As a Coast Salish person, I think you did a great job covering the region. I’m a big fan of your channel and have enjoyed learning about all the fascinating cultures of the Americas.
@@markgarin6355 Just to say, if you told me you were Irish, I wouldn't immediately vibe check you hy asking you if you were Ulster, Donegal, Connacht, or, and God forgive me for saying their names out loud, Linster Irish.
As someone who lives in this region (Vancouver Island, not Indigenous), thank you for choosing to cover the Indigenous people who live here. The cultures that have flourish here for millennia are quite fascinating. They not as flashy as those of Central and South America, but are unique in there own right.
Same for me (but born and raised in the Lower Mainland) and it’s always so interesting to learn more and refresh our knowledge of the incredible indigenous cultures that surround us and are so unique in the world. I have a friend from the Squamish nation who is justifiably really proud of their ancestry, it’s easy to see why! Excellent video. 😊
I was talking to an RCMP here in Port McNeill and he told me he was called back when to a skull reportedly in the sand at Yellow Point near Ladysmith. It was so elongated that neither crown counsel nor the local natives wanted it so he just kept it for several months.... I wasn't surprised because I know the Tarim Basin Amorites were credited for bringing agriculture to the Tarim basin and that they "brought their own Mongols" according to the Navajo and here they today are as Ainu, with the same uniquely Siberian bloodline and the Ket language used by the Tarim basin and Altai Amurru.
I'm from the Tlingit tribe (Alaskan coastal Tlingit), Tlingit means "the people of the tides", and I've been told by elders that "Each time the ice comes, it chases us away from the coast and, as the ice melts, we always follow it back to the coast.". Back in the early 1970's, I was also told a story by an elder after I asked for a story from when the world was covered in ice and snow, and she told a story of how the tribe had been living in the ice-free zone in Canada for many, many generations, with winters lasting 2 to 3 years until, one winter lasted 5 years, and the next winter lasted 8 years, and while this was happening the ice walls grew and moved in, closing off the route south, and they were trapped in between the ice walls for many, many generations, with the food supply getting smaller each thaw season until they feared the tribe would all die. So they sent out expeditions of men & women to either find a way out and return for the tribe, or find a way out and leave the tribe behind if too dangerous to return. None returned (the Navajo tribe grew from one of those expeditions), but the ice had begun to melt quickly, the ice walls receded, and the tribe was no longer in danger of extinction. To survive the lack of food, they ate saw dust, wood chips, tree bark, animal hides, and some ate the dead tribe members.
@Land-Shark I heard from a Nuxalk man who had a Tlingit storyteller grandmother that around whenever it was warmer probably by 2350BC but could be as early as around the Minoan Warm Period 3800BC there was an influx quite suddenly of a people with a superior culture and numbers, who just assimilated and displaced if they wanted it, the previous culture youse guys, you are talking about. Now, this means we are up to the Ket-speaking Amurru or AKA Amorite Moors from the Tarim Basin and Amur River drainiage kingdoms arriving with the superior culture and as the ruling clans founding Tartaria in the PNW and the west side of Amurica as well, and look at the ruined civilization now on both sides of the Bering Strait. The Navajo said "they brought their own Mongols" which certainly sounds like they had technology, and who built the pyramids and "Mormon temples" but Moor-men the amurru from the Amur River Drainage Basin who started their Ket root language as the foundation of North Amurican lingo.. More, there was a war, and the Tarim Basin Amorites were driven right back up the Amur river and their depots burned, killing the PNW fur trade. I guess this at you know by the other indians-exterminated-the-giants-lore probaby as late as the mid 1200's coz they left Tartarian sheeeitt behind, like important Moor-mon churches, dikes, harbours and long dams now destroyed from roughly that...and they had six noble cities and more than 100 towns around the great Salt Lake by then so maybe as late as the mid-1800's. Lovelock Caves, the islands off California, the Chilkoot eradicated theirs too...Tsimshian and Tlingit too no doubt. The foreigners didn't wanna marry out much but I know a papered Nukwakwdukw Indian with no Haida in him who is 6'3" with red hair like Archie :)
this is awesome. I believe the American people are more ancient than what we are led to believe. That story of multiple ice ages must be over a span of 50,000 years. I am glad to hear the oral history.
@@DrCorvidDid you make all this up yourself? What are your sources, besides just talking to (and probably misinterpreting) other people? (Not OP, DrCorvid, just in case OP gets a notification)
42:02 It's important to note that the much of the Camas and Wapato eaten by the southern coastal tribes was actually acquired by trade with tribes living further south and inland on the Columbia Plateau and Basin, where growing conditions were more ideal for mass cultivation. The Coast Salish traded as much as a quarter of their oceanic fish and mollusc catch and large amounts of dentalium shells in exchange for the desired amounts of both plants. Camas was especially desirable. A member of the Asparagus family, Camas produces edible grape sized bulbs that- when slow roasted for 12 to 24 hours- would have their polysaccharides hydrolyze into simpler sugars, making them one of the few native sources of sucrose. Camas is fireweed, meaning that it was the first plant to colonize areas of land cleared by wildfires, and the Plateau tribes deliberately used manmade fires to clear level ground (Camas Prairies) so the wild plants would grow in large clusters. Wapato (Sagittaria¹ latifolia), AKA Katniss¹, Broadleaf Arrowhead or Duck Potato is a waterborne plant that possesses chestnut sized, starchy rhizomes that greatly resemble regular potatoes in consistency. Wapato can be found across North America and featured heavily in the diet of many other Native American nations (most notably the Cherokee). But the plant really thrives in the heavily inundated Columbia River Basin, and it was an abundant food source for many PNW tribes. Incidentally there are the towns of Camas (across the Columbia from Portland) and Wapato (SE of Yakima) in Washington state that were named for their chief native crops. ¹: Suzanne Collins- the author of the Hunger Games trilogy- has confirmed that main character Katniss Everdeen was both inspired by and direct allusion to Wapato and its archer based scientific name.
I think it's misleading to state that camas is fireweed. What is almost universally known as fireweed (Chamerion angustifolium), though edible and a common food source for the indigenous coastal peoples of NW Americas, is a different plant species from the edible forms of camas. There are several edible camas', but I suspect the one referenced here is (Camassia quamash). It is also misleading, though not wholly incorrect to state that camas was in some way propagated through fire management. Indigenous peoples of the region did frequently intentionally burn landscapes for a variety of reasons which I won't go into. But burning areas in which camas grew wasn't so much for propagation as it was just enriching the soil to create better growing conditions. Camas was primarily propagated by indigenous populations through division. (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Division_(horticulture). It is not considered a pioneer species as you stated though.
Once years ago, while building the sweat lodge fire I said to my grandmother "hey our ancestors didn't use chainsaws and touches to build the sweat fire" so she said "if they'd had them they would." ❤ Talk to your elders I don't care where you're from you might be surprised what you learn.
I flew from Seattle to Juneau a few years ago & was incredibly lucky to have a window seat & unusually clear weather. The number of glaciers & fjords & valleys & rivers & estuaries & tideflats & coves & bays & inlets & spits & islands upon islands is absolutely staggering. I was immediately struck with the understanding of a saying I heard from a Yakutat native "When the tide is out, the table is set". The richness of these unique ecosystems allowed for culture & art to thrive, and are an absolute reflection of the landscape.
Another fun fact: The clay in the coastal Pacific Northwest sucks for making functional pottery. You can make bricks out of it, but most of the clay types found deposited in the area will slump rather quickly at low temperatures instead of sintering. (Sintering means sticking together and holding its shape, an absolute necessity for functional pottery. Vitrification, turning glass-like--what porcelain and stoneware can do, as opposed to earthenware, happens on the 2nd firing at much higher temperatures.)
@@TallicaMan1986 I always loved learning about their long houses and overall architectural style when I was younger. The depictions of these massive cob shaped pods where a whole community could thrive fascinated me, I would love to see how they decorated interiors during their time as well.
Great to see clam gardens and candle fish get some spotlight. Shellfish and hooligan grease are basically the historic beans and butter of the PNW haha. I know this is already a packed video, but it would've been cool to see the linguistic diversity of the PNW if you showed the Quileute and Nuxalk on your map, or talked about just how many language families and isolates exist here! Also, im curious when canoes and bentwood boxes became so intricately designed. I wonder if the archaeological record is able to show this, though it's probably tough for preservation...
Agreed, but why is it considered aquaculture, but the same process occurring on land with camas, Wapato, blueberries etc…. Is not agriculture? We had agriculture out here, including European style with tobacco as well as potatoes with the Makah and Ozette.
@@bensabelhaus7288 It's 100% a form of agriculture. Not sure why the consensus has been that they didn't practice agriculture, this isn't recently discovered information... Probably just a myth that white settlers made up to make our region seem more bountiful than it really is.
Oolichan grease..... Fermented salmon pat'e .... My brother Christopher always tried to get me to man up and try some (he is Haida) as a indigenous canoe carver and tribal dancer, as such he had lots of stories to share, I love him very much and am very grateful for his friendship and shared knowledge. With all that being said, IM STILL NOT GOING TO EAT OOLICHAN GREASE ANYTIME SOON!😂 Furthermore Neah Bay is a beautiful gem, visit if you can and spend some money there on smoked fish 😉 great video Blessings and aloha
Hello! I am so grateful that youve made this video, i'm a pacific northwest anthropologist in training(workin' my way thru getting a degree), and honestly this video was an amazing introductory piece that i think you should be very proud of. i have small nitpicks here and there (like how western redcedar is NOT a cedar, but rather a species of cypress, misidentified early on) however all in all those dont matter that much and i had a lot of fun watching this and couldnt take my eyes off for the whole duration! also very glad you mentioned the complexities of the word "chief"(which i frankly think doesnt fully apply but that is no fault of yours), in fact in several PNW languages the word for "rich person" is also the word for chief (tlingit=aank̲áawu, haida= íitl'aagdáa). Final note i have is that the property laws and shaming laws applied to the revenge wars as well and in fact one would be required to(at least for the tlingit) compensate fairly for the death of a person(usually in the form of death of an equally important person on the offender side) or be attacked. The life of a commoner was not equal in compensation to that of an aanyádi(elite), so even if the murderer is a commoner, their death would not be fair compensation(take Isaac N. Ebey's beheading for example) Two things i wish you had touched upon more were the trade networks that reach all the way down to mexico and the presence of japanese shipwreck iron usage. This was an AMAZING thing to wake up to, thank you. (oh and your sources are great, love it and love your work)
Ah yes, the use of scavenged iron in the north in particular. And I guess also the importance of copper. Speaking also of trade networks, the grease trails would have been a fun tidbit just to show how crazy into hooligan grease people were in the greater region.
Thanks, those items you excavated to quibble about keep me awake at night, and thousands of ordinary Oregonians I meet each day - we really sling around our knowledge of tribal languages - because we all love to show off like a little kid.
My partner is mixed Tlingit and white, her dad grew up in Sitka, Alaska! She has some carved bone and obsidian jewelry that her great grandmother would have made a hundred years ago! Tlingit families are very focused on the maternal lineage, and so all the information we have about her family comes from her grandmother's side. The nuances of these cultures is super interesting!
As someone born in the shadow of Tahoma and on the shore of the sound, this is excellent mate, and I really appreciate your coverage of the history. In my PNW history course, we touched on indiginous history for a measly chapter, which essentially just breezed over indiginous history in favor of European extraction. Also, there's something really incredible about turning home on it's "side" like this. It really highlights our coastal islands. Love from Tacoma!
Granted, yours is a VERY big and important culture in the region. Probably the most dynamic in the first decades of European interaction. Even down in the south coast, Haida is recognized as a big cultural force and influence.
