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1991

The Archaeology of the Longue Dure: Temporal and Spatial Scale


in the Evolution of Social Complexity on the Southern Northwest
Coast
Kenneth M. Ames
Portland State University, amesk@pdx.edu

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Citation Details
1991 Ames, Kenneth M.,The archaeology of the longue duree: temporal and spatial scale in the evolution of social complexity on the
southern Northwest Coast. Antiquity 65(249): 935-945.

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The archaeology of the longue duree:
temporal and spatial scale in the
evolution of social complexity on the
southern Northwest Coast

KENNETH M. A MES*

Introduction in the archaeological record; and the rela-


The emphasis on temporal and geographic scale tionship between the persistence of cultural
of the French Annales school of history (cf. practices through time (Braun 1991) and their
Braudel 1980 ; Baker 1984 ; Lewthwaite 1988) is spatial (and demograph ic) scales. Madden
the inspiration for this paper. Braudel (1980) (1983) develops the useful concept of the social
divides time into three durations: short term interaction field that is the exchange relations in
events (days, weeks, months, a few years), which members of a society participate. There
medium length conjunctures (years, decades, can be many such fie lds, with different 'organiz-
even major portions of centuries), and long- ing principles' such as kinship, warfare and
term structures (which may last centuries, even trading. The scale of a field may vary from the
millennia). This last duration is the Jongue individual to an entire community; most will
duree. Basic to Annolcs' thought - and the extend over large areas. Social network systems
longue du n~e - is the idea that to understancl 'are the sum of the overlapping sets of social
historical developments, to explain their causes interaction fields' and are much more likely to be
and dynamics, one must know their temporal archaeologically observable than an individual
and their geographic scale; one must know what field. An assumption of this paper is that the
happened at their edges and their centre, why persistence ofsocial practices may depend upon
they developed and why they passed away; and the spatial/and or demographic scales of the
how they changed during their span. To do this, social network systems of in di vi duals following
since we cannot assume we know the scales the practice. Sedentism, for example, may
relevant to the phenomena which interest us require a social interaction field of a certain size
(Braudel 1980), we must continually play to persist through time. If a group of 40 hunter-
different temporal and geographic scales off gatherers settles down for whatever reasons,
against each other. they must still find mates , which requires an
Among archaeologists, Crumley (1979) and interaction field of approximately 180 to 500
Marquardt (1985) correctly insist that the scale people (Wobst 1974 ; 1976). It may be that several
of analysis affects, and determines, the patterns such fields must be sedentary at the same time
archaeologists detect. This thinking has paral- for sedentism to persist in any one of them (cf.
lels in chaos theory, in which phenomena that Ames 1991). Persistence of other such practices
are completely patternless and disorganized at - such as social stratification - may also depend
some scales display strong patterning at others. on their spatial and/or demographic scales. The
Two aspects of scale are of interest here: the consequences of evolutionary processes such as
relationships between the scale of analysis and natural selection on different social practices
the kinds of patterns and relationships detected may differ depending upon their sca le.

Department of Anthropology, Portland State University, Portland OR 97207, USA.

