Abstract

Northwest Coast Native art has usually been studied in relation to its role in social interaction involving rank, prestige and elitism. However, close examination of Northwest Coast ethnography and of the content and context of prehistoric Northwest Coast art indicates that there is an underlying spiritual dimension to the art tradition and that this dimension was the likely catalyst for the development of the art tradition in its early stages. In this paper the archaeological evidence from the excavations at the Pender Canal site and a summary of the ethnographic data relevant to this proposition are presented.