The Role of Small Villages in Northern Tsimshian Territory From Oral and Archaeological Records

Small villages have been central to progressive models of hunter-gatherer-fisher complexity on the Northwest Coast as a stage in the narrative of increasingly nonegalitarian social relations. We argue that Tsimshian settlement history is more complicated. We examine settlement and chronological data...

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Main Authors: Martindale, Andrew, Marsden, Susan, Patton, Katherine, Ruggles, Angela, Letham, Bryn, Supernant, Kisha, Archer, David J.W., McLaren, Duncan, Ames, Kenneth M.
Format: Text
Language:unknown
Published: PDXScholar 2017
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Online Access:https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/anth_fac/126
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spelling ftportlandstate:oai:pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu:anth_fac-1127 2023-05-15T18:39:18+02:00 The Role of Small Villages in Northern Tsimshian Territory From Oral and Archaeological Records Martindale, Andrew Marsden, Susan Patton, Katherine Ruggles, Angela Letham, Bryn Supernant, Kisha Archer, David J.W. McLaren, Duncan Ames, Kenneth M. 2017-10-01T07:00:00Z https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/anth_fac/126 unknown PDXScholar https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/anth_fac/126 Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations Anthropology Archaeological Anthropology text 2017 ftportlandstate 2022-01-09T19:47:53Z Small villages have been central to progressive models of hunter-gatherer-fisher complexity on the Northwest Coast as a stage in the narrative of increasingly nonegalitarian social relations. We argue that Tsimshian settlement history is more complicated. We examine settlement and chronological data for 66 village sites in the Tsimshian area, 22 of which we define as small. Small villages were present in the area as early as 6500 years ago, but they are also contemporary with larger settlements until after 1300 years ago. We suggest that small villages represent a traditional Tsimshian social entity known as the wilnat’aał, or lineage, knowledge of which is preserved in Tsimshian oral records. We argue that the persistence of this settlement and community form illustrates the foundational role of this social unit throughout Tsimshian history, a result that has implications for archaeological research in the context of Indigenous history. Text Tsimshian Tsimshian* Portland State University: PDXScholar
institution Open Polar
collection Portland State University: PDXScholar
op_collection_id ftportlandstate
language unknown
topic Anthropology
Archaeological Anthropology
spellingShingle Anthropology
Archaeological Anthropology
Martindale, Andrew
Marsden, Susan
Patton, Katherine
Ruggles, Angela
Letham, Bryn
Supernant, Kisha
Archer, David J.W.
McLaren, Duncan
Ames, Kenneth M.
The Role of Small Villages in Northern Tsimshian Territory From Oral and Archaeological Records
topic_facet Anthropology
Archaeological Anthropology
description Small villages have been central to progressive models of hunter-gatherer-fisher complexity on the Northwest Coast as a stage in the narrative of increasingly nonegalitarian social relations. We argue that Tsimshian settlement history is more complicated. We examine settlement and chronological data for 66 village sites in the Tsimshian area, 22 of which we define as small. Small villages were present in the area as early as 6500 years ago, but they are also contemporary with larger settlements until after 1300 years ago. We suggest that small villages represent a traditional Tsimshian social entity known as the wilnat’aał, or lineage, knowledge of which is preserved in Tsimshian oral records. We argue that the persistence of this settlement and community form illustrates the foundational role of this social unit throughout Tsimshian history, a result that has implications for archaeological research in the context of Indigenous history.
format Text
author Martindale, Andrew
Marsden, Susan
Patton, Katherine
Ruggles, Angela
Letham, Bryn
Supernant, Kisha
Archer, David J.W.
McLaren, Duncan
Ames, Kenneth M.
author_facet Martindale, Andrew
Marsden, Susan
Patton, Katherine
Ruggles, Angela
Letham, Bryn
Supernant, Kisha
Archer, David J.W.
McLaren, Duncan
Ames, Kenneth M.
author_sort Martindale, Andrew
title The Role of Small Villages in Northern Tsimshian Territory From Oral and Archaeological Records
title_short The Role of Small Villages in Northern Tsimshian Territory From Oral and Archaeological Records
title_full The Role of Small Villages in Northern Tsimshian Territory From Oral and Archaeological Records
title_fullStr The Role of Small Villages in Northern Tsimshian Territory From Oral and Archaeological Records
title_full_unstemmed The Role of Small Villages in Northern Tsimshian Territory From Oral and Archaeological Records
title_sort role of small villages in northern tsimshian territory from oral and archaeological records
publisher PDXScholar
publishDate 2017
url https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/anth_fac/126
genre Tsimshian
Tsimshian*
genre_facet Tsimshian
Tsimshian*
op_source Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations
op_relation https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/anth_fac/126
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