Abstract

A woven strap from the beach in front of the Glenrose Archaeological Site, near the mouth of the Fraser River, B.C., was seized from a private collector by the R.C.M.P. and the B.C. Archaeology Branch. The artifact was radiocarbon dated to 4000 B.P., making it the oldest perishable artifact from the Northwest Coast. A Millennia Research crew under the direction of the author subsequently tested the intertidal area to determine the limits and content of the waterlogged component on behalf of the Archaeology Branch. Major excavations at Glenrose were undertaken in the early 1970s by SFU and UBC. The Mercury series site report has been among the standard references for the culture area since that time. Three components were recovered from the upland portion of the site: the Old Cordilleran (8150-5700 B.P.); the St. Mungo (4300-3300 B.P.); and the Marpole (2300-2000 B.P.). No waterlogged materials were encountered during these earlier excavations, however. In 1990, waterlogged cultural materials were found along 250m of beach. Test excavations found the rocky beach surface to be lag apparently collapsed from washed-away shell midden strata. Under the surface were alternating layers of culturally sterile compact silty clay and sandy shell hash. The shell hash contained large quantities of mussel and clam, salmon, flatfish, and sturgeon bone, fire-altered rock, and lithic debitage. Also included were mammal bone and antler, faunal remains and tools, and vegetable materials including perishable artifacts. The last include basketry, a carved wooden tray, a wooden wedge, cordage, detritus, and hundreds of wooden stakes. This assemblage is the oldest waterlogged collection from the Northwest Coast, dated by six radiocarbon dates to between 3950±60 and 4590±50 B.P. Basketry items are of particular interest due to their sensitivity to cultural processes. Northwest Coast baskets show very strong traditions through thousands of years within ethnic areas, and continued differences between ethnic areas. The seven basketry fragments from Glenrose are mostly beautifully made, with care evident in the close, even spacing, and the closely matched materials. These is a strong emphasis on wrapping techniques (as distinct from plaiting, twining, or coiling). One example has a unique weaving variant, consisting of doubled warps staggered on the inside and outside of a passive weft bound by a single wrapping weft with a consistent up-to-the-right slant. The wrapping technique is generaby associated with Wakashan heavy-duty carrying baskets, although ethnographic Salish made and used similar baskets. Although the basketry from the Glenrose site is generaly similar to these historic Wakashan baskets, there are differences, and some details are similar to 2,000 year-old baskets from Coast Salish territory. Although the sample is too small to make statements about potential ethnic connections with any confidence, the possibility exists of ancestral connections to both the Salish and Wakashan speaking groups. The hundreds of stakes arranged in oblique rows along the riverbank are probably the remains of fish weirs and traps. This interpretation is supported by the huge number of salmon bones in the shell hash layers. The inference is that intensive salmon harvesting, processing and storage were well established at the mouth of the Fraser River by 4600 B.P. Added to other data, it appears that many of the components of Northwest Coast Culture, including massive architecture, wealth accumulation, hereditary status, and ranking were in place by this early date.