<html>Holocene and Late Pleistocene Shorelines and Settlement on the Outer Northwest Coast: Archaeology of <i>Laxnuganaks/</i>the Moore Islands Archipelago, BC, Canada</html>
Author(s): Bryn Letham
Year: 2025
Summary
This is an abstract from the "Ancient Seashore Sites and Environments in Geoarchaeology" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.
The outer coast of western North America is archaeologically significant because it was accessible and inhabitable for humans early on following the Last Glacial Maximum, and because its resource-rich islands necessitate unique lifeways and adaptations. We examine the geoarchaeological record of the Moore Islands, a small archipelago off northern British Columbia, where we document 16,000 years of sea level and environmental change, and a settlement history extending back nearly as long. We demonstrate how relative sea level reconstruction combined with GIS modelling and archaeological survey allow us to identify abundant archaeological sites associated with changing shorelines. Archaeological findings include an ~8500-year record of faunal remains, including early Holocene dogs and whales, and showing long-term marine focused subsistence; projectile points, obsidian microblades, and other lithics including intertidal assemblages from the Late Pleistocene; and diverse habitation sites with multi-millennia persistent occupation. Despite their ‘remote’ location, the dense and prolific archaeological deposits across this tiny and isolated archipelago indicate that the islands were persistently and intensively used and occupied from the Late Pleistocene through the Holocene. This accords with the oral histories of the Ts’msyen First Nations that assert the Moore Islands – Laxnuganaks – as an origin site and historically significant locations.
Cite this Record
Holocene and Late Pleistocene Shorelines and Settlement on the Outer Northwest Coast: Archaeology of Laxnuganaks/the Moore Islands Archipelago, BC, Canada. Bryn Letham. Presented at The 90th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. 2025 ( tDAR id: 509728)
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Abstract Id(s): 52482