Constructed Coastlines of the Salish Sea: Integrating Archaeological, Indigenous, and Ecological Perspectives

Prior to contact with Euro-Americans, the Salish Sea was anything but a natural place. Rather, its coastscapes were profoundly anthropogenic, having been constructed, engineered and managed by Indigenous peoples over the Holocene. I first cover the archaeological record that supports this assertion, focusing on my research in the southern Gulf Islands of British Columbia. Second, I consider the social dimensions to how landscape construction and resource management systems operated in the past. Third, I bring these notions forward into the present and future, showing how an understanding of such long-term practices can directly inform how we effect the ecological recovery of Puget Sound and the Salish Sea. My take away message is that the future of the Salish Sea rests directly on our collective knowledge of its past.

For Winter Quarter 2020 Huxley College is collaborating with the Salish Sea Institute for the Huxley Speaker Series, with a focus on the Salish Sea.