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The Kelp Highway Hypothesis: Marine Ecology, the Coastal Migration Theory, and the Peopling of the Americas Jon M. Erlandsona; Michael H. Grahamb; Bruce J. Bourquec; Debra Corbettd; James A. Estese; Robert S. Steneckf a Museum of Natural and Cultural History, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, USA b Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, Moss Landing, California, USA c Department of Anthropology, Bates College, Lewiston, Maine, USA d US Fish and Wildlife Service, Anchorage, Alaska, USA e US Geological Survey, Long Marine Laboratory, University of California, Santa Cruz, California, USA f School of Marine Sciences, University of Maine, Darling Marine Center, Walpole, Maine, USA

To cite this Article Erlandson, Jon M. , Graham, Michael H. , Bourque, Bruce J. , Corbett, Debra , Estes, James A. and Steneck, Robert S.(2007) 'The Kelp Highway Hypothesis: Marine Ecology, the Coastal Migration Theory, and the Peopling of the Americas', The Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology, 2: 2, 161 — 174 To link to this Article: DOI: 10.1080/15564890701628612 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15564890701628612

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The Kelp Highway Hypothesis: Marine Ecology, the Coastal Migration Theory, and the Peopling of the Americas

Jon M. Erlandson,1 Michael H. Graham,2 Bruce J. Bourque,3 Debra Corbett,4 James A. Estes,5 and Robert S. Steneck6 1Museum of Natural and Cultural History, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, USA 2Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, Moss Landing, California, USA 3Department of Anthropology, Bates College, Lewiston, Maine, USA 4US Fish and Wildlife Service, Anchorage, Alaska, USA 5US Geological Survey, Long Marine Laboratory, University of California, Santa Cruz, California, USA 6School of Marine Sciences, University of Maine, Darling Marine Center, Walpole, Maine, USA

ABSTRACT

In this article, a collaborative effort between archaeologists and marine ecologists, we discuss the role kelp forest ecosystems may Downloaded By: [CDL Journals Account] At: 23:01 3 September 2010 have played in facilitating the movement of maritime peoples from Asia to the Americas near the end of the Pleistocene. Growing in cool nearshore waters along rocky coastlines, kelp forests offer some of the most productive habitats on earth, with high primary productivity, magnified secondary productivity, and three-dimensional habitat supporting a diverse array of marine organisms. Today, extensive kelp forests are found

Received 8 January 2007; accepted 29 June 2007. Address correspondence to Jon M. Erlandson, Department of Anthropology and Museum of Natural and Cultural History, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403-1224, USA. E-mail: [email protected]

161 Jon M. Erlandson et al.

around the North Pacific from Japan to Baja California. After a break in the tropics—where nearshore mangrove forests and coral reefs are highly productive—kelp forests are also found along the Andean Coast of South America. These Pacific Rim kelp forests support or shelter a wealth of shellfish, fish, marine mammals, seabirds, and seaweeds, resources heavily used historically by coastal peoples. By about 16,000 years ago, the North Pacific Coast offered a linear migration route, essentially unobstructed and entirely at sea level, from northeast Asia into the Americas. Recent reconstructions suggest that rising sea levels early in the postglacial created a highly convoluted and island-rich coast along Beringia’s southern shore, conditions highly favorable to maritime hunter-gatherers. Along with the terrestrial resources available in adjacent landscapes, kelp forests and other nearshore habitats sheltered similar suites of food resources that required minimal adap- tive adjustments for migrating coastal peoples. With reduced wave energy, holdfasts for boats, and productive fishing, these linear kelp forest ecosystems may have provided a kind of “kelp highway” for early maritime peoples colonizing the New World.

Keywords archaeology, marine ecology, kelp forests, maritime migrations, Pacific Rim

I can only compare these great INTRODUCTION aquatic forests ... with the ter- restrial ones in the intertropical Despite some important discussions forests. Yet if in any country, about the feasibility of a coastal migra- a forest was destroyed, I do tion route (e.g., Fladmark 1979; Mason not believe nearly so many 1894), theories about the human col- species of animals would per- onization of the Americas were dom- ish as would here, from the inated by terrestrial models for most

