The north-central cultural dichotomy on the Northwest coast of North America: its evolution as suggested by wet-site basketry and wooden fish hooks.

The north-central cultural dichotomy on the Northwest coast of North America: its evolution as suggested by wet-site basketry and wooden fish hooks. Introduction: the North-Central Northwest Coast cultural dichotomyFor some time researchers on the Northwest Coast of North America North America,third largest continent (1990 est. pop. 365,000,000), c.9,400,000 sq mi (24,346,000 sq km), the northern of the two continents of the Western Hemisphere. have noted a North-Central Coast cultural dichotomy, distinguishing thenorthern Tlingit-Haida-Tsimshian 'co-traditions' from thecentral Wakashan/Coast Salish groups. With increasing wet-siteperishable data, especially with abundant and complex basketry basketry,art of weaving or coiling and sewing flexible materials to form vessels or other commodities. The materials used include twigs, roots, strips of hide, splints, osier willows, bamboo splits, cane or rattan, raffia, grasses, straw, and crepe paper. andcordage cordage(kôr`dĭj), collective name for rope and other flexible lines. It is used for such purposes as wrapping, hauling, lifting, and power transmission. Early man used strips of hide, animal hair, and plant materials. artefacts, we are able better to explore the longevity ofdistinct cultural ethnicities all along the coast. Additionally, wetsites produce frequent examples of perishable fishing equipment,allowing us to examine the evolution of Northwest Coast fishingeconomies. Over 1300 wooden-shanked fish-hooks have been recovered fromNorthwest Coast wet sites, representing fishing practices for at leastthree millennia. These subsistence-related artefacts, maybe lesssensitive to ethnicity studies than is basketry, probably reflect theevolution of broader economic trends along the entire coast.This study explores presently available wet-site data from North andCentral Northwest Coast sites from two analytical perspectives: * the degrees of stylistic continuity of the complexbasketry/cordage artefacts recovered which appear to reflect ethniccontinuities within the North and Central regions; and * the comparison of procurement-related artefacts, and especiallywooden fish-hooks, that may reflect differences and similarities ineconomic evolution through time between the two major coastal regions[ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 1 OMITTED].The dichotomy's historyEthnographically, Wissler was the first to describe the NorthwestCoast Culture Area in modern terms (1914; 1917). He set the stage forfuture comparisons by stating: 'the art, social, and ceremonialtraits of the north all thin out as we move southward' (1938: 231).Kroeber (1939: 169) several times points out that the population densityis greater to the south, while expressing his belief that a greatercomplexity is found in the north. Using 292 variables, Jorgensenproduced dendrograms of overall similarity between Northwest Coastcultures demonstrating the northern Tlingit-Haida-Tsimshian cluster asrelatively separate from the rest of the Northwest Coast (1980:[ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 4.3 OMITTED]). In tests comparing economicsimilarity, the northern Tlingit-Haida-Tsimshian and Kwakiutl groupsform their own cluster (1980). This pattern is an important referencepoint when comparing wet-site subsistence-related artefacts sincesimilar economic practices seem to cross-cut ethnically distincthistoric groups. Possibly economic patterns reflected in procurementartefacts can be explored through considerable time-depth with wet-siteperishable artefacts. The basketry/cordage artefacts have been used toargue for ethnic continuity, while the kinds of wooden fish-hooks maydemonstrate overlap of procurement practices between distinct culturalgroups through time. The wet-site artefacts may be one of our best meansto test both ethnic continuity patterns and the sharing of subsistencepractices between cultural groups.Environmentally, a contrast has frequently been noted between Northand Central regions as well, with resources generally declining inabundance and diversity on a Central-to-North gradient (Suttles 1962),especially with respect to terrestrial productivity (Schalk 1981).However, the availability and abundance of general aquatic resources arefairly consistent. This pattern again adds to the overall importance ofcomparing wet-site fishing procurement equipment through time, since useof the aquatic resources should be relatively consistent from theCentral into the North coast.Linguistically, Greenberg created a tripartite division of nativeNorth American North Americannamed after North America.North American blastomycosissee North American blastomycosis.North American cattle ticksee boophilusannulatus. languages, with two - Na-Dene and Amerind - wellrepresented on the Northwest Coast (1987). In part, these basic languagegroups link with the North (Na-Dene: Athapaskan, Tlingit, Haida) andCentral (Amerind) dichotomy on the Northwest Coast.Archaeologically, researchers often suggest that this North-Centralcultural dichotomy may have the earliest of roots, dating back to thefirst occupations of the Coast following glaciation.The first traditions of the North were called Early Boreal bo��re��al?adj.1. Of or relating to the north; northern.2. Of or concerning the north wind.3. Boreal Groups byCharles Borden (1975) and more recently considered the North CoastMicroblade Tradition by R.G. Matson & Gary Coupland (1995, see alsoCarlson 1983) and may (though with less certainty than in the CentralCoast) have cultural continuity with later coastal traditions of c.4500-3500 BP (Matson & Coupland 1995: 125). This tradition has beenequated with the Na-Dene language family.The earliest traditions on the Central Coast are considered theProtowestern Tradition by Borden (1975), which possibly had Clovisantecedence an��te��ce��dence?n.Precedence.Noun 1. antecedence - preceding in timeantecedency, anteriority, precedence, precedency, priorityearliness - quality of coming early or earlier in time through the documentation of the East Wenatchee (WA) Clovissite (Mehringer & Foit 1990; Matson & Coupland 1995: 67). TheProtowestern Tradition shows strong statistical continuity through theOld Cordilleran and subsequent archaeological phases (Matson &Coupland 1995: 125). This Central tradition is equated with the Amerindlanguage family postulated by Greenberg.So the ethnographic, linguistic and prehistoric data reflect aNorth-Central cultural dichotomy with a stronger case for culturalcontinuity in the Central Coast.Wet-site contributions to understanding the North-Central culturaldichotomy on the Northwest CoastWet-site archaeology, relatively recent on the Northwest Coast, hasrevealed many new prehistoric cultural dimensions Cultural dimensions are the mostly psychological dimensions, or value constructs, which can be used to describe a specific culture. These are often used in Intercultural communication-/Cross-cultural communication-based research.See also: Edward T. . Across allsubstantially excavated wet sites, over 95% of the prehistoric materialculture recovered is of wood and fibre, with only 5% stone, bone andshell artefacts (Croes 1976a; 1992a; 1992b; 1995). In ethnographicstudies ethnographic studies,n.pl methods of qualitative research developed by anthropologists, in which the researcher attends to and inter-prets communication while participating in the research context. , these percentages are not surprising; since they come fromprehistoric sites dating back thousands of years, they bring'fresh' data for understanding the earliest of prehistoricNorthwest Coast traditions. For this study, two areas of wet researchappear to be most useful: * stylistically sensitive basketry and cordage analyses; * the analysis of procurement gear, and especially fishing hooks.I look at the available information for each artefact See artifact. category, firstwith the generally more actively studied Central Coast, and then comparethese to the northern wet-site materials.Basketry and cordage style analyses: the Central CoastOf all artefact categories, basketry has proven to be the moststylistically sensitive and complex for comparative studies through timeand across space along the entire Northwest Coast and in many otherparts of the world (Adovasio 1980; Bernick 1988; 1989; in press a; Croes1977; 1980b; 1988; 1989a; 1989b; 1992a; 1992b; 1995). All NorthwestCoast wet sites have numerous examples, often hundreds of baskets, matsand hats. A wide array of construction materials, base and bodyconstruction techniques, selvages, forms and attachments are used incombination for basketry types, providing particularly complex artefactsfor comparison.Probably the single most outstanding pattern derived by comparingbasketry artefacts from all presently investigated Northwest Coast wetsites is the continuity of their deep-rooted regional style in distinctcoastal areas for thousands of years. This pattern is best demonstratedfrom wet sites in Central Coast regions, where 8 of the 10 mainvillage/camp sites have been excavated. Since the Central Coast has hadthe longest and most extensive history of archaeological investigation,the number of sites is not surprising and includes these major wet sites[ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 1 OMITTED]: * three in the Gulf of Georgia region: Musqueam Northeast (c. 3000BP) Water Hazard (c. 2000 BP) Little Qualicum River (c. 1000 BP) * three in the Puget Sound Puget Sound(py`jĕt), arm of the Pacific Ocean, NW Wash., connected with the Pacific by Juan de Fuca Strait, entered through the Admiralty Inlet and extending in two arms c. region: Biederbost (c. 2000 BP) Fishtown(c. 1000 BP) Conway (c. 1000 BP) * two on the West Coast: Hoko River (c. 3000 BP) Ozette Village (c.300 BP)In this actively studied Central Coast area, regional phases are welldefined by the stone, bone and shell