M 'TIQUITY 65 (1991): 935--45


936 KENNETH M. AMES

Crumley (1979) makes a useful distinction compass of this paper is actually much larger,
between homogeneous and heterogeneous including the Fraser-Thompson and Columbia
regions and notes that a region that is homo- Plateaus as well. No convenient term exists for
geneous at one scale may be heterogeneous at this sub-continent. McKee (1972) applied the
another. That idea can be extended: a process name 'Cascadia' to an area that includes south-
may be homogeneous across a region or a east Alaska, British Columbia, Washington,
fime-span. and heterogeneous In its conse- Dregon, Norl)1ern Cal'tiorn'ia, ldaho and western
quences. (I identify at least one such conse- Montana. I will call the entire area I am discuss-
quence below.) The obverse is also true. ing here 'Southern Cascadia'.
Different processes may be equifinal. having the This region has an 11,000-12,000-year
same consequence, under certain conditions. archaeological sequence which is usually
Shifting analytical scales is one way to identify divided into two or three periods. I divide it into
these situations. the Palcolndian (>1 l,000 b.p.), Archaic
Northwestern North America has an excep- (11,000-5500 b.p.). Pacific (5500-270 b.p.) (foll-
tional record of hunter-gatherer history span- owing Chartkoff & Chartkoff (1984)) and
ning 11,000 years, with societies ranging from Modern (270 b.p.- present) periods, and further
small, thinly scattered, highly mobile, mid- sub-divide the Pacific into Early (5500-3500/
latitude foragers during early periods to densely 3000 b.p.), Middle (3500/3000-1500 b.p.) and
populous, complexly organized, fully seden- Late (1500-250 b.p.). These divisions, though
tary communities in thr. last millennium. This obscuring some of the changes I wish to high-
archaeological record, in conjunction with the 1ight. are necessary for this brief summary. In
region's renowned ethnographic record, offers this paper I only discuss the Pacific Period.
archaeologists an excellent opportunity to Cultural changes along the western edge of
explore many theoretical problems, including North America during the Pacific period were in
the effects of spatio-h~mporal scales on the parallel and very likely had the same ultimate
evolution of social complexity. causes. These changes include:
Archaeologists working on the causes of 1 The evolution of semi- to fully sedentary
social complexity on the Northwest Coast have settlement patterns;
identified demographic change, intensification 2 Increasingly heavy reliance on storage;
of subsistence production and the evolution of 3 Complex household-based subsistence
storage and sedentism as crucial processes economies;
causing the complex societies of the coast. 4 Exploitation of a wide range of resources,
Establishing their temporal scales has always but focusing on relatively few;
been a major research problem; their spatial 5 Manipulating the environment to even-
scales are unknown. In western North Amer:ica, tually produce what Yen (1989) has
as elsewhere in the world, the spatial scales of called a 'domesticated environment';
studies are frequently set by a region's research 6 Complex. specialized technologies;
history, and even the current density of 7 High population densities and sometimes
archaeologists. In North America, the culture large communities;
area boundaries of Kroeber and others also set 8 Increasing social complexity in the form of
the geographic scale. vertical hierarchies and horizontal
In this paper. I examine the nature of differentiation, including craft speciali-
complexity on the Northwest Coast and its 7.ation and ethnically diverse socio-
evolution at a much broader spatial scale than is cultural landscapes.
commonly used, ignoring cultural area bounda-
ries, for example, and using a finer temporal Complexity end the ethnographic record
scale than is usual. The problem of the origins of social complexity
on the Northwest Coast is also a problem in the
A regional prehistory history of social complexity on the Northwest
The southern Northwest Coast, in this paper. is Coast; were the forms of complexity observed in
the North American coast-line from the the 19th century an 'event', a 'conjuncture' or a
northern tip of Vancouver Island to Cape Men structure - did they result from the interplay
decino in northern California (FIGURE 1). The between pre-contact social forms and the con-
ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE LONGUE DUREE 937

tact environment, or had they already existed Our present understanding of Northwest
for some time? The consensus among North- Coast social complexity is based upon the vast
west Coast archaeologists is that Northwest ethnographic record of the 19th and early 20th
Coast culture was fully de veloped and stable a t centuries. All theoretical issues in Northwest
least by 1500 b.p., if not much earlier. Coast archaeology, and indirectly in the
archaeology of complex hunter-gatherers (e.g.
Hayden 1990), are deeply affected by this record
that sets the r esearch agenda a nd is the measure
of all explanation. Use of the ethnographic
record on the coast extends beyond simple
analogy and unavoidably per meates all aspects
of archaeological research.
The ethnographic texts enjoy a privileged
position as a source of data and explanations
relative lo the archaeological record. Incon-
sistencies be tween the two are usually decided
in favour of the texts. Their very scope forces
v investigators to work using a model of the
("> 'typical' Northwest Coast society, masking
potential temporal and spatial diversity. Most
investigators acknowledge social, cultural and
economic variation along the coast, but investi-
gate it using a normative (Cordell & Plog 1979)
model of Northwest Coast culture.
0 The record's wealth can lead archaeologists
() into a na"ive historicism in which the record is
CTI read farther and farther into the past. But the
l> ethnographic pattern on the southern North-
z
west Coast was the resu It of 3000 years of
sustained rapid population growth (Maschner &
Ames n.d., see below) and then s udden catastro-
phic depopu lation coupled with equally swift
culture change. Populat ions along the southern
Northwest Coast had already experienced
smallpox when the first recorded European
expeditions entered the a rea, and in some areas
were virtua!Iy extinct by the middle of the 19th
centuries.
Had depopulation not occurred, had
European contact been entirely benign, the