Downloaded By: [CDL Journals Account] At: 23:01 3 September 2010 destruction of the kelp. Amidst of the twentieth century. These terres- the leaves of this plant, numer- trial models generally involved hunting ous species of fish live, which peoples walking from northeast Asia nowhere else could find food across Beringia near the end of the or shelter; with their destruc- Pleistocene, passing through the fabled tion the numerous cormorants “ice-free corridor” and into the heartland and fishing birds, the otters, of North America. Only considerably seals, and porpoise, would soon later, according to these models, did the perish also; and lastly, the descendants of land-based Paleoindians Fuegian[s] ... would ... de- settle in coastal habitats and gradually crease in numbers and perhaps adapt to life by the sea. Some scholars cease to exist. (Charles Darwin warned that the dearth of early coastal [1909:256–257]; 1 June 1834, sites might be due to rising post-glacial Tierra del Fuego, Chile) sea levels, but numerous ∼13,000 year

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old (cal BP; all dates in this article are and 30,000 years ago (see Erlandson expressed in calibrated calendar years 2002; Fedje et al. 2004; with references). before present) sites in interior regions By the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and a lack of coastal shell middens these colonizing voyages placed mar- older than about 10,000 years left the itime peoples near the base of the Kurile Pacific Coast relatively peripheral to Islands, which could have provided a debate about how people got to the New series of staging points for a maritime mi- World. gration to the Kamchatka Peninsula and During the last decade or so, despite the south coast of Beringia (Erlandson the effects of rising seas and marine ero- 1994:269). sion on the archaeological record, the While the feasibility of a coastal coastal migration theory has emerged migration route into the New World as an increasingly viable alternative for has grown, recent geological and ar- the peopling of the Americas (see Dixon chaeological evidence has clouded the 1999, 2001; Erlandson 1994, 2002; Fedje potential of an interior route to account et al. 2004; Gruhn 1994; Jones et al. for the earliest human colonization of 2002; Mandryk et al. 2001). The transfor- the Americas. Recent geological studies mation of the coastal migration theory suggest that the ice-free corridor be- from marginal to mainstream is the tween the Laurentide and Cordilleran result of the gradual accumulation of ice sheets only became passable about geological and archaeological evidence 13,000 years ago (Burns 1996; Dixon from both coastal and interior regions 1999:30; Jackson and Duk-Rodkin 1996; around the Pacific Rim. Fluted Clovis- Mandryk et al. 2001), for instance, and like points have now been found from there is increasing interest in the hypoth- coast to coast in North America, for esis that humans colonized the Americas instance, and terminal Pleistocene sites before that time (Madsen 2004; Mandryk have been identified in several areas et al. 2001; Meltzer 2004). Although the along the Pacific Coast of North and site remains controversial (see Fiedel South America (see Erlandson et al. 1999), widespread scholarly acceptance 1996; Keefer et al. 1998; Richardson of debate about a 14,500 year old occu- 1998; Sandweiss et al. 1998). These pation of the Monte Verde site near the include shell middens or human skeletal coast of Chile (Dillehay 1997; Meltzer remains found on islands in Alta and et al. 1997) has also contributed to a Downloaded By: [CDL Journals Account] At: 23:01 3 September 2010 Baja California, sites that demonstrate broader interest in the coastal migration that coastal Paleoindians had seaworthy theory by American archaeologists. boats and other maritime capabilities If a variety of evidence now sug- between about 13,000 and 11,500 cal gests that a coastal migration around BP (Des Lauriers 2006; Erlandson 2007; the North Pacific may have contributed Johnson et al. 2002; Rick et al. 2005). significantly to the peopling of the Evidence for even earlier maritime Americas, relatively little is known about voyaging by anatomically modern hu- the paleogeography and paleoecology of mans (Homo sapiens sapiens)has North Pacific coastlines or their feasibil- emerged from islands of the western ity as a late Pleistocene migration route. Pacific Rim, including the colonization Our primary goal in this article is to help of Australia roughly 50,000 years ago fill that gap by discussing the nature and additional ocean voyaging to the and productivity of nearshore habitats islands of western Melanesia, the Ryukyu around those portions of the Pacific Rim Archipelago, and Japan between 40,000 that may have served as a migration

JOURNAL OF ISLAND & COASTAL ARCHAEOLOGY 163 Jon M. Erlandson et al.

