Five Mile Rapids, Oregon, is an important site to understanding the prehistory of the Columbia River Plateau and, more generally, the early development of the Northwest Coast. The site, excavated in the 1950s during a salvage project, is now under the Dalles dam that regulates the water of the Columbia River. Five Mile Rapids produced one of the earliest evidence of fishing, specifically, salmon catching and storage, by the ancient inhabitants of the southern portion of the Northwest Coast.
Five Mile Rapids was first excavated by archaeologists of the University of Oregon in 1952, and the recovered materials were among the first to undergo radiocarbon analyses. More recently, the Portland State University re-ran some of the analysis confirming their results.
Environmental Setting
The site of Five Mile Rapids is located near a several mile stretch where the course of the Columbia river narrowed into a canyon. This long channel is called the Long Narrows and, before the construction of the dam, it represented the most important Native salmon fishery in North America. Five Mile Rapids intensely exploited this resource, as is evident from the archaeological record.
Archaeology at Five Mile Rapids
At Five Mile Rapids archaeologists uncovered between 150,000 and 200,000 salmon bones, mainly vertebrae, dating around 7000 B.C. These remains represented the earliest example of an intensive exploitation of salmon in North America.
Interestingly, among the salmon bones there was a low percentage of head bones, suggesting that the catch could have been dried and then stored. However, there is no direct evidence of such storage at this early date.
Earlier levels, dating around 9000 B.C., in contrast, produced scarce evidence of salmon, but a larger percentage of bird and mammals remains. It is, therefore, possible to recognize by 8000-7000 B.C. a growing trend toward a salmon fishing economy that would later dominate much of Northwest Coast people subsistence.
Tools at Five Mile Rapids range from lanceolate points, knives, bifaces and scrapers - probably related to the Windust stone industry, widespread in western North America between 10,000 to 7000 B.C. - to more specific fishing equipments such as bone harpoons, and bolas.
Sources
This glossary entry is a part of the About.com guide to Northwest Coast, and the Dictionary of Archaeology.
Ames Kenneth M. and Herbert D.G. Maschner, 1999, Peoples of the Northwest Coast. Their Archaeology and Prehistory, Thames and Hudson, London
Browman, David L., and David A. Munsell, 1969, Columbia Plateau Prehistory: Cultural Development and Impinging Influences, American Antiquity, Vol. 34, No. 3, pp. 249-264
Carlson, Roy L., 1998, Coastal British Columbia in the Light of North Pacific Maritime Adaptations, Arctic Anthropology, Vol. 35, No. 1, pp. 23-35
Cressman, L. S. et al., 1960, Cultural Sequences at The Dalles, Oregon. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. 50, Pt. 10, Philadelphia.