Every year thousands of people visit the San Juan Islands off the coast of Washington State. With a copy of Exploring Coast Salish Prehistory in hand, they will enjoy an introduction both to archaeology in general and to sites within San Juan Island National Historic Park.
The Coast Salish people inhabited the San Juans for 5,000 years. One important site on San Juan Island, Cattle Point, was a summer camp where residents engaged in fishing and shellfish harvesting. Native peoples' recollections of activities there have been confirmed by physical evidence in the form of shell...
Every year thousands of people visit the San Juan Islands off the coast of Washington State. With a copy of Exploring Coast Salish Prehistory
The Burton Acres Shell Midden site is located on Vashon Island in Puget Sound, at an advantageous spot for fishing and shellfishing. Although it had been the focus of preservation efforts, little was known about the contents of the site until a winter storm in 1995 caused severe erosion. In response, a collaborative effort between the Burke Museum, University of Washington, King County Landmarks and Heritage Commission, the Puyallup Tribe of Indians, Vashon Park District, and McMurray Middle School resulted in a unique two-week public project involving 375 volunteers. Members of the public...
The Burton Acres Shell Midden site is located on Vashon Island in Puget Sound, at an advantageous spot for fishing and shellfishing. Although it ha...
Almost every artifact in archaeological analysis originates in or on the ground. While there are elaborate methods for extracting and analyzing artifacts, treatment of the matrix within which they are located is often unsophisticated and does not include systematic analysis. Sediments in Archaeological Context concerns the analysis of this matrix and the potential use of sediments to answer archaeological questions. Describing sediments and sampling them in appropriate ways do not replace the study of artifacts, but they can provide additional, useful information regarding a site...
Almost every artifact in archaeological analysis originates in or on the ground. While there are elaborate methods for extracting and analyzing artifa...
Prehistoric houses on the Northwest Coast were built from wood, often within piles of discarded shells, leaving little archaeological evidence from which to confirm their presence. Is It a House? uses multiple lines of evidence to investigate whether the U-shaped depression surrounded by shells at the English Camp site on San Juan Island was originally a house constructed by native peoples. Each chapter addresses a different kind of evidence, including artifacts, sediment, faunal remains, and stratigraphy. The quantitative and qualitative analyses used to examine the evidence reveal...
Prehistoric houses on the Northwest Coast were built from wood, often within piles of discarded shells, leaving little archaeological evidence from...
