Land and sea: use of terrestrial mammal bones in coastal hunter-gatherer communities.

Land and sea: use of terrestrial mammal bones in coastal hunter-gatherer communities. Introduction On archaeological sites of coastal hunter-gatherers, marine taxaoften far outnumber terrestrial mammals among the unmodified faunalremains. In such cases, terrestrial mammals are generally deemedunimportant in the overall economy because of their minor contributionto the diet. Such inferences overlook the fact that land mammals alsoprovide numerous other materials including bone and antler, which mayhave played crucial roles in past economic lifeways. Several lines ofevidence indicate the importance of terrestrial mammals as a source ofraw materials for the manufacture of marine hunting and fishingequipment. These tools were used to support the main subsistenceeconomies. This observation stems from our experience in working withthe archaeological records from the Northwest Coast of North America(FR) and the coast of Arctic Norway (LH). The Northwest Coast and the importance of terrestrial mammals The Northwest Coast is one of few areas of the world where complexhierarchical societies developed on the basis of non-agricultural(marine-focused) modes of subsistence. After 5000 BP, marine andriverine riv��er��ine?adj.1. Relating to or resembling a river.2. Located on or inhabiting the banks of a river; riparian: "Members of a riverine tribe ... taxa heavily dominate archaeofaunal assemblages along theentire coast, although this dietary focus on marine protein likelydeveloped much earlier (Carlson 1998: 31-2). Most Northwest Coastpeoples lived in large semi-sedentary villages with associated middens,and had developed rich ritual and artistic traditions, and large tradenetworks (Matson & Coupland 1995). In most cases, the economic basisfor this phenomenon was the harvest and surplus storage of Pacificsalmon. Independent lines of evidence suggest that considerable economic(non-dietary) importance was attached to large terrestrial mammals.Archaeologically this is manifest in the large number and diversity ofartefacts manufactured on terrestrial mammal bone. Additionally,numerous ethnographic and historical references indicate the importanceof terrestrial mammal bone and antler tools in fishing, woodworking andother activities. The economic contribution of land-mammal elements isless apparent in the `unmodified' archaeofaunal samples (Rahemtulla1998). Specimen counts in archaeofaunal samples usually evince deer(Odocoileus hemionus) and wapiti wapiti(wŏp`ĭtē), large North American deer, Cervus canadensis, closely related to the Old World red deer. It is commonly called elk in America although the name elk is used in Europe to refer to the moose. (Cervus elaphus) as being numericallydominated by marine taxa. A problem with taxonomic identification infaunal samples concerns degree of bone fragmentation. Bone artefactproduction and other taphonomic processes result in high numbers ofwaste fragments, or unidentifiable land-mammal bones. Salmon vertebrae VertebraeBones in the cervical, thoracic, and lumbar regions of the body that make up the vertebral column. Vertebrae have a central foramen (hole), and their superposition makes up the vertebral canal that encloses the spinal cord. ,on the other hand, are relatively easy to identify and occur in largenumbers. As a result, large land-mammal relative frequencies (by NISP NISP National Industrial Symbiosis Programme (UK)NISP National Industrial Security ProgramNISP Neutron Instrument Simulation PackageNISP National Individual Security ProgramNISP Nutrition Services Incentive Program )tend to be low. At the same sites, though, large numbers of bone andantler artefacts are typically made on deer and/or wapiti elements. This pattern is typified at the unusually well preserved site ofOzette in Washington state (FIGURE 1), where deer remains comprise justover 1% of the site faunal assemblage (TABLE 1), yet they provide asubstantial amount of raw material for bone artefact production. Ozetteis atypical of most Northwest Coast economies in that its occupants wereinvolved in intensive whaling, and they produced a considerable numberof artefacts on bones of this taxon taxon(pl. taxa), in biology, a term used to denote any group or rank in the classification of organisms, e.g., class, order, family. . If whalebone whalebone:see whale. artefacts are removedfrom the sample, an overwhelming 89% are made on land-mammal bone, mostlikely deer. An additional 1174 