I’m not native myself (that I know of) but I grew up on the Oregon coast, Gold Beach to be exact. I moved to different areas of Oregon and grew there too, as well as moving to California for a bit and now back on the coast. Our Native American culture here is a huge part of the culture, names of cities/towns, and lifestyle among the coast, and almost every place you drive through has some sort of style or influence and tribe history. I’ve always loved growing up around it and my friends who are native, the stories they would tell and the history of how things were and how people lived in our cold wet winters and spring, and our hot summers. My ex was 100% native- Modoc, Klamath and Seminole, and would always tell me about the customs they had within their different areas.
the Americas seem to be inexhaustible in it's amount of incredibly unique cultures so I'm always glad to see you still making these videos, this one vaguely reminded me of the people of Key Macro Florida specifically with the mask work and aquaculture. Also i always appreciate hearing these traditions still exist in ancestor communities today!
Just want to say that this episode is not "too long" and I love details, so if you ever want to go MORE in depth, I, for one, would welcome it. Thanks for the great video.
Thank you! If you want more details, check out indigenous history now's video on the northwest. (Link in the description.) It's much more detailed than mine.
You handled this episode very well. I have been following your educational work. Very well put together. The PNW is my home. Live on a river with lots of complex history. You should come visit. You have earned it with a very respectful and informative episode. Your sense of humor makes it easy to access... fishing jokes...lol
My mother was born in Canada on Vancouver Island half Indigenous and half English Canadian. She was put up for adoption at a very young age and then was adopted by my grandparents who lived here in America. For years my grandparents had offered her the the chance to go back to Canada and meet her parents and tribe, but she always refused. Time passed she moved to Cali, met my dad, got married, had kids and lived her life. Eventually my sister became interested in our moms past and created a Ancestry for her. my sister found a cousin who was looking for my mom. To make be quick we went on trip the very northern tip of Vancouver Island do meet our family that we had never known. Ever since then I've had an interest in the area so thanks for the video.
@@HeronPoint2021you must be referring to David Livingstone, who explored South and Central Africa. John Smith did not come near Vancouver Island nor did he write a diary in berry juice...
dude, legitimately seeing this video made me tear up. There are so few good videos made on the PNW that when a good one like this comes up you have to party.
as a born and raised oregonian now living in washington, it’s so fascinating to finally learn about all this indigenous pnw history!! it was barely covered growing up and i really appreciate this information :)
Just on a side-note - yes you can infact turn the 'Candle Fish' - eulacheon into "candles" by deepriving them of most of their oil and drying them whole, though the "candle" effect isn't really significant. The Eulacheon is a species of Smelt, which are known for their oily content - in my area of Germany people used dried smelt (obviously not this NA species) as fire starters, they were considered the peasants trash fish. There is a video on the 'candle making' process uploaded by National Geographic.
Yeah, you impale them on sticks. Dry them in the sun. Once dried - just light them up. They'll burn. On a side note - they have "runs" just like salmon. And they are in steep decline. Nobody knows why. But they are a _major_ part of the food chain...so this is worrying.
@@AncientAmericas smelt is a great change in fish. lots of freshwater smelt when I was a kid in Ontario. but eulacheon are more important on another level: the first real fish run indicated the end of winter, and good times are coming: salmon runs around the corner. !!
Fantastic video, well done. I live on the Suquamish reservation and have been finding a lot of stone tools like hammer stones, nutters, mortars, pestles, celts, polishing stones and possibly some effigies. This video is helping me understand things better.
Really enjoyed this video! I spent 18 years in the prairies surrounded by Cree culture and people, and moved to Vancouver where it is quite different and interesting to learn about the PNW indigenous cultures. If anyone would like to visit Vancouver Island, I recommend visiting the U'mista cultural centre in Alert Bay (close to Port McNeill and not too far from "Bear Cove" highlighted in this video). Musuem of Anthropology at UBC has interesting exhibits as well but unfortunately closed for seismic upgrades for most of 2023.
The Norwegian that Came here name the town after himself "Poulsbo" WA. Nicknamed Little Norway because that part of the KItsap Peninsula with the natural Viks look like Norway to him. So the Town throughout its finding has put that theme to use. The Old Town looks like a Norwegian Village. Even the street names .
Thank you for this video! As a lifelong PNW-er, this was a fascinating history of the original peoples of this land. Especially in these times of climate change, it's so important to listen to and learn from indigenous communities who have so much more experience living and thriving here, even through times of environmental change.
Attending a talk on the history of the native people around Campbell River on Vancouver Island, the anthropologist said their language was a completely different language group from their coast Salish neighbours, like the difference between Inuktitut and English. I found that amazing. Learning more about how Northwest coast languages are related [or not] would be helpful to understand the overall picture here.
My father a West Coast Salish Penaluket left me our history, as all three of his Grandfather's were Master Mariners. The middle one Captain James Douglas Warren came from P.E.I in 1858,he opened up the Trade Routes around Vancouver Island to the Haida Gwaii. He was the most notable Sealer with many Schooners, Steamships and Shipwrecks. The Barbara Boscowitz near Alert Bay,S.S.Alpha near Hornby Island and the famous S.S.Beaver that sunk at Prospect Point in Vancouver in 1888. His cousin Sarah Warren was a Matriarch of the Songhees, she was King & Queen Freezy's G.grandaughter. Sarah was the first person of The North People, to win back the Right's for The Traditional Mask Dance in 1950 after the Potlach Ban. My cousin's husband Charles Elliott spent near ten years,to get Mount Douglas name changed back to the original P'khol's last year, he sadly passed after. His brother John Elliott carved the three Totems at the Victoria Airport. The family carved and gifted Totems last year to The Songhees Wellness Cente,Sannich Police and Elementary School,Camosun and a large exhibition at The Victoria University, where last yr Myrna Elliott gifted Mr Kevin Hall the new President of Victoria University, her Homemade Blanket. A month later my old classmate from Port Alberni, Chief Judith Sayers( told Trudeau off on the news for Surfing in Tofino on Truth and Reconciliation Day)gifted Mr Hall again a Talking Stick at Vancouver Island University. This was in collaboration of both University's to work on Truth and Reconciliation. ❤ 🇨🇦 🍁
As a settler who lives on Vancouver island, and as someone who has family with indigenous heritage, I'm glad more information is becoming more wide spread. I think we as inhabitants, new and old, should learn more about the histories and culture of indigenous peoples of the regions we live, as to not repeat myths and misconceptions colonizers have perpetuated.
It's important to understand the pre-contact Pacific NW as a Perma-Maricultural Civilization. While the term "hunter gather" is casually referenced, often dismissively, what was practiced in the PNW was very sophisticated system of permaculture, wrapped around the central pillar of mariculture (fish, clams, marine mammals), that enabled population densities that are now considered by anthropologists as indicators of being a civilization. As an aside, there is a great Jim Jarmusch movie, "Dead Man", which near the end of the movie has a quick scene of a PNW village that gave me the feeling, an emotional understanding, that the PNC was a civilization. It's my understanding that there are now archeological sites which have dates going back to 12,000+ years ago on the central coast. Other sites in the Americas point to the possibility that humans have been crossing over from Asia for over 30,000 years
30K years may be conservative. The native indigenous origin stories refer to north America as a source place like Africa, but because of glaciation all traces are scattered willy nilly. The best origin places were coastal and with tidal and plate shifting would obliterate earliest traces. We have been here a long time, and our oldest stories always mentioned our being here as part of a celestial neighborhood, us being the new kids on the block.@@AncientAmericas
Eulacheon (called "hooligans" in my hometown) actually become candles when dried. No wick needed; you turn them upside down and light the tail. It's not very impressive light, though. Not only is it orange and not terribly bright, there's a lot of greasy black smoke, grease spattering off, and, of course, the smell of burning fish. But that's why they're called candlefish.
Excellent presentation! This vid mentioned the class systems of the various pac NW tribes, and I thought I'd comment on one/ expand upon the points about 'stratification', and the political organization of the tribes. (I've spent a good amount of time on the NW Washington and Vancouver island coasts)... As it has been explained to me by tribal members the 'class' organization of those tribes is mosty analogous to the 'caste' organization of some east Asian cultures (India in particular, with the Brahmins, untouchables, etc). I had wondered why there were so many 'chiefs' in the various places that I stayed, and once I asked a member about that, such was the explanation he gave me: the 'chiefs' were like 'Brahmins'... Though there was sometimes a first/primary chief (sometimes hereditary, sometimes elected- by consensus rather than by a ballot)... Of course, having grown up watching John Ford westerns, I had a preconception of all Native American/ First Nations groups as having one chief who exercised power like a member of the european nobility, though now I know it is closer to an informal aristocracy, for lack of a better term. I'm sure that isn't universal in this area, but both of the tribes that I spent several summer's with (I am a surfer/bum) had such a system, both historically and even to this day in many ways. Also, re: war, raiding and intertribal relations: the dynamic between the Makah tribe at the tip of the Olympic peninsula and their neighbors to the south (Quilute, Hoh, etc) makes for an interesting study. The Makah held their neighbors to tribute and raided them for slaves, etc... And, speaking of the Makah: they still have treaty rights to participate in (ceremonial, these days) whaling, and they still do (though not recently). Last thing: I've ridden in one of the NW coast tribes sea-going canoes, and it was an amazing experience. Those things are very stable, seaworthy, and FAST. In the early 1900s, a team of native rowers in one of their canoes beat the University of Washington crew team in a race!
Of course, I would love to hear how accurate my impression of the political/social organization of the NW coast tribes is, and how much variation there is. (After all, my sample size is...two.) Cheers!
Thank you! Appreciate you sharing those experiences. As someone who's actually interacted with the people themselves, you have a lot of knowledge and experience that I don't.
I've been looking forward to this video for a while. I really appreciated how you contextualized things that answered several questions I've had in my own research. I have lots of new ones to shape my own research going forward!
In Emeryville, CA they bulldozed the historic shell mounds to put up a mall. I never knew if they were fully explored from an archeological perspective before that happened. It's not as far north as this area but it was something I was reminded of while watching.
No clue what the dates on that are but these days, they'd have to call in the archaeologists to evaluate the site to assess it first. Nate Fosaaen (a professional archaeologist with an awesome channel) goes into detail on how the process works and what the criteria is. I tried finding the video but couldn't locate it but his channel is below if you want to sift through his stuff. www.youtube.com/@NathanaelFosaaen
@@AncientAmericas I follow his channel too. Good dude with some good knowledge to share. He probably gets annoyed by my comments lol. I wish his editing was as good as yours. I'm also not sure on the age of those mounds I just know they were very big and when it happened there was a big outcry.
Though I live in the interior part of BC, it’s still super interesting to learn about these ancient cultures. I’d love to learn a bit more about the interior cultures too.
I love learning about my Local history I have lived in the Pacific NW for about 17 years and find this fascinating . I Got interested in local history's when I was in Jr College over 40 years ago lol. I had to take a Elective class so I took one on the History of Tehama County (Northern CA.) My family's ancestors had been in that area since the time of the Mexican -American war for California before it became a State. MIgrated from Missouri in the 1840s -1850s. Except for One brief move back to Missouri because of the Civil War. Richard Parker was given Land officially by the US Government for his service in The Mexican American War and Civil war. and the family settled In Tehama and Butte Counties (Gerber -Los Molinos to be precise) . Amazing to learn about the history in the place you live and Place were your family came from.
I lived on Flores Island in Ahousat, a Native village, for a school year in 1999-2000. It was a truly amazing experience! They still practiced fishing, hunting and gathering. During my time there, a whale drowned after getting caught up in a herring fishing net. A few specialized whalers from a tribe in Washington state came to help process the meet, while everyone in the village participated. Nothing was wasted, except for the tongue. During my stay, as a teacher, I spent a lot of time with the cheerful and smart children, in and out of school. We collected berries and shell fish, took long walks, made cookies and did artwork. The children were amazing artists, creating beautiful drawings and paintings full of symbolism and stories. I dream of going back one day !
This is a fantastic video! Living in the PNW, I see the influence of the native peoples all around, in place names, art, and culture. I've had the pleasure of attending a speech by a local member of one of these groups and it really sparked my interest in their vibrant culture and beliefs.
