The underwater archaeology of Straits Salish reef-netting
Date
1985
Authors
Easton, Norman Alexander
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Abstract
This thesis is based on underwater archaeological fieldwork investigating prehistoric Straits Salish reef-net fishing locations in Canadian waters. Two substantiated sites were surveyed and chonometric estimates of their age statistically extrapolated from a sample of the number of reef-net anchor stones deposited on the site: one, at Bedwell Harbour, Pender Islands, is dated to the latter half of the 18th century, A.D.; the other, off Smythe Head, at the eastern entrance to Becher Bay, Vancouver Island, is dated to A.D. 1500 +/- 50 years.
In order to develop predictive propositions to guide the field work and subsequent analysis, extensive research of the ethnological, historical, and archaeological sources which pertain to the subject of reef-netting was carried out; these sources are here collated and critically presented. Among other things, they lead to propositions on the archaeological characteristics expected to be manifest at a reef-net fish camp. The comparison of these expected characteristics with presently known Gulf of Georgia archaeological components shows that, to date, it is unlikely that such a prehistoric site has been excavated. Several possible locations of reef-net camps are also identified.
The political economy and antiquity of reef-netting is examined in the context of Straits Salish sociology. The logic of t he apparent contradictions in Straits society, such as between owners of reef-net locations and non-owners, is explicated in terms of a transitional economic formation, one from a primitive communist to a proto-tributary mode of production.