Abstract

For the lives of Northwest Coast peoples throughout their prehistory and history, warfare was a common occurrence. Images of warfare feature prominently in contemporary conceptions of Northwest Coast cultures, however, these mostly regard the northern groups, like the Haida, Tlingit, or Kwakwaka'wakw. The Coast Salish often are portrayed not as warriors, but as victims, subject to the preying of northern raiders, such as the infamous Lekwiltok. In this paper, I discuss these conceptions and posit that current conceptions about the nature of Coast Salish warfare result mostly from a late historic peak in Coast Salish life, a window of fascinating detail, but one that is fogged by the substantial changes in the decades prior to historic chronicles, particularly the differing effects of disease and the access to firearms. Moreover, such views ignore substantial archaeological and ethnographic evidence regarding warfare among the Coast Salish. For this discussion, I integrate the evidence from archaeology, ethnography, and ethnohistory for a more coherent conception of Coast Salish warfare.