Cultural and social dimensions of the prehistoric Gulf Islands soapstone industry

his thesis is based on an analysis of a large and unique collection of prehistoric soapstone artifacts from the Gulf Islands of British Columbia. Until recently lack of archaeological context and inadequate sample sizes have prevented detailed analysis of the soapstone complex artifacts. The purpose of this analysis is to characterize the collection and to derive socio-cultural information about the nature of society during the time these artifacts were in use. The significance of these soapstone artifacts lies in the fact that they indicate aspects of behaviour rarely identifiable in the archaeological record. Standard archaeological methods are employed in this analysis. These methods include the following: classification and description of the artifacts and formulation of a typology;...