Inter -and intra-site heterogeneity as sources for faunal assemblage variability : an analysis of fish taxa from Northern Tsimshian archaeological sites ...

• Main Author: Johnson, Raini Abigale
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: University of British Columbia 2019
• Subjects: Tsimshian; Tsimshian*
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.14288/1.0380481; https://doi.library.ubc.ca/10.14288/1.0380481

This thesis examines archaeological faunal assemblages of fish taxa from Northern Tsimshian village sites in the Prince Rupert Harbour (PRH) and surrounding area on the northern coast of British Columbia. Previously, the PRH has shown evidence for salmon dominated faunal assemblages which has led researchers to deem the region as an area of “extreme salmon specialization” (Coupland et al., 2010: 189). This thesis asks how representative this trend is within the study region by exploring the relationship between the three most prevalent fish species: salmon, herring, and smelt/other fish. When 45 faunal samples from 34 sites within the region were examined, 11 samples from nine archaeological sites are not dominated by salmon. Species variability within and between faunal assemblages was examined through the use of relative abundance and density calculations. Patterning due to variability in sampling methodology (column versus auger samples) and in the historic (i.e., representative of what is ‘in the ...