Complex of sites centred on the Fraser River system in southern British Columbia, Canada. Three culturally distinct areas (the Canyon, the Plateau and the Delta) contain evidence of the differing influences which ultimately coalesced into the Northwest Coast tradition. Artefacts from the Plateau have a strong Alaskan component (e.g. Arctic Small Tool tradition materials) and are loosely dated from postPleistocene to historic times. Canyon sites provide evidence of a long occupation covering Big Game Hunting tradition, Old Cordilleran culture and Archaic, with evidence of incipient woodworking apparent in the later stages. The Delta sites are generally later than those inland. Taken together, all the sites indicate a movement from inland to the coast beginning c2000 be.
The Macmillan dictionary of archaeology, Ruth D. Whitehouse, 1983Copied