Back when I was in school in California, we didn't learn about local nations and tribes (this has changed), so we basically studied the four most stereotypical cultures that everyone had heard of, and the Kwakiutl were always my favorite for the artwork, northwestern landscape, and delicious salmon. I think northwestern peoples were having a big moment of cultural relevance in the 1990s due to the popularity of _Northern Exposure,_ which prominently featured Tlingit and Haida characters. Tangent: it was also the first time most Americans had ever seen First Nations people depicted in a non-historic setting. I think seeing them in a modern context, still maintaining a thriving tradition but not being singularly defined by it, had a big impact on American culture that's too often overlooked.
That's good to hear that more local nations are being studied in school. Where I grew up, we learned very little about them unless you went to the nearby state park for a field trip. The early 90's were a time of cultural relevance for native Americans as a whole with films like Dances with Wolves and Last of the Mohicans.
Ayye, ǧilakas'la! I am Kwakwakaʼwakw, also known as Kwakiutl (Kwa-cue-til). It was so cool seeing my people and history pop up on my video feed. You know, I had to google 'Eulachan', wondering if my family had been pronouncing Ooligan wrong lol but it looks like that is another word for it. Awesome video! Now I'm craving fried ooligan though. Not the oil however, I was forced to eat a teaspoon of ooligan oil as punishment whenever I acted up lol that stuff is nasty and will clear a room! Great video, such an interesting watch. Keep up the good work! Also, I have a friend who is Coastal Salish and we tease them because it is well documented that back in the early days their people were always warning the whites travelling on boats that they should stay away from my people's villages, that we weren't nice 🤣. I think we might've bullied a few Coastal Salish villages in the past. Really looking forward to a video exploring the mythology of our people! Please PLEASE include Dzunukwa! A giant woman who kidnaps kids who venture into her woods, puts them in a basket, and takes them to her home. Once there, she puts pitch in their eyes, then hangs them upside down over a fire to smoke, then eat! I was told stories of her as a child and was terrified lol. So many cultures have similar stories to keep kids out of dangerous woods and she was ours. Might've worked too well, she still scares me lmao.
Enjoyed this. I live on Vancouver Island and work with a lot of the First Nations people. One young guy is on with me a lot and to hear him talk about discovering his culture makes me want to know more about mine. Cockney Grandmother etc. I am 68 and he is 23. Love this place. have not been off Island since 2010.
It's so interesting to see the similarities between the peoples of the Pacific Northwest and those of the Amazon delta region in Brazil. Both regions featured cultures with elaborate social stratification, complex political systems, an economy that was based on the exploitation of fish and other aquatic resources instead of agriculture and even an ancestral stage in which shell mounds were made. Awesome video as always! Greetings!
Northwest cedar is still used today for all the reasons you mentioned, but importantly its inherent resistance to weathering and rot. Why you see so many home decks in the suburbs made from it.
Oh wow. What timing! I'm just wrapping up 10 days in the PNW and have had some interesting discussions with my sister (a teacher) about the historic and current treatment of native children by the school system. I first came here in the late '90s for college and have visited ever since, and like many other aspects of the region, native culture is something I didn't learn enough about. Thanks for sharing this great video.
Been watching you since your first video and I’ve been waiting for this episode for a while now, the only good anthropological studies on my families culture aren’t well known by people not related to the area, it’s exciting knowing how many people will be exposed to the unique and unified cultures of the Pacific Northwest
Howdy! Such a wonderful video, and extensively researched, well done! Did just want to add a note about agriculture in the area. While traditional western agriculture definitely did not exist on the Pacific Coast, there were many extensive techniques used to select for and support the native food crops that were staples of diet in the region, and these techniques were so advanced that many have argued they classify as agriculture. On a really large scale, the forests of the Pacific Coast boast a wide variety of edible shrubs and trees, so species like Beaked Hazelnut and Service Berry would be noted and competing species would be cleared out, allowing the desirables to form thickets of food producing shrubs. This practice was continued for so long that sections of the landscape would become known for being “the place for Service Berry”, or Huckleberry, or what have you. However the more interesting case of food based land management comes from tidal flood plains, and the prairies of South Puget Sound. There are a number of flowering plants in the area that grow from very starchy bulbs. These include Chocolate Lilly, Rice Root, Tiger Lilly, and most importantly Camas. The first three could often be found in tidally influenced coastal meadows, and these areas would be heavily weeded by hand, in order to ensure a plethora of bulbs would grow beneath the ground. These tuber gardens are still in use by the Squamish, and other tribes today, and produce a shocking number of calories in a very small space. My favorite example however comes from the Prairies, where Greater and Small Camas grew profusely. In a note from the Lewis and Clark Expedition, it was said that as the group descended from the cascades into the lowlands, they though they were coming to the ocean, as they could only see rolling open spaces of bright blue as far as they could see, but this was in fact the camas meadows/gardens of the South Puget Sound Peoples. The Nisqually, Chehalis, Cowlitz, and so many more tribes depended on these starchy roots as a staple food, and they were also traded far and wide, with dried camas being found all throughout Washington, and down into Southern California as well, where it does not grow, and must have been traded for. Besides dried salmon, camas was the number 2 tradable food source of the region. The plant was so vital, that the peoples who depended on it literally shaped the entire landscape of the south sound, by burning the prairies every 1-2 years, halting the encroachment of conifers and shrubs, and protecting the camas from being out competed. This practice remained consistent for so long, that Prairie once spread from South Tacoma/Fircrest area, all the way south to Olympia, and beyond to the Willamette Vally. This open space boasted Washington’s most biodiverse ecosystem, Garry Oak Prairie, which provided bountiful food and medicine to those who maintained it with fire. We know that these prairies were maintained by fire, because in the modern age, under a fire regime that only sees fire as a bad thing to be put out, this whole region was taken over by Douglas’s Fir and other trees, turning the prairie into young forest with much less biodiversity. Only about 2% of the historical Garry Oak Prairies of the South Sound still exist today. This is all to say that while traditional “agriculture” may not have been happening on the Pacific Coast, there were most definitely numerous traditions and techniques practiced to control which plants were growing where, and to benefit those that provided food and medicine, which is very similar to agriculture, if not the same thing by definition. Again wonderful video, and this is not a critique on really anything you said, just wanted to provide this extra information :) thanks!
Thank you! You aren't the first person to point this out. I would argue that agriculture is the cultivation of domesticated plants and to my knowledge, these were not domesticated plants but you could still make an argument.
@@AncientAmericas that totally makes sense as a definition! I see how the presence of domesticated plants would kinda mark a new step in the system of growing food. Thanks for all the incredible information you’ve shared on your channel :)
I wonder if the reason shell middens disappear is that they began to be used in wars? I know that some stories mention laying shells nearby the doorway so that they will hear the shells crack as people stepped on them. I always just assumed it was for when guests arrive but its purpose may be more defensive as my Grandpa told me that the reason our doors were circles was so that invaders would be forced to enter by crouching head first leaving themselves open to being bonked on the head. Some people still lay shells all around their doorway and along the paths in the yard in my area
Nice work my man. I really appreciate you sharing with us other dorks something you’re passionate about. I tried sharing it with my buddy and he looked at me like I had a third eye. That’s when I realized I found my people. Don’t listen too all the haters. I doubt any of them have the guts to put themselves out there and start producing content on a platform good or bad.
Yesterday I acquired a dictionary and reference grammar for Coast Tsimshian (Sm'algyax). It is a language isolate (other than being one of four dialects) and is one of the strangest native American languages I've encountered. It has a distinction between flat and descending tones, so it is mildly a tonal language and I'm not aware of any other tonal languages indigenous to the Americas. Like its otherwise unrelated neighbors it is polysynthetic, and from what I can tell the tonal distinction is unnecessary since there aren't any words that would be pronounced the same without it (not even close). It is also one of the most difficult to pronounce languages I've encountered, with multiple rare vowels and consonants. It also uses glottal stops more than any other language I've seen. I've also done a little digging into the Chinook languages. This is also a micro-family with no relatives (although there is a speculated family that includes the various isolates from this region including Tsimshian). It is a dialect continuum with one end being around the mouth of the Columbia, and the other end being around The Dalles where the land becomes dry. I live in the Portland area and middle Chinook seemed to have been in between Coast and Upper Chinook. There is also a Creole, Chinook Jargon, which mixes Chinook with English. It actually had (and possibly still has) native speakers, and is the only Chinook language that isn't extinct. It became a Lingua Franca for the Chinook and some other nearby cultures since the Oregon coast has a lot of isolates.
this was a wonderful summary of practices of northwest coast peoples i haven't seen before, thank you! as someone growing up here it's wonderful to hear more about it. so interesting to hear about how much people made from the trees here also looking at comments it seems like i'm an exception but i personally really like looking 'up' at the coast from the direction of the ocean, as that's one of the most important things in these histories. it also is nice because it feels less eastern-centered like it seems a lot of american history often is. i like getting to see the coast undivided by borders too
Bro 1 million people…. It really goes to show how there were millions on millions of people living on this continent before it all got taken over - and more importantly, the scale of what was lost.
Hey outstanding video! It was really fascinating to learn just how diverse the Pacific Northwest cultures are in terms of aquaculture and woodworking. The research you put into this must have been really fun to do. Thanks for the work you put into this!
You mentioned Wapato! Hey i still got live examples if you need pics or footage. Also i would Love to see an art of the northwest episode. Its so intricate, bold, and has a pretty difined rule set as i found out in an art class. Also my father worked at First Nation Afairs Canada... Ehhh well before it got a better name. Anyways one fact they always used to love saying was "remember, British Columbia is still 110% claimed by the first nations" shared gathering grounds or old feuds truly never die.
Another great one! I'm curious as to how you make your maps? They are very good with just the right amount of detail to be useful without being overly distracting
Thank you! I spend a lot of time of them and I love it when people notice. Basically, I take a good, detailed map that I find online, trace it carefully in Adobe Illustrator, check my work against google maps as I go to make sure the small details are right. Then I just add in the colors. I try to strike a balance between detailed and simple so that it's not too busy for the viewer.
I've been looking forward to an episode about these peoples for a long time. I grew up near the southern boundary of the Pacific Northwest & I've been interested in learning more about the peoples of this area for a long time, but it's hard to find much information in a digestible form. Thanks for this!
I've been curious about who lived in the Ouachita mountains just south of the Ozarks in Arkansas and Eastern Oklahoma. I used to visit every year, but at that time I was more into finding quartz crystals than learning about the old cultures. I'll check your past catalog, but it would be a good topic for the future, if you haven't covered that area. It's got to be one of the oldest mountain ranges in North America, and had huge quartz crystals right on the surface, and caves of crystals, so I wouldn't be surprised if native Americans treasured the area... as well because it's teeming with wildlife. There's another archeology channel, with this Viking gentleman who specializes in the southeastern woodlands... I'll check his back catalog, too.
I haven't made any content about the Ozarks yet. The aforementioned Viking gentleman has made some content on some of the rock shelters in the Ozarks. You might also check out this recent video of his, ua-cam.com/video/tFWZvU9aqoQ/v-deo.html
You have to do an episode on safety harbor culture and the west coast of florida in general. It was a very similar situation as the pacific north west, in that hunting and gathering sustained massive populations with mound building.
safety harbor culture practiced agriculture(beans, squashes) as well as dog ranching(very common food animal throughout north america before colonization). no small amount of their food was hunted and gathered though.
Another well done discussion. A more common way to describe hunter-gatherer societies is to discuss their "complexity" and the basic organization of their subsistence. The Northwest Coast and California occupied incredibly productive environments. The coastal route has the advantage of mostly being well supplied with kelp, which is among other things a sound source of Vitamin D3. With good sources of Vitamin B-12 such as fish and animal foods the coastal colonization route is very appealing as a migratory route. The dietary advantages are immense over any interior route. A break in the "Kelp Road" occurs in the tropics but there are alternative sources that fill in the nutritional needs. As an aside, "cordilleran" dervies from the Spanish word "cordillera," and the two "l"s are the Spanish "ellya". Cordillera is pronounced roughly as "core-dee-yair-uh." I just point this out because it is a distraction for those who know the word. You should look into the site of Monte Verde in Chile. There is interesting evidence there of probable sophisticated wood working that I think derives from a well developed skin-boat tradition.
