Human Impacts on Seals, Sea Lions, and Sea Otters: Integrating Archaeology and Ecology in the Northeast Pacific
Todd Braje
Abstract
For more than 10,000 years, Native Americans from Alaska to southern California relied on aquatic animals such as seals, sea lions, and sea otters for food and raw materials. Archaeological research on the interactions between people and these marine mammals has made great advances recently and provides a unique lens for understanding the human and ecological past. Archaeological research is also emerging as a crucial source of information on contemporary environmental issues as we improve our understanding of the ancient abundance, ecology, and natural history of these species. This interdisc ... More
For more than 10,000 years, Native Americans from Alaska to southern California relied on aquatic animals such as seals, sea lions, and sea otters for food and raw materials. Archaeological research on the interactions between people and these marine mammals has made great advances recently and provides a unique lens for understanding the human and ecological past. Archaeological research is also emerging as a crucial source of information on contemporary environmental issues as we improve our understanding of the ancient abundance, ecology, and natural history of these species. This interdisciplinary volume brings together archaeologists, biologists, and other scientists to consider how archaeology can inform the conservation and management of pinnipeds and other marine mammals along the Pacific Coast.
Keywords:
pinnipeds,
marine mammals,
seals,
sea lions,
sea otters,
Pacific Coast,
Native Americans,
archaeology,
conservation,
natural history
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2011 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780520267268 |
| Published to California Scholarship Online: March 2012 |
DOI:10.1525/california/9780520267268.001.0001 |