bone artefacts were not classified totaxon, but the majority of these are thought to be made on land-mammalbone as well (Huelsbeck 1994: 50), potentially increasing the deerrepresentation even further. Overall, the Ozette data strongly suggestthat terrestrial mammal bones were highly selected for tool manufacture,and are therefore under-represented in the unmodified faunal material(Huelsbeck 1994: 49). A similar pattern is evident at several otherNorthwest Coast sites (TABLE 1). [Figure 1 ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [TABULAR DATA 1 NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII ASCIIor American Standard Code for Information Interchange,a set of codes used to represent letters, numbers, a few symbols, and control characters. Originally designed for teletype operations, it has found wide application in computers. ] Clearly, the economic importance of terrestrial mammals cannot besimplistically gauged from unworked faunal material alone. At mostsites, land mammals provide the primary raw material for bonetechnologies, yet they are vastly outnumbered by other taxa in thefaunal material. This supports Conover's (1978: 91) contention thatdeer procurement at Namu was driven primarily by the need for non-fooditems such as hide and bone. McIlwraith's (1948: 2) account of theNuxalk (Bella Coola) People indicates that deer comprised a small partof their caloric intake, and stable isotope studies further confirm theminimal contribution of terrestrial protein to the diets of NorthwestCoast peoples after 10,000 BP (Cannon et al. 1999; Carlson 1998). Ethnographic and ethnohistoric accounts provide further support forthe non-dietary economic contribution of land mammals. Several authorsnote the use of large land-mammal bone and antler for production of avariety of utilitarian and non-utilitarian items. In order to harvestmarine animals, Northwest Coast peoples made a wide variety of fishhooks, harpoons, spears, leisters and specialized implements such asherring rakes. Most of these composite implements required modified boneor antler fittings, although wood was the primary raw material. Ofparticular interest is the focus on deer and wapiti limb bones (Boas1909: 505, 1921: 157; Barnett 1955: 101; Suttles 1974: 91,115) andantler (Gunther 1936: 117; Suttles 1974: 106), which were valued formanufacturing portable fishing and hunting implements. Despite several lines of evidence suggesting the importance ofterrestrial mammals as a source of raw material, this aspect of theeconomy receives only passing mention in the literature. Though manyauthors comment on the importance of terrestrial mammal bone for toolproduction on the Northwest Coast (e.g. Cannon 1991:23; Hanson 1995:43),this observation is rarely followed up with an analysis of land-mammalbone as a source of raw material. An example from Arctic Norway In Arctic Norway, as on the Northwest Coast, past analystsattributed only a minor economic role to terrestrial mammals on coastalsites. During the later part of the Younger Stone Age (YSA: 6500-3700BP), there is some evidence for cultural developments similar to thoseon the Northwest Coast, though on a smaller scale. Several authors haveargued for permanent social hierarchies and long-distance trade, basedon the presence of large house structures (potentially occupiedyear-round) with associated shell middens, ground slate technology andthe find of a copper dagger from Russian Karelia (B. Olsen 1994; Renouf1989; Schanche 1994; Simonsen 1961). The well-documented YSA site of Gressbakken (Simonsen 1961:271-391)in Varangerfjord (FIGURE 1) produced a faunal sample typical of othercontemporary sites in the region (Renouf 1989; Hodgetts 1999). Fishdominate the NISP counts at 68%, followed by sea mammals at 15%, birdsat 13% and terrestrial mammals, the most important of which is reindeer(Rangifer tarandus), at only 3% (H. Olsen 1967: 17; n.d.). Previous faunal analyses have focused primarily on fish remains asindicators of diet and season of occupation (H. Olsen 1967; Renouf1989). Any discussion of mammalian fauna has centred on sea mammals,which are assumed to have made a large dietary contribution based ontheir large body size and considerable representation in the NISPcounts. Reindeer, because they contribute little to the total NISP,receive little mention in previous syntheses of YSA faunal data from theVarangerfjord area (H. Olsen 1967; n.d.; Renouf 1989). Arctic Norwaylacks the ethnographic references of the Northwest Coast to suggest theimportance of terrestrial mammal bone in artefact manufacture. However,the late YSA is characterized by a large number of bone and antler tools(B. Olsen 1994; Simonsen 1961). As on the Northwest Coast, the majorityof these tools are made using terrestrial mammal bone. No previousanalysis has considered the economic implications of this worked faunalmaterial. Hodgetts' re-analysis of both the worked and unworked reindeerbone and antler from Gressbakken is presented below. The midden middendungheap. featuresassociated with Houses 3 and 4 were completely excavated (Simonsen 1961)and are discussed here. Each house at Gressbakken represents areasonably short occupation, with estimates for the average lifespan ofa house ranging from 40 (Helskog 1984) to 150 (Schanche 1994) years. Acharcoal sample from House 3 produced a radiocarbon date of T-198 3650[+ or -] 150 BP, and there is a date of T-234 3850 [+ or -] 100 BP oncharcoal from House 4. Unfortunately, the reindeer material from both houses displaysevidence of considerable post-depositional destruction, which precludesdirect comparison between the unworked and worked faunal material interms of element representation. There is a strong correlation([r.sub.s]=0.76, P [is less than] 0.001) between the rank order ofreindeer elements at the two houses, suggesting that similar formationprocesses affected both assemblages (FIGURE 2). Axial elements arescarce, as are proximal humerus humerus:see arm. , distal metacarpus, pelvis and bothproximal and distal femur. Elements such as scapula scapula/scap��u��la/ (skap��u-lah) pl. scap��ulae ? [L.] shoulder blade; the flat, triangular bone in the back of the shoulder. scap��ular scap��u��lan. pl. and ulna ulna:see arm. are wellrepresented at both houses. [Figure 2 ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] This pattern may be attributed to differential preservation ofreindeer skeletal elements. There is a reasonably strong correlationbetween deer bone mineral density bone mineral densityn.See bone density.bone mineral densityA measurement of bone mass, expressed as the amount of mineral–in grams divided by the area scanned in cm2. See Bone densitometry. (from Lyman 1984) and reindeerskeletal element frequency at House 3 ([r.sub.s]=0.64, P=0.004) and amoderate correlation at House 4 ([r.sub.s]=0.44, P=0.04). Both dogs andwolves are present in the identified material from Gressbakken, andthere is evidence of carnivore carnivore(kär`nəvôr'), term commonly applied to any animal whose diet consists wholly or largely of animal matter. In animal systematics it refers to members of the mammalian order Carnivora (see Chordata). gnawing on reindeer bones in theassemblage. Carnivore impact and bone decomposition probably account forthe correlation between bone mineral density and element representation.The unworked reindeer assemblage has thus been transformed since it wasfirst deposited and cannot be compared to the worked reindeer elementsin order to test for the preferential transport of certain elements forartefact manufacture. A close analysis of the worked reindeer bone is nonethelessrevealing, even without a direct comparison to the unworked assemblagein terms of skeletal element representation. Reindeer elements dominateamong the bone and antler tools at Houses 3 and 4 (TABLE 2). Antler wasobviously of prime importance in artefact manufacture, and many antler`blanks' in the early stages of tool manufacture are present.Artefacts made on reindeer bone are also present and far outnumber thosemade on sea-mammal bone. [TABULAR DATA 2 NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] Many of the reindeer bone and antler tools such as fish hooks,barbs, unilaterally barbed points and harpoons can be directly linkedwith primary subsistence activities such as fishing and sea-mammalhunting (TABLE 2). The few artefacts manufactured on sea-mammal bone aredecorative in function and would not have been used in food procurement.Though reindeer hunting made a minimal contribution to the diet, it wasnecessary for the maintenance of tool-kits used in obtaining moreimportant sources of food. Discussion Contrary to our modern expectations, hunting and trapping ofterrestrial mammals in coastal foraging communities may not have beendriven directly by nutritional desire. Ultimately the importance ofthese animals may have been in providing essential raw materials.Indeed, Boas (1909: 512) claims that certain Kwakwaka'wakw groupson Vancouver Island took deer but did not eat the meat, since it wasthought to