artefacts from the commonshell-midden sites. Though these phases are distinguished, they appearto reflect overall continuity from the early Protowestern Tradition ofthe Old Cordilleran, through the developmental phases of St Mungo,Locarno Beach Locarno Beach is one of the beaches that line English Bay in Vancouver. It is situated in the West Point Grey neighbourhood, between Jericho Beach and the Spanish Banks beaches. It was named after the Swiss city where a peace treaty was signed in 1925. , Marpole and Gulf of Georgia (Matson & Coupland 1995).In a surprising contrast to the phases defined by stone/bone/shellartefacts on the Central Coast, prehistoric basketry and cordage stylesdemonstrate distinct sub-regional continuity, cross-cutting phases, inat least two areas: the West Coast (Hoko, Ozette) wet sites and the Gulfof Georgia/Puget Sound (Musqueam, Water Hazard, Biederbost, Fishtown,Conway) wet sites [ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 2 OMITTED].The stone, bone and shell artefacts from the West Coast wet site ofHoko River stylistically and statistically define a Locarno Beach phase[ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 3 OMITTED], but the Hoko prehistoric basketryand cordage styles reflect at least 3000 years of West Coast stylisticcontinuity distinct from wet sites in the Gulf of Georgia/Puget Soundsubregion sub��re��gion?n.A subdivision of a region, especially an ecological region.subre [ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 4 OMITTED]. The wet sites of HokoRiver and Musqueam Northeast on the Fraser Delta can easily be definedas Locarno Beach Phase by their stone, bone and shell artefacts; yettheir basketry and cordage, distinct in style, statistically link withstyles in later sites and ethnographically in each of these sub-areas(Croes 1989a; 1992a; 1992b; 1995). In the same respect, if we compareonly the stone, bone and shell artefacts from the West Coast OzetteVillage wet site (where a mud-slide encased whole cedar-planklong-houses full of wood and fibre perishables) and the late HokoRockshelter shell-midden site (both c. 900-1000 BP) to those of the Gulfof Georgia/Puget Sound shell midden middendungheap. sites such as Montague Harbour IIIand late San Juan Island San Juan Island is the second-largest and most populous of the San Juan Islands in northwestern Washington, United States. It has a land area of 142.59 km2 (55.053 sq mi) and a population of 6,822 as of the 2000 census. , all can be statistically defined as Gulf ofGeorgia Phase (Croes 1992a; 1992b) [ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 3 OMITTED].Yet we certainly know historically these areas represent two verydistinct cultural and linguistic groups - the Wakashan (West Coast) andSalishan (Gulf of Georgia/Puget Sound) respectively [ILLUSTRATION FORFIGURE 5 OMITTED]. Through other studies involving economic evolution,we have proposed that these phases (Locarno Beach, Marpole and Gulf ofGeorgia) best define economic plateaux or stages that several ethnictraditions passed through on the Central Coast, with these economicplateaux best reflected through the procurement and processing artefactsrepresented by the stone/bone/shell artefacts (Croes & Hackenberger1988).Basketry and cordage stylistic analysis - the North CoastIn the northern Northwest Coast, waterlogged and wet sites have beenless numerous, no doubt a result of only recent extensive archaeologicalinvestigations in these northern areas. A good hint of the potential inNorthwest Coast wet-site archaeology to the North was the recentrecovery of the oldest wet-site basketry from the Silver Hole Site,Thorne River Estuary, Prince of Wales Island, Alaska For other islands named after the Prince of Wales, see Prince of Wales Island. Prince of Wales Island is the third largest island in the United States, after Hawai‘i and Kodiak Island. , with a calibrated14C date of 5945 years BP (Fifield 1995; [ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURES 1& 6 OMITTED]). This discovery gives a first look at the basketryfrom the earliest known colonizing traditions on the northern NorthwestCoast, the North Coast Microblade Tradition (as defined by Matson &Coupland 1995). Previously we have seen the well-developed microbladeand pebble-tool industries dating from at least 9000 to perhaps 4500 BP,but never their basketry industries. Since basketry appears to reflectethnicity more closely than do stone and bone artefacts (Adovasio 1980;Bernick 1988; Croes 1989a), our first look at a North Coast MicrobladeTradition basket is intriguing.The basket in many ways conforms to the ethnographic Tlingit-Haidabasketry of this northern area, with the following distinctTlingit-Haida ethnographic basketry modes (attributes) as well definedby Jones (1976) and Croes (1989b: 187): * basketry construction materials: spruce root * basket base construction techniques: spiral-based twining (with aclock-wise direction of twining) * basket base outline: round * basket body construction