Early Storage and Sedentism on the Pacific Northwest Coast: Ancient DNA Analysis of Salmon Remains from Namu, British Columbia

Cannon, Aubrey; Yang, Dongya

doi:10.2307/40035324

Cited by 84 publications

(74 citation statements)

References 18 publications

(12 reference statements)

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“…This abundance has been central to the lives of coastal peoples since the region was first colonized in the early Holocene (e.g., Cannon and Yang 2006;Wigen 2005;Ames and Maschner 1999). Archaeological and ethnographic literature document the wide range of marine animal taxa on which Northwest Coast peoples relied.…”

Section: Social and Ecological Context Of Northwest Coast Marine Manamentioning

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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Section: Social and Ecological Context Of Northwest Coast Marine Manamentioning

confidence: 99%

Indigenous marine resource management on the Northwest Coast of North America

2013

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“…(Hester and Nelson 1978, Carlson 1979, 1996, Cannon 1991, 2000, McLaren and Christensen 2014, McLaren et al 2015 and that they used a range of seasonally available marine and terrestrial species (Pomeroy 1980, Cannon and Yang 2006, Cannon et al 2008, 2011. Faunal analyses of shell middens indicate that a wide variety of fish, marine mammals, and shellfish, including butter clam, native littleneck, horse clam, cockle, whelk (Nucella spp.…”

Section: Cultural Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ancient clam gardens, traditional management portfolios, and the resilience of coupled human-ocean systems

Jackley¹,

Gardner²,

Djunaedi³

et al. 2016

E&S

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ABSTRACT. Indigenous communities have actively managed their environments for millennia using a diversity of resource use and conservation strategies. Clam gardens, ancient rock-walled intertidal beach terraces, represent one example of an early mariculture technology that may have been used to improve food security and confer resilience to coupled human-ocean systems. We surveyed a coastal landscape for evidence of past resource use and management to gain insight into ancient resource stewardship practices on the central coast of British Columbia, Canada. We found that clam gardens are embedded within a diverse portfolio of resource use and management strategies and were likely one component of a larger, complex resource management system. We compared clam diversity, density, recruitment, and biomass in three clam gardens and three unmodified nonwalled beaches. Evidence suggests that butter clams (Saxidomus gigantea) had 1.96 times the biomass and 2.44 times the density in clam gardens relative to unmodified beaches. This was due to a reduction in beach slope and thus an increase in the optimal tidal range where clams grow and survive best. The most pronounced differences in butter clam density between nonwalled beaches and clam gardens were found at high tidal elevations at the top of the beach. Finally, clam recruits (0.5-2 mm in length) tended to be greater in clam gardens compared to nonwalled beaches and may be attributed to the addition of shell hash by ancient people, which remains on the landscape today. As part of a broader social-ecological system, clam garden sites were among several modifications made by humans that collectively may have conferred resilience to past communities by providing reliable and diverse access to food resources.

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“…Although the degree of reliance on salmon by early Beringians is currently unresolved, historically in subarctic Alaska, salmon were taken in great numbers in summer to early fall for drying and storing through the winter (37). The extent of salmon storage among early Beringians is also unknown, but chum are well suited for preservation because of their low oil content relative to other salmon species (23).…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Additionally, salmon species differ in habitat requirements, run timing and abundance, and body size and fat content, all of which have implications for understanding past human land use and subsistence strategies (18,19,21,22). aDNA analysis provides more accurate identifications of fish remains, and has recently been successfully applied to fish assemblages from Holocene archaeological sites in the Pacific Northwest of North America (18,19,23,24).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Early human use of anadromous salmon in North America at 11,500 y ago

Halffman

Potter

McKinney

et al. 2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Salmon represented a critical resource for prehistoric foragers along the North Pacific Rim, and continue to be economically and culturally important; however, the origins of salmon exploitation remain unresolved. Here we report 11,500-y-old salmon associated with a cooking hearth and human burials from the Upward Sun River Site, near the modern extreme edge of salmon habitat in central Alaska. This represents the earliest known human use of salmon in North America. Ancient DNA analyses establish the species as Oncorhynchus keta (chum salmon), and stable isotope analyses indicate anadromy, suggesting that salmon runs were established by at least the terminal Pleistocene. The early use of this resource has important implications for Paleoindian land use, economy, and expansions into northwest North America.

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Early Storage and Sedentism on the Pacific Northwest Coast: Ancient DNA Analysis of Salmon Remains from Namu, British Columbia

Cited by 84 publications

References 18 publications

Indigenous marine resource management on the Northwest Coast of North America

Indigenous marine resource management on the Northwest Coast of North America

Ancient clam gardens, traditional management portfolios, and the resilience of coupled human-ocean systems

Early human use of anadromous salmon in North America at 11,500 y ago

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