14 
Fishery Bulletin 95(1 ), 1997 
Table 1 
Archeological sites from which bluefin tuna , Thunnus thynnus, remains have been recovered, with excavation information, dates, 
references and numbers of remains reported that could not be analyzed in this study. 
Area and site no. Description of site and excavated remains 
Queen Charlotte Islands and the North Coast, British Columbia 
1 (FaTt 9) Louscoone Point village, Kunghit Haida territory; 52°08'N, 131°14'W; small test excavation 1985 
(Wigen ; ;Acheson 2 ); from deposits dated ca. AD 800-ca.l800. 
2 (ElSx 1) Namu village, Bella Bella territory; 51°52'N, 127°52'W; major excavation 1969-71; from deposits dated 
4050-3050 BC (Cannon, 1991); 1 vertebra reported. 
Vancouver Island, British Columbia 
Nookta Sound area sites, Mowachat territory; ca. 49°40'N, 126°37'W 
3 (DjSp 1) Yuquot village; major 1966 excavation; from all deposits 2300 BC- AD 1880 (McMillan, 1979); 
87 vertebral and nonvertebral specimens reported. 
4 (DjSp 3) Yuquot fishing station; from surface collection 1968;no dates (Marshall 3 ). 
5 (DkSp 1) Kupti village; small 1968 excavation; from deposits ca. AD 1260-1460 (Marshall 3 ). 
6 (DkSp 3) Tahsis Inlet midden; from 1990 shovel test; no dates (Marshall 3 ). 
7 (DiSo 1) Hesquiat village, Hesquiat territory; 49°24'N, 126°28'W; major 1973-75 excavation; from deposits dated 
AD 1230-1430 (Calvert, 1980). 
Barkley Sound area sites, Toquat territory; ca. 49°N, 125°20'W; 1991-93 excavations (McMillan and St. Claire 4 ) 
8 (DfSi 4) 
9 (DfSi 5) 
10 (DfSj 23A) 
11 (DfSj 23B) 
12 (DhSe 2) 
Macoah village; bluefin from upper levels of deposits dated 2460 BC-ca.AD 1880. 
Ch’uumat’a village; bluefin from deposits dated ca. AD 1370. 
T’ukw’aa village; bluefin tuna from deposits dated AD 760-1310. 
T’ukw’aa defensive site; bluefin tuna from deposits dated AD 1175-1880 . 
Shoemaker Bay, Tseshaht territory; 49°15'N, 124°49'W; major 1973/74 excavation; from deposits dated 
AD 500-820 (Calvert and Crockford, 1982); 17 vertebrae reported. 
Olympic Peninsula, Washington State 
13 (45CA24) Ozette village, Cape Alava; Makah (Nuu-chah-nulth subdivision) territory; 48°10’N; 124°44'W; major 
1971-80 excavation; from house floor deposits dated AD 1510 (Huelsbeck, 1983); 2 vertebrae reported 
(one modified). 
1 Wigen, R. J. 1990. Identification and analysis of vertebrae fauna from eighteen archaeological sites on the southern Queen Charlotte Islands. 
British Columbia Heritage Trust, 800 Johnson St. Victoria, British Columbia, Canada V8W 1N3. Unpubl. rep., 79 p. 
2 Acheson, S. 1992. Archaeology Branch, British Columbia Ministry of Small Business, Tourism, and Culture, 800 Johnson St., Victoria, British 
Columbia, Canada V8W 1N3. Personal commun. 
3 Marshall, Y. M. 1990. The Mowachaht archaeology project, phase 1, 1989. Archaeology Branch, British Columbia Ministry of Small Business, 
Tourism, and Culture, 800 Johnson St., Victoria, B.C., Canada V8W 1N3. 
4 See Footnote 3 in the main text of this paper. 
(dated from about 2300 BC to ca. AD 1880), making 
this the longest continuous record of Thunnus oc- 
currence in the region (McMillan, 1979; Marshall, 
1993). Unfortunately, these specimens are archived 
in Ottawa and could not be retrieved easily for analy- 
sis: three other small excavations undertaken dur- 
ing 1968 and 1990 at sites along Nootka Sound, how- 
ever, recovered remains of bluefin tuna and these speci- 
mens were available for inclusion in this analysis. 
It is pertinent to mention that all fish remains from 
the 1966 excavation of the village at Yuquot were 
identified to genus level only (McMillan, 1979), per- 
haps giving the impression that the tuna remains 
might be albacore (T. alalunga), a species that oc- 
curs regularly in the eastern Pacific (Hart, 1973). 
However, crew working on the excavation of Yuquot 
reported that remains of some very large fish were 
recovered (Dewhirst 1 ). According to the literature 
(and in my own twenty years experience analyzing 
faunal remains from this area), albacore have never 
been reported from any archeological site in British 
Columbia. Moreover, albacore rarely, if ever, exceed 50 
kg; it therefore seems unlikely that Thunnus remains 
from Yuquot are albacore rather than bluefin tuna. 
1 Dewhirst, J. 1992. Archeo Tech Associates, 1114 Langley St., 
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada V8W 1W1. Personal 
commun. 
