This monograph reports the results of excavation at the major village of Huu7ii, one of the traditional heritage sites of the Huu-ay-aht First Nations today. Much of the excavation took place within the surface outlines of a large... more
This monograph reports the results of excavation at the major village of Huu7ii, one of the traditional heritage sites of the Huu-ay-aht First Nations today. Much of the excavation took place within the surface outlines of a large traditional plank house. Chapters present information on Huu-ay-aht ethnography and history, site stratigraphy and chronology, artifacts and features, and the archaeology of plank houses. Six appendices report results of analyses of vertebrate and invertebrate fauna, pollen, etc.
"In the Land of the Totem Poles: Native Cultures of the Pacific Northwest. Native Cultures of Western Alaska and the Pacific Northwest Coast: An Overview of Recent Scholarship," An overview essay with reference to scholarship on the... more
"In the Land of the Totem Poles: Native Cultures of the Pacific Northwest. Native Cultures of Western Alaska and the Pacific Northwest Coast: An Overview of Recent Scholarship," An overview essay with reference to scholarship on the cultural history of the Pacific Northwest Coast, co-authored with Laraine Fletcher, in connection with an NEH Institute we co-directed in Alaska and British Columbia in 2010..
This article presents evidence for the antiquity and development of Nuu-chah-nulth whaling, drawing on recent archaeological work in Barkley Sound. DNA identifications of whale species reveal past whaling practices. The evidence is... more
This article presents evidence for the antiquity and development of Nuu-chah-nulth whaling, drawing on recent archaeological work in Barkley Sound. DNA identifications of whale species reveal past whaling practices. The evidence is interpreted in terms of the actions of past whaling chiefs.
The ethnographic studies of Edward Sapir and Philip Drucker have provided the major written sources on Nuu-chah-nulth culture. This paper integrates the ethnographic and oral history information with recent archaeological data from... more
The ethnographic studies of Edward Sapir and Philip Drucker have provided the major written sources on Nuu-chah-nulth culture. This paper integrates the ethnographic and oral history information with recent archaeological data from Barkley Sound. The ethnographic sources, particularly as recorded by Sapir, contain considerable information on political, social and economic changes over time. Archaeology augments or challenges the ethnographic details and provides chronological controls. The integration of different data sources allows detailed insights into the cultural heritage of the Barkley Sound Nuu-chah-nulth.
This monograph reports the results of extensive excavation at three portions of this large village complex, the origin location of the Tseshaht people in their oral traditions. It incorporates information on Tseshaht oral history and... more
This monograph reports the results of extensive excavation at three portions of this large village complex, the origin location of the Tseshaht people in their oral traditions. It incorporates information on Tseshaht oral history and ethnography, as well as archaeology. Substantial appendices report the results of specialized analyses.
A single feather as symbol of all-encompassing divine balance was manifested in ancient Egypt to meet its complex needs as a state that embraced diverse peoples with conflictng interests. Balance, and consciously following developed inner... more
A single feather as symbol of all-encompassing divine balance was manifested in ancient Egypt to meet its complex needs as a state that embraced diverse peoples with conflictng interests. Balance, and consciously following developed inner promptings towards 'right' action instead of rigid external injunctons to do 'good' against 'evil', could very well be the key to restoring sacred order to the world. The intent of this paper is to trace the impact of The Feather of Ma'at and its accompanying teachings, within and far beyond the parameters of Africa. The paper explores the rippling influence of a cooperative relationship between humankind and the cosmos, its concept brought through a succession of sea journeys on circular ocean currents.
The Nuu-chah-nulth maritime whaling adaptation is unique on the Northwest Coast of North America. Abundant anadromous fish, particularly salmon, played a paramount role in most Northwest Coast economies, but whaling played an equivalent... more
The Nuu-chah-nulth maritime whaling adaptation is unique on the Northwest Coast of North America. Abundant anadromous fish, particularly salmon, played a paramount role in most Northwest Coast economies, but whaling played an equivalent role among the Nuu-chah-nulth. New archaeological evidence is presented from the Toquaht Archaeological Project that addresses the antiquity of whale use, the antiquity of whale hunting, the species exploited, and the importance of whales to the Nuu-chah-nulth of Barkley Sound. The evidence suggests that whale use occurred by at least 4000 BP, that active hunting of whales occurred by at least 2500 BP, that humpback whales were strongly preferred, and that whales have long been an integral part of Nuu-chah-nulth culture.
The economic uses of plants are often more accessible to researchers working with actual material remains from early ethnographic and archaeological sources than are ritual uses. Nevertheless, it is clear from the ethnographic literature... more
The economic uses of plants are often more accessible to researchers working with actual material remains from early ethnographic and archaeological sources than are ritual uses. Nevertheless, it is clear from the ethnographic literature of the Northwest of North America that plants also served many important ritual and ceremonial functions. During the examination of two Salish wooden mortuary figures currently housed at the Museum of Anthropology, University of British Columbia, a compact, fibrous white mass was observed lodged in the back of the mouth of one of the figures. A sample of the material was identified as Typha latifolia L. This paper discusses the ritual uses of cattail down, particularly with regards to funerary customs, among the Coast and Interior Salish of the Northwest of North America.