techniques: opentwining * gauge of twining: fine gauge * basket shape: round-based cylinderThe only surprising deviation from the expected northernTlingit-Haida trend ethnographically is a lean of the twine twine:see cordage. up-to-the-right whereas historically this region is characterized by anup-to-the-left twining (in sharp contrast to the Central NorthwestCoast's emphasis on up-to-the-right). A strong cultural correlationis typically seen with the emphasized lean of the twine: as this hasnothing to do with handedness handedness,habitual or more skillful use of one hand as opposed to the other. Approximately 90% of humans are thought to be right-handed. It was traditionally argued that there is a slight tendency toward asymmetrical physiological development favoring the right and is functionally arbitrary, it istherefore culturally prescribed. The lean of the twine does not switchthrough prehistoric time in the American Southwest, Plains or GreatBasin Great Basin,semiarid, N section of the Basin and Range province, the intermontane plateau region of W United States and N Mexico. Lying mostly in Nevada and extending into California, Oregon, Idaho, and Utah, it is bordered by the Sierra Nevada on the west, the without a corresponding change in all other culturalcharacteristics, a new cultural tradition replacing the old (Adovasiopets. comm. 1995). However, amongst Haida basketry, a few twined basketsand an occasional hat do have an up-to-the-right lean of the twine, soit is not necessarily completely culturally prescribed in this area intohistoric periods. Four elaborately twined spruce-root hats wererecovered from the Central prehistoric Ozette Village wet site and werethought to have been traded from the North Coast. Of these, three havethe emphasized up-to-the-left lean of the twine; the fourth has theup-to-the-right lean (though in all other characteristics it isidentical to northern forms; Croes 1977: 427-32).This oldest basket so far found on the Northwest Coast, from theNorth Coast Microblade Tradition, appears in most characteristics toreflect a continuity of ethnic style in the Tlingit-Haida region of theNorthwest Coast for up to 6000 years.The other northern wet site in the Tlingit-Haida-Tsimshian area thatdoes contain a wide variety of basketry and other perishable artefactsis the Lachane site (GbTo-33) [ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURES 1 & 2OMITTED], a major village wet site located near Prince Rupert Prince Rupert,city (1991 pop. 16,620), W British Columbia, Canada, on Kaien Island, in Chatham Sound near the mouth of the Skeena River, S of the Alaska border. , BritishColumbia British Columbia,province (2001 pop. 3,907,738), 366,255 sq mi (948,600 sq km), including 6,976 sq mi (18,068 sq km) of water surface, W Canada.Geography , in the heart of historic Tsimshian territory. The artefacts inthe waterlogged portion of Lachane date to 2500-1600 BP (Inglis 1976).Though Tsimshian are linguistically considered an isolate, they havebeen most associated with a Penutian grouping or phylum phylum,in taxonomy: see classification. (Thompson &Kinkade 1990) which would classify into the suggested Amerind languagegroup proposed by Greenberg (1987). However they also have beenassociated as part of a 'northern co-tradition' with Tlingitand Haida (MacDonald 1969), most often associated with the Na-Denelanguage group proposed by Greenberg, hypothetically a slightly latermovement of peoples into the Americas (1987). The Tsimshian associationas part of a northern co-tradition reflects their many cultural styleand organizational similarities with the Tlingit/Haida and their manyeconomic interactions (MacDonald 1969).Historic Tsimshian basketry has been shown to be very distinct fromTlingit/Haida styles (Jones 1976; Croes 1989b); of most importance here,the prehistoric Lachane basketry data has been used to support twohypotheses: of Tsimshian cultural continuity for at least 2000 years;and of Lachane/Tsimshian basketry as a technological cultural marker,separating the Tsimshian cultural continuity model from adjacent andco-tradition Tlingit-Haida basket styles. The 6000-year-old basket fromthe Silver Hole site, Prince of Wales Island, Alaska, may itself reflectthe greatest depth of Tlingit-Haida cultural continuity in this northernregion, distinct from a Tsimshian style (Croes in preparation;[ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 7 OMITTED]).The final northern wet site is Axeti, in traditional Bella Coolaterritory, an isolated Coast Salishan linguistic group (Hobler 1970;1976; 1990) [ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURES 1 & 2 OMITTED]. From analysesof basketry and cordage, this approximately 1000-year-old village wetsite appears to align with the northern site of Lachane, mostly in itsemphasis on cedar-bark basketry and cordage. In technology theirbasketry and cordage are not similar to Lachane, and this northernpattern has been considered a northern trend, versus any culturalaffiliations (Croes 