Abstract

This paper attempts on a limited scale to assess the recent prehistoric period of the northwest coast in terms of an interactional model. Cultural (technological) changes over the past 2 or 3 thousand years are viewed not so much as distinct cultural changes as evidence for the dynamics of social interaction and the changes in inter-community interaction preferences. Given that there have been some environmental and demographic changes over the past 3 thousand years and given also that only technological changes are recorded, the stance is taken that these reflect more of intercommunity relational changes than they do of adaptive strategy evolution. They may be taken instead as tactical variations, as much socially derived as subsistence motivated. It is assumed that territorial margins, the outer limits of a community's catchment area are the articulation points of social change. Two cases are examined. In both a limited amount of archaeological investigation has been carried on. In both also there has been a rather limited amount of ethnographic study. Using this model it should be possible to explain some of the supposed anomalies in localized variants in regional archaeological cultures, phases and other units of definition.