Maritime and Underwater Archaeology on the Pacific Coast

Abstract

The Pacific shores of North America are a 2800-mile-long, rugged section of coast running between latitudes 32°–60°. The coast is largely rocky, but has occasional sand or gravel beaches; some of the sand beaches are long spectacular stretches with impressive dune formations. The coastline is broken by a number of islands, notably the Channel Islands of southern California, Vancouver Island, and the Queen Charlotte Islands in British Columbia, the Alexander Archipelago and the Aleutians in Alaska, and an impressive archipelago of hundreds of islands that dot the northern coast from Puget Sound to Alaska. Many form the intricate waterways of the Inside Passage of British Columbia and Alaska. A number of natural harbors are found on the coast, the four largest and most protected at San Francisco, Seattle (Puget Sound), Vancouver (Burrard Inlet), and Anchorage (Cook Inlet). Several rivers flow to the coast and into the sea, some penetrating deep into the interior and connecting to intricate drainage systems. The major watercourses are the Sacramento and San Joaquin in California, Columbia in Oregon, and Fraser and Nass in British Columbia.