Papers Peer Reviewed by Duncan McLaren
Small villages have been central to progressive models of hunter-gatherer-fisher complexity on th... more Small villages have been central to progressive models of hunter-gatherer-fisher complexity on the Northwest Coast as a stage in the narrative of increasingly nonegalitarian social relations. We argue that Tsimshian settlement history is more complicated. We examine settlement and chronological data for 66 village sites in the Tsimshian area, 22 of which we define as small. Small villages were present in the area as early as 6500 years ago, but they are also contemporary with larger settlements until after 1300 years ago. We suggest that small villages represent a traditional Tsimshian social entity known as the wilnat'aał, or lineage, knowledge of which is preserved in Tsimshian oral records. We argue that the persistence of this settlement and community form illustrates the foundational role of this social unit throughout Tsimshian history, a result that has implications for archaeological research in the context of Indigenous history.
Quartz crystals are relatively common in archaeological sites of the lower Fraser River and Salis... more Quartz crystals are relatively common in archaeological sites of the lower Fraser River and Salish Sea regions. As of 2016 there are 93 recorded sites reported to contain quartz crystal objects in British Columbia ( ). The majority of these sites are situated on the eastern side of Vancouver Island, the Fraser River drainage, the Peace River region, and southeastern BC. A lower frequency of these objects in northwestern BC may be due to less archaeological work in that region compared to southern BC. Different types of quartz crystal artifacts found at the Ruskin Dam Site in the lower Fraser River region (Gray et al. 2010) are related to a range of tasks and activities. Here we explore six 'facets' of quartz crystal use:
a n M c L a r e n , F a r i d R a h e m t u l l a , G i t l a ( E l r o y W h i t e ) , a n d D a... more a n M c L a r e n , F a r i d R a h e m t u l l a , G i t l a ( E l r o y W h i t e ) , a n d D a r y l F e d j e 155 bc studies, no. 187, Autumn 2015 bc studies 156 territories of the Heiltsuk, Wuikinuxv, and Nuxalk nations, includes the outer coast islands and skerries to the north and south of Hakai Passage as well as the mainland shoreline on the east side of Fitz Hugh Sound ( ). Calvert and Hunter islands are two of the major outer coast islands included in the study area.
Post-glacial sea-level change along the Pacific coast of North America (Shugar et al. 2014)
Post-glacial sea level dynamics during the last 15,000 calendar years are highly variable along t... more Post-glacial sea level dynamics during the last 15,000 calendar years are highly variable along the Pacific coast of Canada. During the Last Glacial Maximum, the Earth's crust was depressed by ice loading along the mainland inner coast and relative sea levels were as much as 200 m higher than today. In contrast, some outer coastal areas experienced a glacial forebulge (uplift) effect that caused relative sea levels to drop to as much as 150 m below present levels. Between these inner and outer coasts, we hypothesize that there would have been an area where sea level remained relatively stable, despite regional and global trends in sea level change. To address this hypothesis, we use pond basin coring, diatom analysis, archaeological site testing, sedimentary exposure sampling, and radiocarbon dating to construct sea level histories for the Hakai Passage region. Our data include 106 newly reported radiocarbon ages from key coastal sites that together support the thesis that this area has experienced a relatively stable sea level over the last 15,000 calendar years. These findings are significant in that they indicate a relatively stable coastal environment amenable to long-term human occupation and settlement of the area. Our results will help inform future archaeological investigations in the region.
The First Nations (Da'naxda'xw) village of Kwalate, Knight Inlet, British Columbia was located al... more The First Nations (Da'naxda'xw) village of Kwalate, Knight Inlet, British Columbia was located along the shore of a funnel-shaped bay. Archaeological investigations show that this was a major village that stretched 90 m along the shoreline and was home to possibly 100 or more inhabitants. Oral stories indicate that the village was completely swept away by a tsunami that formed when an 840-m high rock avalanche descended into the water on the opposite side of the fjord. Shipboard geological mapping, combined with empirical tsunami modelling, indicate that the tsunami was likely 2 to 6 m high prior to run-up into the village. Radiocarbon dates reveal that the village was occupied from the late 1300s CE until the late 1500s CE when it was destroyed by the tsunami.
Archaeology of British Columbia: Essays in Honour of Professor Philip M. Hobler, 2003
Recent discoveries on the northern Northwest Coast of North America provide evidence of bear hunt... more Recent discoveries on the northern Northwest Coast of North America provide evidence of bear hunting dating to the Pleistocene/Holocene transition. This paper describes the faunal assemblage from the Kilgii Gwaay wet site in southern Haida Gwaii. This assemblage includes a high proportion of the remains of black bear. Ethological data, ethnographic sources, and the archaeological record are examined in order to provide an interpretative framework for this assemblage and others in this region. The significance of bear hunting, the use of different hunting strategies, the economic utility of bears, bear ceremonialism, and the occurrence of bear bones at other Pleistocene archaeological sites are discussed. Evidence from Kilgii Gwaay suggests that bear hunting at the Pleistocene/Holocene transition on the northern Northwest Coast had both economic and ceremonial significance.
Canadian Journal of Archaeology
Journal of Archaeological Science, 2009
Following earlier examples of mapping the subsurface of shell bearing sites using augering, we em... more Following earlier examples of mapping the subsurface of shell bearing sites using augering, we employ percussion coring to identify early Holocene shell midden components at two types of sites on the Northwest Coast of North America. We describe a method for mapping subsurface components at shell bearing sites including basal deposits, paleosols and transitions between distinct cultural components. Our research was undertaken for the purpose of identifying early Holocene shell middens above the modern shore, and as components below large shell midden villages. Our results augment the developmental trajectory of shell middens on the Northwest Coast by suggesting that pre-5000 BP forms of these sites may be more common than previously thought. In light of these results, we argue that the Northwest Coast cultural historical sequence, which locates an increase in the number and rate of accumulation of shell middens beginning 5000 years ago, to be premature. However, there are insufficient data from shell middens in the early Holocene, a sampling problem that the percussion coring methods described here can address.
