Holocene History of Cedar and Native Indian Cultures of the North American Pacific Coast
RICHARD J. HEBDA 1 and
ROLF W. MATHEWES 2
1 Archaeology Division, British Columbia Provincial Museum, Victoria, British Columbia V8V 1X4 Canada
2 Department of Biological Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia V5A 1S6 Canada
A comparison of paleobotanical records with archeological and ethnographic evidence from the Pacific Northwest shows a strong correlation between the expansion of Western red cedar (Thuja plicata) in coastal forests between 5000 and 2500 years ago and the evolution of a massive woodworking technology by native cultures. This suggests that an important component of cultural development was environmentally constrained until large cedar trees, the basic resource for canoe-building and plank-house construction, had become available in late Holocene time.
Submitted on December 29, 1983
Accepted on May 15, 1984