FIGURE 1. Map of Cascadia showing regions and


sites mentioned in the text.
A Glenrose Connery
B Hoko River Rockshelter
C Morrnes Rockshelter.
Stippled area is the approximate extent of
Southern Cascadia; lightest stipple is the southern
Northwest Coast as discussed here; intermediate
stipple is the Gulf of Georgia-Puget Sound region;
darkest stipple is the interior, including the
0 IOO 200 300
Columbia Plateau in the USA and southern Froser-
SCALE IN MILES Thompson Plateau in Canada.
938 KENNETH M. AMES

scope of population growth during the previous enced marked population growth after 5500
three millennia still makes the direct relevance b.p., their population histories differ in impor-
of the ethnographic recqrd to periods even as tant detail.The curves also suggest the possi-
recent as a millennium ago an important ques- bility of important fluctuations in population
tion. If Northwest Coast culture, including levels during the Pacific period.
social organization, subsistence etc. remained There are two basic curves which can be
stable during that time, then we must under- extrapolated from the southern Northwest
stand how it was able to absorb such sustained Coast data: a smooth, exponential curve (the
growth with no appreciable organizational curve on FIGURE 1) and a curve (the tops of the
change. Documenting how these societies bars in FIGURE 2) marked by fluctuations, parti-
adjusted - or not- to rapid population growth - cularly aft.er 1500 b.p .. Either curve suggests
and explaining that growth - becomes a major on-going stress on the infrastructure of southern
research problem. The rest of this paper sug- Northwest Coast societies during most of the
gests that social and economic change has Pacific period. A similar model for population
indeed been continuous over the past two change in eastern Southern Cascadia also shows
millennia. rapid population after 3000 b.p. and marked
fluctuations after 1500 b.p. (Ames 1991). The
Pacific period population dynamics basic pattern of population growth held
Maschner & Ames (n.d.) have constructed throughout Southern Cascadia though the
separate population growth curves for the timing of certain developments may have been
northern and southern portions of the North- different.
west Coast over the past 8000 years, based on
radiocarbon date frequencies. The methodology Sedentism and mobility strategies
and results are presented and defended elsew- The development of partial to full sedentism
here (Maschner & Ames n.d.). Taken at the most and logistical mobility (Binford 1980) are
conservative and robust level of interpretation, widely seen as significant processes in the
the curves show that while both areas experi- development of social complexity. The <level-

0.20
100

0.15 80
0:::
<
a:l

~ 60
'1. ()
z 0.10 0
0 c:
e:a: z~
~ 40
0
0:::
0..
0.05
20

100 1700 3300 4900 6500 6100 FICURE 2. Population


curves for Southern
Calibrated Radiocarbon Dates Cascodia.
ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE LONGUE DUREE 939

