Early Prehistory: 8000-400 B.C.

The Pacific Coast was home to some of the most complex Archaic huntergatherer societies in the prehistoric world. Clovis sites are scarce in the region, but the first settlers drifted into the area around 8000 B.C. By 1500 B.C. an expansive coastal trade in obsidian, a volcanic glass used to make knife blades and other sharp tools, and other goods linked the disparate coastal communities to other farflung societies. Around 400 B.C. improvements in hunting and, more particularly, fishing technology led to a large growth in population. Like most coastal Indians and like all hunter-gatherer peoples, the Salishes and the Nootkas migrated from place to place depending on the season. In the summer they lived by the ocean and spent the bulk of their time fishing. In the fall they moved inland by rivers and...