environmental The historical and causal relation- the subject of a voluminous anthropo- ships relating to the evolution of in- logical and historical literature. productivity alone also equality, storage, sedentism, and in- appears insufficient to tensification of food production are not as straightforward as was once SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS have triggered the thought. The available evidence indi- The coast was certainly occupied by evolution of complexity. cates that intensification of maritime 13,000 years ago, if not earlier, al- resources predates the social and though the earliest sites on the coast other economic patterns we associate are 11,000 years old. Unresolved is- with complexity by several centuries sues include whether the coast was or more. In turn, labret wear suggests one route or the only route by which earlier. In addition to permanent that some form of special status ex- North America, and eventually the ranking, these developments include isted on the coast by 2,500 BC, predat- Western Hemisphere, was initially the appearance of large corporate ing the earliest current evidence of peopled. Another important but unre- households; partially to fully seden- large corporate groups on the coast by solved issue is whether or not the tary communities; logistical mobility several hundred years. (It is possible, coast’s earliest inhabitants had mari- patterns; a complex division of labor of course, that earlier houses will be time economies. The available evi- with some level of specialization; an found.) This is also generally coinci- dence, as sparse as it is, suggests that intensive economy based on mass har- dent with the earliest widespread evi- there may have been considerable vesting, processing, and storage; ex- dence of mass harvesting, storage variation in Archaic subsistence prac- tensive regional interaction; and key boxes, raiding, logistical mobility pat- tices along the coast. technological innovations and terns, territoriality, and perhaps large 32 Evolutionary Anthropology ARTICLES communities. The earliest known cor- archeological record seems to contain of the Northwest Coast. Orlando: Academic porate households around 1,500 to attempts at multi-village polity forma- Press. 5 Donald L. n.d. The Northwest Coast as a study 1,000 BC are contemporary with the tion on both the southern and north- area: natural, prehistoric and ethnographic is- earliest firm evidence of permanent ern coasts. A key question, then, is sues. In: Matson RG, Coupland G, Mackie Q, ranking, heavy reliance on storage, why these failed. Ancient Northwest editors. Emerging from the mist: studies in Northwest Coast culture history. Vancouver: and logistical mobility patterns. After Coast household elites were unable to University of British Columbia Press. the intensification of marine hunting, expand their control over multiple 6 Mitchell D, Donald L. 1988. Archeology and the crucial Middle Pacific develop- households or villages. the study of Northwest Coast economies: prehis- It is postulated here that these toric economies of the Northwest Coast. In Isaac ments appear to have occurred in B, editor. Research in economic anthropology, rapid pulses involving clusters of changes were, in part at least, a con- Suppl 3. Greenwich: JAI Press. traits that spread swiftly across great sequence of the dynamics among the 7 Ames KM. 1996. Life in the big house: house- distances. These events may have large corporate households once they hold labor and dwelling size on the Northwest Coast. In: Coupland G, Banning EG, editors. Peo- been separated by several hundred developed. These dynamics included ple who lived in big houses: archaeological per- years. competition for members (that is, for spectives on large domestic structures. Madison: Once present, large corporate labor, either through attracting mem- Prehistory Press. p 131–150. bers or through slave raiding) and fis- 8 Donald L. 1997. Aboriginal slavery on the households persisted into the Early Northwest Coast of North America. Berkeley: Modern period. During the Late Pa- sioning, accompanied by movement University of California Press. cific, the status system continued to into new areas, imitation, and extinc- 9 Ames KM. 1995. Chiefly power and household evolve and change. Technological tion. The long-term persistence and production on the Northwest Coast. In: Price TD, success of these households on the Feinman GM, editors. Foundations of inequality. changes suggest continuing intensifi- New York: Plenum Press. p 155–187. cation of food production and in- Northwest Coast was a result of their 10 Schalk RF. 1977. The structure of an anadro- creasing levels of labor demand. Lev- capacity to accomplish multiple, se- mous fish resource. In: Binford LR, editor. For quential tasks and thus sustain rela- theory building in archeology. Orlando: Aca- els of warfare increased or remained demic Press. p 207–249. tively large populations. The archeol- high. Northwest Coast culture proba- 11 Tuncliffe V, O’Connell JM, McQuoid MR. bly extended itself northward and ogy of the Northwest Coast presents 2001. A Holocene record of marine fish remains southward and up the Skeena and Co- us with an example of social co-evolu- from the northeastern Pacific. Marine Geol 174: tion on a vast scale. The enormous 197–210. lumbia Rivers sometime after 500 BC. 12 Finney BP, Gregory-Eaves I, Douglas SV, These changes may ultimately have regional scale, coupled with the stur- Smol JP. 2002. Fisheries productivity in the been the result of the activities of diness of the large corporate house- northeastern Pacific Ocean over the past 2,200 years. Nature 416:729–733. what some researchers call aggrandiz- holds in the face of dramatic environmental, social, and cultural changes 13 Ames KM. 2002. Going by boat: the forager- ers or strivers, individuals who seek to collector continuum at sea. In Fitzhugh B, Habu maximize their own positions so- may also be the reason why complex- J, editors. Beyond foraging and collecting: evolu- cially, politically, and economically. ity on the coast persisted in one form tionary change in hunter-gatherer settlement sys- or another for more than 3,500 years tems. New York: Kluwer/Plenum Press. p 17–50. Some argue that in the right circum- and why the cultures of the coast con- 14 Fladmark KR. 1979. Routes: alternative mi- stances permanent inequality is the gration corridors for early man in North Amer- tinue to flourish. result the actions of aggrandizers. ica. Am Antiquity 44:55–69. However, it is difficult to pinpoint a 15 Meltzer DJ. 1995. Clocking the first Ameri- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS cans. Ann Rev Anthropol 24:21–45. particular time or place for the “ori- 16 Clague JJ, Mathewes RW, Ager TA. n.d. Envi- gin” of Northwest Coast social com- I thank John Fleagle for the invita- ronments of northwest North America before the plexity. As noted, some changes ap- Last Glacial Maximum. In: Madsen D, editor. tion to write this paper and for his Entering America: northeast Asia and Beringia pear to have been synchronous across editorial patience. This proved to be before the Last Glacial Maximum. Salt Lake City: vast stretches of the coast, no doubt as more difficult to write than I first University of Utah Press. a consequence of the capacity to travel 17 Fedje DW, Christensen T. 1999. Modeling pa- imagined. I also express my apprecia- leoshorelines and locating early Holocene coastal great distances by boat, which en- tion to three anonymous reviewers sites in Haida Gwai. Am Antiquity 64:635–652. sured that innovations and changes and to John for taking a first, very 18 Dixon EJ. 1999. Bones, boats & bison: arche- spread rapidly. In many cases, traits flawed version seriously and provid- ology and the first colonization of western North spread as whole packages. Given the America. Albuquerque: University of New Mex- ing very useful feedback. John Clague ico Press. apparent swiftness of events after ca. and Leland Donald allowed me to cite 19 Carlson RL, Della Bona L. 1996. Early human 2,500 BC, it is also difficult to assign works in press. 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