Northwestern Coastal culture, a regional development from the
Northwestern Palaeo-Arctic culture of Period I, appears along the
North Coast of British Columbia and adjacent Alaska between 10,000
and 9,000 B.P., reaching the Queen Charlotte Islands by 7,500 B.P.
if not before. The maritime adaptation of this culture may have
developed along the now submerged coastline of southern Beringia
(Aigner and DelBene 1982).
It is proposed that the southward movement along the coast was
roughly coeval with a similar interior movement by the related
Early Northwest Interior culture people of Period II. These two
adaptations, coastal and interior, are believed to have quickly
differentiated from one another
(Carlson 1990: 68).
Erosional and depositional forces in conjunction with fluctuating
sea levels have complicated the search for early Northwestern
Coastal culture sites and as a result the construct is based upon
limited evidence. The mainland portion of the North Coast was
subjected to more dramatic sea level fluctuations than the Queen
Charlotte Islands and sea level did not stabilize until 5,000 years
ago (Fladmark et al. 1990).
As a result, all of the evidence from the North Coast of British
Columbia comes from the Queen Charlotte Islands. Between 7,000 and
2,500 B.C. sea levels around the Queen Charlotte islands were
approximately 15 m higher than at present and it has been
along the ancient elevated beaches where most sites have been
located. Intertidal water-tumbled flakes, cobble tools, and even a
microblade core, could possibly pertain to an occupation as early
as 10,000 B.P.
(Hobler 1978). Reworked
beach gravels at the Skoglund's Landing site, containing cobble
tools and cores, may date to 9,000 B.P. These findings could
suggest the existence of a cobble tool industry and even microblade
technology on the Queen Charlotte Islands at an early period
(Fladmark et al. 1990: 231).
Northwestern Coastal culture technology is dominated by microblades
and, on occasion, macroblades that are differentiated from
microblades by widths of 10 mm or more. These narrow flakes
with prismatic and triangular crossections were struck from
specially prepared cores. Sections of the resulting microblades
would have been used as inserts to arm wooden or bone lances,
knives, and other composite tools. Microblade technology represents
the most economic use of stone ever developed by stone age people.
Ubiquitous cobble core and spall tools are also well represented.
Site locations on outer islands and the limited recovered faunal
materials indicate that these people must have been superb mariners.
No traces of watercraft have survived in the archaeological record
but presumably such vessels were sufficiently substantial to
navigate the dangerous waters of the North Coast and yet were
portable enough to be lifted manually out of the water. It is
speculated that the boats would have been sheathed in skins rather
than bark and commodious enough to accommodate extended family
groups. It is most unlikely that archaeology will ever be able to
discover this essential element of Northwestern Coastal culture
technology. There is a basis for optimism, however, that some
insights into the large sea mammal hunting gear will eventually be
unearthed on those sites with bone preservation. The technological
elements of Northwestern Coastal culture that have survived in the
archaeological record stand as a humbling example of the chasm
separating the archaeological record of technology from what must
once have existed.