Abstract

When approaching Northwest Coast archaeological data, Don Mitchell's work often reflects a keen interest in function. As a data base directly applicable to this interest, prehistoric wet (waterlogged) sites have revealed important information concerning the early technologies used in Northwest Coast wild food procurement, storage, management and exchange. Composite wood and fiber harpoons, arrows, atlatls, fishhooks, traps/weirs, pack-baskets, and digging sticks directly reveal past procurement strategies. Functional varieties of storage baskets and wooden boxes can reflect the significance of past food storage practices on the Northwest Coast. Social stratification ethnohistorically promoted management of both the procurement and storage of resources in a community, and prehistoric stratification may be evidenced by the types of textile hats worn by past property owners and managers–nobility versus commoners. And exchange through trade can be proposed by the sensitive style of 'foreign' basketry found in wet site contexts.