Paleoethnobotany of Kilgii Gwaay: a 10,700 year old Ancestral Haida Archaeological Wet Site

Simple item page
dc.contributor.authorCohen, Jenny Micheal
dc.contributor.supervisorMackie, Quentin
dc.date.accessioned2014-12-03T21:17:26Z
dc.date.available2015-11-22T12:22:04Z
dc.date.copyright2014en_US
dc.date.issued2014-12-03
dc.degree.departmentDepartment of Anthropology
dc.degree.levelMaster of Arts M.A.en_US
dc.description.abstractThis thesis is a case study using paleoethnobotanical analysis of Kilgii Gwaay, a 10,700-year-old wet site in southern Haida Gwaii to explore the use of plants by ancestral Haida. The research investigated questions of early Holocene wood artifact technologies and other plant use before the large-scale arrival of western redcedar (Thuja plicata), a cultural keystone species for Haida in more recent times. The project relied on small-scale excavations and sampling from two main areas of the site: a hearth complex and an activity area at the edge of a paleopond. The archaeobotanical assemblage from these two areas yielded 23 plant taxa representing 14 families in the form of wood, charcoal, seeds, and additional plant macrofossils. A salmonberry and elderberry processing area suggests a seasonal summer occupation. Hemlock wedges and split spruce wood and roots show evidence for wood-splitting technology. The assemblage demonstrates potential for site interpretation based on archaeobotanical remains for the Northwest Coast of North America and highlights the importance of these otherwise relatively unknown plant resources from this early time period.en_US
dc.description.proquestemailcohenjenny2@gmail.comen_US
dc.description.scholarlevelGraduateen_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1828/5741
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.rights.tempAvailable to the World Wide Weben_US
dc.subjectKilgii Gwaayen_US
dc.subjectpaleoethnobotanyen_US
dc.subjectHaida Gwaiien_US
dc.subjectarchaeologyen_US
dc.subjectpaleoenvironmenten_US
dc.subjectarchaeobotanyen_US
dc.subjectplant macrofossilsen_US
dc.subjectmacrobotanicalen_US
dc.subjectseed identificationen_US
dc.subjectearly Holoceneen_US
dc.subjectNorthwest Coasten_US
dc.subjectPacific Northwesten_US
dc.subjectkeystone speciesen_US
dc.subjectsalmonberryen_US
dc.subjectred elderberryen_US
dc.subjectSitka spruceen_US
dc.subjectwestern hemlocken_US
dc.subjectwestern redcedaren_US
dc.subjectpaleontologyen_US
dc.subjectHaida culture historyen_US
dc.subjectsplit wood technologyen_US
dc.subjectsplit spruce rooten_US
dc.subjecttoolsen_US
dc.subjectberriesen_US
dc.subjectGwaii Haanas National Park Reserveen_US
dc.subjectwet siteen_US
dc.titlePaleoethnobotany of Kilgii Gwaay: a 10,700 year old Ancestral Haida Archaeological Wet Siteen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US

Files

Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
Cohen_Jenny_MA_2014.pdf
Size:
3.51 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Download
License bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
license.txt
Size:
1.74 KB
Format:
Item-specific license agreed upon to submission
Description:
Download

Collections

Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETD)
 
University of Victoria Libraries

We acknowledge and respect the Lək̓ʷəŋən (Songhees and Esquimalt) Peoples on whose territory the university stands, and the Lək̓ʷəŋən and W̱SÁNEĆ Peoples whose historical relationships with the land continue to this day.