opment of sedentism is almost universally (Ames 1991). Longhouses - a new house form-
treated as a local event arising from local were present by 1600 b.p. and were the domi-
conditions (the geographic equivalent of an nant house form after 1000 b.p. Longhouses,
event). The assumption here is that a stable made of a pole frame covered by bark mats or
pattern of sedentism develops when regional thatching, were sometimes more than 60 m.
structures - social network systems - emerge long, and housed several hundred people (Rice
which are capable of sustaining sedentism. The 1985; Ames 1988).
archaeological record for southern Cascadia In the 18th century AD, plank houses of
(and western North America) indicates that it extraordinary size existed on the southern
was a development of enormous geographic coast. These structures were 120-300 m long
extent. and sometimes well over 30 m wide. They
Semi-subterranean pithouses dating to c. housed large domestic groups and were a signi-
5500 b.p. are the earliest domestic structures in ficant labour investment over their use lives
the interior of Southern Cascadia. It is likely (Ames et al. in press). They may indicate a
that house construction was sporadic until 4500 domestic economy throughout the region
b.p. or so, when semi- to full sedentism increasingly dependent upon very complex
developed (Ames 1991). That development was task organization (Wilk & Rathje 1982). These
short lived. It has not until after 3400 b.p., that enormous households were a major economic
semi- to full sedentism became a permanent and social innovation throughout Southern
fixture of the cultural landscape of interior Cascadia during the Late Pacific.
Southern Cascadia (Ames 1991). If the chronology of large plank houses paral-
Semi-subterranean dwellings dating to c. lels that of longhouses, then we are seeing a
4000 b.p. are also the earliest structures on the regional trend in changing domestic organi-
southern Coast (LeClair 1976; Calvert 1970; zation within the structure of sedentism.
Matson 1990). On the coast, semi- to full seden- The ethnography-based picture of Late Paci-
tism may not have become a fixed feature of the fic mobility patterns has people spending the
socio-cultural landscape until after 3500 b.p. as winters in villages, and either dispersing to
well. Coastal sedentism was associated with seasonal camps for the rest of the year or moving
large, rectangular plank houses. Plank houses whole villages to fixed summer locales - classic
appear in the archaeological record of the coast collectors (Binford . 1980). However, Late-
(from northern British Columbia to northern Pacific-period population densities in some
Oregon) between 3200 and 2600 b.p. (Coupland coastal locales may have been so high that these
1985; Connelly in press; Ames n.d.). seasonal moves were impossible (Haggerty &
The earliest plank houses were not generally Inglis 1984; Saleeby 1983); these groups were
as large (Ames 1988; Coupland 1985) or as fully sedentary, intensively exploiting a small,
substantial as those of the late prehistoric circumscribed territory. They were not on the
(Mauger 1978; Ames et al. in press) and historic forager-collector continuum. Subsequent de-
periods. On the other hand, they may have population would have permitted the seasonal
stood for as long a time (Ames n.d.; Ames et al. mobility recorded in the ethnographic and
in press). Individual plank houses were some- ethnohistoric records in those areas.
times used and maintained for several hundred
years, representing an enormous labour invest- Specialization and regional dynamics
ment (Ames n.d.; Ames et al. in press; Connelly Archaeological research on the southern North-
in press). The appearance of plank-houses on west Coast has focused on explaining the devel-
the coast represents a long-term, multi- opment of stratification. However, there are
generational investment in a locality and has other aspects of complexity, ranging from indi-
significant implications for the nature of the vidual craft and/or production specialists (e.g.
social order (e.g. Gilman 1981; Bender 1989). Watanabe 1983) to regional specialization in
Very large, semi-subterranean dwellings production and trade in processed foods (Anas-
appear in the Late Pacific period in the Southern tasio 1972; Hajda 1987). The issue of scale is
Cascadia interior. Middle Pacific pit houses therefore central to this topic.
were usually about 6 m in diameter; the later It is almost impossible to chart the develop-
ones were as large as 18- 20 m in diameter ment of individual craft or occupational
940 KENNETH M. AMES