1977; 1989b; 1995).Basketry and cordage stylistic analyses; Central-North conclusionsIn both the Central and North Coast regions, the wet-site basketryand cordage analyses have shown distinct continuities that pass throughwidespread regional phases defined through stone, bone and shellartefacts (Central Coast) or proposed cultural 'co-tradition'designations (North Coast) [ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 5 OMITTED]. TheCentral Coast phase definitions of St Mungo, Locarno Beach, Marpole andGulf of Georgia have been demonstrated to be statistically valid (Matson1974 & FIGURE 3) and the northern co-tradition pattern appears to beculturally valid for the Tlingit-Haida-Tsimshian, but the sub-regionalcontinuity of basketry styles requires a re-assessment of what thesephase and co-tradition designations actually mean. In other studies,initiated because of those contradictions between artefacts we see onwet and on non-wet sites, simulation modelling of economicdecision-making and its evolution in the Central Coast region hasprovided a best-fit explanation. This has the defined and abrupt phaseshifts representing rapid economic adaptive shifts, which werewell-reflected by the changes in subsistence-related stone, bone andshell artefacts - which themselves basically have both resource-captureand processing functions (Croes & Hackenberger 1988; Croes 1992b).The previously considered cultural phases and the northern culturalco-tradition actually best represent long-term stable economic plateauxor stages that were readily adapted to on a widespread basis through theCentral and North Coast, regardless of the ethnic traditions, aseconomic solutions to the expanding and circumscribed population basesdeveloped; widespread similarities include actual procurement andstorage technologies, aspects of social hierarchy Social hierarchyA fundamental aspect of social organization that is established by fighting or display behavior and results in a ranking of the animals in a group. management mechanisms,territory ownership and means of redistribution of resources throughpotlatching/feasting. These economic plateaux would concentrate thesubsistence-related stone, bone and shell artefacts, creating a distinctphase-like (or co-tradition-like) marker. In this hypothetical construct In scientific theory a hypothetical construct is an explanatory variable which is not directly observable. For example, the concepts of intelligence and motivation are used to explain phenomena in psychology, but neither is directly observable. the more complex and stylistically distinct basketry and cordageartefacts were not so affected by these broad and relatively quickeconomic shifts, so they represent separate lines of ethnic continuitythrough time in the two different regions ([ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURES 2,4-5 OMITTED]; for the full argument, see Croes & Hackenberger 1988;Croes 1989a; 1992b).Wet-site procurement-related artefacts: wooden fish-hooksIf Central Coast phases are defined by procurement- andprocessing-related stone, bone and shell artefacts, and thereby reflecteconomic stages or plateaux more than ethnicity, then we should seewet-site procurement-related perishable artefacts widespread andcross-cutting ethnic groups that have been defined on the basis of stylecontinuity in basketry and cordage artefacts. These procurement-relatedartefacts may also be observed to change between proposed economicphases in the Central Coast region and possibly in the northern regionstoo.Since aquatic resources seem to be most consistent from the Centralto North Coast, wet-site perishable fishing equipment would probably bethe best procurement-related artefacts to explore. Though nets and weirsare common from sites for thousands of years (Moss et al. 1990;Stevenson in press; Croes 1995), fish-hook types appear to be the moststylistically distinct for comparison here (especially with over 1300wooden fish-hooks now recovered from Northwest Coast wet sites).Preliminary overviews offer fish-hook types as best suited to exploringmajor shifts in aquatic subsistence emphases through time and betweenregions.An early wet site with an abundance of fishhooks is Hoko River, with351 hooks of two major types recorded:Type A: composite three-piece V-shaped hooks, consisting of twowooden shanks and bone barb barb-,a combining form used to indicate derivatives of barbituric acid.Barb1. originally a distinct line of black Australian kelpies, but now the term is generally applied to any black kelpie.2. .Type B: self-barbed bentwood fish-hooks with a carved knob end forleader attachment [ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 8 OMITTED].Of these 351 hooks: 35 (10%) appear to be type B bentwood hookpre-forms; 109 (31%) are completed, but typically broken and discarded,type B bentwood fish-hooks; and 207 (59%) are type A composite shankedfish-hooks typically broken and discarded in the site [ILLUSTRATION FORFIGURE 8 OMITTED]. So approximately 40% of