Territory, Tenure, and Territoriality Among the Ancestral Coast Salish of SW British Columbia and NW Washington State by Chris Springer M.A., Simon Fraser University, 2009 B.A., Simon Fraser University, 2006 Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Archaeology Faculty of Environment © Chris Springer 2018 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY Fall 2018 Copyright in this work rests with the author. Please ensure that any reproduction or re-use is done in accordance with the relevant national copyright legislation. Approval Name: Chris Springer Degree: Doctor of Philosophy (Archaeology) Territory, Tenure, and Territoriality Among the Title: Ancestral Coast Salish of SW British Columbia and NW Washington State Examining Committee: Chair: Jon Driver Professor Dana Lepofsky Senior Supervisor Professor Michael Blake Supervisor Professor Department of Anthropology University of British Columbia Ross Jamieson Supervisor Associate Professor Christina Giovas Internal Examiner Assistant Professor Elizabeth A. Sobel External Examiner Professor Department of Sociology and Anthropology Missouri State University Date Defended/Approved: September 26, 2018 ii Abstract Archaeological studies of territory, tenure, and territoriality seek to understand how past claims and access to land and resources were expressed across landscapes and through time. The foci of such studies include the spatial and temporal patterning of settlements, dwellings, conspicuous burials, monumental constructions, rock art, defensive features, and resources. In line with this research, this dissertation integrates ethnohistoric and archaeological data in three case studies that investigate the roles of house forms, the distribution of local and nonlocal obsidian, and the positioning of defensive networks in communicating territorial and tenurial interests among the ancestral Coast Salish of southwestern British Columbia and northwestern Washington state. To understand how territorial and tenurial claims were expressed among the ancestral Coast Salish, the three studies consider the significance of the ethnohistoric Coast Salish social structure defined by bilateral kinship, group exogamy, and wide- ranging social networks in the communication of group interests. The first study supports the extant hypothesis of a regional move into large multifamily houses circa 2300 cal. BP. I hypothesize that this move was, in part, a consequence of regional population increases and its attendant territoriality and was facilitated by the structured flexibility of Coast Salish society and a pre-existing modular architecture that both reflected and reinforced the social structure. The distributions of local and nonlocal obsidian across the Salish Sea region are used in the second study to investigate the potential directionality and reach of ancestral social networks. I argue that these networks, developed from the practice of group exogamy, enabled the expression of tenurial claims as part of ongoing practices associated with gaining, maintaining, and legitimizing access to distant resources. Finally, the interrelationship of social networks and defensive networks among the ancestral Northern Coast Salish-Tla’amin are examined. I propose that these linked networks maximized defensibility at settlement and allied settlement scales in a form of defensive territoriality that served to communicate territorial and tenurial interests during periods of conflict. Keywords: Coast Salish; social networks; defensive networks; tenure; territoriality iii Acknowledgements This dissertation would not have been possible without the direct and indirect help of many people. First, I thank my mom, Evelyn whose constant support and encouragement has been an endless source of strength throughout my post-secondary career at SFU. I will forever be grateful for your editorial comments on drafts of chapters and getting me to tone down academes in favour of comprehensible language. I am forever grateful to my senior advisor, Dr. Dana Lepofsky. Apart from her limitless help and support during the field work, analysis, writing, and presentation stages of my research, she kindly involved me in other areas of her work that have broadened my understanding of archaeology in general and B.C. archaeology specifically. I also thank the other two members of my committee, Dr. Michael Blake and Dr. Ross Jamieson. Their comments and suggestions throughout the writing stage of my dissertation helped me consider my work from other perspectives than the one I had focused on and with which I had become comfortable. The field work for my research was made possible by the generosity of the Tla’amin community, che che hah tan nah pitch. Everyone in the community were such gracious hosts for the three