When most people think of San Juan Island, whale watching or B&Bs come to mind. But archaeologist Julie Stein offers another view of the island in her new book, Exploring Coast Salish Prehistory: The Archaeology of San Juan Island, published by University of Washington Press.

Stein, professor of anthropology and the College’s divisional dean for computing, facilities, and research, says the book is written for a lay audience. “I had been working in the San Juan Islands since 1983 and had answered thousands of questions from the general public,” she explains. “Yet every year more people with questions appeared. I was finally convinced that these people were asking for a book that explains through examples what archeologists actually do, why it is so difficult to piece together the past, and why archaeologists must use every clue, fact, and inference to accomplish it.”

Stein was attracted to San Juan Island because of its shell middens. (“Midden” comes from a Scandinavian word meaning material that accumulates around a dwelling.) “The shell middens there are incredible,” she says. “They are huge and stratigraphically more complex than any other shell middens I have seen.”

Those shell middens and other archaeological finds provide a wealth of information about the Coast Salish people who inhabited the San Juans for 5,000 years. One important site, Cattle Point, was a summer camp where fishing and harvesting of shellfish took place. Another site, English Camp, was a winter village for perhaps as long as 2,000 years. Remains of ancient structures and tools found at the site provide clues about how people’s lives and activities changed over time.

Stein hopes the book will pique the public’s curiosity about the history of San Juan Island, but she also has another goal: to encourage the island’s property owners to allow research on their land. “Only a handful of middens have been excavated because most are on private property,” Stein explains. “Unless property owners grant permission for a dig to take place on their land, it won’t happen. I hope, as a result of the book, people will be curious about sites on their property.”

[Winter/Spring 2001 - Table of Contents]