Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rdxmf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-29T13:37:28.790Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Modeling Paleoshorelines and Locating Early Holocene Coastal Sites in Haida Gwaii

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Daryl W. Fedje  and
Tina Christensen
Daryl W. Fedje
Affiliation:
Parks Canada, 250-1675 Douglas St., Victoria, British Columbia V8W 2G5, Canada
Tina Christensen
Affiliation:
Millennia Research, 204-10114 McDonald Park Rd, North Saanich, British Columbia V8L 5X8, Canada
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The integration of archaeology and paleoecology has allowed a fuller understanding of the history of southern Haida Gwaii and provided insights into the regional history of coastal occupation in northwestern North America. Of particular consequence is the history of sea-level fluctuations during the late-glacial and early Holocene. The modern shore holds only part of the history of coastal occupation. Much is flooded or hidden in the rainforest. In southern Haida Gwaii, shorelines dating from 13,000 to 9,500 B.P. are deeply drowned while those dating from 9,200 to 3,000 B.P. are stranded in the rainforest up to 15 meters above modern levels. Shorelines have been approximately coincident with the current position for only the last two to three millennia and for a century or two centered around 9,400 B.P. Modeling these paleoshorelines has led to discovery and investigation of a number of early Holocene archaeological sites.

Résumé

Résumé

La integracíon de la arqueología y paleoecología ha permetido un entendimiento más completo de la historia de Haida Gwaii meridional y de la historia regional de la ocupación costera del noroeste de Norte América. De particular importancia es la historia de las fluctuaciones del nivel del mar durante los periodos de glaciación tardia y Holoceno temprano. La costa moderna solamente incluye una parte de la historia de la ocupación costera. Mucha evidencia está sumergida o escondida en el bosque. En Haida Gwaii meridional, paleo-costas que datan de 13.500 a 9.500 a.p. están sumergidas profundamente mientras que aquéllas que datan de 9.500 a 3.000 a.p. se encuentran en el bosque, alcanzando hasta 15 metros sobre el nivel moderno. Los perfiles costeros nan coincidido aproximadamente con la posicíon actual solamente en los últimos dos o tres mileniosypor un sigh o dos alrededor de 9.400 a.p. El desarrollo de modelos para estas palecostas ha conducido al descubrmiento e investigación de varios sitios arqueológicos del Holoceno temprano.

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 64 , Issue 4 , October 1999 , pp. 635 - 652
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1999

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References Cited

Acheson, S. 1991 In the Wake of the ya'aats’ xaatgaay (“Iron People “): A Study of Changing Settlement Strategies among the Kunghit Haida. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Oxford.Google Scholar
Acheson, S., and Zacharias, S. 1985 KunghitHaida Culture History Project: Results of Phase 1: 1984. Report submitted to British Columbia Archaeology Branch, Parliament Buildings, Victoria.Google Scholar
Ackerman, R.E. 1992 Earliest Stone Industries on the North Pacific Coast of North America. Arctic Anthropology 29: 18–27.Google Scholar
Ackerman, R.E., Reid, K.C., GalUson, J.D., and Roe, M.E. 1985 Archaeology ofHeceta Island: A Survey of 16 Timber Harvest Units in the Tongass National Forest, Southeastern Alaska. Project Report No. 3. Center for Northwest Anthropology, Washington State University, Pullman.Google Scholar
Ackerman, R.E., Hamilton, T.D., and Stuckenrath, R. 1979 Early Culture Complexes on the Northern Northwest Coast. Canadian Journal of Archaeology 3: 195–209.Google Scholar
Anuskiewicz, R.A., and Dunbar, J.S. 1994 Evidence of Prehistoric Man at Ray Hole Springs: A Drowned Sinkhole Located 32 km Offshore on the Continental Shelf in 12 m Seawater. In Proceedings of the American Academy of Underwater Sciences Thirteenth Annual Scientific Diving Symposium, edited by J.N. Heine and N.L. Crane, pp. 1–12. Nahant, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Apland, B. 1982 Chipped Stone Assemblages from the Beach Sites of the Central Coast. In Papers on Central Coast Archaeology, edited by Hobler, P., pp. 13–64. Publication 10. Department of Archaeology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby.Google Scholar
Archer, D. 1998 Early Holocene Landscapes on the North Coast of British Columbia. Paper presented at the 31st Annual Meeting of the Canadian Archaeological Association, Victoria.Google Scholar
Archer, D. 1989 Vegetation and Soils of the Queen Charlotte Islands: Recent Impacts of Development. In The Outer Shores, edited by Scudder, G. and Gessler, N., pp. 262–280. Queen Charlotte Museum Press, Skidegate. Google Scholar
Barrie, V., Conway, K., Mathewes, R., Josenhans, H., and Johns, M. 1993 Submerged Late Quaternary Terrestrial Deposits and Paleoenvironment of Northern Hecate Strait, British Columbia Continental Shelf, Canada. Quaternary International 20: 123–129.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bellwood, P. 1997 Ancient Seafarers. Archaeology 50 (2): 20–22.Google Scholar
Blaise, B., Clague, J., and Mathewes, R. 1990 Time of Maximum Late Wisconsin Glaciation West Coast of Canada. Quaternary Research 34: 282–295.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boas, F. 1898 Bella Coola Myths and Texts. Memoirs No.2, pt. 2, pp. 22–127. American Museum of Natural History, New York.Google Scholar
Cannon, A. 1998 The Contexts of Some Early to Mid Holocene Sites on the Central Coast of British Columbia. Paper presented at the 31st Annual Meeting of the Canadian Archaeological Association, Victoria.Google Scholar
Carlson, C. 1979 The Early Component at Bear Cove. Canadian Journal of Archaeology 3: 177–194.Google Scholar
Carlson, R.L. 1990 Cultural Antecedents. In Handbook of North American Indians, vol. 7: The Northwest Coast, edited by Suttles, W, pp. 197–202. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Carlson, R.L. 1996 Early Namu. In Early Human Occupation in British Columbia, edited by Carlson, R. L. and Dalla, L. Bona, pp. 3-10, 83-102. UBC Press, Vancouver.Google Scholar
Carlson, R.L., and Hobler, P. 1976 Archaeological Survey of Seymour Inlet, Quatsino Sound and Adjacent Localities. In Current Research Report, no. 3, edited by Carlson, R.L., pp. 115–141. Simon Fraser University, Burnaby.Google Scholar
Christensen, T. 1997a Archaeological Inventory of Gwaii Haanas, 1995. Mil lennia Research, Victoria. Submitted to Parks Canada, Victoria.Google Scholar
Christensen, T. 1997b Threatened Raised Beach Sites in Gwaii Haanas: Further Investigations. Report submitted to Parks Canada, Victoria. Millennia Research, Victoria.Google Scholar
Clague, J.J. 1983 Glacio-isostatic Effects of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet, British Columbia, Canada. In Shorelines andlsostasy, edited by Smith, D. and Dawson, A., pp. 321–343. Academic Press, London.Google Scholar
Clague, J.J., Harper, J.R., Hebda, R.J., and Howes, D.E. 1982 Late Quaternary Sea Levels and Crustal Movements, Coastal British Columbia. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 19: 597–618.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davis, S.D. 1989 The Hidden Falls Site, Baranof Island, Alaska. Monograph Series No. 5. Alaska Anthropological Association, Anchorage.Google Scholar