SFU field schools and two SFU/University of Saskatchewan field schools that stayed at Tla’amin during the 2009-2011 and 2012-2013 field seasons, respectively. In particular, che che hach Hegus Clint Williams, Michelle Washington, Murray and Nancy Mitchell, Jason Francis, Betty Wilson, Lisa Wilson, John Louie, and Erik Blaney for all their help and support. An extra thanks to Murray and Jason for being out there in the rain and dirt with me. A special thanks also goes out to Georgia Combes who gave freely of her time and vast knowledge of the area both on land and water; without her boating skills, I would certainly be lost at sea. She also generously passed on her knowledge of the ancestral Tla’amin landscape over the five years of my field work. My research also benefited greatly from her skill as a photographer. Georgia’s aerial photographs significantly reduced survey time by giving a bird’s eye view of the numerous mass harvesting features found in the intertidal zone throughout Tla’amin territory. The field school students also deserve special recognition for all the hard work they put in to make the field seasons a success. They are: Craig Barnes, Nyra Chalmer, iv Fred Foster, Guillermo Garcia, Allison Hill, Simon Lloyd-Price, Vanessa Medland, Aaron Racicot, Anna Stewart, Mike Szepvolgyi, Andrea Unrau, Diana Wasylik, and Rachel White (2009 SFU Filed School); Alisha Gauvreau, Rhory Gillies, Tyrone Hamilton, Katie Hausch, Tanya Hunt, Buffy Johnson, Nikki Lloyd-Gervais, Sean Matthews, Carleen Novak, Camille Reynolds, Nicole Slade, and Amandah Van Merlin (2010 SFU Field School); Jan Anderson, Aleesha Baakelund, Sarah Balabanov, Amelia Barker, Clayton Crawford, Corey Hartley, Lap Kwan-Tang, Jacob Liddy, Katie Lum, Mark Powell, Jacqueline Sio, and Kasia Zimmerman (2011 SFU Field School); Mika Blundell, Allan Downey, Scott Dumonceaux, Martin Hoffman, Ilya Lipin, Taegan McFarlane, Tylor Richards, Elyse Thiessen, and Kasia Zimmerman (2012 SFU-University of Saskatchewan Field School); and Teresa Baker, Carrie Helter, Isabelle Maurice- Hammond, Adrienne Marino, Lindsey Moore, Colin Osmond, Julie Oltmann Plesner, Jennifer Walkus, and Shelly Wright (2013 SFU-University of Saskatchewan Field School). Also, thank you Drs. Dana Lepofsky, John Welch, Keith Carlson, and Bob Muir for supervising the field schools, and Morgan Ritchie and Megan Caldwell for all your help in the field. The work study students who helped me sort through the seemingly endless bags of shell midden were also a major factor in me finishing just under the wire. I would still be sorting if not for you: Isabelle Maurice, Teresa Matheson, Sara Bucci, Andrea Mullan, Anna Glass, Megan Poland, Cathi Williams, Jan Anderson, Tessa Fryer, and Hilary Pennock. I also thank Dawn Ainsley, Brett Beaulieu, Sarah Beaulieu, Nigel Boeur, Nikki Bose, Cynthia Boyer, Aileen Brennan, Terence Clark, Robyn Ewing, Jay Herbert, Rich Hutchings, Marina LaSalle, Peter Locher, Natasha Lyons, Luseadra McKerracher, Peter Merchant, Jessica Nelson, Misha Puckett, Heather Robertson, and Anke Weber for volunteering their time to help with field work during various years. Thank you, Shannon Wood and Peter Locher, for giving so much of your time to making sure the field schools ran smoothly and for helping with any and all lab issues that I ran into. I also want to thank Doug Brown and Nicole Oakes of Brown & Oakes Archaeology for allowing me to include the sourcing results for a piece of obsidian from the Pitt River Site (DhRl-21), and Dr. Rudy Reimer for analyzing a number of pieces of obsidian from Tla’amin territory, free of charge. The results were critical to my second case study presented in this dissertation. v Finally, an extra special thank you goes out to my partner Heather Kendall. Your love, seemingly boundless patience, and your emotional and, at times, financial support have been a source of strength and comfort for me over the last eight years. Quite simply, this project of mine would not have been possible without you. I am also forever grateful for the times you volunteered in the field, freely giving your knowledge of archaeological practice in aid of my research and to the field school students who were present. My research was funded by a Social Sciences and Humanities Council of Canada Graduate Doctoral Scholarship (Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship) #767-2010-1944, a Pacific Century Graduate Scholarship, a Provost Prize of Distinction, and a President’s Ph.D. Scholarship. vi Table of Contents Approval .......................................................................................................................... ii Abstract .........................................................................................................................