What follows are the ethnographic comparisons between the Nehalem Indians in * Chapter 6 of “Francis Drake in Nehalem Bay 1579, Setting the Historical Record Straight” (2011) with those first recorded by Reverend Francis Fletcher in the... more
What follows are the ethnographic comparisons between the Nehalem Indians in * Chapter 6 of “Francis Drake in Nehalem Bay 1579, Setting the Historical Record Straight” (2011) with those first recorded by Reverend Francis Fletcher in the (1577-1580) voyage’s most complete journal:
“The World Encompassed By Sir Francis Drake, London, Printed for Nicholas Bourne and are to be sold at his ship at the Royal Exchange, 1628.”
Coast Salish First Nations wove their robes and blankets from yarn spun from processed wool fibres. A curious fact, usually mentioned in passing by early explorers, ethnographers, and settlers, is that, in the preparation of wool fibres,... more
Coast Salish First Nations wove their robes and blankets from yarn spun from processed wool fibres. A curious fact, usually mentioned in passing by early explorers, ethnographers, and settlers, is that, in the preparation of wool fibres, a powdery, silky " white clay " was beaten into the wool using a sword-like wooden stick. This practice is confirmed by traditional knowledge preserved by Coast Salish people on Vancouver Island, the mainland of British Columbia, and in Washington State. While museums with extensive Coast Salish collections have no " clay " objects in their collections that are associated with weaving and spinning, they do have lumps of diatomaceous earth as well as tools associated with both diatomaceous earth and the spinning and weaving of wool. Is diatomaceous earth the same as the white clay mentioned in the historical accounts? Or are they different from one another? If so, were they both used? Do they have the same properties? In this article, I assemble the historical and ethnographic records of this curious clay in order to clarify the enigmatic first step in the processing and preparation of Coast Salish wool.
The analysis of kinship relations and kinship terminology, has long been a central focus of anthropological inquiry. Additionally, linguistic relationships and changes in languages have often been argued to reflect prehistoric intergroup... more
The analysis of kinship relations and kinship terminology, has long been a central focus of anthropological inquiry. Additionally, linguistic relationships and changes in languages have often been argued to reflect prehistoric intergroup relationships and groups movements. This paper seeks to provide a basic analysis of selected kin terms for five Northwest Coast languages, namely Spokane, Shuswap, Saanich, Ahousaht, and Ditidaht. In addition, the role that such linguistic data can play in addressing the larger questions of the region's prehistory will be addressed. Specifically, the linguistic data presented will be analyzed from the perspective of Elmendorf's (1961) hypothesis regarding the prehistoric relationships between Interior and Coastal SaIish Ianguages.
Coast Salish textiles, from the Pacific Northwest (NW Washington State and SW British Columbia) are relatively rare and unknown, yet are masterpieces of sophisticated weaving and spinning techniques. Coast Salish... more
Coast Salish textiles, from the Pacific Northwest (NW Washington State and SW British Columbia) are relatively rare and unknown, yet are masterpieces of sophisticated weaving and spinning techniques. Coast Salish blankets and robes, and the tools used to make them, have been the subject of only a few seminal works (Gustafson, 1980; Loughran-Delahunt, 1996; Marr, 1979; Vanderburg, 1953), but other than the occasional recording of the direction of twist, the spinning characteristics of the yarn itself has not been the subject of research. This gap in the research is curious given the uniqueness of Coast Salish spinning tools, the corresponding techniques, and the fibres used. There has been a renewed interest by the Coast Salish in recreating traditional textiles as well as developing contemporary textiles based on traditional robes and blankets. This research project set out to look at what, if anything, the spinning characteristics can tell us about these traditional textiles and to provide modern Coast Salish spinners and weavers with more tools to make choices in textile design.
The figure of the Wild Man resides at the hinge where nature meets culture. In the Pacific Northwest , the Wild Man is known locally by different names and is interpreted through a variety of cultural and historical lenses. Settler... more
The figure of the Wild Man resides at the hinge where nature meets culture. In the Pacific Northwest , the Wild Man is known locally by different names and is interpreted through a variety of cultural and historical lenses. Settler colonialism in the region, for example, situated the Wild Man within wilderness and anachronistic spaces, aligning him with a bygone and romanticized indigeneity. Conversely, Coast Salish people invigorate new stories of the Wild Man as critique of the ruins of late capitalism. The Wild Man provides them with strength to assert their autonomy and authority in leading the restoration of the natural environment. This article explores monstrous entanglements between settler colonialism, indigeneity and the Wild Man on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State.