At least in the larger streams, salmon runs were much over a two month season, as we are talking Chinook or King Salmon which were running in late summer, earlier in some rivers, then the Chum Salmon, running from August, clear into early December, and spawned mostly in the first half mile of streams, or even in artesian springs bubbling up on the beach, creating large holes. I've watched chum spawn at high tide in these springs. Then there are the Coho or Silver Salmon, spawning from late October clear into January, there's also the Pink Salmon, also called Humpies, and I'm not clear about their spawning time, but surely would be mixed with other species during the spawn.
I forgot the Steelhead Trout, which get as big as any salmoin in the norethern portion, smaller in southern half, and would have been highly prized. Steelhead are a searun version of the Rainbow Trout, heading back to sea when spawning was done. I couldn't tell you whether the Searunn Cutthroat Trout was fished, much smaller than the rest, but some reaching 5 pounds.
I thought that only the Calusa of Florida were the only ones that sustained on marine life only. It is great to always be learning! Would love to see an in-depth on the Calusa, or the Windover Bog People of Central Florida (believe you may have grazed the Windover people).
This is the first video of yours I have seen, I clicked because I live in the Pacific Northwest. Instantly subscribed when I finished the video, I really enjoy your writing style.
Amazing video, I absolutely love the cultures of the PNW. I’m especially intrigued by the linguistic development of Chinuk Jargon, what an incredibly fascinating land, history, and people
You packed a lot of information into a great synopsis of this area through time. Great work. I have heard that Coast Salish people did grow camas as a crop, so a bit of agriculture did possibly occur.
@@AncientAmericas I'd add that silviculture also, and somewhat more centrally, involves managing forested zones. Forest is what the root "Silvi-" refers too.
The class dynamics between Nobles, Commoners, and Slaves reminds me a lot of ancient Rome or the American South, where there were expansive political and economic rights for citizens and the impression that they were generous and self-made, but ultimately the coercion was just exported to the slave class that wasn't even considered part of the equation.
This is great, thank you. It's so interesting to me not only because I find early human history so interesting, but because I grew up in a small village in this region and it's really neat to see how much of the indigenous cultures influenced how we lived and what we valued even in an American ("western") town. So much of my upbringing was centered around fish, shellfish, trees, local foods, woodworking, boats and paddling, etc. Some of it was intentional and explicit but some of it I think I took for granted.
When you cover the art and myth of coastal peoples, make sure you look into the Nuxalk people of the Bella Coola Valley! We have lots of art history like totem poles, and the ancient rock carved petroglyphs.
I’m really well studied in this region as I’m an archaeologist who lives in BC and sometimes work on the coast, I was able to recognize quite a few inaccuracies, but overall I’m pretty excited about a well researched video, communicating info that almost nobody knows about in such an accessible way!! Great job
I’ll correct one of the inaccuracies :). Clam garden walls doesn’t really seem to have anything to do with predator aversion, in fact there’s even some evidence that predators like otter’s going to gardens and hunting clams has a positive affect, “churning” the clam habitat sediments allowing oxygen and nutrients to be introduced into lower levels where clams lived. The main purpose of the clam garden wall was to withhold sediments in the ‘intertidal zone’. This increases the surface area and depth of areas where clams can survive and thrive, as well as even slightly increasing the water temperature. In many cases clam garden walls created habitat where zero clams would have been able to live. People would often go and churn or rake the gardens, or clear debris. There’s also some really really interesting social conventions around eating clams. It was seen as a really convenient form of food, and so it was seen as a really good for when ur in a rush, like you just set up your camp and don’t have time to hunt a meal you can just go grab some clams. However on the other hand it became taboo to be eating it all the time, you were seen as lazy and unwilling to go out and work for your food. The higher status you were the less likely it was that you were eating clams, while noble women weren’t allowed to eat clams at all. I like to compare its role in the culture to the role McDonald’s plays in North American culture. Fine sometimes but not all the time, and you’re gonna get judged if you do it too much.
you are the only channel I'm subscribed to that I've kept the notifications on for because absolutely every single video of yours ive seen has been S++ tier and I've never been disappointed and this video is no different. even my long time favorite creators have notifications turned off, they make good stuff but its not totally consistent and, for some reason, i get unreasonably mad when i get a notification that isnt strictly necessary or that im not interested in. i have only one nit-pick and its absurdly minor and might be incorrect but i dont think so: im not an arborist but i went on a camping trip/hiking expedition amongst the northwest redwoods just this last summer (found some awesome secret spots that have colossal trees but are also obscured and not frequented by the large shuffling masses that flow in and around the redwood parks, I'd share them with you if you were wanting to visit the area) i digress, anyways; in your video you say "sequoias" populate the southern tip of the northwest forests. Not True. The huge redwoods at the southern tip are California Redwoods (the tallest redwoods) Sequoias the largest (mass-wise) trees in the world are much farther south and east of the northwest forests, in and amongst the granite peaks of the sierra nevada mountains. we're planning on going to hike around those for a bit this coming spring. you have to visit both to really understand the scale of these monstrous trees, its like being cast back 65 million years into the huge, robust, prehistoric rainforests of the cretaceous period. its very dark and foreboding to be surrounded by these impossibly thick and tall sentinels with a canopy of rainforest jungle above your head blocking out most sunlight and a thick morning fog blocking any long sight lines you might get.
Thank you for the kind remarks! I also appreciate the attention to detail. One of the books I read said that they were in Northern California but I've never been there so I didn't have any way to personally confirm. As a frequent visitor, you would know much better than I.
@@AncientAmericas i think i get the confusion. both the California coastal redwoods and the giant sequoias have the genus name "sequoia" but the common names are either the California coastal redwoods or the sequoias because the Southern California sequoia in the sequoia natl. park are the giant sequoias and the largest trees on the planet. thus imbuing "sequoia" with one very specific definition above all others. if you say "sequoia" anywhere near the west coast theyll direct you to that park and those trees. if you say "no, i mean the Northern California ones " people will be apt to look at you like you have a head injury.
I haven't been there since the '70s but my husband's best friend lived in a little town, I think called Tahola, but as I said it has been a very long time since I was there. His friend's stepfather was called Cakes. I think they moved the whole town up to a higher elevation recently because of climate change and tsunamis.
I'd LOVE to see a mythology episode of the PNW. You do a great job highlighting the environmental factors that contributed to the development of these communities.
This is a general comment for your videos. I love history, especially ancient American. I've been an avid reader most of my life... You do great work. Thank you
I believe there was a missed opportunity to touch upon the matrilineal aspect of their societies as well. I was expecting to hear it when you were breaking down the class system. Other than that, great video! Very fascinating.
@@AncientAmericas Perhaps it was me who was mistaken in believing that it was more widespread. After further research, I found that the Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, Heiltsuk, and Chinook peoples have matrilineal kinship. Coast Salish practiced patrilineal kinship, and the Kwakwaka’wakw and Nuu-chah-nulth both interestingly practiced bilateral kinship.
non-native american person from the pacific northwest here; I love learning about the history of the place I inhabit. I always respect the people who came here before me
i’m not sure if anyones commented this already, but on the topic of plank/long houses, you probably noticed that each one has a totem pole right at the front. the totem pole outside a family dwelling usually represents the family that’s living there and/or their family history. so for example, each animal on the pole might symbolize a different family member. this helped other groups figure out if the settlements they were approaching were home to any of their relatives. i should specify that not all totem poles represent a family or their family history, some of them represent the general history and/or important aspects of each group’s culture. the ones outside the homes are usually signifying family though. 😊😊
The Coastal Tribes DID practice agriculture, but not the European style of agriculture. They grew camas and other root and bulb plants for food, as well as maintaining blueberry patches, Pacific crabapple agroforestry regions, as well as maintaining Garry Oak prairie meadows. They practices agriculture using traditional ecological knowledge, which we need to adopt globally in order to save this planet. Also, they were not sedentary. They spent winters closer to the water, and migrated up into the hills during the summer for hunting, berry gathering, and travel/trade routes to inland tribes.
Gunalchéesh (Tlingit) Thank you (English) The varied photos are good: old and new. I did note that the painting of Katlian leading battle against the Russians was matched with spoken word about clan and village warfare.
As a Coast Salish person, I think you did a great job covering the region. I’m a big fan of your channel and have enjoyed learning about all the fascinating cultures of the Americas.
Thank you! There was a lot to cover and I had to leave a lot out. But that means that we'll just have to come back someday!
But that group contains a lot of different tribes....
@@markgarin6355 I’m from the Lyackson First Nation
@@dylanthomas5475 ah, BC. In Washington state, there are quite a few groups around me.
@@markgarin6355 Just to say, if you told me you were Irish, I wouldn't immediately vibe check you hy asking you if you were Ulster, Donegal, Connacht, or, and God forgive me for saying their names out loud, Linster Irish.
As someone who lives in this region (Vancouver Island, not Indigenous), thank you for choosing to cover the Indigenous people who live here. The cultures that have flourish here for millennia are quite fascinating. They not as flashy as those of Central and South America, but are unique in there own right.
Thank you! Even if they weren't building pyramids a thousand years ago, I think that they are no less fascinating.
Waving from Burnaby! 😃👋
Same for me (but born and raised in the Lower Mainland) and it’s always so interesting to learn more and refresh our knowledge of the incredible indigenous cultures that surround us and are so unique in the world. I have a friend from the Squamish nation who is justifiably really proud of their ancestry, it’s easy to see why! Excellent video. 😊
I was talking to an RCMP here in Port McNeill and he told me he was called back when to a skull reportedly in the sand at Yellow Point near Ladysmith. It was so elongated that neither crown counsel nor the local natives wanted it so he just kept it for several months.... I wasn't surprised because I know the Tarim Basin Amorites were credited for bringing agriculture to the Tarim basin and that they "brought their own Mongols" according to the Navajo and here they today are as Ainu, with the same uniquely Siberian bloodline and the Ket language used by the Tarim basin and Altai Amurru.
Same here! It’s cool to learn lots more about the indigenous peoples that live here
I'm from the Tlingit tribe (Alaskan coastal Tlingit), Tlingit means "the people of the tides", and I've been told by elders that "Each time the ice comes, it chases us away from the coast and, as the ice melts, we always follow it back to the coast.". Back in the early 1970's, I was also told a story by an elder after I asked for a story from when the world was covered in ice and snow, and she told a story of how the tribe had been living in the ice-free zone in Canada for many, many generations, with winters lasting 2 to 3 years until, one winter lasted 5 years, and the next winter lasted 8 years, and while this was happening the ice walls grew and moved in, closing off the route south, and they were trapped in between the ice walls for many, many generations, with the food supply getting smaller each thaw season until they feared the tribe would all die. So they sent out expeditions of men & women to either find a way out and return for the tribe, or find a way out and leave the tribe behind if too dangerous to return. None returned (the Navajo tribe grew from one of those expeditions), but the ice had begun to melt quickly, the ice walls receded, and the tribe was no longer in danger of extinction. To survive the lack of food, they ate saw dust, wood chips, tree bark, animal hides, and some ate the dead tribe members.
Wow. That's a really amazing story!
@Land-Shark
I heard from a Nuxalk man who had a Tlingit storyteller grandmother that around whenever it was warmer probably by 2350BC but could be as early as around the Minoan Warm Period 3800BC there was an influx quite suddenly of a people with a superior culture and numbers, who just assimilated and displaced if they wanted it, the previous culture youse guys, you are talking about.
Now, this means we are up to the Ket-speaking Amurru or AKA Amorite Moors from the Tarim Basin and Amur River drainiage kingdoms arriving with the superior culture and as the ruling clans founding Tartaria in the PNW and the west side of Amurica as well, and look at the ruined civilization now on both sides of the Bering Strait. The Navajo said "they brought their own Mongols" which certainly sounds like they had technology, and who built the pyramids and "Mormon temples" but Moor-men the amurru from the Amur River Drainage Basin who started their Ket root language as the foundation of North Amurican lingo..
