Eleven-and-a-half thousand of years of Clam use on the coasts of British Columbia.
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Over the millennia, many peoples worldwide developed intimate knowledge of, and relationships with, particularly valued species of plants and animals. Tracking the development of these long-term human–species relationships requires temporally grounded records that provide insights into both the cultural and ecological sides of this equation. For instance, the archaeological faunal record can provide detailed information on the ecological and cultural effects of human–species interactions, whereas the palaeoecological record can provide insights into species ecology in the absence of significant human intervention. Taken together, these two records can offer a powerful lens through which to assess coupled social–ecological systems over broad spatial and temporal scales and can help establish ecological baselines for modern management. On the Northwest Coast of North America, clams are a valued cultural species with widespread importance that is reflected in origin stories, rituals language, and in the kilometers of deep and ancient shell middens that line the coastline. Detailed archaeological and ethnographic research indicates that Clams, especially Butter Clams, Saxidomus gigantea, and Littleneck Clam, Leukoma staminea, were eaten in abundance both seasonally and year round and both fresh and preserved. These species were a reliable, abundant, and easily harvested source of food that could be tended to increase abundance by applying various traditional cultivation techniques. One such technique, the building of rock-walled intertidal terraces called 'Clam gardens', expanded and enhanced Clam habitat and thus, Clam production.