Making kw’éts’tel: A materialization of household food-focused labor

Abstract

Salmon fishing and storage have been integral elements of Stó:lō-Coast Salish household life, economy, and identity in the Fraser Valley and lower Fraser Canyon of southwestern British Columbia for millennia. However, taphonomic factors affecting salmon remains make it difficult to directly study variability in food-related labor allocations, prompting us to focus instead on fish processing tools. This study employs experimental archaeology, archaeological collections analyses, and geochemistry to investigate the production of kw’éts’tel—ground slate fish knives essential to the precontact Stó:lō-Coast Salish salmon economy. Our objectives are to examine the forms and attributes of finished kw’éts’tel blades, explore potential slate sources, and assess decisions, techniques, and labor involved in blade production. Using an integrated methodological framework, our analyses offer nuanced insights into kw’éts’tel production and its role in Stó:lō-Coast Salish social organization. We argue that this approach enhances our ability to interpret the kw’éts’tel-focused archaeological record, shedding light on social change over time. This is particularly significant in a region where the emergence of a high-ranking social elite was partly driven by positioning and placement within the means and mode of production in the salmon-focused fishing economy.