Culture types in Pacific Northwest archaeology are characteristic artifact assemblages distinguishing different prehistoric periods. Assemblages indicate a culture type transition during the 2,630 BP–270 BP occupation of Willows Beach (DcRt-10), southeastern Vancouver Island. Faunal remains could reveal links to subsistence patterns, following Croes’s theory that culture type change reflects subsistence intensification.
Five dated DcRt-10 faunal assemblages underwent taxonomic and size classification, weighing and MNI calculation. Vertebrate weight and NISP percentages were compared between stratigraphic units associated with the later Gulf of Georgia and earlier Locarno Beach culture types. The youngest assemblage contains a smaller proportion of land mammal bone, suggesting increased sea mammal, fish, and bird procurement. Faunal remains also suggest a greater variety of taxa exploited over time.
Faunal assemblages suggest that culture type change at DcRt-10 is the product of subsistence change, increasing knowledge of the culture historic sequence of this region.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uvic.ca/oai:dspace.library.uvic.ca:1828/1723 |
| Date | 03 September 2009 |
| Creators | Willerton, Ila Moana |
| Contributors | Lam, Yin-Man |
| Source Sets | University of Victoria |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Rights | Available to the World Wide Web |
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