Dillehay, T.D. (editor) 1997 MonteVerde-A Late Pleistocene Settlement in Chile, vol. 2, The Archaeological Context and Interpretation. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Dixon, E.J. 1993 Quest for the Origins of the First Americans. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Dixon, E.J. 1999 Human Colonization of the Americas: Timing, Technology and Process. Quaternary Science Reviews (in press).Google Scholar
Dixon, E.J., Heaton, T.H., Fifield, T.E., Hamilton, T.H., Putnam,, D.E. 1997 Late Quaternary Regional Geoarchaeology of Southeast Alaska Karst: A Progress Report. Geoarchaeology 6: 689–712.Google Scholar
Driver, J.C. 1998 Human Adaptation at the Pleistocene/Holocene Boundary in Western Canada, 11,000 to 9,000 BP. Quaternary International 49: 141–150.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dunbar, J.S., Webb, S.D., and Faught, M. 1992 Inundated Prehistoric Sites in Apalachee Bay, Florida, and the Search for the Clovis Shoreline. In Paleoshorelines and Prehistory: An Investigation of Method, edited by Johnson, L.L. and Stright, M., pp. 117–148. CRC Press, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Easton, N.A. 1992 Mai de mer above Terra Incognito, or, “What Ails the Coastal Migration Theory.” Arctic Anthropology 29: 28–42.Google Scholar
Eldridge, M., Mackie, A.P., and Wilson, B. 1993 Archaeological Inventory of Gwaii Haanas National ParkReserve, 1992. Report submitted to Parks Canada, Victoria Millennia Research, Victoria.Google Scholar
Engstrom, D. R., Hansen, B. C., and Wright, H. E. 1990 A Possible Younger Dryas Record in Southeastern Alaska. Science 250: 1383–1385.Google Scholar
Erlandson, J.M. 1994 Early Hunter-Gatherers of the California Coast. Plenum Press, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fairbanks, R.G. 1989 A 17,000-year Glacio-eustatic Sea Level Record: Influence of Glacial Melting Rates on Younger Dryas Events and Deep-ocean Circulation. Nature 342: 637–642.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fedje, D.W. 1993 Sea Levels and Prehistory in Gwaii Haanas. Unpublished Master's thesis, University of Calgary.Google Scholar
Fedje, D.W. 1995 Archaeology and Geology on the B.C. North Coast: Modeling Early Holocene Shorelines and Archaeological Site Potential. Paper presented at the 28th Annual Meeting of the Canadian Archaeological Association, Kelowna.Google Scholar
Fedje, D.W. 1996 Early Holocene Archaeology at Richardson Island, Haida Gwaii. Paper presented at the 29 Annual Meeting of the Canadian Archaeological Association, Halifax.Google Scholar
Fedje, D.W, Gold, C., and Guujaw, 1995 Graham Island Site Reconnaissance, 1995. Report submitted to British Columbia Archaeology Branch, Parliament Buildings, Victoria, B.C. Google Scholar
Fedje, D.W., and Josenhans, H. 1999 A Prehistoric Stone Tool Recovered from a Deeply Drowned Fluvial Fan in Hecate Strait, British Columbia, Canada. Manuscript on file, Parks Canada, Victoria.Google Scholar
Fedje, D.W, Mackie, A.P., McSporran, J.B., and Wilson, B. 1996a Early Period Archaeology in Gwaii Haanas: Results of the 1993 Field Program. In Early Human Occupation in British Columbia, edited by Carlson, R. L. and Dalla Bona, L., pp.133–150. UBC Press, Vancouver.Google Scholar
Fedje, D.W, McSporran, J.B., and Mason, A.R. 1996b Early Holocene Archaeology and Paleoecology at the Arrow Creek Sites in Gwaii Haanas. Arctic Anthropology 33: 116–142.Google Scholar
Fedje, D.W. and Sumpter, I.D. 1998 1996/97 Archaeological Resource Management Programme, Gwaii Haanas National Park/Haida Heritage Site. Report on file, Parks Canada, Victoria.Google Scholar
Fedje, D.W, White, J.M., Wilson, M.C., Nelson, D.E., Southon,, J. 1995 The Vermilion Lakes Site: Adaptations and Environments in the Canadian Rockies during the Latest Pleistocene and Early Holocene. American Antiquity 60: 81–108.Google Scholar
Fladmark, K.R. 1975 A Paleoecological Model for Northwest Coast Prehistory. Paper No. 43. Archaeological Survey of Canada, Ottawa.Google Scholar