Coastal British Columbia is largely a rugged fjord-land archipelago. It has not always been so – ... more Coastal British Columbia is largely a rugged fjord-land archipelago. It has not always been so – over time, the coastline has changed configuration dramatically and the fauna and flora have seen multiple successions and extirpations. Through this, for the last 11,000 RCYBP years at least, resilient people made their living from the ocean and the land, shrugging off or taking advantage of environmental change. Similarly, archaeologists have worked the nooks and crannies of the coast for decades, surveying in the dense forest and digging in the deep middens, subject to similar environmental conditions as those they study and making quiet progress in regional culture histories. In more recent years, this area has been thrust to the forefront of research into the First Peopling of the American continents. As the Clovis First model began to be questioned, alternate modes and routes for the arrival of humans were brought in from the sidelines, including the hypothesized west coast route (e.g. Fladmark 1979). Not much research had been focused on this route, perhaps as Easton (1992) suggests, because of the terrestrial mindset of many archaeologists. Perhaps also, the prospects of finding sites on the deeply drowned landscapes or in the rugged, heavily forested hinterland was prohibitively daunting and led to a pessimistic outlook on success.
Quaternary International, 2011
This paper reviews the current archaeological and palaeo-environmental evidence from the Younger ... more This paper reviews the current archaeological and palaeo-environmental evidence from the Younger Dryas period on the Northwest Coast of North America. Sea level histories are region-specific, ranging from 100 m lower to 150 m higher than modern at ca. 12,200 cal BP, the mid-point of the Younger Dryas. Palaeo-environmental evidence shows temperature decrease across the study area, but in some regions this is accompanied by greater precipitation and glacial advance whereas in other conditions were drier. Terrestrial vegetation reflects this variability, with northern areas in particular showing evidence for expansion of herb and shrub tundra and southern areas marked by increased mountain hemlock and other species. Marine, intertidal and terrestrial fauna indicate productive ecosystems, with some sub-regional changes, such as extirpation of deer and bison, perhaps associated with the Younger Dryas onset. Stable isotope analysis of bear remains show these species, which are a good ecological analogue for humans, exploited both marine and terrestrial resources. Despite patchy and dynamic marine and terrestrial environments, these results suggest a challenging, yet viable environment for humans. Archaeological evidence for Younger Dryas human occupation is currently limited to six sites, of which four are associated with karst caves. The earliest of these are in Haida Gwaii, where bear hunting is dated to at least 12,650 cal BP, during the heart of the Younger Dryas interval. Other sites in southeast Alaska and in the Fraser River lowlands date to around 12,100 cal BP. In Puget Sound, the presence of ca. 13,000 cal BP Clovis surface collections, and the emerging data from the pre-Clovis Ayer Pond bison butchery site, suggest pre-Younger Dryas occupation. The Northwest Coast was open to population movement from both the north and south in the poorly known interval before the Younger Dryas, when conditions may have been more moderate and stable. The sub-regional variation and the scale of environmental change in the Younger Dryas, especially sea level fluctuation, makes discovery of Pleistocene archaeological sites challenging. The Younger Dryas may therefore be seen as something of a worst-case scenario for both the human occupation and the archaeological investigation of the Northwest Coast.
Dissertation by Duncan McLaren
A Dissertation Submitted in Par tial F ulfillment of the Req uire ments for the Degree of
Thesis by Duncan McLaren
This thesis explores multiple ways in which long-term history is constructed, described, and enac... more This thesis explores multiple ways in which long-term history is constructed, described, and enacted. The goal of undertaking this research is to discover if different long-term historical approaches provide compatible perspectives of the past. Five different approaches to the late-Pleistocene and Holocene histories of the Stave Watershed region of British Columbia are investigated. These approaches include palaeo-environmental history, Coast Salish oral tradition, the cultural-historical sequence, and two sequences based on the analysis of surface collected archaeological data from fifty sites in the study area. The last two sequences employed the use of a seriation analysis to order formed bifaces and site locations temporally, and a cluster analysis to characterize different landuse and settlement patterns in the study area through time. The long-term histories are compared, contrasted, and tabulated to demonstrate the interrelatedness of sequences and to gain an understanding of the role of social memory in enacting tradition.
Papers by Duncan McLaren
This article considers the phenomenon of archaeological sites with very long occupational records... more This article considers the phenomenon of archaeological sites with very long occupational records on the central BC coast. This area includes the well documented archaeological site of Namu (ElSx-1), which was occupied repeatedly for at least the last ten thousand years (Cannon 1991, 2000, 2002, 2003; Carlson 1996; Rahemtulla 2006). Cannon (2003) argues that Namu and other sites on the central coast reveal a pattern of cultural continuity that is long-term and persistent. This article presents recently acquired archaeological data from the outer shore islands to the west of Namu, demonstrating that other archaeological sites on the central coast have records of human occupation and use that are of similar spans. In our interpretation of the long-term processes that contributed to the formation of these persistent places, a combination of both social and environmental factors is considered. In particular, the ethnographically described systems of prerogatives – exclusive rights and p...
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Papers Peer Reviewed by Duncan McLaren
Dissertation by Duncan McLaren
Thesis by Duncan McLaren
Papers by Duncan McLaren