Abstract

During the latest Pleistocene and earliest Holocene the Northwest Coast was subject to a series of rapid environmental changes. Paleolimnological studies demonstrate changes in relative sea level position, vegetation communities and climate. Landscape modeling of the Haida Gwaii archipelago, including swath bathymetry of the sea floor, allows production of physical images of the ancient landscapes and targets for environmental and archeological research. Most recently, investigation of karst caves in the south of Haida Gwaii has opened a small window on the human and paleontological components of these ancient landscapes. At Gaadu Din we have recovered a paleontological record extending from ca. 12,000 to 10,000 BP and a small number of human artifacts dating from ca. 10,500 to 10,000 BP.