the fish-hooks recovered aretype B bentwood styles in construction and 60% are type A compositeshank shank(shangk)1. leg (1).2. crus ( 2).shankn.The part of the human leg between the knee and ankle. form (Hoff 1980; Croes 1995).The type B bentwood fish-hooks are constructed from a single piece ofwood that has been bent, no doubt through steaming, into a U shape[ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 9 OMITTED]. The prehistoric Hoko River bentwoodhook types differ in significant ways from historic bentwood'halibut' hook types (Type C) in having a carved knob at oneend for the leader attachment (instead of an attachment midway in thebend) and having a self-barbed, recurved baited end (instead of a bonebarb attached) [ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 10 OMITTED]. This self-barbedform of prehistoric bentwood hook, distinct from the later styles, isbelieved after replication experiments (below) to have been used at Hokoto catch cod (15% of the fish fauna), in contrast to the prehistoricOzette and historic Makah use of the type C bone barbed bentwoods forflatfish and halibut halibut:see flatfish. halibutAny of various flatfishes, especially the Atlantic and Pacific halibuts (genus Hippoglossus, family Pleuronectidae), both of which have eyes and colour on the right side. ([ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 10 OMITTED]; Croes 1995).If the hypothesis that procurement-related artefacts (especiallythose of stone, bone and shell that define phases) might be sharedbetween prehistoric ethnic groups with distinct basketry styles isvalid, we could find the procurement-related wooden fish-hook types fromHoko River in other early Central Coast wet sites, especially in theGulf of Georgia/Puget Sound regions. In fact, the same type Bself-barbed, bentwood fish-hook appears to be at the contemporaryLocarno Beach site of Musqueam Northeast (two tip fragments found:Archer & Bernick 1990: 24-5); and exactly the same type in theMarpole phase Water Hazard (7 examples: Bernick 1989) and Biederbostsites (4 examples: Nordquist 1976: 191, 199) in the Gulf ofGeorgia/Puget Sound region. To the north, the later site of LittleQualicum River has one example (Bernick 1983) and the North Coast Axetisite has over 90 (Philip Hobler pers. comm. 1996) (see [ILLUSTRATION FORFIGURE 2 OMITTED] for type B fish-hook distribution).This procurement artefact - the self-barbed bentwood fish-hooks witha knob leader attachment (type B) - does appear to cross-cut basketrystyle areas as do the stone, bone and shell artefacts that define phasedesignations. This fish-hook type, not seen into the historic period inthe Central Coast, appears to continue on the historic North Coast asthe main cod-fishing hook ([ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 11 OMITTED]; Stewart1977).Ethnographically, cod fishing was emphasized by northern co-traditiongroups of the Tlingit-Haida-Tsimshian. Numerous examples of thesebentwood hooks were collected by early explorers and ethnographers;essentially the same fish-hook type is seen from several of theprehistoric Central Coast wet sites from at least 3000-1000 years ago([ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 11 OMITTED]: Stewart 1977; I recorded 98ethnographic fish-hooks of this type at the Royal British ColumbiaMuseum The Royal British Columbia Museum is a historical museum located in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. It was given the "Royal" title upon a visit by Queen Elizabeth II in 1986.The museum is one of the centrepieces of Victoria's tourist industry. , 1996). This fishhook style was abandoned by the historic periodin the Central Coast region.Curiously, the West Coast Makah emphasize into the historic period anew form of bentwood fish-hook (Type C: Chibood in Makah) with a bonebarb and leader attached midway in the bend for the heavily emphasizedhistoric halibut fisheries [ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 10 OMITTED]. Thisstyle of bentwood hook, very abundant at the late prehistoric OzetteVillage wet site (131 complete, 607 shanks, 117 shank blanks; Draper1989), is not seen at the earlier Hoko River wet site, though halibutand flatfish is the main fishery at this early site (46% of the fishremains).The most numerous fish-hook type found at Hoko River prehistoric siteis the three-piece, V-shaped composite fish-hooks (type A: 207 examples,59%) [ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURES 8 & 12 OMITTED]. Through replicationexperiments involving actual use of this type of hook for fishing offthe Hoko River and in the Seattle Aquarium The Seattle Aquarium is a public aquarium located on Pier 59 on Seattle, USA's Elliot Bay waterfront. Run by the city, it opened on May 20, 1977. After the closure of Ivar's Aquarium in 1956, the city was at a loss for its major attraction. , we conclude that this type Ahook was the deep-sea type used to capture the most emphasized fisheriesat Hoko River, for flatfish and halibut ([ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURES 13-17OMITTED]; Croes 1995). The cod in the Seattle Aquarium often struck andbroke this type of composite hook (in a manner similar to those found inthe prehistoric site: [ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 16 OMITTED]); we believethe bentwood (spring-loaded) hooks were probably used for the codfisheries at Hoko River as they continued to be used on the historicNorth Coast (Croes 1995).This Hoko River V-shaped, composite shanked fish-hook type A is notrecorded in this form in any other Central Coast wet site. The closestanalogy, both in hook composition and its use in deep-sea fishing forflatfish and halibut, are the three-piece, V-shaped composite fish-hooksused into the historic period in northern areas, such as the Tlingit -Haida - Tsimshian co-tradition groups [ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 18OMITTED]. Often these historic wooden-shanked type A examples are highlydecorated through surface carving and tend to be larger (for alarger-size flatfish). But some illustrated northern examples are verysimilar to the 3000-year-old types so common to Hoko River [ILLUSTRATIONFOR FIGURE 18 OMITTED].The evolution of these fish-hook procurement artefacts, both theself-barbed/knobbed bentwood type B and the V-shaped composite-shankedhook type A, appears well developed on the prehistoric Central Coast,and continued in general style into the historic period in the NorthCoast, while in the Central Coast they were replaced by different stylesin late prehistoric and historic periods.Summary and conclusionsFrom this brief overview of available data on North and Central wetsites we see a general set of hypotheses forming:1 The style dichotomy represented from the earliest time periods inthe North and Central Coast appears to be sound, with a North CoastalMicroblade Tradition basket dating to about 6000 BP associating wellwith the general Tlingit-Haida styles into the historic period.2 The northern Lachane basketry reveals a distinct Tsimshianculture-marker by 2000 BP, effectively distinguishing their basketryfrom other northern co-tradition members, the historic Tlingit-Haida.3 The Central Coast wet sites, with more investigation, show at leasta 3000-year separation in styles on the West Coast (Wakashan) distinctfrom a continuity in styles in the Gulf of Georgia/Puget Sound(Salishan) subarea [ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURES 2, 4-5 OMITTED].4 A distinct style of self-barbed bentwood fishhooks (type B) fromprehistoric wet sites on the Central Coast distributes broadly acrossthese regions and through Locarno and Marpole phases to be replaced by abone barbed bentwood with a leader attached to the top of the bend (typeC) by the historic period.The V-shaped composite bone-barbed fishhooks (type A), so common tothe flatfish and halibut fisheries at Hoko River, are not seen atcontemporary and later wet sites on the Central Coast. The closestanalogy in fish-hook type and function appears to exist into thehistoric period in the northern areas, where V-shaped compositebone-barbed fish-hooks for deep-sea fishing for halibut are common.6 Also the self-barbed bentwood cod fish-hooks to the North appear tobe analogous to those (of type B) found prehistorically from at least3000-1000 years ago in the Central Coast. In a general economicevolutionary sequence, some of these fishing technologies appear to havedeveloped earliest in the South, and then continued as an effectivetechnology into the historic period to the North. If the phase sequenceto the South actually represents economic stages or plateaux they passedthrough - regardless of ethnicities, and as solutions to growingpopulation and environmental pressures (Croes & Hackenberger 1988;Croes 1992a; 1992b); then possibly the economies represented by theCentral Coast Locarno Beach and Marpole phases are partly represented byhistoric northern co-traditions with smaller-sized populations, who havenot passed through to the later economic stages of 'Gulf ofGeorgia' as represented on the Central Coast. Note further that thenorthern co-tradition (MacDonald 1969) is really an economicco-tradition, cross-cutting a very distinct difference in linguisticethnicity at least between the Tsimshian and Tlingit - Haida (see alsoJorgensen 1980).This hypothesis is not necessarily contrary to the view of complexityto the North, but implies they are, in economic stage, still in a'formative' period of Northwest Coast economic developmentbetter represented by Locarno Beach and/or Marpole phases in earlierstages on the Central Coast. The Gulf of Georgia phase may represent, ineconomic stage, how these potentially 'post-formative' groupsadjusted to support larger populations on the Central Coast. Manyscholars have noted the marked emphasis on riverine riv��er��ine?adj.1. Relating to or resembling a river.2. Located on or inhabiting the banks of a river; riparian: "Members of a riverine tribe ... salmon-fishing inthe Marpole phase as