The underwater archaeology of Straits Salish reef-netting

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dc.contributor.authorEaston, Norman Alexanderen_US
dc.date.accessioned2024-08-13T22:13:02Z
dc.date.available2024-08-13T22:13:02Z
dc.date.copyright1985en_US
dc.date.issued1985
dc.degree.departmentDepartment of Anthropology
dc.degree.levelMaster of Arts M.A.en
dc.description.abstractThis 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.
dc.format.extent244 pages
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1828/17714
dc.rightsAvailable to the World Wide Weben_US
dc.titleThe underwater archaeology of Straits Salish reef-nettingen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US

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