route for early maritime peoples moving tive in lower latitudes, with numerous from East Asia into the Americas. Our biological consequences. Anadromous focus is on the ecology and history of fish are found primarily in high latitudes, kelp forests, which are present today for instance, but catadromous species around much of the Pacific Rim from dominate at low latitudes, reflecting the Japan to Baja California. selective advantage of adult life in food- rich environments (Gross et al. 1988). Similar patterns are seen in evolutionary ECOLOGICAL CONTEXTS FOR THE radiations among many aquatic mam- COASTAL MIGRATION THEORY mals. Despite their nearly ubiquitous distribution in freshwater habitats, for In this section we examine some issues instance, otters radiated into the sea only related to coastal productivity, kelp for- at higher latitudes, while small cetaceans est ecology, and the paleoecology of radiated into freshwater habitats (river North Pacific coastlines since the Last dolphins) only at lower latitudes. Other Glacial Maximum (LGM). These discus- biological manifestations of high-latitude sions provide a broader ecological con- marine productivity are seen in rainbow text for understanding the habitats and trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) that grow resources early coastal peoples may have slowly in fresh water while anadromous encountered during a gradual migration conspecifics (steelhead) grow rapidly in from Northeast Asia into the Americas. the sea. Coastal grizzly bears (Ursus arctos) also achieve a maximum adult Latitudinal Variation in Coastal body mass two to three times greater Productivity than those in inland regions. These pat- terns suggest that the high productivity Anthropological characterizations of of northern coastal ecosystems—where marine or aquatic productivity have resources of both land and sea were often been relatively negative (e.g., accessible—would have been powerful Osborn 1977; Washburn and Lancaster magnets for early coastal or maritime 1968; Wilson 1981), but many coastal peoples migrating around the North ecosystems offer a diverse array of Pacific. both marine and terrestrial resources for human foragers, especially those with Marine Ecology of the Coastal Downloaded By: [CDL Journals Account] At: 23:01 3 September 2010 efficient boats (Ames 2002; Bailey and Migration Route Milner 2003; Erlandson 2001; Yesner 1980). Not all coastal ecosystems are During the Last Glacial Maximum, equally productive or accessible for between about 25,000 and 20,000 years maritime peoples, of course, and latitu- ago, global sea levels were more than dinal variations in coastal productivity 100 meters lower than today, exposing around the Pacific Rim are significant, large expanses of the now submerged especially in considering the potential continental shelves around the Pacific for human migrations around the North Rim, including the broad and low- Pacific. If such migrations occurred, lying plains of Beringia that once con- they took place primarily in higher ◦ nected Northeast Asia and Northwest latitudes (35–70 N), where the coastal North America. Since the 1980s, sev- oceans are relatively productive and eral authors (e.g., Colinvaux and West large-bodied prey species tend to be 1984; Elias et al. 1997; Guthrie 1989; concentrated. Freshwater ecosystems, Hopkins et al. 1982) have published ex- in contrast, are generally more produc- tensively on the nature and productivity

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of Beringia’s terrestrial environments, webs in coastal ecosystems (see Dayton but descriptions of the potential pro- 1985; Duggins et al. 1989; Graham 2004; ductivity of coastal resources and their Maron et al. 2006; Polis et al. 1997; possible role in facilitating or inhibiting Steneck et al. 2002). coastal migrations around the North Pacific have been comparatively vague Modern Kelp Forest Ecology (e.g., Hopkins et al. 1982; Mason 1894) and little was known about the specific Around the Pacific Rim today, kelp nature of nearshore ecosystems. forests dominate shallow rocky coasts in Recent reconstructions of the post- cool and cold-water marine habitats. The glacial flooding of Beringia, however, distribution of kelp forests is physiolog- suggest that its south coast was geo- ically constrained by water temperature morphically complex (Figure 1; Manley (generally <20◦C) and the availability 2002) with numerous bays, inlets, and of light, firm substrates, and nutrients islands that may have provided rich habi- (Mann 1973; North 1994; Steneck et tat for a variety of seals and cetaceans, al. 2002). Fast-growing and structurally walrus (Odobenus rosmarus), the mas- complex, kelps are generally limited to sive (and now extinct) Steller’s sea nearshore waters less than about 30 cow (Hydrodamalis gigas), and other m deep (Dayton 1985; Graham et al. relatively large-bodied marine animals 2003). Kelp forests are common from (Brigham-Grette et al. 2004:59). Dur- Japan to the Aleutians and down the ing the summer months, such convo- Pacific Coast of North America into luted coastlines—especially when com- Baja California (Figure 2). After a break bined with the low gradient of the in the tropics—where productive coral Beringian platform—may have offered reefs, mangrove swamps, estuaries, and broad expanses of productive inter- other coastal habitats support similar tidal and nearshore habitats for early suites of marine fish, shellfish, and other maritime peoples to hunt, forage, and aquatic animals—kelp forests continue gather in. As Ames (2002:38) illustrated, along the Andean Coast, from Peru to along such convoluted coastlines people Tierra del Fuego. in seaworthy boats can access much The North Pacific has an especially larger areas of nearshore habitat—and diverse array of kelps, with at least transport much larger loads back to 21 species in the northeastern Pacific Downloaded By: [CDL Journals Account] At: 23:01 3 September 2010 residential bases—than those traveling alone (Dayton 1985:235; Druehl 1970; on foot. Estes and Steinberg 1988). Large canopy- Much of the northern Pacific Rim forming kelps dominate many Pacific is also characterized by marine up- Rim kelp forests, including the giant welling or other forms of oceanic mixing kelps (Macrocystis spp.) which grow that fuel high plankton production in to heights of 45 m along the west coastal zones, primary productivity that coasts of North and South America (Gra- is passed to higher trophic levels where ham et al. 2007). Smaller canopy kelps it is more available to humans. Another (e.g., Nereocystis luetkeana, Alaria fis- major source of coastal productivity tulosa) reach heights up to 10 m and around the North Pacific is found in are common from central California to extensive kelp forests that concentrate Alaska and from the Aleutians to north- biomass, magnify secondary productiv- east Asia, respectively (Druehl 1970). ity, subsidize terrestrial productivity, Stipitate kelps are smaller (< 5–10 m and support relatively complex food long), but Laminaria dominates many

