Peopling and early cultures of the pacific northwest.

SCIENCE Geological History In past discussions and speculations concerning the early peopling of the New World, the hypothesized "migration cor-ridor" between the Cordilleran and Lau-rentian ice sheets has figured prominently (1). By contrast with this much-mooted route east of the Rocky Mountains , little consideration has been given to possible routes west of the Rockies. I will examine such alternatives and attempt to document several early population movements with reference to available cultural and chronometric data. The once glaciated areas of the Pacific Northwest represent an ideal natural laboratory for tracing population expansions during early postglacial time. We start with a clean slate as it were. Recent findings in British Columbia will be of special importance. The Setting Physiographically British Columbia is divided into several northwest to southeast trending systems: the Coast Mountains in the west, the Rockies in the east, and, intervening between them, an inter-montane corridor of rolling plateaus and secondary mountain ranges. The area encompasses the entire drainage system of the Fraser River, next to the Colum-bia, the largest salmon stream in the Pacific Northwest. Also rising in the interior , smaller salmon streams such as the Bella Coola, the Skeena, the Nass, and the Stikine breach the Coast Mountains farther to the north of the mouth of the Fraser. The northern seaboard (including the Alaska Panhandle) resembles the glacier-incised coast of Norway. It is characterized by a maze of islands and waterways, many of the latter sheltered by island ranges from the frequent storms that sweep in from the Pacific. On the whole, the coastal climate is moist but mild, and resources are rich and varied. The high plateaus of northern British Columbia's interior form part of a continuous belt of similar plateau country 'extending through southwestern Yukon Territory to central Alaska. Moreover, the entire northern half of interior British Columbia is commonly included in the subarctic. Climatically and ecologically, this part of the Pacific Northwest forms a natural continuum with much of Yukon Territory and Alaska. It is thus significant that natural pathways lead via the Tanana River valley as well as via the Yukon-Teslin River directly toward and well into the interior of Canada's west-ernmost province. Further, it is important to note that the intermontaine corridor of British Columbia continues southward into the broader intermontane areas of Washington, Oregon, and the southwestern Great Basin and desert areas of the United States. Mandatory for a …