Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Cultivation Of The Backwater: Weirs As A Window Into Historical Ecology And Ecosystem Engineering In The Lower Columbia, Michelle N. North, Virginia L. Butler

Student Research Symposium

This poster uses the existence of a possible fish weir feature in a backwater lake on Sauvie Island in the Lower Columbia to explore questions surrounding systems of resource cultivation and human ecosystem engineering. Multiple archaeological sites in backwater areas contain large quantities of freshwater fish remains; and use of technology such as weirs would provide an efficient method of capture. However, such facilities suggest more than capture method, when considered in the larger context of landscape use and the food systems that indigenous people were part of, as demonstrated by archaeology and oral traditions. By synthesizing information surrounding precontact …