More, there was a war, and the Tarim Basin Amorites were driven right back up the Amur river and their depots burned, killing the PNW fur trade. I guess this at you know by the other indians-exterminated-the-giants-lore probaby as late as the mid 1200's coz they left Tartarian sheeeitt behind, like important Moor-mon churches, dikes, harbours and long dams now destroyed from roughly that...and they had six noble cities and more than 100 towns around the great Salt Lake by then so maybe as late as the mid-1800's. Lovelock Caves, the islands off California, the Chilkoot eradicated theirs too...Tsimshian and Tlingit too no doubt. The foreigners didn't wanna marry out much but I know a papered Nukwakwdukw Indian with no Haida in him who is 6'3" with red hair like Archie :)
Popular, but disproven, migration theory + vivid imagination + alcohol + gullible audience = 🐂💩
this is awesome. I believe the American people are more ancient than what we are led to believe. That story of multiple ice ages must be over a span of 50,000 years. I am glad to hear the oral history.
@@DrCorvidDid you make all this up yourself? What are your sources, besides just talking to (and probably misinterpreting) other people? (Not OP, DrCorvid, just in case OP gets a notification)
42:02 It's important to note that the much of the Camas and Wapato eaten by the southern coastal tribes was actually acquired by trade with tribes living further south and inland on the Columbia Plateau and Basin, where growing conditions were more ideal for mass cultivation. The Coast Salish traded as much as a quarter of their oceanic fish and mollusc catch and large amounts of dentalium shells in exchange for the desired amounts of both plants.
Camas was especially desirable. A member of the Asparagus family, Camas produces edible grape sized bulbs that- when slow roasted for 12 to 24 hours- would have their polysaccharides hydrolyze into simpler sugars, making them one of the few native sources of sucrose. Camas is fireweed, meaning that it was the first plant to colonize areas of land cleared by wildfires, and the Plateau tribes deliberately used manmade fires to clear level ground (Camas Prairies) so the wild plants would grow in large clusters.
Wapato (Sagittaria¹ latifolia), AKA Katniss¹, Broadleaf Arrowhead or Duck Potato is a waterborne plant that possesses chestnut sized, starchy rhizomes that greatly resemble regular potatoes in consistency. Wapato can be found across North America and featured heavily in the diet of many other Native American nations (most notably the Cherokee). But the plant really thrives in the heavily inundated Columbia River Basin, and it was an abundant food source for many PNW tribes.
Incidentally there are the towns of Camas (across the Columbia from Portland) and Wapato (SE of Yakima) in Washington state that were named for their chief native crops.
¹: Suzanne Collins- the author of the Hunger Games trilogy- has confirmed that main character Katniss Everdeen was both inspired by and direct allusion to Wapato and its archer based scientific name.
Very interesting! I didn't read into a lot of detail on those plants so this is most welcome.
A human thing to add: Camas is delicious. Mixing it with coca powder is really good, and I eat it this way chasing my macro nutrients for the gym!
@@callusklaus2413 How do you source your Camas? I've been trying to find a commercial supplier with no success.
Always wondered where those two towns got their names. Thank you
I think it's misleading to state that camas is fireweed. What is almost universally known as fireweed (Chamerion angustifolium), though edible and a common food source for the indigenous coastal peoples of NW Americas, is a different plant species from the edible forms of camas. There are several edible camas', but I suspect the one referenced here is (Camassia quamash).
It is also misleading, though not wholly incorrect to state that camas was in some way propagated through fire management. Indigenous peoples of the region did frequently intentionally burn landscapes for a variety of reasons which I won't go into. But burning areas in which camas grew wasn't so much for propagation as it was just enriching the soil to create better growing conditions. Camas was primarily propagated by indigenous populations through division. (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Division_(horticulture). It is not considered a pioneer species as you stated though.
Your channel is probably the only one where it explains Native American cultures in exquisite detail. Thank you for existing.
Happy to exist!
Nathaniel Fosaaen is an archaeologist and has the same great detail www.youtube.com/@NathanaelFosaaen . He mainly covers the Eastern Woodlands
@@juniperpansy His channel is amazing! I never miss an episode.
@@AncientAmericas you do such a great job with your videos. Thank you so much for this great content.
Real ass comment
Once years ago, while building the sweat lodge fire I said to my grandmother "hey our ancestors didn't use chainsaws and touches to build the sweat fire" so she said "if they'd had them they would." ❤
Talk to your elders I don't care where you're from you might be surprised what you learn.
I flew from Seattle to Juneau a few years ago & was incredibly lucky to have a window seat & unusually clear weather. The number of glaciers & fjords & valleys & rivers & estuaries & tideflats & coves & bays & inlets & spits & islands upon islands is absolutely staggering. I was immediately struck with the understanding of a saying I heard from a Yakutat native "When the tide is out, the table is set". The richness of these unique ecosystems allowed for culture & art to thrive, and are an absolute reflection of the landscape.
Another fun fact: The clay in the coastal Pacific Northwest sucks for making functional pottery. You can make bricks out of it, but most of the clay types found deposited in the area will slump rather quickly at low temperatures instead of sintering. (Sintering means sticking together and holding its shape, an absolute necessity for functional pottery. Vitrification, turning glass-like--what porcelain and stoneware can do, as opposed to earthenware, happens on the 2nd firing at much higher temperatures.)
That's got to be the biggest bummer about clay anywhere...
Probably explains the extensive basket weaving and wooden box making technology among the PNW tribes.
@@brawndothethirstmutilator9848 and the massive long houses said to houses around 1000 people.
@@TallicaMan1986 I always loved learning about their long houses and overall architectural style when I was younger. The depictions of these massive cob shaped pods where a whole community could thrive fascinated me, I would love to see how they decorated interiors during their time as well.
Great to see clam gardens and candle fish get some spotlight. Shellfish and hooligan grease are basically the historic beans and butter of the PNW haha. I know this is already a packed video, but it would've been cool to see the linguistic diversity of the PNW if you showed the Quileute and Nuxalk on your map, or talked about just how many language families and isolates exist here! Also, im curious when canoes and bentwood boxes became so intricately designed. I wonder if the archaeological record is able to show this, though it's probably tough for preservation...
Thank you! A full linguistic map of the Northwest would have been a lot so I highlighted the big ones.
Agreed, but why is it considered aquaculture, but the same process occurring on land with camas, Wapato, blueberries etc…. Is not agriculture? We had agriculture out here, including European style with tobacco as well as potatoes with the Makah and Ozette.
@@bensabelhaus7288 It's 100% a form of agriculture. Not sure why the consensus has been that they didn't practice agriculture, this isn't recently discovered information... Probably just a myth that white settlers made up to make our region seem more bountiful than it really is.
@@bensabelhaus7288I think what they did with berries, trees, tobacco, etc, would be considered horticulture rather than agriculture
Oolichan grease..... Fermented salmon pat'e .... My brother Christopher always tried to get me to man up and try some (he is Haida) as a indigenous canoe carver and tribal dancer, as such he had lots of stories to share, I love him very much and am very grateful for his friendship and shared knowledge.
With all that being said, IM STILL NOT GOING TO EAT OOLICHAN GREASE ANYTIME SOON!😂
Furthermore Neah Bay is a beautiful gem, visit if you can and spend some money there on smoked fish 😉
great video Blessings and aloha
Hello! I am so grateful that youve made this video, i'm a pacific northwest anthropologist in training(workin' my way thru getting a degree), and honestly this video was an amazing introductory piece that i think you should be very proud of. i have small nitpicks here and there (like how western redcedar is NOT a cedar, but rather a species of cypress, misidentified early on) however all in all those dont matter that much and i had a lot of fun watching this and couldnt take my eyes off for the whole duration! also very glad you mentioned the complexities of the word "chief"(which i frankly think doesnt fully apply but that is no fault of yours), in fact in several PNW languages the word for "rich person" is also the word for chief (tlingit=aank̲áawu, haida= íitl'aagdáa). Final note i have is that the property laws and shaming laws applied to the revenge wars as well and in fact one would be required to(at least for the tlingit) compensate fairly for the death of a person(usually in the form of death of an equally important person on the offender side) or be attacked. The life of a commoner was not equal in compensation to that of an aanyádi(elite), so even if the murderer is a commoner, their death would not be fair compensation(take Isaac N. Ebey's beheading for example)
Two things i wish you had touched upon more were the trade networks that reach all the way down to mexico and the presence of japanese shipwreck iron usage.
This was an AMAZING thing to wake up to, thank you. (oh and your sources are great, love it and love your work)
Ah yes, the use of scavenged iron in the north in particular. And I guess also the importance of copper. Speaking also of trade networks, the grease trails would have been a fun tidbit just to show how crazy into hooligan grease people were in the greater region.
Thanks, those items you excavated to quibble about keep me awake at night, and thousands of ordinary Oregonians I meet each day - we really sling around our knowledge of tribal languages - because we all love to show off like a little kid.
@@BlueBeeMCMLXI hm?
My partner is mixed Tlingit and white, her dad grew up in Sitka, Alaska! She has some carved bone and obsidian jewelry that her great grandmother would have made a hundred years ago! Tlingit families are very focused on the maternal lineage, and so all the information we have about her family comes from her grandmother's side. The nuances of these cultures is super interesting!
I’m Tlingit and my family comes from Sitka! What clan is your partner? I am Wooshteekaan
@@sydneytruitt3981My daughters tlingit we are from Klawock.. She’s half Tlingit and half indigenous mexican Mayan/Tlingit very kool to me.
As someone born in the shadow of Tahoma and on the shore of the sound, this is excellent mate, and I really appreciate your coverage of the history. In my PNW history course, we touched on indiginous history for a measly chapter, which essentially just breezed over indiginous history in favor of European extraction.
Also, there's something really incredible about turning home on it's "side" like this. It really highlights our coastal islands.
Love from Tacoma!
Thank you!
😊😊
I'm glad he pointed out slavery. And also glad that Europeans put an end to it.
@@Red.Mist.85 Get a life.
@Red.Mist.85 Yeah they began abolishing slavery soon after all the slaves in Haiti unified and killed all their European captives
Seems weird to see such a big UA-camr talk about my culture (Aka, the Haida), but am impressed by the amount of research you must’ve done!
Thank you! That's a very awesome compliment coming from you!
You have a pretty dog. XD
Granted, yours is a VERY big and important culture in the region. Probably the most dynamic in the first decades of European interaction. Even down in the south coast, Haida is recognized as a big cultural force and influence.
I’m not native myself (that I know of) but I grew up on the Oregon coast, Gold Beach to be exact. I moved to different areas of Oregon and grew there too, as well as moving to California for a bit and now back on the coast. Our Native American culture here is a huge part of the culture, names of cities/towns, and lifestyle among the coast, and almost every place you drive through has some sort of style or influence and tribe history. I’ve always loved growing up around it and my friends who are native, the stories they would tell and the history of how things were and how people lived in our cold wet winters and spring, and our hot summers. My ex was 100% native- Modoc, Klamath and Seminole, and would always tell me about the customs they had within their different areas.
Can you get your Ex back?
What's your @? 👀
the Americas seem to be inexhaustible in it's amount of incredibly unique cultures so I'm always glad to see you still making these videos, this one vaguely reminded me of the people of Key Macro Florida specifically with the mask work and aquaculture. Also i always appreciate hearing these traditions still exist in ancestor communities today!
That they are!
This is awesome! I've lived in Seattle and the northwest all my life, super happy to see the Native cultures of my home getting the spotlight.
Thank you!
Wet??
Just want to say that this episode is not "too long" and I love details, so if you ever want to go MORE in depth, I, for one, would welcome it. Thanks for the great video.
Thank you! If you want more details, check out indigenous history now's video on the northwest. (Link in the description.) It's much more detailed than mine.
You handled this episode very well. I have been following your educational work. Very well put together. The PNW is my home. Live on a river with lots of complex history. You should come visit. You have earned it with a very respectful and informative episode. Your sense of humor makes it easy to access... fishing jokes...lol
Thank you! Glad to know someone appreciates the dad humor on display.
