ABSTRACT
On the Northwest Coast food and other essential resources were frequently owned by restricted kinship groups or individuals, in sharp contrast to the usual pattern among hunter-gatherers, providing an excellent opportunity to test general theories of human territoriality and resource allocation. However, within the Northwest Coast considerable variation exists in concepts of ownership and territory, specific resources owned, make-up of the owning and exploiting groups, management of owned resources, and regulation of access to non-owners. This cultural variation is related to environmental variation, and some tentative explanations of resource allocation patterns are provided.