Fladmark, K.R. 1979a Routes: Alternate Migration Corridors for Early Man in North America. American Antiquity 44: 55–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fladmark, K.R. 1979b The Early Prehistory of the Queen Charlotte Islands. Archaeology 32: 18–43.Google Scholar
Fladmark, K.R. 1982 British Columbia Prehistory. Canadian Journal of Archaeology 6: 95–155.Google Scholar
Fladmark, K.R. 1986 Lawn Point and Kasta: Early Microblade Sites on the Queen Charlotte Islands, British Columbia. Canadian Journal of Archaeology 10: 39–58.Google Scholar
Fladmark, K.R. 1989 The Native Culture History of the Queen Charlotte Islands. In The Outer Shores, edited by Scudder, G. and Gessler, N., pp. 199–222. Queen Charlotte Museum Press, Skidegate.Google Scholar
Fladmark, K.R. 1990 Possible Early Human Occupation of the Queen Charlotte Islands, British Columbia. Canadian Journal of Archaeology 14: 183–197.Google Scholar
Fladmark, K. R., Ames, K. M., and Sutherland, P. D. 1990 Prehistory of the Northern Coast of British Columbia. In The Northwest Coast, edited by Suttles, W., pp. 229–239. Handbook of North American Indians, vol. 7, Sturtevant, WC., general editor. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Ham, L.C. 1988 The Cohoe Creek Site: A Late Moresby Tradition Shell Midden. Canadian Journal of Archaeology 14: 199–221.Google Scholar
Heaton, T.H., Talbot, S.L, and Shields, G.F. 1996 AnlceAge Refugium for Large Mammals in the Alexander Archipelago, Southeastern Alaska. Quaternary Research 46: 186–192.Google Scholar
Hebda, R.J. 1983 Late-Glacial and Postglacial Vegetation History at Bear Cove Bog, Northeast Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canadian Journal of Botany 12: 3172–3192.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heusser, C.J. 1960 Late-Pleistocene Environments of North Pacific North America: An Elaboration of Late-Glacial and Postglacial Climatic, Physiographic, andBiotic Changes. Special Publication 35. American Geographical Society, New York.Google Scholar
Hobler, P.M. 1978 The Relationship of Archaeological Sites to Sea Levels on Moresby Island, Queen Charlotte Islands. Canadian Journal of Archaeology 2: 1–13.Google Scholar
Jackson, L.E., and Duk-Rodkin, A. 1996 Quaternary Geology of the Ice-free Corridor: Glacial Controls on the Peopling of the New World. In Prehistoric Mongoloid Dispersals, edited by Akazawa, T. and Szathmary, E.J., pp. 214–227. Oxford University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Jackson, L.E., Phillips, EM., Shimamura, K., and Little, E.C. 1997 Cosmogenic 36C1 Dating of the Foothills Erratics Train, Alberta, Canada. Geology 25: 195–198.Google Scholar
Josenhans, H.W., Fedje, D.W., Conway, K. W., and Barrie, J.V. 1995 Postglacial Sea Levels on the Western Canadian Continental Shelf: Evidence for Rapid Change, Extensive Subaerial Exposure, and Early Human Habitation. Marine Geology 125: 73–94.Google Scholar
Josenhans, H.W., Fedje, D.W., Pienitz, R., and Southon, J.R. 1997 Early Humans and Rapidly Changing Holocene Sea Levels in the Queen Charlotte Islands—Hecate Strait, British Columbia, Canada. Science 271: 11–14.Google Scholar
Long, D., Wickham-Jones, C.R., and Ruckley, N.A. 1986 A Flint Artifact from the North Sea. In Studies in the Upper Paleolithic of Britain and Northwest Europe, edited by Roe, D., pp. 55–62. British Archaeological Reports, Oxford.Google Scholar
Mackie, A.P., and Wilson, B. 1994 Archaeological Inventory of Gwaii Haanas 1993. Millennia Research, Victoria. Report submitted to Parks Canada, Victoria.Google Scholar
Mackie, A.P., and Wilson, B. 1995 Archaeological Inventory of Gwaii Haanas 1994. Millennia Research, Victoria. Report submitted to Parks Canada, Victoria.Google Scholar
Magne, M.P. 1996 Comparative Analysis of Microblade Cores from Haida Gwaii. In Early Human Occupation in British Columbia, edited by R.L. Carlson and L. Dalla Bona, pp. 151–158. UBC Press, Vancouver.Google Scholar
