Ames, Kenneth M.
Raetz, Doria F. Hamilton, Stephen. McAfee, Christine.
Household Archaeology
of a Southern Northwest Coast Plank House
Journal of Field
Archaeology 19(3) 275-290
This article discusses a large (14m
x 35m) prehistoric plank house that was found in the Meier site, in the Wapato
Valley near Portland Oregon. This site has been excavated by The Portland State
University field school since 1987 and has yielded hundreds of artifacts, as
well as a large amount of information not only on the construction and
maintenance of the plank houses of the Northwestern coast, but also on the taphonimic
aspects of the region. As these households were a central aspect of the
Northwestern area, a plank house of this scale provides a wealth of information
that can be applied to many of the other sites in the region. These houses were
constructed by erecting a basic frame of permanent foundation posts and then
affixing this frame in planks. As the Meier house was reconstructed, they based
it off of the descriptions of other large-scale Chinookan plank houses in the
regionas well as the Ozette houses.
The most well known of these houses having a very distinguishable
construction, since they were all based on the same basic “plank-over-frame”
design. These planks could be removed and replaced to preserve or repair the
house. This allowed for the house to be used for multiple generations. This
means that the Native groups living in these houses were relatively sedentary,
despite having a hunter-gatherer society. Due to their location in the richly
fertile Valley, they were able to provide themselves with a diet consisting of
a very balanced nutritional value. This was generally composed of salmon and
other protein sources such as elk, from the surrounding bodies of water, and
plants from the Valley in which they were situated. This is known due to the
finding of large amounts of ash, shell, and salmon bones found at the east end
of the Meier house. From the excavations of this site, we have gained a general idea of how much
effort might have been expended on these structures, as well as how important
these houses were within the social structure of the peoples of the Northwest
coast.
Morrison,
David.
Inuvialuit
Fishing and the Gutchiak Site
Arctic
Anthropology 37(1) 1-42
In
this article, Morrison discusses the fishing practices and culture of the
Inuvialuit at the Gutchiak site, which is located on the shores of the Eskimo
Lakes. As fish made a large portion of the diet of the Inuit peoples, the
affect of these practices on their culture is substantial. The main aspect of
their culture that separates the Inuvialuit from their neighboring groups is
the fishing of the beluga. Many of the groups in the area fished and also
hunted caribou for the majority of their diet, but the hunting of the beluga is
what truly distinguishes the Inuvialuit. It is due to this that they were, for
a long period of time, the wealthiest and most highly populated Inuit group in
the area. Much of this information has been gained from the Gutchiak site and
the artifacts found therein.
The
Gutchiak site was discovered and tested in 1986 and was later excavted in 1991.
During this time over 55,000 fish remains were found. This makes it the most
abundant in the entire Arctic region. Located on a peninsula, the Gutchiak
(literally meaning “like a river”) is surrounded by powerful tidal currents,
which insure that the water in the area is able to be fished for the longest
amount of time throughout the year.
Unfortunately, these tidal currents have also caused the possible
erosion of much of the site. Even so, the area is still a source of lithic
material, wood and antler tools, as well as many different forms of fishing
equipment such as curved and straight barbs, spear prongs, line sinkers and so
on. It also shows the presense of multiple hearths. Though there are no large
structures such as plank houses, these hearths seemingly allowed for the
smoking and preservation of the fish that had been caught as well as provided
shelter for the groups having caught them. This is not entirely surprising
considering that the area is a primarily warm weather site. Though the
traditional culture of this area is one of the more poorly documented, the
Gutchiak site and the information gained from it have been very beneficial to increasing
our knowledge and understanding of the groups that lived there as well as the
practices that shaped their culture.
No comments:
Post a Comment