Abstract The historical relevance of adawx, the oral histories of the Tsimshian and Gitksan, is frequently dismissed with the predetermined conclusion that they are essentially fictitious. This chapter begins with the alternative presumption, namely that the adawx are a record of major events in the history of Northwest Coast Nations. Four decades of research, with a view to identifying these historical events, identifying their inherent sequence, and using archaeological and geological evidence to date them, has resulted in a chronicle of major events and the identification of key periods in the Holocene era. This chapter identifies and dates the major events in one of these periods, a mid- to late Holocene period of massive migration into and within Northwest Coast Nations. This period corresponds to the Meghalayan age that the International Commission on Stratigraphy in 2018 officially added to the International Geologic Time Scale.

Community paleoecology is a powerful approach for analyzing ecological communities during long-term climate shifts like the Pleistocene-Holocene transition, but it depends on accurate estimates of species co-occurrences. The Neotoma Paleoecology Database is an open paleodata resource that stores assemblage-level taxonomic, spatial, and temporal information for Quaternary fossil localities. However, its age estimates for many vertebrate fossil localities are based on uncalibrated radiocarbon dates, hindering comparisons with other paleoenvironmental proxies. In order to provide consistent and updated age inferences suitable for broad-scale paleoecological studies, we have reassessed the radiocarbon chronologies for all 14C-dated North American small mammal collections in Neotoma. Here we present the resulting database update, including 2074 radiocarbon dates newly added to Neotoma and new calibrated radiocarbon chronologies for 1553 fossil collections. The new chronologies cover more sites and include more dates than the chronologies previously available in Neotoma. They also provide fossil assemblage age estimates in calendar years, facilitating integration with other data sources. We anticipate that these updates will be useful for various applications in community paleoecology.

This conversation began as a roundtable at the 2023 joint meeting of the American Anthropological Association and the Canadian Anthropology Society in Toronto. The roundtable was part of the Executive Program and was intended as a follow-up to Kisha Supernant’s keynote presentation, which was entitled ‘Truth before transition. Reimagining anthropology as restorative justice.’ Considering the sensitive nature of the topic, we responded to a selection of written questions from the audience rather than taking open questions. The discussion was webcast, then transcribed and redacted. This article includes a portion of the question period as well as a contextual introduction that was not part of the initial conversation.

Highlights: Pacific Northwest Coast sites are challenging for archaeological prospection, shell-rich soil matrices and perishable material culture complicate interpretations, Archaeo-geophysics can resolve subsurface plankhouse features, drone-based LiDAR can record villages and monitor climate-change induced erosion

Abstract This chapter examines how Indigenous oral traditions and archaeological practice intersect, revealing the power dynamics, colonial legacies, and cultural perspectives that shape historical narratives. It challenges the biases that marginalize oral histories in scholarly discourse and critiques the dominance of Western archaeological methodologies. By analyzing how oral traditions convey history and relate to material evidence, the chapter underscores the complexities of historical transmission, interpretation, and validation. It advocates for interdisciplinary collaboration and equitable partnerships that respect Indigenous knowledge systems while enhancing archaeological inquiry. Finally, the chapter urges scholars to adopt methodologies that integrate oral and material records, fostering a more inclusive and accurate understanding of the past.

