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Date of Award

Spring 2025

Document Type

Masters Thesis

Department or Program Affiliation

Anthropology

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Anthropology

First Advisor

Koetje, Todd A.

Second Advisor

Ek, Jerald D.

Third Advisor

Ponton, Camilo

Abstract

The interrelationships between humans and their environment have been long studied, and the focus of cultural change along the Northwest Coast continues to rely heavily on adjustments regarding the stability of RSL. The location of coseismic activity in proximity to an archaeologically dense shoreline, allowed for a unique opportunity to investigate the effects of coseismic activity on past populations living in the Birch Bay area following the rupture of the Birch Bay fault around 1280 cal BP. This study investigated whether the abrupt uplift associated with a rupture along the Birch Bay fault led to the abandonment of a series of sites located along the uplifted margin. By analyzing the legacy data collected from site 45WH10, reconstruction of this site, radiocarbon dating, and correlation of this site to three others along and within the uplifted margin of the Birch Bay coastal plain, provided evidence that the 0.5-to-2-meter uplift did not likely cause long-term changes in settlement at these sites.

Additional goals of this thesis were to publish data from the 1970 field school that was undertaken at site 45WH10, explore a large volume of new paleoenvironmental data, and synthesize the archaeological work that has been conducted in Birch Bay over the last 50+ years. This data was then analyzed to determine whether these archaeological sites fit within the Birch Bay cultural model spatially, temporally, and geologically since it was first introduced by Larsen in 1971, and how these fit within the larger Strait of Georgia and Northwest Coast cultural chronologies. This study indicates that this model is no longer applicable, as it is unlikely the area was settled 11,000-10,000 cal BP based on paleoenvironmental conditions. Two strong correlations between site types and landforms that were also supported by radiocarbon dates and paleoenvironmental considerations. These correlations show that shell midden sites located on the 5–7-, and 12-meter terraces likely date to around 3500 cal BP, or the Locarno Beach phase, and sites along the modern shoreline typically date to around 1500 cal BP, or the Strait of Georgia phase. A lack in sites dating from around 2500-1500/1000 cal BP, or the Marpole phase, cannot be explained at this time, but may be related to a lack of secure radiocarbon dates and a bias in sampling procedures. A third but weaker correlation of site types and landforms indicates that cobble tool sites with shell midden components likely date to around 6000-5000 cal BP but likely represent special activity areas/resource acquisition sites that supported the larger shell middens below that date to the Strait of Georgia period. At this point in time, it appears that the cultural history of Birch Bay is not representative of a localized expression but is representative of a general Developed Northwest Coast cultural history that occurred throughout the Late Holocene.

Type

Text

Keywords

archaeology, geoarchaeology, Birch Bay, Birch Bay Fault, Bellingham Basin, tectonics, coseismicity, tsunami, cultural history, paleoclimate, geology, relative sea level

Publisher

Western Washington University

OCLC Number

14023619

Subject – LCSH

Coastal settlements--Washington (State)--Birch Bay; Archaeology and natural disasters--Washington (State)--Birch Bay; Paleoseismology--Washington (State)--Birch Bay--Holocene; Faults (Geology)--Washington (State)--Birch Bay; Sea level--Washington (State)--Birch Bay; Earthquakes--Washington (State)--Birch Bay; Tsunamis--Washington (State)--Birch Bay; Land use--Washington (State)--Birch Bay; Indigenous peoples--Washington (State)--Birch Bay--Antiquities; Paleoecology--Washington (State)--Birch Bay--Holocene; Environmental archaeology--Washington (State)--Birch Bay; Archaeological geology--Washington (State)--Birch Bay; Geology, Stratigraphic--Holocene; Sediments (Geology)--Washington (State)--Birch Bay--Analysis

Geographic Coverage

Birch Bay (Wash.)

Format

application/pdf

Genre/Form

masters theses

Language

English

Rights

Copying of this document in whole or in part is allowable only for scholarly purposes. It is understood, however, that any copying or publication of this document for commercial purposes, or for financial gain, shall not be allowed without the author’s written permission.

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