JOURNAL OF ISLAND & COASTAL ARCHAEOLOGY 165 Jon M. Erlandson et al.

Figure 1. Manley’s reconstruction of the geography of the Bering Sea area and Beringia’s south coast about 15,000 years ago (coastal conformation is approximate, not corrected for tectonic adjustments, offshore sediments, etc.; glaciers not depicted; adapted from Manley 2002).

North Pacific kelp forests from Japan and and growing from carbohydrate stores northeast Asia to coastal Alaska and the during ice-packed winters. As Dayton

Downloaded By: [CDL Journals Account] At: 23:01 3 September 2010 Pacific Northwest (Druehl 1970). (1985:235) noted, some North Pacific Most Pacific kelps thrive along rocky kelps also exhibit considerable morpho- shorelines in conditions of ample light, logical and ecological diversity depend- high nutrients, and moderate water ing on local conditions, ranging from temperatures, but some varieties have perennial to annual and from floating adapted to subarctic conditions with canopies to short prostrate turfs. Under strong seasonal fluctuations in light the right conditions, however, kelps levels, nutrient availability, and water tend to grow relatively rapidly, enriching temperatures—even surviving beneath coastal ecosystems with organic produc- winter sea ice and blooming during a tion derived from their spores and plant limited growing season (Dunton and detritus (Graham et al. 2007). Dayton 1995). In the Sea of Okhotsk, Around the North Pacific, kelp for instance, kelp forests form an almost forests historically supported or shel- continuous belt along the coastline, pho- teredasimilarsuiteofanimaland tosynthesizing during ice-free summers plant resources heavily exploited by

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Figure 2. General distribution of kelp forest ecosystems (hatched areas in white) of the Pacific Rim region today. Inset: shell midden on San Miguel Island, California, with high concentration of abalone shells, sea urchin tests, and the remains of other kelp forest organisms (figure drafted by M. Graham; inset photo by M. Moss).

coastal and maritime peoples with food resources, kelp forests also reduce relatively high population densities. nearshore wave energy and provide These include sea mammals (sea otters, holdfasts for boats. pinnipeds, etc.), a variety of marine shellfish (abalones, sea urchins, mus- Reconstructing Late Pleistocene Kelp Downloaded By: [CDL Journals Account] At: 23:01 3 September 2010 sels, chitons, etc.) and fish, sea birds, Distributions and edible seaweeds. Many of these resources—including numerous mem- For the broader Pacific Rim, the bers of the same genus or species (e.g., geographic distribution and ecological the sea otter, Enhydra lutris)foundin productivity of kelp forests near the nearshore habitats around much of the end of the LGM are not well under- northern Pacific Rim—were harvested stood. Due to the clear parameters that historically with relatively simple tech- govern their growth today, the distri- nologies. Some species were available bution of kelp forests in the past can in aggregations of highly vulnerable be roughly approximated (see Kinlan et or behaviorally naive fauna (pinniped al. 2005), but direct evidence for their rookeries, seabird colonies, and salmon geographic distribution or productivity runs, etc.) that could be captured in is limited (Graham et al. 2003). Based large numbers. For maritime peoples, on the diversity of North Pacific kelp along with providing a diverse array of species, as well as the organisms strongly