specialization. On the coast, production of the have changed over the last 3500 years (Keddie
famous art may indicate the existence of 1981; Ames in press), though it is presently not
specialists. One of the earliest pieces of art on possible to chart those changes in any detail.
the coast is a slotted, anthropomorphic handle In the 19th century, at least, parts of Southern
from the Glenrose Cannery site in the Gulf of Cascadia specialized in the production, pro-
Georgia region dating between 4200 b.p. and cessing and exchange of food stuffs with others
3200 b.p. The handle is thought to be that of a parts of the region, an d perhaps areas outside
carving tool (Borden 1983). In the same region, the region (Anastasio 1972; Hajda 1987).
Carlson (1991) recovered four well-made zoo- Exchanges of goods for certain foods is well
morphic antler spoons dating between 3700 and documented on the coast. These spheres of
3000 b.p. that clearly exhibit elements of the exchange were quite vast.
Northwest Coast style. It is well documented The complementary distributions of ground
then that the classic Northwest Coast art style stone and whale bone zoomorphic and anthro-
was fully developed by 3000-2500 b.p. (e.g. pomorphic clubs along the western North
Fladmark et al. 1987, MacMillan & Nelson American coastline during the Middle and Late
1989), if not several centuries earlier. Pacific periods may indicate particularly far-
Well-made pieces of art mobi1ier occur flung interaction fields. A very distinctive
archaeologically during the last 4000 years, but ground stone zoomorphic club (FIGURE 3a) is
it is difficult to quantify the volume or amount found along the California and Oregon coasts,
of art produced during that period (cf. papers in and the lower 200 miles of the Columbia River.
Carlson 1983). There is a sense among regional Whale bone clubs (FIGURES 3b, 3c) are found
archaeologists that less art was produced on the throughout Cascadia. Within that area, there are
southern Northwest Coast after 1500 b.p., but regional styles of whalebone clubs (Ames in
that may represent a shift to media that preserve press). The distributions of whale bone and
less well (Mitchell 1971), or to different con- stone clubs overlap along the Oregon Coast and
texts of disposal. In any case, the skills have the Lower Columbia River.
been in use for a long time; we do not know the Long-distance trade in obsidian and other
context of production. objects has been documented by Carlson (1983)
Chatters (1986) reports a marine-shell adze and others. The earliest trade goods are associ-
blade from a house floor dating to c. 4000 b. p. on ated with funerary ritual at the Marmes Rock-
the Columbia Plateau - indicating a possible shelter in eastern Washington State and just
trade in tools at that early date. Making mollusc- barely post-date 10,800 b.p. Exotic trade goods
shell blades requires specialized knowledge continued to play a role in funerary ritual in
and techniques. Chatters (1989) also demon- interior southern Cascadia at least until 4500-
strates the possible presence of a sea-mammal 4000 b.p. (Green et al. 1986; Pavesic 1985), and
hunting specialist in a 1600-year-old plank well after that on the coast.
house in the Seattle area. (Such specialists were In contrast with the Northwest Coast, there is
important in the household economy during the no strong evidence of regionalization of the
19th century.) Huelsbeck (1988) argues for interior Columbia Plateau during the last 5000
specialized production of whale bone for trade years or more. This may reflect the record itself,
by the Makah of Washington State during the or may be an artefact of archaeological methods.
late prehistoric period. Whale bone may have But Anastasio (1972) argues that the Columbia
been traded prehistorically in northern British Plateau was a single social network (unlike the
Columbia, as well (Ames n.rl.). coast); the material record may indicate that
Regional patterns of production and network is of considerable antiquity.
exchange are not easily documented, but large- In sum, the archaeological and ethnographic
scale network systems clearly existed (Suttles records of Southern Cascadia clearly show that
1990; Ames in press). Regional patterns in art regional social networks have existed for
styles, cranial deformation, labret wear and several millennia, and that regional affiliation
tattooing indicate the existence of several social was an important attribute of personhood
network systems on the Northwest Coast (Sutt- (Ames in press; Suttles 1990). The production
les 1990). The spatial distribution of these and exchange of processed foods may have been
styles, and the relations among them seems an significant aspect of these networks. The size
ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE LONGUE DUREE 941