make the consumer forgetful. This implies that nonfood non��food?adj.Of, relating to, or being something that is not food but is sold in a supermarket, as housewares or stationery. products were the primary reason for deer hunting by these groups; fursand skins were used to make clothing, sinews to bind composite weapons,while bone and antler were fashioned into hunting and fishingimplements, wood-working tools, personal ornaments and ritual items.Similar arguments have been proposed for other coastal areas, forexample the Mesolithic inhabitants of Oronsay are thought to haveimported red deer and pig bones to the island specifically fortool-making (Richards & Mellars 1998: 178-84). It seems fairly certain that on the Northwest Coast and on coastalArctic Norway, large terrestrial-mammal bone and antler were importantin sustaining primary marine/riverine economies. Since unmodified faunalremains may not reflect the real economic importance of certain species,we argue that an approach that integrates faunal and bone artefactanalyses results in a more reliable estimate of the economic value ofterrestrial mammals in coastal areas. The following recommendationscould be employed in an integrated approach. First, faunal analyses should incorporate bone and antler artefactswith unmodified faunal material. Where possible, bone artefacts shouldbe identified to element and species, and be considered as part of theoverall faunal assemblage. This does not preclude functional andmorphological analyses of the artefacts. Second, within the scope oflarger taphonomic considerations, skeletal element representations ofterrestrial mammals should be examined for evidence of selectivetransport for artefact manufacture.(1) These patterns can then beevaluated with skeletal element representations in the artefactassemblages. Finally, although not considered in the present study,fragmentation patterns of large mammal bones could be studied as theymay also indicate tool manufacture. We suggest that a stringent focus on diet alone, or on artefacttypes alone, is less informative than this broader perspective thatcombines aspects of subsistence and technology. This integrated approachis of relevance to other coastal areas inhabited by hunter-gatherersocieties, and to any situation where bone and antler were used as rawmaterials. Acknowledgements. Several individuals graciously read versions ofthis paper: Andrew Barton, Aubrey Cannon, Roy Carlson, Jon Driver, PeterRowley-Conwy and an anonymous reviewer. We are grateful for their usefulcomments and we remain responsible for any errors and omissions errors and omissionsn. short-hand for malpractice insurance which gives physicians, attorneys, architects, accountants and other professionals coverage for claims by patients and clients for alleged professional errors and omissions which amount to negligence. . RoyCarlson also provided access to unpublished data. Anne Karin Hufthammerof the Zoological Museum of Bergen and Knut Helskog of Tromso Museumkindly granted access to the unworked faunal material and bone andantler artefacts from Varangerfjord. LH was funded in part by theCommonwealth Scholarship Association and both authors independentlyreceived support from the Social Sciences and Humanities ResearchCouncil of Canada The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (French: (le) conseil de recherches en sciences humaine en Canada) (SSHRC/CRSH) is a Canadian federal agency which supports university-based training and research and training in the humanities and social . (1) Post-depositional destruction and a small sample size willinevitably be a concern, and may limit the applicability of this line ofenquiry to sites with exceptional preservation conditions. References BARNETT, H,G. 1955. The Coast Salish of British Columbia. Eugene(OR): The University Press. BOAS, F. 1909. The Kwakiutl of Vancouver Island. Leiden: E.J.Brill. The Jessup North Pacific Expedition, Memoir of the AmericanMuseum of Natural History 5. 1921. 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It achieved university status in 1949. , St John's NF, A1C 5S7 Canada lhodgett@mun.caRahemtulla, Anthropology Program, University of Northern BritishColumbia The British Columbia legislature established the university on 21 June 1990 with the UNBC Act in response to a grass roots movement spearheaded by the Interior University Society. , 3333 University Way, Prince George BC, V2N 4Z9 Canada.farid@unbc.ca Received 31 March 2000, accepted 7 July 2000, revised 8 November2000.