Technology on the Northwest Coast: An Analysis of Overall Similarities

This paper presents a description and interpretation of the similarities of the precontact technologies (represented by 172 technological variables) of twenty-eight Indian groups on the Northwest Coast of North America. It is shown that relative proximity will "account for" much of the overall pattern of technological similarities as revealed by a Smallest Space Analysis of the matrix of similarity coefficients of the twenty-eight groups. Environ mental characteristics seem to account for most of the deviations from similarities based on proximity. The relations among the groups for seven subcategories of technology are also briefly examined.