ABSTRACT
In contrast to the early and continuous ethnological research in the Northwest Coast, archaeological research has had a more uneven course. Early archaeological research dates to the late nineteenth century, when pioneering investigations were conducted on the coasts of Oregon (Schumacher, 1874, 1877a, 1877b), Washington (Eells, 1886; Wickersham, 1896a, 1896b, 1900) and British Columbia (Deans, 1891, 1892). Despite this early start, the growth and development of Northwest Coast archaeology was slow and uneven in comparison with other areas in North America. This observation is not new; Philip Drucker (1943:23) once commented on the “grievous neglect” of archaeological research on the Northwest Coast, and Erna Gunther (1972:xi) later remarked that “the Northwest Coast has had one of the richest Indian cultures in North America—and the poorest archaeology.” With its high mountains, rugged coastline, dense foliage, and wet climate, the northern Northwest Coast has never been an easy place to do archaeology. Even today, many areas remain isolated and remote, away from the urban centers where archaeologists are located and where the land surface modification that results in much of modern contract archaeology is concentrated. Most of what we know about Northwest Coast prehistory has come from research conducted only within the last 35 years. As recently as the early 1960s large areas both in the rugged north coast and along the south coast remained unexplored archaeologically. Beginning in the middle 1960s, however, a number of field projects were initiated that have greatly increased our understanding of Northwest Coast culture history and the processes of prehistoric cultural change. Cultural sequences now exist for most areas of the coast; models of cultural change are being developed and tested; and the growth of cultural resource management in the past few decades has resulted in better protection of heritage sites.
