This volume provides a descriptive overview of the cultural complexity on the northwest coast that stretches from northern California to Alaska. Topics covered range from the earliest settlements to the subsequent cultural diversities in Native American populations. Maps, charts, and illustrations further enhance the book's interest and appeal.

Extending some 1,400 miles from Alaska to northern California, America's Northwest Coast is one of the richest and most distinct cultural areas on earth. The region is famous for its magnificent art--masks, totem poles, woven blankets--produced by the world's most politically and economically complex hunters and gatherers. As this pioneering account shows, the history of settlement on the Northwest Coast stretches back some 11,000 years. With the stabilization of sea levels and salmon runs after 4000 B.C., many of the region's salient features began to emerge. Salmon fishing supported rapid population growth to a peak over 1,000 years ago. The spread of rain forest made available trees such as red cedar that could be turned into vast houses and seaworthy canoes. Large households and permanent villages emerged alongside slavery and a hereditary nobility. Warfare became epidemic, initially hand to hand but later characterized by the development of fortresses and the bow and arrow. Art evolved from simple carvings and geometric designs 5,000 years ago to the specialized crafts of the modern era. Written by noted experts and profusely illustrated, this is an essential reference for scholars and students of Native American archaeology and anthropology as well as travelers to the region.

The evolution of the Northwest Coast cultural pattern from two different archaeological traditions, one in the north and one to the south, is discussed in terms of environmental and subsistence factors.

Since the late 1970s, household archaeology has become a key theoretical and methodological framework for research on the development of permanent social inequality and complexity, as well as for understanding the social, political and economic organization of chiefdoms and states. This volume is the cumulative result of more than a decade of research focusing on household archaeology as a means to gain understanding of the evolution of social complexity, regardless of underlying economy.

In this seminal work, historian Hubert Howe Bancroft traces the history of the Pacific Northwest Coast from prehistoric times to the late 19th century. Drawing on a vast array of sources and his own extensive fieldwork, Bancroft provides a comprehensive and captivating account of this fascinating region. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Thirteen scientists provide insight into the archaeology of the north coast of British Columbia in celebration of fieldwork begun by George F. MacDonald for the National Museum of Canada in 1966. This book investigates paleoenvironmental influences on human settlement, theoretical concepts involved in northern Northwest Coast research, and the interplay of aboriginal oral traditions and archaeological findings.