an emphasis 'never seen before or again'(Mitchell 1971: 52). Also the complexities in Marpole art, and othercultural patterns, are seen earlier on the Central Coast to changedirection into the historic period; among these are some elaboratestyles seen in stone-bowl sculptures, which tend to reflect styles seenlater in the northern regions.Another apparent shift in the Central Coast region through time isthe use of labrets as probable status markers, which ended between 500BC and AD 1 in the Central Coast (Cybulski 1996); the use of labrets wassupplanted by head-shaping to mark status. Labrets do not seem todisappear in the North Coast.Another example could again involve general basketry techniques onthe Central Coast. In the early wet sites, a distinct emphasis on finergauge twining and wrapping techniques is well demonstrated in LocarnoBeach and Marpole wet sites, but less emphasized in later Gulf ofGeorgia wet sites (Croes 1995: 112-17; [ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 19OMITTED]. In the North, the continued emphasis on finer gauge twining(especially Tlingit - Haida basketry) is well known.Considering the Central Coast as representing a'post-formative' tradition should not be read as a lesseningof cultural complexity, but mainly a shift in new directions for socialcomplexity, religion, art and economy. In fact the Central groups appearto have moved into an economic stage including an add-on emphasis onsea-mammal hunting (as especially developed in the fur-seal and whalingtraditions on the West Coast) and increased emphasis on trolling in openwaters for fresh salmon and herring; this is seen in the dramaticincrease in bone points in the Gulf of Georgia phase or economic stage,with up to 60% bone bi-points in sites of this late phase versus 5% orless in earlier phases (Mitchell 1971: 47; Croes 1992b: 358).The foremost pioneer of Northwest Coast archaeology, Charles Borden,may not have been far off in hypothesizing 'that it was the mergingof the early northern and southern subsistence economies which providedthe requisite foundation for . . . subsequent development' (1975:113). In this hypothesis emerging from wet-site observations andeconomic modelling, some aspects of the subsistence economies(especially fisheries technologies) may have developed earliest to theSouth with some of these earlier 'formative' Northwest Coaststage features retained into the historic period to the North. If trulythe case, the complexity attributed to the northern cultures mayactually have been reflected in the earlier (Locarno Beach/Marpole)economic stage developments on the Central Coast, which then took newdirections into a 'post-formative' economic stage on thehistoric Central Coast regions.Acknowledgements. This paper was initially presented at theinternational conference, 'Hidden Dimensions - the CulturalSignificance of Wetland Archaeology' at the University of BritishColumbia LocationsVancouverThe Vancouver campus is located at Point Grey, a twenty-minute drive from downtown Vancouver. It is near several beaches and has views of the North Shore mountains. The 7. , Canada (1995) and also revised and presented at the NorthwestCoast Symposium, The Society for American Archaeology The Society for American Archaeology (SAA) is the largest organization of professional archaeologists of the Americas in the world. The Society was founded in 1934 and today has over 7000 members. , New Orleans New Orleans(ôr`lēənz –lənz, ôrlēnz`), city (2006 pop. 187,525), coextensive with Orleans parish, SE La., between the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain, 107 mi (172 km) by water from the river mouth; founded ,Louisiana, USA (1996). I thank James Adovasio, R.G. Matson, and MadonnaMoss for providing useful comments on earlier paper drafts. As theproject basis for this paper, the Hoko River Project is co-sponsored bythe Makah Tribal Nation, and has been made possible through support ofthe M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust The arrangement by which real or Personal Property given by one person is held by another to be used for the benefit of a class of persons or the general public. , the National Endowment for theHumanities, US West, and Ray and Jean Auel. Numerous projectresearchers, Makah community members, field personnel and students havecontributed to data recovery, analysis and reporting. Though thisresearch owes its existence to these and many previous and currentresearchers, the summary and conclusions remain the responsibility ofthe author.ReferencesADOVASIO, J.M. 1980. Fremont: an artefactual adj. 1. of or pertaining to an artefact.2. made by human actions.Adj. 1. artefactual - of or relating to artifactsartifactual perspective, in D.B.Madsen (ed.), Fremont perspectives: 35-40. Salt Lake City (UT): Divisionof State History, Antiquities section, Selected papers 7(16).ARCHER, D.J.W. & K. BERNICK. 1990. Perishable artefacts from theMusqueam Northeast site. 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