My mother was born in Canada on Vancouver Island half Indigenous and half English Canadian. She was put up for adoption at a very young age and then was adopted by my grandparents who lived here in America. For years my grandparents had offered her the the chance to go back to Canada and meet her parents and tribe, but she always refused. Time passed she moved to Cali, met my dad, got married, had kids and lived her life. Eventually my sister became interested in our moms past and created a Ancestry for her. my sister found a cousin who was looking for my mom. To make be quick we went on trip the very northern tip of Vancouver Island do meet our family that we had never known. Ever since then I've had an interest in the area so thanks for the video.
Read John Smiths;' diary of his capture on Van. Island and the seven tribes. He was a blacksmith so they kept him alive. wrote in berry juice!
@@HeronPoint2021you must be referring to David Livingstone, who explored South and Central Africa.
John Smith did not come near Vancouver Island nor did he write a diary in berry juice...
@@panterxbeats His name was John R Jewitt. He was taken prisoner in Nootka sound by Maquinna, the tribes chief.
@@redwater4778 Thank you for clarifying!!
dude, legitimately seeing this video made me tear up. There are so few good videos made on the PNW that when a good one like this comes up you have to party.
as a born and raised oregonian now living in washington, it’s so fascinating to finally learn about all this indigenous pnw history!! it was barely covered growing up and i really appreciate this information :)
The organic curves of their scrimshaw and carpentry make everything look uniquely futuristic, very cool
Just on a side-note - yes you can infact turn the 'Candle Fish' - eulacheon into "candles" by deepriving them of most of their oil and drying them whole, though the "candle" effect isn't really significant. The Eulacheon is a species of Smelt, which are known for their oily content - in my area of Germany people used dried smelt (obviously not this NA species) as fire starters, they were considered the peasants trash fish. There is a video on the 'candle making' process uploaded by National Geographic.
Nice! I was hoping someone would answer that!
Yeah, you impale them on sticks. Dry them in the sun. Once dried - just light them up. They'll burn. On a side note - they have "runs" just like salmon. And they are in steep decline. Nobody knows why. But they are a _major_ part of the food chain...so this is worrying.
@@AncientAmericas smelt is a great change in fish. lots of freshwater smelt when I was a kid in Ontario. but eulacheon are more important on another level: the first real fish run indicated the end of winter, and good times are coming: salmon runs around the corner. !!
Fantastic video, well done. I live on the Suquamish reservation and have been finding a lot of stone tools like hammer stones, nutters, mortars, pestles, celts, polishing stones and possibly some effigies. This video is helping me understand things better.
Really enjoyed this video! I spent 18 years in the prairies surrounded by Cree culture and people, and moved to Vancouver where it is quite different and interesting to learn about the PNW indigenous cultures.
If anyone would like to visit Vancouver Island, I recommend visiting the U'mista cultural centre in Alert Bay (close to Port McNeill and not too far from "Bear Cove" highlighted in this video). Musuem of Anthropology at UBC has interesting exhibits as well but unfortunately closed for seismic upgrades for most of 2023.
The similarities to Norway's coast after 10000BCE are striking. Nature is making the way for certain developments.
The Norwegian that Came here name the town after himself "Poulsbo" WA. Nicknamed Little Norway because that part of the KItsap Peninsula with the natural Viks look like Norway to him. So the Town throughout its finding has put that theme to use. The Old Town looks like a Norwegian Village. Even the street names .
I couldn't help but notice the similarities between their plank houses and Viking houses that started around the same era
Gosh. Global warming 5,000 years ago. Did these cultures drive Model-T’s back then? 🥵🥵😅
@@sockmonkey22Clam farts 😂
Thank you for this video! As a lifelong PNW-er, this was a fascinating history of the original peoples of this land. Especially in these times of climate change, it's so important to listen to and learn from indigenous communities who have so much more experience living and thriving here, even through times of environmental change.
Attending a talk on the history of the native people around Campbell River on Vancouver Island, the anthropologist said their language was a completely different language group from their coast Salish neighbours, like the difference between Inuktitut and English. I found that amazing. Learning more about how Northwest coast languages are related [or not] would be helpful to understand the overall picture here.
Ah I’m so excited to watch this! I’d love even more videos about more “Canadian” Indigenous peoples!
Thank you!
My father a West Coast Salish Penaluket left me our history, as all three of his Grandfather's were Master Mariners. The middle one Captain James Douglas Warren came from P.E.I in 1858,he opened up the Trade Routes around Vancouver Island to the Haida Gwaii. He was the most notable Sealer with many Schooners, Steamships and Shipwrecks. The Barbara Boscowitz near Alert Bay,S.S.Alpha near Hornby Island and the famous S.S.Beaver that sunk at Prospect Point in Vancouver in 1888. His cousin Sarah Warren was a Matriarch of the Songhees, she was King & Queen Freezy's G.grandaughter. Sarah was the first person of The North People, to win back the Right's for The Traditional Mask Dance in 1950 after the Potlach Ban. My cousin's husband Charles Elliott spent near ten years,to get Mount Douglas name changed back to the original P'khol's last year, he sadly passed after. His brother John Elliott carved the three Totems at the Victoria Airport. The family carved and gifted Totems last year to The Songhees Wellness Cente,Sannich Police and Elementary School,Camosun and a large exhibition at The Victoria University, where last yr Myrna Elliott gifted Mr Kevin Hall the new President of Victoria University, her Homemade Blanket. A month later my old classmate from Port Alberni, Chief Judith Sayers( told Trudeau off on the news for Surfing in Tofino on Truth and Reconciliation Day)gifted Mr Hall again a Talking Stick at Vancouver Island University. This was in collaboration of both University's to work on Truth and Reconciliation. ❤ 🇨🇦 🍁
Captain James Warren also married Tutsumutsa Edenshaw aka Mary Warren Williams, she was the oldest native to die in Esquimalt in 1931 at 104.
That is really fascinating! I've seen photos of those totems and they are beautiful! Thank you!
As a settler who lives on Vancouver island, and as someone who has family with indigenous heritage, I'm glad more information is becoming more wide spread. I think we as inhabitants, new and old, should learn more about the histories and culture of indigenous peoples of the regions we live, as to not repeat myths and misconceptions colonizers have perpetuated.
It's important to understand the pre-contact Pacific NW as a Perma-Maricultural Civilization.
While the term "hunter gather" is casually referenced, often dismissively, what was practiced in the PNW was very sophisticated system of permaculture, wrapped around the central pillar of mariculture (fish, clams, marine mammals), that enabled population densities that are now considered by anthropologists as indicators of being a civilization.
As an aside, there is a great Jim Jarmusch movie, "Dead Man", which near the end of the movie has a quick scene of a PNW village that gave me the feeling, an emotional understanding, that the PNC was a civilization.
It's my understanding that there are now archeological sites which have dates going back to 12,000+ years ago on the central coast. Other sites in the Americas point to the possibility that humans have been crossing over from Asia for over 30,000 years
Very well said!
30K years may be conservative. The native indigenous origin stories refer to north America as a source place like Africa, but because of glaciation all traces are scattered willy nilly. The best origin places were coastal and with tidal and plate shifting would obliterate earliest traces. We have been here a long time, and our oldest stories always mentioned our being here as part of a celestial neighborhood, us being the new kids on the block.@@AncientAmericas
Eulacheon (called "hooligans" in my hometown) actually become candles when dried. No wick needed; you turn them upside down and light the tail. It's not very impressive light, though. Not only is it orange and not terribly bright, there's a lot of greasy black smoke, grease spattering off, and, of course, the smell of burning fish. But that's why they're called candlefish.
Excellent presentation!
This vid mentioned the class systems of the various pac NW tribes, and I thought I'd comment on one/ expand upon the points about 'stratification', and the political organization of the tribes. (I've spent a good amount of time on the NW Washington and Vancouver island coasts)...
As it has been explained to me by tribal members the 'class' organization of those tribes is mosty analogous to the 'caste' organization of some east Asian cultures (India in particular, with the Brahmins, untouchables, etc). I had wondered why there were so many 'chiefs' in the various places that I stayed, and once I asked a member about that, such was the explanation he gave me: the 'chiefs' were like 'Brahmins'... Though there was sometimes a first/primary chief (sometimes hereditary, sometimes elected- by consensus rather than by a ballot)...
Of course, having grown up watching John Ford westerns, I had a preconception of all Native American/ First Nations groups as having one chief who exercised power like a member of the european nobility, though now I know it is closer to an informal aristocracy, for lack of a better term.
I'm sure that isn't universal in this area, but both of the tribes that I spent several summer's with (I am a surfer/bum) had such a system, both historically and even to this day in many ways.
Also, re: war, raiding and intertribal relations: the dynamic between the Makah tribe at the tip of the Olympic peninsula and their neighbors to the south (Quilute, Hoh, etc) makes for an interesting study. The Makah held their neighbors to tribute and raided them for slaves, etc... And, speaking of the Makah: they still have treaty rights to participate in (ceremonial, these days) whaling, and they still do (though not recently).
Last thing: I've ridden in one of the NW coast tribes sea-going canoes, and it was an amazing experience. Those things are very stable, seaworthy, and FAST. In the early 1900s, a team of native rowers in one of their canoes beat the University of Washington crew team in a race!
Of course, I would love to hear how accurate my impression of the political/social organization of the NW coast tribes is, and how much variation there is. (After all, my sample size is...two.)
Cheers!
Thank you! Appreciate you sharing those experiences. As someone who's actually interacted with the people themselves, you have a lot of knowledge and experience that I don't.
I've been looking forward to this video for a while. I really appreciated how you contextualized things that answered several questions I've had in my own research. I have lots of new ones to shape my own research going forward!
Ive watched this video like 5 times over the past year. Its an amazing amount of work you put into this and it shows. Keep up the good work.
Thank you!
In Emeryville, CA they bulldozed the historic shell mounds to put up a mall. I never knew if they were fully explored from an archeological perspective before that happened. It's not as far north as this area but it was something I was reminded of while watching.
No clue what the dates on that are but these days, they'd have to call in the archaeologists to evaluate the site to assess it first. Nate Fosaaen (a professional archaeologist with an awesome channel) goes into detail on how the process works and what the criteria is. I tried finding the video but couldn't locate it but his channel is below if you want to sift through his stuff. www.youtube.com/@NathanaelFosaaen
@@AncientAmericas I follow his channel too. Good dude with some good knowledge to share. He probably gets annoyed by my comments lol. I wish his editing was as good as yours. I'm also not sure on the age of those mounds I just know they were very big and when it happened there was a big outcry.
I'm so sorry about the clumsiness of people and their disregard for true history
Though I live in the interior part of BC, it’s still super interesting to learn about these ancient cultures. I’d love to learn a bit more about the interior cultures too.
Thank you! We'll get to the interior cultures someday.
I love learning about my Local history I have lived in the Pacific NW for about 17 years and find this fascinating . I Got interested in local history's when I was in Jr College over 40 years ago lol. I had to take a Elective class so I took one on the History of Tehama County (Northern CA.) My family's ancestors had been in that area since the time of the Mexican -American war for California before it became a State. MIgrated from Missouri in the 1840s -1850s. Except for One brief move back to Missouri because of the Civil War. Richard Parker was given Land officially by the US Government for his service in The Mexican American War and Civil war. and the family settled In Tehama and Butte Counties (Gerber -Los Molinos to be precise) . Amazing to learn about the history in the place you live and Place were your family came from.
I lived on Flores Island in Ahousat, a Native village, for a school year in 1999-2000. It was a truly amazing experience! They still practiced fishing, hunting and gathering. During my time there, a whale drowned after getting caught up in a herring fishing net. A few specialized whalers from a tribe in Washington state came to help process the meet, while everyone in the village participated. Nothing was wasted, except for the tongue. During my stay, as a teacher, I spent a lot of time with the cheerful and smart children, in and out of school. We collected berries and shell fish, took long walks, made cookies and did artwork. The children were amazing artists, creating beautiful drawings and paintings full of symbolism and stories. I dream of going back one day !
Sounds incredible!
Wonderful video as always my friend! It’s always great working with you!
The honor is mine!
