Economic prehistory of the northern British Columbia coast

The northern British Columbia coast includes the coastal mainland and the Queen Charlotte Islands. The archaeological record of this region is not as well known as other parts of the Northwest Coast. The period between ca. 10,000 and 5000 BP is known only for the queen Charlotte Islands, and then only poorly, while the period after 5000 BP is represented best on the mainland, particularly through excavations in Prince Rupert Harbour. Evidence from adjacent portions of the coast clearly indicates that during the earlier period the northern British Columbia coast was occupied by hunter-gatherers using marine resources and habitats. In the subsequent period, people made use of an array of littoral and marine habitats, exploiting a wide range of resources, including the hunting of whales off the queen Charlotte Islands. The regional economies appear to have undergone significant intensification around 3500 BP with the emergence of a storage-based economy and subsistence patterns marked by logistical moves to offshore islands and other similar locations. Faunal remains from different sites suggest that marine mammals were generally important resources, though exploitation patterns appear to have been localized.