Hunting social networks on the Salish Sea before and after the bow and arrow

Abstract

Archaeologists have paid substantial attention to the social transformations coinciding with the widespread adoption of bow and arrow technologies. Social network analysis (SNA) is used to examine stone tool assemblages from the Salish Sea. SNA while widely applied a wide range of problems in lithic technologies has been an underutilized approach in the Pacific Northwest. Based on an application of cultural transmission theory, ethnography, and Coast Salish ontology, that haft styles reflect corporate group connections. Changes in the social networks are examined as reflected in haft styles from 3500 to 1000 BP, a time of shifts towards large plank house villages and the emergence of hereditary forms of social inequality in the region. Five social networks were constructed, each covering a 500-year period, to assess shifts in regional connections through time. There appears to be increased elaboration of social networks throughout the Salish Sea until 1600 BP, when the bow and arrow become widely adopted. These data suggest SNA of lithic haft styles shows a shift in hunting organization from a collective corporate group level activity to an individualized pursuit. The findings show the utility of SNA to address oscillations in Salish Sea society over time. New directions for future studies to examine shifts in corporate group relations in other aspects of precontact Coast Salish society are also provided.