Fantastic video as always. Love the professional, adult, and educational tone of your videos, Keep up the good work:)
Thank you!
This is a fantastic video! Living in the PNW, I see the influence of the native peoples all around, in place names, art, and culture. I've had the pleasure of attending a speech by a local member of one of these groups and it really sparked my interest in their vibrant culture and beliefs.
Thank you!
Back when I was in school in California, we didn't learn about local nations and tribes (this has changed), so we basically studied the four most stereotypical cultures that everyone had heard of, and the Kwakiutl were always my favorite for the artwork, northwestern landscape, and delicious salmon. I think northwestern peoples were having a big moment of cultural relevance in the 1990s due to the popularity of _Northern Exposure,_ which prominently featured Tlingit and Haida characters.
Tangent: it was also the first time most Americans had ever seen First Nations people depicted in a non-historic setting. I think seeing them in a modern context, still maintaining a thriving tradition but not being singularly defined by it, had a big impact on American culture that's too often overlooked.
That's good to hear that more local nations are being studied in school. Where I grew up, we learned very little about them unless you went to the nearby state park for a field trip. The early 90's were a time of cultural relevance for native Americans as a whole with films like Dances with Wolves and Last of the Mohicans.
So happy to see this video. I have watched and rewatched several of your videos and have been patiently waiting for a new release. Welcome back.
Thank you! Good to be back!
This video on its own goes over everything I learned in Washington state history last year. This would’ve helped out so much.
Ayye, ǧilakas'la! I am Kwakwakaʼwakw, also known as Kwakiutl (Kwa-cue-til). It was so cool seeing my people and history pop up on my video feed. You know, I had to google 'Eulachan', wondering if my family had been pronouncing Ooligan wrong lol but it looks like that is another word for it. Awesome video! Now I'm craving fried ooligan though. Not the oil however, I was forced to eat a teaspoon of ooligan oil as punishment whenever I acted up lol that stuff is nasty and will clear a room!
Great video, such an interesting watch. Keep up the good work!
Also, I have a friend who is Coastal Salish and we tease them because it is well documented that back in the early days their people were always warning the whites travelling on boats that they should stay away from my people's villages, that we weren't nice 🤣. I think we might've bullied a few Coastal Salish villages in the past.
Really looking forward to a video exploring the mythology of our people! Please PLEASE include Dzunukwa! A giant woman who kidnaps kids who venture into her woods, puts them in a basket, and takes them to her home. Once there, she puts pitch in their eyes, then hangs them upside down over a fire to smoke, then eat! I was told stories of her as a child and was terrified lol. So many cultures have similar stories to keep kids out of dangerous woods and she was ours. Might've worked too well, she still scares me lmao.
Thank you for the response! Your comment was an absolute pleasure to read!
Enjoyed this. I live on Vancouver Island and work with a lot of the First Nations people. One young guy is on with me a lot and to hear him talk about discovering his culture makes me want to know more about mine. Cockney Grandmother etc. I am 68 and he is 23. Love this place. have not been off Island since 2010.
It's so interesting to see the similarities between the peoples of the Pacific Northwest and those of the Amazon delta region in Brazil. Both regions featured cultures with elaborate social stratification, complex political systems, an economy that was based on the exploitation of fish and other aquatic resources instead of agriculture and even an ancestral stage in which shell mounds were made.
Awesome video as always! Greetings!
Thank you! I never thought of that comparison but it's a really neat one to consider. Cheers!
Northwest cedar is still used today for all the reasons you mentioned, but importantly its inherent resistance to weathering and rot. Why you see so many home decks in the suburbs made from it.
24:45 the detail on the box is amazing! I paused the video and stared at it for minutes!
Right!?
Babe wake up, Ancient Americas just dropped another video
Oh wow. What timing!
I'm just wrapping up 10 days in the PNW and have had some interesting discussions with my sister (a teacher) about the historic and current treatment of native children by the school system. I first came here in the late '90s for college and have visited ever since, and like many other aspects of the region, native culture is something I didn't learn enough about. Thanks for sharing this great video.
You’re videos are an instant click for me. I love them!
Thank you!
Ah no way!!! I've been rewatching your old videos waiting for a new one!! So happy this just came out!! Thank you 👍
Glad my timing was good!
Been watching you since your first video and I’ve been waiting for this episode for a while now, the only good anthropological studies on my families culture aren’t well known by people not related to the area, it’s exciting knowing how many people will be exposed to the unique and unified cultures of the Pacific Northwest
Thank you! Hope it was worth the wait!
This was a very nice overview of an enormous timespan. Making a video on a related topic at the moment!
Thank you! Can't wait to see that video!
Howdy! Such a wonderful video, and extensively researched, well done!
Did just want to add a note about agriculture in the area. While traditional western agriculture definitely did not exist on the Pacific Coast, there were many extensive techniques used to select for and support the native food crops that were staples of diet in the region, and these techniques were so advanced that many have argued they classify as agriculture. On a really large scale, the forests of the Pacific Coast boast a wide variety of edible shrubs and trees, so species like Beaked Hazelnut and Service Berry would be noted and competing species would be cleared out, allowing the desirables to form thickets of food producing shrubs. This practice was continued for so long that sections of the landscape would become known for being “the place for Service Berry”, or Huckleberry, or what have you.
However the more interesting case of food based land management comes from tidal flood plains, and the prairies of South Puget Sound. There are a number of flowering plants in the area that grow from very starchy bulbs. These include Chocolate Lilly, Rice Root, Tiger Lilly, and most importantly Camas. The first three could often be found in tidally influenced coastal meadows, and these areas would be heavily weeded by hand, in order to ensure a plethora of bulbs would grow beneath the ground. These tuber gardens are still in use by the Squamish, and other tribes today, and produce a shocking number of calories in a very small space.
My favorite example however comes from the Prairies, where Greater and Small Camas grew profusely. In a note from the Lewis and Clark Expedition, it was said that as the group descended from the cascades into the lowlands, they though they were coming to the ocean, as they could only see rolling open spaces of bright blue as far as they could see, but this was in fact the camas meadows/gardens of the South Puget Sound Peoples. The Nisqually, Chehalis, Cowlitz, and so many more tribes depended on these starchy roots as a staple food, and they were also traded far and wide, with dried camas being found all throughout Washington, and down into Southern California as well, where it does not grow, and must have been traded for. Besides dried salmon, camas was the number 2 tradable food source of the region. The plant was so vital, that the peoples who depended on it literally shaped the entire landscape of the south sound, by burning the prairies every 1-2 years, halting the encroachment of conifers and shrubs, and protecting the camas from being out competed. This practice remained consistent for so long, that Prairie once spread from South Tacoma/Fircrest area, all the way south to Olympia, and beyond to the Willamette Vally. This open space boasted Washington’s most biodiverse ecosystem, Garry Oak Prairie, which provided bountiful food and medicine to those who maintained it with fire. We know that these prairies were maintained by fire, because in the modern age, under a fire regime that only sees fire as a bad thing to be put out, this whole region was taken over by Douglas’s Fir and other trees, turning the prairie into young forest with much less biodiversity. Only about 2% of the historical Garry Oak Prairies of the South Sound still exist today.
This is all to say that while traditional “agriculture” may not have been happening on the Pacific Coast, there were most definitely numerous traditions and techniques practiced to control which plants were growing where, and to benefit those that provided food and medicine, which is very similar to agriculture, if not the same thing by definition.
Again wonderful video, and this is not a critique on really anything you said, just wanted to provide this extra information :) thanks!
Thank you! You aren't the first person to point this out. I would argue that agriculture is the cultivation of domesticated plants and to my knowledge, these were not domesticated plants but you could still make an argument.
@@AncientAmericas that totally makes sense as a definition! I see how the presence of domesticated plants would kinda mark a new step in the system of growing food. Thanks for all the incredible information you’ve shared on your channel :)
I wonder if the reason shell middens disappear is that they began to be used in wars? I know that some stories mention laying shells nearby the doorway so that they will hear the shells crack as people stepped on them. I always just assumed it was for when guests arrive but its purpose may be more defensive as my Grandpa told me that the reason our doors were circles was so that invaders would be forced to enter by crouching head first leaving themselves open to being bonked on the head. Some people still lay shells all around their doorway and along the paths in the yard in my area
Nice work my man. I really appreciate you sharing with us other dorks something you’re passionate about.
I tried sharing it with my buddy and he looked at me like I had a third eye. That’s when I realized I found my people.
Don’t listen too all the haters. I doubt any of them have the guts to put themselves out there and start producing content on a platform good or bad.
Thank you!
Yesterday I acquired a dictionary and reference grammar for Coast Tsimshian (Sm'algyax). It is a language isolate (other than being one of four dialects) and is one of the strangest native American languages I've encountered. It has a distinction between flat and descending tones, so it is mildly a tonal language and I'm not aware of any other tonal languages indigenous to the Americas. Like its otherwise unrelated neighbors it is polysynthetic, and from what I can tell the tonal distinction is unnecessary since there aren't any words that would be pronounced the same without it (not even close). It is also one of the most difficult to pronounce languages I've encountered, with multiple rare vowels and consonants. It also uses glottal stops more than any other language I've seen.
I've also done a little digging into the Chinook languages. This is also a micro-family with no relatives (although there is a speculated family that includes the various isolates from this region including Tsimshian). It is a dialect continuum with one end being around the mouth of the Columbia, and the other end being around The Dalles where the land becomes dry. I live in the Portland area and middle Chinook seemed to have been in between Coast and Upper Chinook. There is also a Creole, Chinook Jargon, which mixes Chinook with English. It actually had (and possibly still has) native speakers, and is the only Chinook language that isn't extinct. It became a Lingua Franca for the Chinook and some other nearby cultures since the Oregon coast has a lot of isolates.
this was a wonderful summary of practices of northwest coast peoples i haven't seen before, thank you! as someone growing up here it's wonderful to hear more about it. so interesting to hear about how much people made from the trees here
also looking at comments it seems like i'm an exception but i personally really like looking 'up' at the coast from the direction of the ocean, as that's one of the most important things in these histories. it also is nice because it feels less eastern-centered like it seems a lot of american history often is. i like getting to see the coast undivided by borders too
Thank you!
Bro 1 million people…. It really goes to show how there were millions on millions of people living on this continent before it all got taken over - and more importantly, the scale of what was lost.
Hey outstanding video! It was really fascinating to learn just how diverse the Pacific Northwest cultures are in terms of aquaculture and woodworking. The research you put into this must have been really fun to do. Thanks for the work you put into this!
Thanks! There's a lot of love about the northwest coast.
You mentioned Wapato! Hey i still got live examples if you need pics or footage.
Also i would Love to see an art of the northwest episode. Its so intricate, bold, and has a pretty difined rule set as i found out in an art class.
Also my father worked at First Nation Afairs Canada... Ehhh well before it got a better name. Anyways one fact they always used to love saying was "remember, British Columbia is still 110% claimed by the first nations" shared gathering grounds or old feuds truly never die.
Great episode! Cannot wait for the episode giving a deep dive into art!
Thank you! I'd like to revisit the topic later this year but the schedule is already a bit packed so we'll see.
Another great one! I'm curious as to how you make your maps? They are very good with just the right amount of detail to be useful without being overly distracting
Thank you! I spend a lot of time of them and I love it when people notice. Basically, I take a good, detailed map that I find online, trace it carefully in Adobe Illustrator, check my work against google maps as I go to make sure the small details are right. Then I just add in the colors. I try to strike a balance between detailed and simple so that it's not too busy for the viewer.
@@AncientAmericas well the results are great. I especially love the rivers since they're so important for so many cultures
Really enjoyed the watch, nice job. I appreciate your mention that sites going back to the glacial period are likely underwater and not explored.
Worldwide there is such a huge area to explore just off present coasts from when ocean levels were hundreds of feet lower.
Someday when underwater archaeology gets cheaper and more refined, the Pacific coast is going to be THE PLACE for archaeology.
