Native American use of cetaceans in pre-contact Oregon: Biomolecular and taphonomic analyses illuminate human-cetacean relationships: MALDI-TOF data

This study characterizes how Native Americans living on the Oregon coast used whales and small cetaceans prior to European contact. We present an original analysis of a large subsample of archaeological cetacean remains from the Palmrose (35CLT47) site and new identifications from the previously analyzed Par-Tee (35CLT20) and Tahkenitch Landing (35DO130) sites. Using zooarchaeological and biomolecular analyses we report species presence and modification patterns to characterize use. Grays (Eschrichtius robustus) and humpbacks (Megaptera novaeangliae) were the most commonly identified whale species and a preferred source of food, oil, bone for tool manufacture, and possibly ligaments for sinew. Dolphins and porpoises, especially harbor porpoise (Phocoena phocoena), were a source of food and possibly bone for tool manufacture. While opportunistic hunting may have occurred, the presence of species such as blue (Balaenoptera musculus) and Cuvier’s beaked (Ziphius cavirostris) whales suggest...