Fascinating Challenges: Studying Material Culture With Dorothy Burnham (Mercury Series-Canadian Ethnology Service, 136)

Perspectives on Northern Northwest Coast Prehistory investigates paleoenvironmental influences on human settlement, theoretical concepts involved in northern Northwest Coast research, and the interplay of aboriginal oral traditions and archaeological findings. Consideration is given to the biological relationships of ancient and historic human populatins, preserved organics and their role in the identification of ethnicity, zooarchaeological remains and their bearing on subsistence and seasonality, the emergence and maintenance of ranked society, and protohistoric competition and trade. A final chapter treats the crucial issue of site preservation and increasing First Nations involvement. Thirteen scientists provide insight into the archaeology of the north coast of British Columbia in celebration of fieldwork begun by George F. MacDonald for the National Museum of Canada in 1966. A decadeÕs worth of field seasons saw excavation at 18 sites representing 5000 years of human occupation. The introduction provides an overview of fieldwork at Prince Rupert Harbour where most of the archaeology was done. Jerome S. Cybulski is Curator of Physical Anthropology at the Canadian Museum of Civilization.