CGRG Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology
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Author : Carlson, R.L.
Date : 2003.
Title : Human response to environmental change on the coast of British Columbia.
Publication : The Fifth World Archaeological Congress. Washington, D.C. June, 2003.
Issue :
Page(s) :
Abstract
In this paper I present a model of climatic and cultural change commencing with the late glacial arrival of caribou hunters from the arctic to the coastal tundra of the Northwest Coast who rapidly adapted to changing coastal resources by fishing and sea mammal hunting. The increase in anadromous salmon abundance in the mid-Holocene led to development or expansion of fish traps and a shift from an economy already based mostly on fishing to one focused on salmon. as the single most important resource and to the use of salmon as capital in the expansion of sociocultural complexity beyond that usually found in non-agricultural societies. I review the evidence for relationships between salmon abundance and variability in Holocene climate, and the possible effect of changes in such relationships on the cultural system.
Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology