Abstract

This paper examines the frameworks that have traditionally supported assumptions, and interpretations regarding gender in prehistoric slavery on the coast of British Columbia. It uses a hybrid of ethnohistoric and archaeological data to examine the construction of gender analysis in two specific contexts. The first is how (and if) gender was a significant element of prehistoric slavery. The second is how archaeologists interpret gender into reconstructions of prehistoric coastal slavery. The main theme of this paper is to examine how and why interpretations of burial populations have incorporated gender-based assumptions of slavery into their analysis. It also discusses the potential theoretical difficulties in creating such assumptions which can potentially limit the threshold of burial data analysis in relation to not only social and gender roles, but also in the understanding of the identity of the original population in relation to status and rank. A set of criteria will be discussed which will assist in developing a model for the interpretation of gender and status in Northwest coast burials.