Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology

Rick Minor (1995, 1997) and R. Lee Lyman (1997) recently debated the archaeological evidence for a "pre-littoral" adaptive stage on the southern Northwest Coast. We review the evolution of the usage of the term "pre-littoral," trace its connections with the earlier works of Richard Ross and Clement Meighan, and argue that such terminology is problematic because its etymology is not consistent with its definition and use by Lyman (1991,1997). This has misled other workers who have taken the term more literally. To alleviate this confusion, we propose that one alternative is to abandon the term "pre-littoral" and use the more neutral "Early Holocene" for this period of southern Northwest Coast prehistory. We also discuss the limited archaeological data for this time period on the Oregon Coast and explain why available data are more accurately represented by an Early Holocene designation.