Contribution to Book
The Place of Ozette in Northwest Coast Archaeology
Ozette Archaeological Project Research Reports Volume Ill: Ethnobotany and Wood Technology
(2005)
Abstract
For many non-archaeologists and archaeologists, Ozette is Northwest Coast archaeology. It is the only Northwest Coast site that is regularly described, or even mentioned, in many textbooks including introductory archaeology texts. It is one of only eleven North American. Sites discussed in Price and Feinman's Images of the Past, a glossy ''who's who" of major archaeological sites worldwide (Price and Feinman 1993). Ozette is mentioned in Renfrew and Bahn's encyclopedic and widely used text: Archaeology: Theories, Methods and Practice (Renfrew and Bahn 2000). It is one of 18 sites, and the only west-coast site, covered in Thomas’ Native North America (Thomas 2000). When Herbert Maschner and I were working on our own recent book on Northwest Coast archaeology (Ames and Maschner 1999), the editor and peer reviewers insisted that we include more on Ozette than we originally had. While we did not at all initially ignore Ozette, we had dehberately focused on other sites to counter what could be termed "Ozettopeia", or the inability to see the rest of the coast because of Ozette. Nevertheless, they were right and we expanded our coverage. Why is Ozette so important?
In the rest of this essay, I will briefly assess Ozette's contributions and importance in the three areas mentioned above: the archaeology of water-logged sites, ethnoarchaeology, and public archaeology and the relationships between Indian peoples and archaeology. However, the human immediacy is the warp that holds the story together.
Disciplines
Publication Date
2005
Publisher
WSU Department of Anthropology Reports of Research 68. National Park Service
Citation Information
The Place of Ozette in Northwest Coast Archaeology. In “Ozette Archaeological Project Research Reports Volume III: Ethnobotany and Wood Technology”. David L. Welchel Editor. Department of Anthropology Reports of Investigations 68, Washington State University, Pullman. Pp. 9 – 24.