Late Prehistoric Subsistence in the Strait of Georgia Region of the Northwest
Coast
Zooarchaeological data reported from twenty-two Developed Coast Salish horizon
(1500 years before present to European contact) sites in the southern Strait
of Georgia region were compared with subsistence information from regional
ethnographies in an attempt to discover whether the ethnographic record is
an accurate portrayal of late prehistoric subsistence. Additional data collected
during the 1984 and 1985 excavations from DeRt 1 on Pender Island, British
Columbia were included in the comparisons.
Cluster analyses of the zooarchaeological data showed that sites excavated
in a similar manner tended to fall in the same cluster, indicating that archaeological
methods were strongly influencing perceptions of regional subsistence patterns.
Mammal assemblages were dominated by ungulates and canids. The dominance of
wapiti on mainland sites contradicts the ethnographic record, which stated
that wapiti were a staple only on Vancouver Island. Sea mammals were a minor
component of the mammal assemblages. Not surprisingly, waterfowl were the
most commonly identified birds recovered from the sites. As predicted from
the ethnographic record, salmonids figured prominently, and were identified
in all Strait of Georgia sites. In sites in which column samples were taken
and sediments screened through fine-mesh screens, herring appeared to be more
common than indicated from assemblages collected using coarser screens. Shellfish
frequency data were not usually provided.
While the ethnographic records were useful for understanding general subsistence
patterns, therewere some differences between the ethnographic and the archaeological
record. The greatest differences were between ethnographic accounts of fishing
activities and the archaeological fish assemblages. True cods, sculpins and
perches were more important in some sites than expected based on the ethnographic
information, while halibut was less important. This suggests that there was
a change in the economic importance of these species associated with the introduction
of the commercial fishing industry which emphasized salmon. The focus on salmonids
in the Northwest Coast literature has apparently obscured the contribution
of other animals which may have played a larger part in the subsistence of
late prehistoric Southern Strait of Georgia people.