JOURNAL OF ISLAND & COASTAL ARCHAEOLOGY 167 Jon M. Erlandson et al.

associated with kelp communities, Estes much of the Pacific Coast at the time and Steinberg (1988; see also Estes et of European contact. Moreover, the gen- al. 1989) argued for a deep antiquity erally cooler sea-surface temperatures of kelp forests in the area. During the that characterized the LGM in the North Pleistocene, for instance, the massive Pacific may have shifted the boundaries sea cow ranged from Japan around of kelp forest ecosystems into somewhat the North Pacific to central California, lower latitudes than they are found in where it almost certainly fed primarily today, possibly narrowing the tropical on kelp (Clementz 2002). Kelp itself gap in kelp forests in the eastern Pacific. does not preserve well in the fossil Today, the survival of productive record (Estes et al. 2005:591; Graham et kelp forests in the Sea of Okhotsk al. 2003) and virtually all late Pleistocene also suggests that kelp forests existed shorelines where such fossils might be along much of the North Pacific Coast found have been submerged by rising through the LGM (Steneck et al. 2002). postglacial seas or lost to coastal erosion. Kelps also survive under the coastal sea The same can be said for most coastal ice of the arctic Beaufort Sea, where archaeological sites (see below) dating they have probably persisted since the to the late Pleistocene, where we might beginning of the Pleistocene (Vermeij hope to find the remains of organ- 1991). Given the apparent abundance isms such as large abalones (Haliotis of complex rocky shorelines, sea sur- spp.) and sea urchins (Strongylocentro- face temperatures consistent with kelp tus spp.) strongly associated with kelp growth, seasonal sea ice cover, and the forests (see Graham 2004). In the future, dearth of sediment-producing glaciers indirect evidence for the presence and along most of Beringia’s south coast, productivity of kelp may come from there is no reason to think productive isotopic or trace element studies of the kelp forests were not present. For much organic fractions of fossil organisms or of the period between about 18,200 and even seafloor sediments, but the base- 14,700 years ago, moreover, late-spring line research to determine the feasibility to early-fall sea surface temperatures of such methods has not yet been done. appear to have warmed to 8–11◦Cinthe For now, we are left with estimating far northwestern Pacific, when sea ice the distribution of ancient kelp forests cover may have been limited to about through the use of bathymetric maps, six months per year (Sarnthein et al. Downloaded By: [CDL Journals Account] At: 23:01 3 September 2010 sea level curves, and sea-surface temper- 2006:142–43) and kelp forests may have ature data. been even more productive. Kinlan et al. (2005) modeled the Clearly, the south coast of Beringia changing distribution of kelp forests would have been highly dynamic dur- along the California Coast during the ing the early post-glacial period. With past 20,000 years, for instance, conclud- the possible exception of the Younger ing that kelp forests were significantly Dryas cold spell (∼13,000–12,000 cal more extensive and productive during BP), this was a time of rapid sea level the terminal Pleistocene than they are rise and flooding of the Beringian plat- today. If this holds true for the broader form. Coastal ecosystems are inherently Pacific Rim, rocky coastlines along much dynamic, however, and rocky intertidal of the North Pacific may have been and nearshore kelp forest communi- even more attractive for early maritime ties are full of organisms capable of peoples than they were for the dense Na- rapid recruitment and growth, suggest- tive American populations that occupied ing that nearshore productivity would

