9000 years of salmon fishing on the Columbia River, North America
A large assemblage of salmon bones excavated 50 yr ago from an 10,000-yr-old archaeological site near The Dalles, Oregon, has been the primary evidence that early native people along the Columbia River subsisted on salmon. Analysis of archaeologic
, geologic, and hydrologic conditions at the site indicates an anthropogenic source for most of the salmonid remains, which have associated radiocarbon dates indicating that the site was occupied as long ago 9300 cal yr B.P. The abundance of salmon bone
indicates that salmon was a major food item and suggests that migratory salmonids had well-established spawning populations in some parts of the Columbia Basin by 9300-8200 yr ago.