Summary: | The Northwest Coast of North America (NWC) is a culture area that extends from the Klamath River in northern California to Yakutat Bay in southeastern Alaska. The area’s topography varies from a relatively linear open Pacific shoreline in Oregon and Washington to a highly irregular shoreline of islands, archipelagos, and fjords with mountains often descending precipitously into the sea. Archaeology on the Northwest Coast of North America has a relatively short history, and zooarchaeology has an even shorter one. This paper presents a summary of that history for the pre-contact period, traces the research that has been done to date and suggests some directions for future studies.
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