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have continued to support the larger investigated by archaeologists and ge- and more mobile organisms at higher ologists. This research has provided trophic levels. Fueled by high primary baseline data that has helped scien- productivity driven by a combination of tists find increasingly early archaeolog- summer plankton blooms and nearshore ical sites along the coastlines of the kelp growth, estuaries with freshwater Pacific Northwest, southern California, and terrigenous input, Beringia’s south and Baja California. From Alaska to Baja coast probably attracted a wealth of California some of the earliest coastal larger animals (marine and terrestrial) archaeological sites in North America that could have helped early coastal peo- are situated in island or mainland locales ples expand their range from Northeast adjacent to highly productive kelp forest Asia into the Americas. Shortly after the habitats. These include terminal Pleis- LGM, populations of cetaceans and other tocene sites (>11,500 cal BP) at Arling- sea mammals of the North Pacific may ton Springs, Daisy Cave, and Cardwell also have been relatively large, making Bluffs on California’s Northern Channel coastal scavenging a highly productive Islands, as well as on Cedros Is- activity. land off Baja California. The Arling- ton Springs site (CA-SRI-173), dated to about 13,000 cal BP (Johnson KELP FORESTS AND NORTH PACIFIC et al. 2002; Rick et al. 2005) contains COASTAL ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES only scattered human remains and no faunal remains or diagnostic artifacts. At From the indirect evidence of maritime Daisy Cave (CA-SMI-261) and Cardwell activity in the Ryukyu Islands and Japan Bluffs (CA-SMI-678), however, compo- dating to the late Pleistocene, a vast nents dated between about 12,000 and geographic gap exists in coastal archae- 11,500 cal BP contain the remains of ological records from Northeast Asia large red abalones (Haliotis rufescens), and the now submerged south coast black turban snails (Tegula funebralis), of Beringia. Only future archaeological and other marine shellfish strongly asso- investigations in the Kurile Islands and ciated with kelp forest habitats. At Daisy the Kamchatka Peninsula will determine Cave and other Channel Island sites if evidence for Pleistocene maritime dated between about 10,200 and 9000 activity or coastal settlement is present cal BP, the remains of black abalones (H. Downloaded By: [CDL Journals Account] At: 23:01 3 September 2010 in these areas. Archaeological investiga- cracherodii), black turban, sea urchin tions on the submerged southern shore (Strongylocentrotus spp.), pinnipeds, of Beringia itself would be extremely sea otter, California sheephead (Semi- challenging given the combination of cossyphus pulcher), and other fish com- late glacial shorelines located far from monly found in nearshore kelp forests current coastal ports, Holocene sedi- have all been recovered (see Erlandson, mentation, the expense of ship time, and Braje, et al. 2005; Erlandson, Rick, et al. the logistics of cold water, deep diving, 2005; Rick et al. 2001, 2005). At two and high wave energy in the Bering sites on Cedros Island dated between Sea. about 11,500 and 12,000 cal BP, Des Reconstructing the late Pleistocene Lauriers (2006) has also documented coastlines and human history of the evidence for the exploitation of a variety Pacific Coast of North America is also of marine resources (black abalones, fraught with difficulties, but much of sea otters, etc.) common in kelp forest the area has been more intensively communities.

JOURNAL OF ISLAND & COASTAL ARCHAEOLOGY 169 Jon M. Erlandson et al.

Early coastal sites are rare from San to which their productivity may have Francisco Bay to Vancouver Island, prob- influenced the antiquity, demography, ably because of a history of subsidence and migrations of maritime peoples near earthquakes and tsunamis associated the end of the Pleistocene. with the Cascadia Subduction Zone (see Current evidence suggests, how- Atwater 1987; Darienzo and Peterson ever, that anatomically modern hu- 1990; Erlandson et al. 1998), but numer- mans had colonized or explored several ous sites dated between about 10,700 archipelagos in the eastern Pacific by and 9000 cal BP have been identified 50,000 to 30,000 years ago, islands that along the coastlines of British Columbia could only be reached with seaworthy and Southeast Alaska (see Fedje et boats. During the LGM, maritime peo- al. 2004). Most of these components ples living in the islands of Japan would lack well-preserved faunal remains, but have been adapting to relatively cool the 10,600 year old Kilgi Gwaay site waters, potentially comparable to those produced the remains of sea otters and in parts of the Gulf of Alaska today. other animals common in kelp forest Between about 18,200 and 14,700 years habitats (Fedje et al. 2005). ago, three extended warming episodes in the northwestern Pacific may have reduced seasonal sea ice cover sig- DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS nificantly, increased human access to intertidal and nearshore habitats, and In reviewing the evidence for associa- facilitated the migration of maritime tions between early maritime peoples peoples from northeast Asia to Beringia and kelp forest communities, we are not (Sarnthein et al. 2006). By about 16,000 suggesting that all early Pacific Coast to 15,000 years ago, a migration route sites will be found adjacent to kelp following the outer coast of northwest- forests or contain evidence for their ern North America appears to have exploitation. Indeed, in many cases, been open and productive, providing estuaries, large salmon streams, pin- an opportunity for maritime peoples niped rookeries, and seabird colonies to migrate down the Pacific Coast into may have been equally attractive to more temperate climates. early maritime peoples. In other cases, Along with the relatively high pro- following productive rivers inland from ductivity of kelp forests and other Downloaded By: [CDL Journals Account] At: 23:01 3 September 2010 the coast—or hunting mammoths or coastal habitats, such a coastal migra- elk in peri-coastal upland areas—may tion route had a number of advantages have been as tempting as following the over interior routes. Climatically, coast- coast. lines are generally more equable than Clearly, there is much to be learned adjacent interior regions, which can about the antiquity of human settlement be brutally cold or hot. Fresh water and subsistence in various coastal areas sources tend to be concentrated and from Japan to the Kurile Islands and easily accessible in coastal zones (Faure Kamchatka, and from the south coast of et al. 2002) and coastlines also provide Beringia to the southern tip of Tierra del access to a diverse array of plant and Fuego. There is also much to be learned animal foods from both marine and ter- about the distribution and productiv- restrial ecosystems—resources that tend ity of kelp forests, estuaries, mangrove to be tightly packed in the relatively forests, and coral reefs around the Pacific mountainous and steep coastlines that Riminthepast,aswellasthedegree characterize most of the Pacific Rim.