form of stores - as a key element in the develop-


ment of complexity on the coast. Monks (1987:
119) calls this 'salmonopia' - 'the inability to
see all the food resources because of salmon'.
Monks argues that many other resources pro-
duced storable surpluses (see also Croes &
Hackenberger 1988) and were crucial when
salmon runs failed or stocks of dried salmon ran
out or rotted (Panowski 1985). Both the archaeo-
logical and ethnographic records show that the
region's subsistence economies used hundreds
of species of plants, molluscs, fish and mam-
mals. It is equally clear that within this tre-
mendous diversity, certain resources like
salmon played a central role. But production
had to be organized to acquire and process all of
these resources.
Salmonopia also blinds prehistorians to the
fact that the course of intensification varied
considerably from place to place, even where
the same resources, techniques and equipment
were used. In the interior portions of Southern
b Cascadia, intensification of food production
proceeded along different paths in different
a areas; in some it led to diversification of the
resource base, in others to a progressively nar-
rower base (Atwell 1989). The actual course of
intensification in a particular area cannot cur-
rently be predicted on the basis of the record for
other parts of the same region. The initial
resources intensified was a simple result of
resource availability (Thoms 1989) though it
docs appear that, in the interior, significant
c intensification of fisheries did not occur until
after 3000 b.p. and perhaps even later (Johnson
FIGURE 3. Clubs from Cascadia. 1987; Thomison 1987). From this it follows that
a, b are whale bone clubs from the Northwest
while we can expect heavy early reliance on
Coast
c is a ground stone club of a style found from salmon during the Early Pacific in some areas,
Oregon to California. we cannot expect it everywhere.
The goals of intensified production also affect
the spatial and temporal patterns of intensi-
and boundaries of networks also may have fication. Food production will emphasize
changed through time. It is possible that different mixes of resources, depending upon
specialized production of food and crafts by whether the goal of production was to maintain
individuals is quite ancient. a secure food supply or to support seasonal
aggregations (Croes & Hackenberger 1988).
Intensification Salmon became important only in the second
Intensification of production in southern Casca- case.
dia is an example of homogeneous evolutionary While the particular mix of resources and
processes across a broad region producing oven the direction of intensification may have
locally heterogeneous effects. Regional prehis- been local, intensification itself was. like seden-
torians have focused on the development of tism, a regional phenomenon. The earliest evi-
heavy reliance on salmon - particularly in the dence of efforts to increase production are from
942 KENl'<ETH M. AMES

the extreme northwest and southwest corners of same region there is evidence of an expanded
Cascadia - a shell midden in Southeast Alaska, spring fishery after 2500 b.p. (Ham 1983) and
and root ovens in southwest Oregon dating to construction of herring traps about that time
about 8000 b.p. Evidence pointing to increasing (Monks 1987). Monks argues that these traps
food production is widespread throughout were a way to man ipulate the local trophic
Cascadia, and California, by 5000-4000 b.p .. structure to make it more accessible to human
Storage was a key element in changing pro- exploitation - an aspect of a domesticated
duction during the Pacific period. The earliest environment. Easton t1985) documents the
direct evidence for widespread storage on the development of reef netting - a particularly
Columbia Plateau post-dates 3400 b.p. (Chatters productive method of netting salmon - in the
1986). Demonstrating the presence of storage on Gulf of Georgia perhaps no earlier than 500
the coast is difficult, but the appearance of years ago.
rectangular, above-ground permanent struc- At the Hoko Rockshelter there is evidence of
tures - plank houses - may be indirect evidence at least periodic over-exploitation of shellfish
of increasing reliance on storage on the coast beds and tluctuating levels of shellfish usage, an
(Ames 1988). increasing emphasis on salmon-fishing and a
Though there has been little research on gradually expanding resource base between 900
intensification for the period of the past 1500- and 100 b.p. Croes & Hackenbcrger (1988)
2000 years (people have tended to look to the predict that shellfish were a popu lation limiter
ethnographic record to reconstruct Late Pacific and that shellfish exploitation will be sensitive
subsistence) there are some indicators of the to human population growth. These results
consequences of Middle and Late Pacific period support their predictions.
intensification. One of these is manipulation of
the environment to create a 'domesticated Summary and conclusions
environment' (Yen 1989). one that is modified It is clear that the spatial scale of analysis affects
and manipulated to meet subsistence the homogeneity and heterogeneity of the pat-
economic, social and ideological needs (Cronon terns we observe in the archaeological record.
1983; Merchant 1989). Widespread burning in Populations on the Northwest Coast - in
interior and perhaps some coastal areas (Boyd aggregate - grew rapidly during the past 3000-
1986) did occur. Some researchers have 4000 years. Sedentism (aod/or semi-sedentism)
claimed manipulation of plant species includ- was the only form of residential mobility after
ing red cedar (Thuja plicata), camas (Camasio 3500-3000 b.p. Specialized production and
quumosh), springbank clover (Trifolium exchange of crafts may have begun as early as
wonnskioldii). and Pacific silverweed (Potcn- 4000 b.p., but was certainly widespread by 2500
tilla anserina) (Blukis Onat in press (a); Turner b.p. Art and artefact style mark vast regional
& Kuhnlein 1982; 1983), as well as the salmon interaction networks. Intensification of produc-
stocks themselves (Blukis Onat in press ta)). It is tion may have begun along the coast at least by
at present impossib le to document the extent of 8000 b.p .. but appear to also been widespread
sucb practices (besides burning), or to establish by 5000-4000 b.p. through So uthern Cascadia.
when and where they began. but they can have If we look closer, this homogeneity breaks
significant effects on hunter-gatherer produc- down, and becomes unprndicta ble. Taking
tion and on the environment (e.g. Shipek 1989). sedentism and house form as one example, the
In the Gulf of Georgia-Northern Puget Sound first houses everywhere appear to be pit houses.
area of the coast, the beginning of the Late By 3000 b.p., plank h ouses were the norm along
Pacific period was marked by the widespread the entire Northwest Coast; pit houses persisted
replacement of chipped stone by adoption of a in the interior. Cross-t;utting that cleavage, very
worked bone technology, probably indicating a large houses develop after 2000-1500 b.p. in the
shift to a heavier reliance on compound tools southern interior and probably the south coast,
and a more comploxly organized technology as but not, apparently, on the northern Northwest
an adjustment to time stress in snbsistence Coast. The dynamics affecting house form and
pursuits (Torrence 1983). Croes & Hackenherger household size were not operating in parallel;
(1988) see tbis shift as indicating increased use the former having a north-south axis, the latter
of salmon troJJing and jigging equipment. In the an east-west axis. The regional patterns in
ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE WNGUE DVRf::E 943