Authorship, like many cultural quotients, reflects the positionality within which it has currency. In academic worlds, it is the key metric of scholarly worth, one that defines careers and is the pathway to success. As such, it carries particular potency as a proxy of accomplishment, one that commonly emerges from a foundation of understanding: authorship is the badge of knowledge within our institutional spaces and in those of others, such as legal arenas. However, there are two deviations to this pattern that are raised in this important work. First, because of its value, authorship both generates and reflects power in ways that do not always align with understanding. Second, because of its role as an academic currency, authorship in this context invokes a particularly, perhaps peculiarly, Western view of knowledge. In Western academic worlds, the benefits of authorship typically fall to the individual. Research teams that work collaboratively tend to provide equal opportunity for members to occupy positions of significance rather than confronting the hierarchical nature of system. Some teams simply replicate their own hierarchies in authorship; some authors avoid collaborative practice altogether to avoid them. The ability to do otherwise is enjoyed only by people outside the academic system or those senior enough to be beyond it. Those looking for employment or its continuation rarely have the capacity to forgo individual recognition. In this paper, Ouzman proposes profound alternatives for authors such as collective and non-human variants. Ouzman also suggests revisions to the hierarchy of published projects, which can disentangle the hierarchy of value from the rigidity of the hierarchy of status in publications. As Sonya Atalay has demonstrated (Atalay et al. 2017), this can not only address complex issues in new and insightful ways, but make the project of understanding the scholarship behind it more accessible – a key priority for communities marginalised from academic hierarchies. As exciting as these ideas are, they do not fundamentally alter the hierarchy of value attached to being an academic author, so I fear they will remain outliers. If authorship correlates with individual academic value in monetised and career placement ways, the system will remain intact. That should not dissuade people, as this forum achieves, from pointing out the hypocrisy inherent in the academic exchange of collective understanding for individual benefit. Universities continue to navigate the paradox of being places where knowledge is both produced for the collective good and where it is monetised for individual benefit. Changing this seems to imply tearing down the very foundations of our academic institutions, which though arguably laudable, will not happen either quickly or without major revolution in other cultural contexts. There is a more proximal issue here, however, one that might have a better chance of unravelling in the near term: that of the differences in different cultural worlds. Academic authors cite the genealogy of their scholarship via citations – extracting, digesting, augmenting, and redepositing knowledge in a cumulative chain that is not reliant on any connection between authors, adds to itself and self-corrects through organised disagreement and disproof, although the latter is also vulnerable to various rhetorical errors including ad hominem hagiography, epistemic lacunae, and uncritical ideological enthusiasm. My understanding of Indigenous scholarship suggests a different model, one focussed on the collective authorship for collective ownership and on the ensuing responsibilities of authors to the knowledge that they temporarily hold. I am hesitant to generalise, but my sense is that many Indigenous communities have analogies to those I have familiarity with, specifically the Ts’msyen/Tsimshian peoples. Ts’msyen scholarship is analogous to that of Western academics in many ways – it is intergenerationally cumulative, it operates through reference to demonstrable evidence, and it defines both understanding and the benefits of knowledge. Indeed, as inheritors and participants in a scholarly tradition that has been operating for over 10,000 years, and which is integrated into all

The identification of unmarked graves and burials is one of most common applications of ground-penetrating radar (GPR) in archaeology. Despite a high frequency of use and a long history of experimentation, there appears to be considerable variability on what indicates a burial in GPR data-likely a consequence of heterogeneity in geological contexts, age and in burial practices. Although general statements about uncertainty in GPR interpretation may be acceptable in archaeological applications, the interpretative process becomes more complicated when GPR is used to locate unmarked graves in culturally, politically and legally contested locations such as at former Indian Residential Schools (IRSs) in Canada. In this paper, we review international applications of the technique and identify trends and traits between the authors' use of GPR to identify burials. By categorizing the studies based on the GPR reflection signatures identified, our review demonstrates that there is modest consensus across the 77 documents reviewed for what represents a burial. Interrogating these findings, we identify a range of potential contributors to signal heterogeneity and outline potential steps forward to a higher confidence or more statistically robust identification of unmarked graves using GPR.

AbstractIn 2006, the World Bank's private sector lending arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), introduced eight Environmental and Social Performance Standards (PSs) to define IFC clients’ responsibilities for managing their environmental and social risks, including those related to cultural heritage. Since their introduction, the PSs have evolved into a de facto global standard that other development banks and many private sector banks, insurers, and development proponents have voluntarily adopted to help manage their own risk exposure. Although the widespread adoption of such policies can be viewed positively as a reflection of good governance, the PSs were never designed with this purpose in mind. This article traces the development of cultural heritage policy within the World Bank Group, then critically examines the IFC PSs as they relate to cultural heritage, drawing attention to the elements in need of revision to better reflect internationally recognized good practice for the management of cultural heritage. Equally important, we recommend the development and implementation of a bespoke cultural heritage framework for the private sector.