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By definition, a coastal route could also predictable aggregations of marine or- have been traversed by maritime peo- ganisms harvested and eaten by coastal ples entirely at or near sea level, with peoples for millennia, Pacific Rim kelp no major geographic barriers after about forests may have provided a linear 15,000 years ago. The linear distribution and relatively homogenous ecological of similar coastal habitats and resources setting through which early maritime could have provided expanding human peoples could have migrated to the New populations with an ecologically similar World. and easily followed migration corridor Along the Pacific Coast of North from northeast Asia to northwest North America, some of the earliest archae- America and beyond. ological sites are found in island or In contrast, terrestrial peoples mi- mainland coast settings adjacent to pro- grating through the interior from ductive kelp forests. Where faunal re- Beringia to southern South America at mains are preserved, many of these sites the end of the Pleistocene would have contain evidence for the harvest of shell- encountered numerous physical barriers fish, fish, and sea mammals common (massive glaciers, large rivers, mountain in kelp forests. Between about 18,000 ranges and alpine passes, deserts, etc.) and 13,000 years ago, as glaciers and and a wide variety of terrestrial ecosys- sea ice retreated from North Pacific tems: from Arctic tundra, to relatively coastlines, a linear band of productive sterile periglacial landscapes, boreal and kelp forests may have extended discon- rain forests, grasslands, deserts, and tinuously from Japan to Baja Califor- more. As Madsen (2004:20–21) noted, nia, providing a “kelp highway” that foragers traversing these environmen- could have facilitated the migration of tal “megapatches” would have encoun- maritime peoples into the New World tered a wide variety of habitats, plants, (Steneck et al. 2002:453). and animals, some with very different Showing that a coastal migration properties or behaviors that required around the North Pacific was possible new technologies and knowledge to or even highly plausible is obviously successfully exploit. not the same as demonstrating that A variety of archaeological, anthro- such a migration took place. Given the pological, genetic, and geological evi- rising seas, coastal erosion, and dramatic dence provides growing support that coastal landscape changes that have oc-