Mandryk, C.S. 1991 Paleoecology as Contextual Archaeology: Human Viability of the Late Quaternary Ice-Free Corridor, Alberta, Canada. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Alberta, Edmonton.Google Scholar
Mann, D.H., and Hamilton, T.D. 1995 Late Pleistocene and Holocene Paleoenvironments of the North Pacific Coast. Quaternary Science Reviews 14: 449–471.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mann, D.H., and Peteet, D.M. 1994 Extent and Timing of the Last Glacial Maximum in Southwestern Alaska. Quaternary Research 42: 136–148.Google Scholar
Mathewes, R.W. 1989 Paleobotany of the Queen Charlotte Islands. In The Outer Shores, edited by Scudder, G. and Gessler, N., pp. 75–90. Queen Charlotte Museum Press, Skidegate.Google Scholar
Mathewes, R.W. 1998 Late-Glacial Vegetation and Climate on the Continental Shelf of B.C.: Preliminary Data and Speculation on Human Migration. Paper presented at the 315t Annual Meeting of the Canadian Archaeological Association, Victoria.Google Scholar
Matson, R.G. 1976 The Glenrose Cannery Site. Paper No. 52. Archaeological Survey of Canada, Ottawa.Google Scholar
Matson, R.G., and G., Coupland 1995 The Prehistory of the Northwest Coast. Academic Press, San Diego.Google Scholar
Meltzer, D.J., Grayson, D.K., Ardila, G., Barker, A.W., Dincause,, D.F. 1997 On the Pleistocene Antiquity of Monte Verde, Southern Chile. American Antiquity 62: 659–663.Google Scholar
Moore, C. 1996 News from Underwater Archaeology Services. The FogHorn: 9–14.Google Scholar
Moss, M.L., and Erlandson, J.M. 1995 Reflections on North American Pacific Coast Prehistory. Journal of World Prehistory 9: 1–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nagorsen, D.W., Keddie, G., and Luszcz, T. 1996 Vancouver Island Marmot Bones from Subalpine Caves: Archaeological and Biological Significance. Occasional Paper No. 4. B.C. Parks, Victoria, Canada.Google Scholar
Oda, S. 1990 A Review of Archaeological Research in the Izu and Ogasawara Islands. Man and Culture in Oceania 6: 53–79.Google Scholar
Reynolds, T.E., and Kaner, S.C. 1990 Japan and Korea at 18,000 BP In High Latitudes, edited by Soffer, O. and Gamble, C., pp. 296–311. The World at 18,000 BP, vol. 1. Unwin Hyman, London.Google Scholar
Rokoengen, K, and Johansen, A.B. 1996 Possibilities for Early Settlement on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. Norsk Geologisk Tidsskrift 76: 121–125.Google Scholar
Southon, J. R., Nelson, D. E., and Vogel, J. S. 1990 A Record of Past Ocean-Atmosphere Radiocarbon Differences from the Northeast Pacific. Paleoceanography 5: 197–206.Google Scholar
Southon, J.R., and Fedje, D.W. 1998 A 12,000-year Record of 14C Reservoir Ages for the British Columbia Coast. Paper presented at the 31 st Annual Meeting of the Canadian Archaeological Association, Victoria.Google Scholar
Swanton, J.R. 1905 Contributions to the Ethnology of the Haida. Memoir No. 5, Pt. 1. American Museum of Natural History, New York.Google Scholar
Warner, B.G., Mathewes, R.W., and Clague, JJ. 1982 Ice-free Conditions on the Queen Charlotte Islands, British Columbia, at the Height of the Late Wisconsin Glaciation. Science 218: 675–677.Google Scholar
West, F.H. 1996 Beringia and New World Origins: The Archaeological Evidence. In American Beginnings: The Prehistory and Paleoecology of Beringia, edited by West, F.H., pp. 537–559. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Young, R.R., Burns, J.A., Smith, D.G., and Rains, R.B. 1994 A Single, Late Wisconsin, Laurentide Glaciation, Edmonton Area and Southwestern Alberta. Geology 22: 683–686.Google Scholar
Zacharias, S., and Wanagun, (R. S. Wilson) 1993 Gwaii Haanas 91 Archaeology. 1991 Archaeological Resource Inventory of South-eastern Moresby Island within the Gwaii Haanas/South Moresby National Park Reserve. Report on file, Parks Canada, Victoria.Google Scholar