West Coast of Vancouver Island

Culturally modified trees (CMTs) provide tangible evidence of long-term forest use by Indigenous peoples. In Northwest Coast cedar forests, this record rarely spans beyond the last three centuries because older bark-harvest scars have been obscured through taphonomic processes such as natural healing and decay. Thus, archaeological visibility and identification are hindered. Here, I recover chronologies of ancient forest harvesting using a post-impact assessment methodology of targeting old-growth clear-cuts in southern Nuu-chah-nulth territories on the west coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. Bark-peeling scars are identified and dated in cross section by growth-ring patterns of recently logged trees. Approximately half of all bark-peeling scars are "embedded" inside healing lobes, suggesting at least half of all such CMTs are effectively invisible in standing forests. Features in these post-impact surveys predated those discovered in conventional archaeological impact assessments by a mean of almost a century. Additionally, one of the oldest continually used cultural forests ever recorded, dating to AD 908, is found in the Toquaht Nation traditional territory. These findings uncover measurable frequencies of cedar-bark harvesting generations prior to the contact period and reveal the inadequacy of heritage protections for old-growth cedar stands.

Los árboles culturalmente modificados (CMTs por sus siglas en inglés) proporcionan evidencia tangible del uso a largo plazo del cedro por parte de los pueblos Indígenas. En el noroeste del Pacífico, este registro rara vez se extiende más allá de los últimos tres siglos o la duración de vida potencial de los bosques circundantes. Se ha pensado que las cicatrices culturales más antiguas en el cedro están ocultas a través de procesos de curación natural o deterioro a lo largo del tiempo, lo cual impide su identificación. Aquí recupero cronologías de usos antiguos de bosques a través de las "evaluaciones post-impacto" de recientes recortes claros de bosque de viejo crecimiento en el sur de los territorios de Nuu-chah-nulth en la costa oeste de la Isla de Vancouver, Columbia Británica, Canadá. Las cicatrices de peladura de la corteza se identifican y datan en sección trans-versal según el patrón de crecimiento del anillo dentro de los árboles recientemente talados. Encuentro que la mitad de todas las cicatrices de peladura de la corteza de los cedros están "incrustadas" dentro de lóbulos de curación e invisibles dentro de un bosque en pie. Se encontró que las características de estas evaluaciones post-impacto son anteriores, en promedio, a las des-cubiertas en las evaluaciones de impacto arqueológico (AIAs por sus siglas en inglés) convencionales de casi un siglo. Uno de los bosques culturales de uso continuo más antiguo jamás registrado, que data de 908 dC, se encuentra en la Primera Nación Toquaht. Los hallazgos descubren frecuencias medibles de las actividades humanas generaciones anteriores al período de con-tacto y revelan la insuficiencia de las protecciones del patrimonio regional para las masas de cedro de viejo crecimiento.

Most reconstructions of Nuu-chah-nulth culture history, including the generalized West Coast culture type, are based primarily on the lengthy cultural sequence known from Yuquot, at the entrance to Nootka Sound. More recent work further to the south has raised questions about past interpretations. Excavations at Ch'uumat'a, in western Barkley Sound, revealed an occupational history spanning much the same time period as Yuquot. Materials from the earlier levels at this site most closely resemble those known from the Strait of Georgia, particularly in the Locarno Beach stage, suggesting a long period of occupation prior to Nuu-chah-nulth arrival.

During the Holocene, numerous great earthquakes have occurred along the west coast of North America. Enormous seismic waves, triggered by these colossal forces of nature, have episodically inundated vulnerable regions of the Cascadia coastal lands to elevations of up to 20 m above mean sea level. The destructive paths of tsunamis leave behind important geological evidence like anomalous sheets of gravel and sand containing marine fossils and terrestrial detritus marking a distinct disturbance in the depositional environment. Such tsunamigenic deposits can be found in low-elevation lakes; depositional environments which allow one to determine the distribution and inland range of the tsunami wave run-up but also ideal environments because they tend to preserve a longer and older sedimentological record. Multiple inferred tsunami deposits were recorded in Kakawis Lake, on the west central coast of Vancouver Island, and have provided a 14,000-year-old record of information. The tsunamig...

During the Holocene, numerous great earthquakes have occurred long the west coast of North America. Enormous seismic waves, triggered by these colossal forces of nature, have episodically inundated vulnerable regions of the Cascadia coastal lands to elevations of up to 20m above mean sea level. The destruction paths of tsunamis leave behind important geological evidence like anomalous sheets of gravel and sand containing marine fossils and terrestrial detritus marking a distinct disturbance in the depositional environment. Such tsunamigenic deposits can be found in low-elevation lakes; depositional environments which allow to determine the distribution and inland range of the tsunami wave run-up but also ideal environments because they tend to preserve a longer and older sedimentological record. Multiple inferred tsunami deposits were recorded at Kakawis Lake, on the west central coast of Vancouver Island, and have provided a 14,000-year-old record of information. The tsunamigenic sediments pre-date AD1700 and are similar to those found in other lakes on the Island. As for a regional correlation, these tsunami deposits are likely related to at least two and possibly three of the events reported in the Atwater - Hemphill-Haley chronology, with recurrence intervals of about 400 years.