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9000 years of salmon fishing on the Columbia River, North America

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Virginia L Butler  and
Jim E O'Connor
Virginia L Butler*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Portland State University, Portland, OR 97207, USA
Jim E O'Connor
Affiliation:
U.S. Geological Survey, 10615 SE Cherry Blossom Drive, Portland, OR 97216, USA
*
*Corresponding author. Fax: (503) 725-3905. E-mail address:butlerv@pdx.edu (V.L. Butler).
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Abstract

A large assemblage of salmon bones excavated 50 yr ago from an ∼10,000-yr-old archaeological site near The Dalles, Oregon, USA, has been the primary evidence that early native people along the Columbia River subsisted on salmon. Recent debate about the human role in creating the deposit prompted excavation of additional deposits and analysis of archaeologic, geologic, and hydrologic conditions at the site. Results indicate an anthropogenic source for most of the salmonid remains, which have associated radiocarbon dates indicating that the site was occupied as long ago as 9300 cal yr B.P. The abundance of salmon bone indicates that salmon was a major food item and suggests that migratory salmonids had well-established spawning populations in some parts of the Columbia Basin by 9300–8200 yr ago.

Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 62 , Issue 1 , July 2004 , pp. 1 - 8
Copyright
University of Washington

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