AbstractRadiocarbon dates on marine shell and other materials of marine origin appear significantly older than contemporaneous samples of terrestrial/atmospheric origin. Misunderstandings regarding the mechanisms that give rise to this “marine reservoir effect” (MRE), the terminology used to define it, and the mathematics used to describe it cause many coastal archaeologists to distrust or misinterpret marine shell dates. The recent release of a reformulated 14C calibration curve for marine samples (Marine20), which necessitates recalculation of all local reservoir age corrections, may add to the confusion. Here, we review the benefits of dating shell; provide a plain-language explanation of the mechanical, chemical, biological, and cultural processes that give rise to age disparities associated with the MRE; and offer advice to archaeologists intending to date marine shell. Our hope is that these comments will not only aid archaeologists in the planning and interpretive stages of research but also assist in assessing the reliability of legacy chronologies based on marine materials. More broadly, we encourage careful evaluation of all sources of uncertainty in all 14C chronologies, whether based on terrestrial or marine materials.

ABSTRACT Reuse and sharing of archaeological data are tied to ethics in data practice, research design, and the rights of Indigenous peoples in decision-making about their heritage. In this article, the authors discuss how the CARE (Collective benefit, Authority to control, Responsibility, and Ethics) principles and Indigenous data governance create intellectual space for archaeological research. We show how archaeologists can use this framework to highlight hidden costs and labor associated with the “data ecosystem,” which are often borne by Indigenous nations and communities. The CARE framework gives voice to Indigenous peoples’ concerns around data sharing, curation, and reuse; ways we can redress these issues; and strategies that facilitate Indigenous nations and communities in deriving collective benefit from research. In archaeology, these efforts include greater work on heritage legislation and policy, repositioning Indigenous peoples as active stewards of their data, and building capacity in digital methods and ethical data practice. Each Indigenous nation and community has its own interests, values, and protocols, and we suggest paths to bring data practice into alignment with the CARE framework.

In response to Steve L. Martin's critique of our recent paper we provide further evidence in support of our central contention: that geophytes were a nutritionally important part of the precontact diet, and that they functioned as dietary, cultural, and economic staple foods for many peoples of the Pacific Northwest.

From 2014 to 2020, we compiled radiocarbon ages from the lower 48 states, creating a database of more than 100,000 archaeological, geological, and paleontological ages that will be freely available to researchers through the Canadian Archaeological Radiocarbon Database. Here, we discuss the process used to compile ages, general characteristics of the database, and lessons learned from this exercise in “big data” compilation.

Were the ancient Coast Salish farmers? Conventional anthropological wisdom asserts that the ethnographically known communities of the Northwest Coast of North America were "complex hunter-fisher-gatherers" who lacked any form of concerted plant food cultivation and production. Despite decades of extensive ethnobotanical and paleoethnobotanical study throughout the Pacific Northwest demonstrating the contrary, this "classic anomaly" is still a cornerstone of anthropological and archaeological canons. The recent discovery of a spectacularly preserved wetland wapato (Indian potato, Sagittaria latifolia) garden, built 3,800 years ago in Katzie traditional territory near Vancouver, British Columbia, has helped recast this picture, alongside evidence for other forms of resource management practiced by Northwest Coast peoples. This article examines "origins of agriculture" stories from three distinctive perspectives: Coast Salish Katzie people who cultivated wapato for millennia; settlers who colonized the Fraser River Delta historically, bringing with them their own ideas about what constitutes farming; and archaeologists, who are challenged by these data to reevaluate their own understandings of these cultural constructs. These perspectives have critical bearing on the historical appropriation of lands and waterways by settler communities in British Columbia as well as contemporary questions of sovereignty and stewardship in this region and well beyond.

