1
|
Lin AT, Hammond-Kaarremaa L, Liu HL, Stantis C, McKechnie I, Pavel M, Pavel SSM, Wyss SSÁ, Sparrow DQ, Carr K, Aninta SG, Perri A, Hartt J, Bergström A, Carmagnini A, Charlton S, Dalén L, Feuerborn TR, France CAM, Gopalakrishnan S, Grimes V, Harris A, Kavich G, Sacks BN, Sinding MHS, Skoglund P, Stanton DWG, Ostrander EA, Larson G, Armstrong CG, Frantz LAF, Hawkins MTR, Kistler L. The history of Coast Salish "woolly dogs" revealed by ancient genomics and Indigenous Knowledge. Science 2023; 382:1303-1308. [PMID: 38096292 PMCID: PMC7615573 DOI: 10.1126/science.adi6549] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/12/2023] [Accepted: 10/25/2023] [Indexed: 12/18/2023]
Abstract
Ancestral Coast Salish societies in the Pacific Northwest kept long-haired "woolly dogs" that were bred and cared for over millennia. However, the dog wool-weaving tradition declined during the 19th century, and the population was lost. In this study, we analyzed genomic and isotopic data from a preserved woolly dog pelt from "Mutton," collected in 1859. Mutton is the only known example of an Indigenous North American dog with dominant precolonial ancestry postdating the onset of settler colonialism. We identified candidate genetic variants potentially linked with their distinct woolly phenotype. We integrated these data with interviews from Coast Salish Elders, Knowledge Keepers, and weavers about shared traditional knowledge and memories surrounding woolly dogs, their importance within Coast Salish societies, and how colonial policies led directly to their disappearance.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Audrey T Lin
- Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA
- Richard Gilder Graduate School, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY, USA
| | - Liz Hammond-Kaarremaa
- Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA
- Vancouver Island University, Nanaimo, BC, Canada
| | - Hsiao-Lei Liu
- Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Chris Stantis
- Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA
- Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
| | - Iain McKechnie
- Department of Anthropology, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada
| | - Michael Pavel
- Twana/Skokomish Indian Tribe, Skokomish Nation, WA, USA
| | - Susan sa'hLa mitSa Pavel
- Twana/Skokomish Indian Tribe, Skokomish Nation, WA, USA
- Coast Salish Wool Weaving Center, Skokomish Nation, WA, USA
- The Evergreen State College, Olympia, WA, USA
| | | | | | | | - Sabhrina Gita Aninta
- School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK
| | - Angela Perri
- Department of Anthropology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA
- Chronicle Heritage, Phoenix, AZ, USA
| | - Jonathan Hartt
- Department of Indigenous Studies, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada
| | - Anders Bergström
- Ancient Genomics Laboratory, The Francis Crick Institute, London, UK
- School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK
| | - Alberto Carmagnini
- Palaeogenomics Group, Institute of Palaeoanatomy, Domestication Research and the History of Veterinary Medicine, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich, Germany
| | - Sophy Charlton
- PalaeoBARN, School of Archaeology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- BioArCh, Department of Archaeology, University of York, York, UK
| | - Love Dalén
- Centre for Palaeogenetics, Stockholm, Sweden
- Department of Zoology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
- Department of Bioinformatics and Genetics, Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Tatiana R Feuerborn
- Center for Evolutionary Hologenomics, The Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
- National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | | | - Shyam Gopalakrishnan
- Center for Evolutionary Hologenomics, The Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Vaughan Grimes
- Department of Archaeology, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. Johns, NL, Canada
| | - Alex Harris
- National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Gwénaëlle Kavich
- Museum Conservation Institute, Smithsonian Institution, Suitland, MD, USA
| | - Benjamin N Sacks
- Mammalian Ecology and Conservation Unit, Veterinary Genetics Laboratory, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA
- Department of Population Health and Reproduction, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA
| | | | - Pontus Skoglund
- Ancient Genomics Laboratory, The Francis Crick Institute, London, UK
| | - David W G Stanton
- Palaeogenomics Group, Institute of Palaeoanatomy, Domestication Research and the History of Veterinary Medicine, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich, Germany
- Cardiff School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK
| | - Elaine A Ostrander
- National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Greger Larson
- PalaeoBARN, School of Archaeology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Chelsey G Armstrong
- Department of Indigenous Studies, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada
| | - Laurent A F Frantz
- School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK
- Palaeogenomics Group, Institute of Palaeoanatomy, Domestication Research and the History of Veterinary Medicine, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich, Germany
| | - Melissa T R Hawkins
- Department of Vertebrate Zoology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Logan Kistler
- Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Efford M, Taft S, Morin J, George M, George M, Cavers H, Hilsden J, Paskulin L, Loewen D, Zhu J, Christensen V, Speller C. Archaeology demonstrates sustainable ancestral Coast Salish salmon stewardship over thousands of years. PLoS One 2023; 18:e0289797. [PMID: 37624782 PMCID: PMC10456131 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0289797] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/02/2023] [Accepted: 07/26/2023] [Indexed: 08/27/2023] Open
Abstract
Salmon are an essential component of the ecosystem in Tsleil-Waututh Nation's traditional, ancestral, and contemporary unceded territory, centred on present-day Burrard Inlet, BC, Canada, where Tsleil-Waututh people have been harvesting salmon, along with a wide variety of other fishes, for millennia. Tsleil-Waututh Nation is a Coast Salish community that has called the Inlet home since time immemorial. This research assesses the continuity and sustainability of the salmon fishery at təmtəmíxʷtən, an ancestral Tsleil-Waututh settlement in the Inlet, over thousands of years before European contact (1792 CE). We apply Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry (ZooMS) analysis to 245 archaeological salmon vertebrae to identify the species that were harvested by the ancestral Tsleil-Waututh community that lived at təmtəmíxʷtən. The results demonstrate that Tsleil-Waututh communities consistently and preferentially fished for chum salmon (Oncorhynchus keta) over the period of almost 3,000 years. The consistent abundance indicates a sustainable chum salmon fishery over that time, and a strong salmon-to-people relationship through perhaps 100 generations. This research supports Tsleil-Waututh Nation's stewardship obligations under their ancestral legal principles to maintain conditions that uphold the Nation's way of life.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Meaghan Efford
- Institute of Oceans and Fisheries, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
| | - Spencer Taft
- Tsleil-Waututh Nation, North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
| | - Jesse Morin
- Institute of Oceans and Fisheries, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
| | - Micheal George
- Tsleil-Waututh Nation, North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
| | - Michelle George
- Tsleil-Waututh Nation, North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
| | - Hannah Cavers
- Department of Archaeology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Jay Hilsden
- Department of Anthropology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia Canada
| | - Lindsey Paskulin
- Department of Anthropology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia Canada
| | - Doris Loewen
- Department of Anthropology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia Canada
| | - Jennifer Zhu
- Department of Anthropology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia Canada
| | - Villy Christensen
- Institute of Oceans and Fisheries, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
| | - Camilla Speller
- Department of Anthropology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia Canada
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Slade E, McKechnie I, Salomon AK. Archaeological and Contemporary Evidence Indicates Low Sea Otter Prevalence on the Pacific Northwest Coast During the Late Holocene. Ecosystems 2021; 25:548-566. [PMID: 35509679 PMCID: PMC9016008 DOI: 10.1007/s10021-021-00671-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/09/2020] [Accepted: 06/15/2021] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
The historic extirpation and subsequent recovery of sea otters (Enhydra lutris) have profoundly changed coastal social-ecological systems across the northeastern Pacific. Today, the conservation status of sea otters is informed by estimates of population carrying capacity or growth rates independent of human impacts. However, archaeological and ethnographic evidence suggests that for millennia, complex hunting and management protocols by Indigenous communities limited sea otter abundance near human settlements to reduce the negative impacts of this keystone predator on shared shellfish prey. To assess relative sea otter prevalence in the Holocene, we compared the size structure of ancient California mussels (Mytilus californianus) from six archaeological sites in two regions on the Pacific Northwest Coast, to modern California mussels at locations with and without sea otters. We also quantified modern mussel size distributions from eight locations on the Central Coast of British Columbia, Canada, varying in sea otter occupation time. Comparisons of mussel size spectra revealed that ancient mussel size distributions are consistently more similar to modern size distributions at locations with a prolonged absence of sea otters. This indicates that late Holocene sea otters were maintained well below carrying capacity near human settlements as a result of human intervention. These findings illuminate the conditions under which sea otters and humans persisted over millennia prior to the Pacific maritime fur trade and raise important questions about contemporary conservation objectives for an iconic marine mammal and the social-ecological system in which it is embedded.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Erin Slade
- School of Resource and Environmental Management, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia V5A 1S6 Canada
| | - Iain McKechnie
- Historical Ecology & Coastal Archaeology Laboratory, Department of Anthropology, University of Victoria, Cornett B246a, 3800 Finnerty Rd, Victoria, British Columbia V8P 5C2 Canada
- Hakai Institute, Heriot Bay, Quadra Island, British Columbia Canada
- Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre, Bamfield, British Columbia V0R 1B0 Canada
| | - Anne K. Salomon
- School of Resource and Environmental Management, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia V5A 1S6 Canada
| |
Collapse
|