household size do seem to p arallel the patterns The Northwest's ethnographic record must be
for population growth (Ames 1991; Maschner & seen for what it is, a slice through a history
Ames n.d.). Some of these developments (house many millennia Jong. This not an argument to
form) run parallel with culture areas, the tradi- abandon the ethnographic record - that would
tional research areas of North America, and be impossible and foolish. Rather, the ethno-
others, big households for examp le, have no graphic record should be seen as the result of a
relationship with these traditional boundaries. dynamic, even tumultuous h istory, and its
Temporally, change appears to be almost conti- d irect application to the past r equires contin ual
nuous when viewed across 5000 years, or even, testing (Ford 1989}; and it should not be privi-
as in the case of su bsisteuce intensification, leged as a source of insights into the past.
within the last 1500 years . But these changes are - Social complexity and stratification on the
not directional, as I have shown for residential coast has a history; it is possible that it
patterns on the Columbia Plateau (Ames 1991), developed more than once in time and in space;
nor are developments necessarily permanent it is also likely that complexity took on different
once they occur. guises on the coast and in the interior, some-
Northwest Coast art is clearly a structure of times through reorganizing the same social and
the longue duree; objects displaying motifs in cultural elements. Some incarnations of
the style appear in the record between 4200 and complexity may not h ave included stratifi-
3000 b.p. It does not follow from this, in my cation at all, but still exhibited a complex
view (and contra Carlson 1991), that all other division of labour, s pecialized production and
aspects of historic North west Coast culture intricate patterns of regional interaction (Ames
developed in tandem with the art: plank houses, in press}. To be able to explain the development
for example, do not appear in the record until of social complexity on the Northwest Coast is
3200 b.p. to be able to write the history of its changes in
This historical dynamism is not unique to time and space.
western North America, nor to hunter-
gatherers. Scale aud duration are as crucial to Acknowledgements. I would like to thank Herb Maschner
understanding any hunter-gatherers as they are and llrian Pagan for the invitation to write this paper. Jane
lo undertanding any civilization. Hunter- Me lville Ames read it sc:veral timc:s, subjecting it to a
penetrating stylistic critique, and measurably improving the
gath erers have commonly been treated as paper's clarity and argumentation. I 3m responsible for any
'people without h istory' because their societies errors.
are determin ed by local wecological conditions
(cf. Bettinger 1991 ). That is patently false.

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