Book review: Salish Blankets: Robes of Protection and Transformation, Symbols of Wealth by Leslie H. Tepper, Janice George, and Willard Joseph Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 2017 $40.00 (U.S.) / 9780803296923 Reviewed... more
Book review: Salish Blankets: Robes of Protection and Transformation, Symbols of Wealth by Leslie H. Tepper, Janice George, and Willard Joseph
Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 2017 $40.00 (U.S.) / 9780803296923
This extraordinary story relates the story of the acquisition of a fabled native Copper by the Tsimshian chief Wasaiks, who was based at the village of Fort Simpson/Lax-Kw’alaams, British Columbia. Wasaiks developed an overwhelming... more
This extraordinary story relates the story of the acquisition of a fabled native Copper by the Tsimshian chief Wasaiks, who was based at the village of Fort Simpson/Lax-Kw’alaams, British Columbia. Wasaiks developed an overwhelming desire to possess the most valuable thing along the Northwest Coast: the fabulous copper known as the Nahuhulk. This copper had passed, in a series of raids and trades, from the Chilkat Tlingit of Haines, Alaska, down the west coast until it fell into the hands of the Stikine Tlingit people at Wrangell, under the leadership of their chief Saiks. In the course of this trade, the copper had accumulated vast value, both economic and spiritual. The Tale was recorded in 1916 by the talented Native ethnographer William Beynon from James Lewis, a resident of the Ginaxangik Tsimshian village of Kitkatla.
This paper considers the ways in which information on coastal earthquakes is presented in Indigenous oral traditions and uses these to estimate the date of the most recent major seismic event.
The Nuu-chah-nulth of western Vancouver Island used lookout sites on small outer-coast islands to observe the movements of sea mammals and canoes, and later the trading ships arriving with cargoes of new goods. A trench excavated across... more
The Nuu-chah-nulth of western Vancouver Island used lookout sites on small outer-coast islands to observe the movements of sea mammals and canoes, and later the trading ships arriving with cargoes of new goods. A trench excavated across the upper surface of one such site yielded an artifact assemblage typical of late Nuu-chah-nulth sites, along with radiocarbon dates indicating use over the few centuries prior to contact with Europeans. Three artifacts of introduced materials reveal that this location continued in use into the early decades of contact. Copper and California abalone shells (“Monterey shells”) were two of the earliest and most important trade materials during the maritime fur trade. Indigenous demand was for the raw material, which was re-worked into decorative items of traditional form. The excavation results provide a rare glimpse into this early contact period, with no admixture of later manufactured objects. Ethnohistoric and ethnographic sources provide context to interpret these discoveries.
The following is a recap of the talk Garry Gitzen gave at the Oregon Archaeological Society Meeting of May 4, 2010 at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI), Portland, Oregon.
This dance drum is the result of a collaboration between David Boxley and his son David Robert Boxley, renowned Tsimshian sculptors actively engaged in the revival, preservation and recognition of the cul- ture and arts of the peoples of... more
This dance drum is the result of a collaboration between David Boxley and his son David Robert Boxley, renowned Tsimshian sculptors actively engaged in the revival, preservation and recognition of the cul- ture and arts of the peoples of the Northwest Coast of the United States. The territory of these peoples had indeed been considerably reduced in the 19th century with the arrival of the settlers, and the prac- tice of their traditional way of life and native language had been prohibited. This drum is an example of the revival of Tsimshian culture, fostered by new generations proud of their roots. It is made from local materials traditionally used by the Tsimshian, such as red and yellow cedar and deerskin, also tanned and smoked using traditional techniques. The representation painted on the membrane refers to a story taken from Tsimshian mythology. It is the story of how Raven stole the Sun to offer it to Mankind, as the darkness in which the latter lived seemed to him to make its existence (and his own at the same time) particularly hard and unacceptable.
Ce tambour de danse est le résultat d’une collaboration entre David Boxley et son fils David Robert Boxley, artistes sculpteurs tsimshians renommés se consacrant activement à la renaissance, la préser- vation et la reconnaissance de la culture et des arts des peuples de la Côte Nord-Ouest des Etats-Unis. Le territoire de ces peuples s’était en effet vu considérablement réduit au 19ème siècle avec l’arrivée des colons, et la pratique de leur mode de vie traditionnel et de leur langue natale avait été interdite. Ce tambour est un exemple du revival de la culture tsimshian, porté par des nouvelles générations fières de leurs racines. Il a été réalisé dans des matériaux locaux utilisés traditionnellement par les Tsimshians comme le cèdre rouge, le cèdre jaune et la peau de cerf, tannée et fumée elle aussi selon des tech- niques traditionnelles. La représentation peinte sur la membrane fait référence à une histoire extraite de la mythologie tsimshian. Elle raconte comment Corbeau à dérobé le Soleil pour l’offrir aux Hommes, tant l’obscurité dans laquelle ces derniers vivaient lui semblait rendre leur existence (et la sienne par la même occasion) particulièrement pénible et inacceptable.
