HOUSEHOLD ARCHAEOLOGY OF A SOUTHERN NORTHWEST COAST PLANK HOUSE

Five seasons of excavation at the Meier site, near Portland, Oregon, have exposed portions of a very large (14 m x 35 m) plank house dating to late prehistoric times. The Meier house is unusual not only because of its size but because it is part of a Northwest Coast residential site that is not a deep shell midden. Detailed information about the frequency of repair and modification of the bouse indicates the great extent to which the sites occupants recycled deposits associated with the dwelling for construction and maintenance purposes, and supports the inference that the Meier bouse and other, similar structures represent, over their use lives, several hundred thousand board feet of lumber and a major labor investment by the occupying household. The vast majority of other Northwest Coast residential sites are incorporated into large shell middens and the Meier excavations suggest that their stratigraphy must be the result of deliberate construction activities as well as dumping.