PreviousNext No Access18th International Conference on Ground Penetrating Radar, Golden, Colorado, 14–19 June 2020Sensing houses: New investigations of ground-penetrating radar at Tsimshian Village sites on the northern northwest coastAuthors: William T.D. WadsworthAndrew MartindaleKisha SupernantColin GrierWilliam T.D. WadsworthInstitute of Prairie and Indigenous Archaeology, University of Alberta, CanadaSearch for more papers by this author, Andrew MartindaleUniversity of British Columbia, CanadaSearch for more papers by this author, Kisha SupernantInstitute of Prairie and Indigenous Archaeology, University of Alberta, CanadaSearch for more papers by this author, and Colin GrierWashington State University, United StatesSearch for more papers by this authorhttps://doi.org/10.1190/gpr2020-012.1 SectionsAboutPDF/ePub ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmail Abstract Archaeologists have embraced GPR as a powerful tool for exploring subsurface spatial patterns in the archaeological record without excavation. Yet, remote sensing technologies have not been widely applied on the Northwest Coast of North America, largely because the most common anthropogenic site matrix is the heterogenous shell-bearing site (shell midden). The Prince Rupert Harbour (PRH) region (Figure 1), home of the Coast Tsimshian is an example of this geophysical challenge. It has been systematically mapped for over five decades, creating a large inventory of massive shell terraced villages at which geophysical surveys have not been widely employed. The Tsimshian have inhabited PRH for millennia, building monumental winter villages that are represented in the archaeological record and detailed Indigenous oral histories. The Tsimshian had a highly specialized yet diverse marine economy, a keystone resource was shellfish, which resulted in village sites engineered with shell matrices through recurrent deposition from food consumption, but also as a result of massive short-term terracing projects. In this paper, we describe our initial efforts to resolve architectural patterns in this complex archaeological and environmental context and compare the radar results to magnetic gradiometry and low impact ground-truthing results, including sediment coring and mapping of erosion faces. We also discuss the challenges, potential benefits, limitations and efficacy of developing a GPR-based feature confidence index to predict the identity of subsurface archaeological features from geophysical signals in such complex subsurface components. Finally, we consider the utility of GPR as a tool for community heritage management. Keywords: archaeology, remote sensing, GPR, interpretation, mappingPermalink: https://doi.org/10.1190/gpr2020-012.1FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails 18th International Conference on Ground Penetrating Radar, Golden, Colorado, 14–19 June 2020ISSN (online):2159-6832Copyright: 2020 Pages: 455 publication data© 2020 Published in electronic format with permission by the Society of Exploration GeophysicistsPublisher:Society of Exploration Geophysicists HistoryPublished Online: 11 Nov 2020 CITATION INFORMATION William T.D. Wadsworth, Andrew Martindale, Kisha Supernant, and Colin Grier, (2020), "Sensing houses: New investigations of ground-penetrating radar at Tsimshian Village sites on the northern northwest coast," SEG Global Meeting Abstracts : 41-44. https://doi.org/10.1190/gpr2020-012.1 Plain-Language Summary Keywordsarchaeologyremote sensingGPRinterpretationmappingPDF DownloadLoading ...

We propose connections between long-term persistent use of landscapes, anthropogenic landform modifications, and the production of systems of territorial ownership/proprietorship. Exploring the case of the socio-politically complex cultures of the Northwest Coast, we argue that while tenure and proprietorship were mediated by historical precedent of use (proprietorship-through-endowment), investments in places through physical engagement with or transformation of coastal landforms could be used to make explicit these endowed rights or to assert or negotiate new rights (proprietorship-through-investment). A key ingredient in negotiating proprietorship was an engagement with the dynamic coast itself, an active agent in landscape transformation perceived as being spiritually powerful. Using the archaeological landscape of the Prince Rupert Harbour area, we assess the timing and tempo of measurable investments in the physical landscape at village sites and the occurrence of independent archaeological proxies for restricted or unequal access to territory or resources. Systems of territorial proprietorship existed there by at least the mid-Holocene, though we document increasingly institutionalized proprietorship systems coincident with increased investments into the built environment beginning similar to 3000 years ago. Our approach has broad applicability, and encourages archaeologists to explore the role of human engagement with dynamic landscapes in the generation of senses of identity and social or political organization.

This paper examines the pre-contact history of the eulachon fishery on the northern Northwest Coast of North America through multiple lines of evidence: zooarchaeological, ethnographic, and oral historical. The eulachon fishery and eulachon oil production was central to Northern Tsimshian socio-political relations, systems of ownership, and trade during the contact-and-post-contact period in the region. We bring together the results of an analysis of 15 fine-screened faunal assemblages collected from village sites in Prince Rupert Harbour and compare these with published northern coast village and camp fine-screened faunal assemblages. Our results show that eulachon and other smelt taxa are present in these assemblages, suggesting a deep history to the eulachon fishery. We suggest also that the paucity of eulachon remains at some sites could be explained by eulachon oil production and consider what lines of evidence are needed to explore the limitations of zooarchaeological data and the history of eulachon oil production in the future.