Animism as a Means of Exploring Archaeological Fishing Structures on Willapa Bay, Washington, USA

Losey, Robert L.

doi:10.1017/s0959774310000028

Cited by 41 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 16 publications

(21 reference statements)

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“…Various sources, our own ethnographic consultants among them, allude to traditional salmon harvesting restrictions, such as net gauges to avoid capture of small and juvenile fish, allowing for partial escapement of particular runs, the partial dismantling of weirs when they are not in use to avoid inadvertent catches, and the discontinuation of the season's net fishing when catches reached a threshold that was perceived as inviting risk of Boffending the fish^ (Losey 2010;Deur 2005). A variety of sources also describe Bstreamscaping^to facilitate or cultivate salmon passage (e.g., removing beaver dams or stone obstructions, or creating resting pools) and other habitat enhancements (Menzies 2012(Menzies , 2007Langdon 2006a, b;Jones 2002).…”

Section: Salmon Cultivationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cultivation of Salmon and other Marine Resources on the Northwest Coast of North America

Thornton

Deur

Kitka³

2015

Hum Ecol

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We present evidence for cultivation of marine resources among aboriginal peoples of the Northwest Coast of North America. While such evidence has been marshalled for plant cultivation, we argue that similar cultivation techniques developed around salmon and other critical marine resources of which they had intimate knowledge, and that such interventions helped regularize supplies, ameliorate disruptions, accommodate shifts, and even reverse declines in species populations by recreating or strengthening conditions for sustaining species in dynamic ecological systems. The plants, fish, and wildlife of the region were resilient, and often pre-adapted to cyclic or stochastic disturbance regimes, but, like the aboriginal populations themselves, also vulnerable to environmental shocks and scarcities. We suggest that Northwest Coast indigenous people observed the effects of both gradual and rapid environmental change on key species over generations, and adjusted their behavior accordingly. The effects of human enhancement, human over-exploitation, or natural perturbations were often rapidly apprehended, allowing for feedback mechanisms that became integral to the technologies and social mechanisms for resource management. These practices are best conceptualized as cultivation techniques rather than restrictive conservation practices, designed to optimise resource supplies and harvest conditions, thus reducing risk and vulnerability and increasing social-ecological resilience.

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Section: Salmon Cultivationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cultivation of Salmon and other Marine Resources on the Northwest Coast of North America

Thornton

Deur

Kitka³

2015

Hum Ecol

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“…For example, in Heiltsuk territory on the central British Columbia coast, White (2011) notes that openings were intentionally left in fish trap walls so that fish could escape when the traps were not in use, or "gates" were opened to release the remaining fish after the trap users had taken what they needed. Archaeological examples of partially dismantled weirs may represent a similar set of protocols and beliefs (Losey 2010).…”

Section: Worldviews and Social Relationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Indigenous marine resource management on the Northwest Coast of North America

2013

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There is increasing recognition among anthropologists that indigenous peoples of the Northwest Coast actively managed their terrestrial and marine resources and ecosystems. Such management practices ensured the ongoing productivity of valued resources and were embedded in a complex web of socio-economic interactions. Using ethnographic and archaeological data, this paper synthesizes the ecological and cultural aspects of marine management systems of coastal First Nations. We divide our discussion into four aspects of traditional management systems: harvesting methods, enhancement strategies, tenure systems, and worldview and social relations. The ethnographic data, including memories of living knowledge holders, tend to provide windows into daily actions and the more intangible aspects of management; the archaeological record provides insights into the more tangible aspects and how management systems developed through time and space. This review demonstrates not only the breadth of Northwest Coast marine management but also the value of integrating different kinds of knowledge and data to more fully document the whole of these ancient management systems.

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“…Taking seriously other ways of being and knowing enriches archaeological insight through unexpected or “surprising” insights. We see this in literature that draws on relational ontologies to reconfigure knowledge around human and nonhuman animal interactions previously understood through the lens of “domestication” or “exploitation.” Robert Losey () explores the apparently “fragmentary” character of ancient fish weirs in the Pacific Northwest in relation to the animistic understanding of fish as sentient beings existing in relationship with humans. Tacking between archaeological, oral historical, and ethnographic evidence, he comes to understand the repeated building and dismantling of the weirs as linked to the human–fish relationship.…”

Section: Sketching the Contours Of Effective Archaeologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Assembling “Effective Archaeologies” toward Equitable Futures

Stahl

2020

American Anthropologist

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An urgency compels us to engage how archaeology relates to contemporary situations and future dilemmas as citizens anxiously contemplate their futures. We see “crowd‐sourced” efforts to define pressing questions. A welter of theoretical approaches promises new insight into our relationally configured worlds. We couple awareness of the situated character of knowledge with a commitment to its empirical grounding. In light of this contemporary frame, I explore principles of an “effective archaeology” that imagines its “impacts” beyond narrow “uses.” By attending to how we make facts, archives, and narratives; by placing Western knowledge in productive dialogue with knowledge grounded in other epistemologies; and by embracing a disciplinary responsibility to expand and enlarge imaginings of futures through evidentially robust and critically engaged practice, effective archaeologies hold promise to build toward more equitable futures. [archaeology, epistemology, ontology, knowledge production, collaboration]

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Animism as a Means of Exploring Archaeological Fishing Structures on Willapa Bay, Washington, USA

Cited by 41 publications

References 16 publications

Cultivation of Salmon and other Marine Resources on the Northwest Coast of North America

Cultivation of Salmon and other Marine Resources on the Northwest Coast of North America

Indigenous marine resource management on the Northwest Coast of North America

Assembling “Effective Archaeologies” toward Equitable Futures

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