Downloaded By: [CDL Journals Account] At: 23:01 3 September 2010 one or more coastal migrations con- curred since the end of the LGM, proving tributed to the peopling of the Ameri- that such a coastal migration took place cas (Erlandson 2002; Fedje et al. 2004; will be extremely challenging. More ar- Gruhn 1994; Kemp et al. 2007). Eco- chaeological research is urgently needed logical data suggest that North Pacific on land and beneath the sea to help coastlines would have provided early search for late Pleistocene sites along the maritime peoples numerous opportuni- coastlines of Japan, the Kurile Islands, ties to hunt, fish, and gather in juxta- Kamchatka, Beringia, and the Pacific posed marine and terrestrial habitats. Coasts of North and South America. Some of the most productive of these Additional research on the paleoecology coastal ecosystems were kelp forests of North Pacific coastal ecosystems is that are nearly ubiquitous along cool or also needed to provide a better under- cold-water rocky coastlines of the Pacific standing of the problems and potentials Rim. Characterized by relatively high posed by a coastal migration route from primary productivity and supporting Asia to the Americas.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iological Transitions during the Evolution of the Orders Sirenia and Desmostylia.Ph.D. Inspiration for the “Kelp Highway Hy- Dissertation. University of California, Santa Cruz. pothesis” emerged during kelp forest Colinvaux, P. A. and F. H. West. 1984. The working group meetings associated Beringian ecosystem. Quarterly Review of with the Long-Term Ecological Records Archaeology 5:10–16. of Marine Environments, Populations, Darienzo, M. E. and C. D. Peterson. 1990. Episodic and Communities Working Group, tectonic subsidence of late Holocene salt marshes, northern Oregon, central Cascadia supported by the National Center for margin. Tectonics 9:1–22. Ecological Analysis and Synthesis and Darwin, C. 1909. The Voyage of the Beagle.New chaired by Jeremy Jackson. Our work York: P. F. Collier and Son. was supported by the National Science Dayton, P. K. 1985. Ecology of kelp communities. Foundation (Grant# DEB-0072909), Annual Review of Ecology Systems 16:215– 245. the University of California, and our Des Lauriers, M. R. 2006. Terminal Pleistocene home institutions. We are indebted to and Early Holocene occupations of Isla de Mark Clementz, Michael Collins, Paul Cedros, Baja California, Mexico. Journal of Dayton, Jeremy Jackson, Brian Kinlan, Island and Coastal Archaeology 1(2):255– Kent Lightfoot, Patricia Netherly, and 270. Dillehay, T. D. 1997. Monte Verde: A Late an anonymous reviewer for their help- Pleistocene Settlement in Chile. Volume 2: The ful comments. Finally, we thank Scott Archaeological Context and Interpretation. Fitzpatrick, Christine Armstrong, and Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press. the editorial staff of JICA for help in the Dixon, E. J. 1999. Bones, Boats, and Bison. revision and production of this article. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico. Dixon, E. J. 2001. Human colonization of the Americas: Timing, technology, and process. REFERENCES Quaternary Science Reviews 20:301–314. Druehl, L. D. 1970. The patterns of Laminariales Phycolo- Ames, K. 2002. Going by boat: The forager- distribution in the northeast Pacific. gia collector continuum at sea. In Beyond For- 9:237–247. aging and Collecting: Evolutionary Change Duggins, D. O., C. A. Simenstad, and J. A. Estes. 1989. Magnification of secondary production in Hunter-Gatherer Settlement Systems (B. by kelp detritus in coastal marine ecosystems. Fitzhugh and J. Habu, eds.):17–50. New York: Science 245(4914):170–173. Kluwer/Plenum Publishers. Dunton, K. H. and P. K. Dayton. 1995. The biology Atwater, B. F. 1987. Evidence for great of high latitude kelp. In Ecology of Fjords and Holocene earthquakes along the outer coast of Coastal Waters (H. R. Skjoldal, C. Hopkins, Downloaded By: [CDL Journals Account] At: 23:01 3 September 2010 Washington State. Science 236:942–944. K. F. Erikstad, and H. P. Leinass, eds.):449–507. Bailey, G. and N. Milner. 2003. Coastal hunter- Amsterdam: Elsevier Science. gatherers and social evolution: Marginal or Elias, S. A., S. K. Short, and H. H. Birks. 1997. Late central? Before Farming 4(1):1–22. Wisconsin environments of the Bering Land Brigham-Grette, J., A. V. Lozhkin, P. A. Anderson, Bridge. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, and O. Y. Glushkova. 2004. Paleoenvironmen- Palaeoecology 136:293–308. tal conditions in Western Beringia before and Erlandson, J. M. 1994. Early Hunter-Gatherers of during the Last Glacial Maximum. In Entering the California Coast America: Northeast Asia and Beringia before . New York: Plenum. Erlandson, J. M. 2001. The archaeology of aquatic the Last Glacial Maximum (D.B.Madsen, adaptations: Paradigms for a new millennium. ed.):29–61. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Journal of Archaeological Research 9:287– Press. 350. Burns, J. A. 1996. Vertebrate paleontology and the alleged ice-free corridor: The meat of Erlandson, J. M. 2002. Anatomically modern hu- the matter. Quaternary International 32:107– mans, maritime adaptations, and the peopling The First Americans 112. of the New World. In (N. Clementz, M. 2002. The Evolution of Herbivo- Jablonski, ed.):59–92. San Francisco: California rous Marine Mammals: Ecological and Phys- Academy of Sciences.

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