I've been looking forward to an episode about these peoples for a long time. I grew up near the southern boundary of the Pacific Northwest & I've been interested in learning more about the peoples of this area for a long time, but it's hard to find much information in a digestible form. Thanks for this!
The PNW peoples' clam gardens had to be among the earliest examples of shellfish aquaculture.
I've been curious about who lived in the Ouachita mountains just south of the Ozarks in Arkansas and Eastern Oklahoma. I used to visit every year, but at that time I was more into finding quartz crystals than learning about the old cultures. I'll check your past catalog, but it would be a good topic for the future, if you haven't covered that area. It's got to be one of the oldest mountain ranges in North America, and had huge quartz crystals right on the surface, and caves of crystals, so I wouldn't be surprised if native Americans treasured the area... as well because it's teeming with wildlife. There's another archeology channel, with this Viking gentleman who specializes in the southeastern woodlands... I'll check his back catalog, too.
I haven't made any content about the Ozarks yet. The aforementioned Viking gentleman has made some content on some of the rock shelters in the Ozarks. You might also check out this recent video of his, ua-cam.com/video/tFWZvU9aqoQ/v-deo.html
You have to do an episode on safety harbor culture and the west coast of florida in general. It was a very similar situation as the pacific north west, in that hunting and gathering sustained massive populations with mound building.
That would be a good topic someday!
I'd like to see this episode too! I see other people mentioning it in the comments, so hopefully it's been added to a list :)
safety harbor culture practiced agriculture(beans, squashes) as well as dog ranching(very common food animal throughout north america before colonization). no small amount of their food was hunted and gathered though.
Another well done discussion. A more common way to describe hunter-gatherer societies is to discuss their "complexity" and the basic organization of their subsistence. The Northwest Coast and California occupied incredibly productive environments. The coastal route has the advantage of mostly being well supplied with kelp, which is among other things a sound source of Vitamin D3. With good sources of Vitamin B-12 such as fish and animal foods the coastal colonization route is very appealing as a migratory route. The dietary advantages are immense over any interior route. A break in the "Kelp Road" occurs in the tropics but there are alternative sources that fill in the nutritional needs. As an aside, "cordilleran" dervies from the Spanish word "cordillera," and the two "l"s are the Spanish "ellya". Cordillera is pronounced roughly as "core-dee-yair-uh." I just point this out because it is a distraction for those who know the word. You should look into the site of Monte Verde in Chile. There is interesting evidence there of probable sophisticated wood working that I think derives from a well developed skin-boat tradition.
Thank you! I've always heard Cordilleran pronounced with L's so that's what I went with but I could definitely be wrong.
At least in the larger streams, salmon runs were much over a two month season, as we are talking Chinook or King Salmon which were running in late summer, earlier in some rivers, then the Chum Salmon, running from August, clear into early December, and spawned mostly in the first half mile of streams, or even in artesian springs bubbling up on the beach, creating large holes. I've watched chum spawn at high tide in these springs. Then there are the Coho or Silver Salmon, spawning from late October clear into January, there's also the Pink Salmon, also called Humpies, and I'm not clear about their spawning time, but surely would be mixed with other species during the spawn.
I forgot the Steelhead Trout, which get as big as any salmoin in the norethern portion, smaller in southern half, and would have been highly prized. Steelhead are a searun version of the Rainbow Trout, heading back to sea when spawning was done. I couldn't tell you whether the Searunn Cutthroat Trout was fished, much smaller than the rest, but some reaching 5 pounds.
Yes! I've been hyped for this video for months.
I thought that only the Calusa of Florida were the only ones that sustained on marine life only. It is great to always be learning! Would love to see an in-depth on the Calusa, or the Windover Bog People of Central Florida (believe you may have grazed the Windover people).
I get a lot of requests on the calusa so I imagine we'll get to them someday.
Never complain your vids are getting too long. They’re always fascinating and I love the details.
Thank you!
The PNW is lovely and has a rich history...but as a displaced Californian, it's too cold and water comes out of the sky and it scares me.
This is the first video of yours I have seen, I clicked because I live in the Pacific Northwest. Instantly subscribed when I finished the video, I really enjoy your writing style.
Thank you!
Amazing video, I absolutely love the cultures of the PNW. I’m especially intrigued by the linguistic development of Chinuk Jargon, what an incredibly fascinating land, history, and people
Thank you!
2:18 probably one of the more famous carving photos , I’ve seen it in real life it’s magnificent :)
You packed a lot of information into a great synopsis of this area through time. Great work.
I have heard that Coast Salish people did grow camas as a crop, so a bit of agriculture did possibly occur.
The word usually used for it is silviculture. Basically, it's managing the landscape to help useful plants thrive.
@@AncientAmericas wow what a useful new word!
@@AncientAmericas I'd add that silviculture also, and somewhat more centrally, involves managing forested zones. Forest is what the root "Silvi-" refers too.
@@Lotsofleaves Yes, that's usually how it's used but it can refer to other natural spaces as well.
I’ve been waiting for a NWC video, so so so excited!
The class dynamics between Nobles, Commoners, and Slaves reminds me a lot of ancient Rome or the American South, where there were expansive political and economic rights for citizens and the impression that they were generous and self-made, but ultimately the coercion was just exported to the slave class that wasn't even considered part of the equation.
This is great, thank you. It's so interesting to me not only because I find early human history so interesting, but because I grew up in a small village in this region and it's really neat to see how much of the indigenous cultures influenced how we lived and what we valued even in an American ("western") town. So much of my upbringing was centered around fish, shellfish, trees, local foods, woodworking, boats and paddling, etc. Some of it was intentional and explicit but some of it I think I took for granted.
When you cover the art and myth of coastal peoples, make sure you look into the Nuxalk people of the Bella Coola Valley! We have lots of art history like totem poles, and the ancient rock carved petroglyphs.
I’m really well studied in this region as I’m an archaeologist who lives in BC and sometimes work on the coast, I was able to recognize quite a few inaccuracies, but overall I’m pretty excited about a well researched video, communicating info that almost nobody knows about in such an accessible way!! Great job
I’ll correct one of the inaccuracies :). Clam garden walls doesn’t really seem to have anything to do with predator aversion, in fact there’s even some evidence that predators like otter’s going to gardens and hunting clams has a positive affect, “churning” the clam habitat sediments allowing oxygen and nutrients to be introduced into lower levels where clams lived. The main purpose of the clam garden wall was to withhold sediments in the ‘intertidal zone’. This increases the surface area and depth of areas where clams can survive and thrive, as well as even slightly increasing the water temperature. In many cases clam garden walls created habitat where zero clams would have been able to live. People would often go and churn or rake the gardens, or clear debris.
There’s also some really really interesting social conventions around eating clams. It was seen as a really convenient form of food, and so it was seen as a really good for when ur in a rush, like you just set up your camp and don’t have time to hunt a meal you can just go grab some clams. However on the other hand it became taboo to be eating it all the time, you were seen as lazy and unwilling to go out and work for your food. The higher status you were the less likely it was that you were eating clams, while noble women weren’t allowed to eat clams at all. I like to compare its role in the culture to the role McDonald’s plays in North American culture. Fine sometimes but not all the time, and you’re gonna get judged if you do it too much.
Dang, that is really fascinating! Thank you for clarifying and pointing that out!
@@AncientAmericas thanks for making the video that got me excited to share :). Gonna show ur videos to friends and family I think
you are the only channel I'm subscribed to that I've kept the notifications on for because absolutely every single video of yours ive seen has been S++ tier and I've never been disappointed and this video is no different. even my long time favorite creators have notifications turned off, they make good stuff but its not totally consistent and, for some reason, i get unreasonably mad when i get a notification that isnt strictly necessary or that im not interested in.
i have only one nit-pick and its absurdly minor and might be incorrect but i dont think so: im not an arborist but i went on a camping trip/hiking expedition amongst the northwest redwoods just this last summer (found some awesome secret spots that have colossal trees but are also obscured and not frequented by the large shuffling masses that flow in and around the redwood parks, I'd share them with you if you were wanting to visit the area)
i digress, anyways; in your video you say "sequoias" populate the southern tip of the northwest forests. Not True. The huge redwoods at the southern tip are California Redwoods (the tallest redwoods) Sequoias the largest (mass-wise) trees in the world are much farther south and east of the northwest forests, in and amongst the granite peaks of the sierra nevada mountains.
we're planning on going to hike around those for a bit this coming spring. you have to visit both to really understand the scale of these monstrous trees, its like being cast back 65 million years into the huge, robust, prehistoric rainforests of the cretaceous period. its very dark and foreboding to be surrounded by these impossibly thick and tall sentinels with a canopy of rainforest jungle above your head blocking out most sunlight and a thick morning fog blocking any long sight lines you might get.
100%
in that section northern california is mentioned, so im guessing thats why sequioa is mentioned
Thank you for the kind remarks! I also appreciate the attention to detail. One of the books I read said that they were in Northern California but I've never been there so I didn't have any way to personally confirm. As a frequent visitor, you would know much better than I.
@@AncientAmericas i think i get the confusion. both the California coastal redwoods and the giant sequoias have the genus name "sequoia" but the common names are either the California coastal redwoods or the sequoias because the Southern California sequoia in the sequoia natl. park are the giant sequoias and the largest trees on the planet. thus imbuing "sequoia" with one very specific definition above all others. if you say "sequoia" anywhere near the west coast theyll direct you to that park and those trees. if you say "no, i mean the Northern California ones " people will be apt to look at you like you have a head injury.
I haven't been there since the '70s but my husband's best friend lived in a little town, I think called Tahola, but as I said it has been a very long time since I was there. His friend's stepfather was called Cakes. I think they moved the whole town up to a higher elevation recently because of climate change and tsunamis.
Having lived in Portland Oregon most of my life, this was a wonderful video to watch. Lots of native American culture is here.
Thank you!
I'd LOVE to see a mythology episode of the PNW. You do a great job highlighting the environmental factors that contributed to the development of these communities.
Thank you!
I was born and raised in this area. Temperate rainforest for sure. It rains half the year.
This is a general comment for your videos. I love history, especially ancient American. I've been an avid reader most of my life... You do great work. Thank you
Thank you!
I believe there was a missed opportunity to touch upon the matrilineal aspect of their societies as well. I was expecting to hear it when you were breaking down the class system. Other than that, great video! Very fascinating.
Thank you! I could be mistaken but I thought that only certain cultures were matrilineal.
@@AncientAmericas Perhaps it was me who was mistaken in believing that it was more widespread. After further research, I found that the Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, Heiltsuk, and Chinook peoples have matrilineal kinship. Coast Salish practiced patrilineal kinship, and the Kwakwaka’wakw and Nuu-chah-nulth both interestingly practiced bilateral kinship.
non-native american person from the pacific northwest here; I love learning about the history of the place I inhabit. I always respect the people who came here before me
Hell yeah I love your videos. Thanks for posting big dog!
Any time!
i’m not sure if anyones commented this already, but on the topic of plank/long houses, you probably noticed that each one has a totem pole right at the front. the totem pole outside a family dwelling usually represents the family that’s living there and/or their family history. so for example, each animal on the pole might symbolize a different family member. this helped other groups figure out if the settlements they were approaching were home to any of their relatives.
i should specify that not all totem poles represent a family or their family history, some of them represent the general history and/or important aspects of each group’s culture. the ones outside the homes are usually signifying family though. 😊😊
Awesome video! I grew up north of Seattle so it is really cool to see you cover the local indigenous history.
Thank you!
The Coastal Tribes DID practice agriculture, but not the European style of agriculture. They grew camas and other root and bulb plants for food, as well as maintaining blueberry patches, Pacific crabapple agroforestry regions, as well as maintaining Garry Oak prairie meadows. They practices agriculture using traditional ecological knowledge, which we need to adopt globally in order to save this planet. Also, they were not sedentary. They spent winters closer to the water, and migrated up into the hills during the summer for hunting, berry gathering, and travel/trade routes to inland tribes.
Gunalchéesh (Tlingit) Thank you (English) The varied photos are good: old and new. I did note that the painting of Katlian leading battle against the Russians was matched with spoken word about clan and village warfare.
Thank you!