Engineered feature used to enhance gardening at a 3800-year-old site on the Pacific Northwest Coast

Sci Adv. 2016 Dec; 2(12): e1601282. Published online 2016 Dec 21. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.1601282 PMCID: PMC5176348 Tanja Hoffmann,1,2,* Natasha Lyons,3,4 Debbie Miller,1 Alejandra Diaz,1 Amy Homan,1 Stephanie Huddlestan,1 and Roma Leon1 1Katzie Development Limited Partnership, 10946 Katzie Road, Pitt Meadows, British Columbia V3Y 2G6, Canada. 2School of Resource and Environmental Management, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, British Columbia V5A 1S6, Canada. 3Ursus Heritage Consulting Ltd., 11500 Coldstream Creek Road, Coldstream, British Columbia V1B 1E3, Canada. 4Department of Archaeology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia V5A 1S6, Canada. *Corresponding author. Email: ac.pldk@nnamffoht Author information ▼ Article notes ► Copyright and License information ► Go to: Abstract Humans use a variety of deliberate means to modify biologically rich environs in pursuit of resource stability and predictability. Empirical evidence suggests that ancient hunter-gatherer populations engineered ecological niches to enhance the productivity and availability of economically significant resources. An archaeological excavation of a 3800-year-old wetland garden in British Columbia, Canada, provides the first direct evidence of an engineered feature designed to facilitate wild plant food production among mid-to-late Holocene era complex fisher-hunter-gatherers of the Northwest Coast. This finding provides an example of environmental, economic, and sociopolitical coevolutionary relationships that are triggered when humans manipulate niche environs. Keywords: Northwest Coast archaeology, Hunter-Gatherers, pre-contact wild plant cultivation, wet-site archaeology