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Article
The Importance of Deltaic Wetland Resources: A Perspective from the Nooksack River Delta, Washington State, USA
Journal of Wetland Archaeology (2005)
  • Sarah Campbell, Western Washington University
  • Richard M. Hutchings
Abstract
Recent models by Stanley and Warne (1997) and Nicholas (1998) emphasize the importance of deltas and wetland resources in foraging adaptation. Discussions of changing subsistence strategies on the Pacific Northwest Coast often place maritime and terrestrial hunting as competing forms of resource acquisition rather than recognizing their co-occurrence in delta environments. The Ferndale site (45WH34), excavated by Grabert (1983) in 1972, offers an opportunity to consider delta adaptations. Today 45WH34 is located on the active floodplain of the Nooksack River 10.4 km inland. During the mid-Holocene it was centrally located amid freshwater and brackish wetlands, forested uplands, and open marine waters. Re-analysis of mid- to late-Holocene occupation materials suggests that marine, upland and wetland resources were all utilized extensively. An assemblage of beaver bones provides evidence of systematic processing methods. This species, present at many regional sites, deserves more than cursory attention because it is key to the creation and maintenance of resource-rich wetland and riparian habitats.
Keywords
  • Deltas,
  • Wetlands,
  • Archaeology,
  • Human,
  • Beaver,
  • Elk,
  • Pacific Northwest coasts,
  • Nooksack River,
  • Fraser River
Publication Date
2005
DOI
10.1179/jwa.2005.5.1.17
Citation Information
Sarah Campbell and Richard M. Hutchings. "The Importance of Deltaic Wetland Resources: A Perspective from the Nooksack River Delta, Washington State, USA" Journal of Wetland Archaeology Vol. 5 Iss. 1 (2005) p. 17 - 34
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/sarah-campbell/58/