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Article
Resource Intensification and Resource Depression in the Pacific Northwest of North America: A Zooarchaeological Review
Journal of World Prehistory (2004)
  • Virginia L. Butler, Portland State University
  • Sarah K. Campbell, Western Washington University
Abstract

In the Pacific Northwest of North America, researchers routinely suggest changes in human use of animals explain hunter-gatherer organizational changes and development of cultural complexity. For example, most models developed to explain developing cultural complexity invoke salmon in some fashion. Yet until recently, fish remains were not carefully studied and more generally, zooarchaeological evidence has not been systematically used to test models of culture change. This study reviews the 10,000-year-old faunal record in the Pacific Northwest to test predictions drawn from models of resource intensification, resource depression and hunter-gatherer organizational strategies. The records from two subareas, the South-Central Northwest Coast (Puget Sound/Gulf of Georgia) and the Northern Columbia Plateau, are examined in detail, representing 63 archaeological sites. While minor changes in animal use are evident, the overall record is characterized by stability rather than change.

Disciplines
Publication Date
December, 2004
Citation Information
Virginia L. Butler and Sarah K. Campbell. "Resource Intensification and Resource Depression in the Pacific Northwest of North America: A Zooarchaeological Review" Journal of World Prehistory Vol. 18 Iss. 4 (2004)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/virginia_butler/25/