Pacific halibut (Hippoglossus stenolepis), though of varying importance to First Nations across the Northwest Coast of North America, was a particularly important resource for the Haida, Tlingit, Nuu-chah-nulth, and Makah living on the exposed outer coast of the region. The dietary importance and scale of halibut use, however, are difficult to determine due to seemingly inconsistent ethnographic, ethnohistoric, and archaeological accounts. Among the Haida and Makah, ethnographic descriptions highlight the importance of both halibut and salmon; early historic accounts mention halibut repeatedly, but only rarely mention salmon; while archaeological data point to a high abundance of salmon, and reveal only low, though persistent, quantities of halibut. Drawing on examples from Haida and Makah territories, this paper examines these various lines of evidence and explores possible biases that account for the differences in the importance and relative abundance of salmon and halibut that they reflect. We aim to compare these variable sources of data to gain greater insight into the nature of halibut use throughout the Late Holocene on the Northwest Coast.

中文翻译：

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大比目鱼在北美洲西北海岸的使用：协调人种学，民族史和考古学数据

太平洋大比目鱼（Hippoglossus stenolepis），尽管对整个北美西北海岸的原住民具有不同的重要性，但对于生活在该地区裸露的外海岸的海达族，特林吉特族，努沙恰努尔族和马卡族来说，这是特别重要的资源。然而，由于人种学，民族史和考古学方面的表述不一致，很难确定大比目鱼的饮食重要性和规模。在海达族和马卡族人种中，人种学说明突出了大比目鱼和鲑鱼的重要性。早期的历史记载多次提到大比目鱼，但很少提及鲑鱼。而考古数据表明鲑鱼数量很多，并且只显示出少量（尽管持久）的大比目鱼。借鉴海达和马卡地区的例子，本文研究了这些不同的证据，并探讨了可能的偏差，这些偏差解释了所反映的鲑鱼和大比目鱼的重要性和相对丰度的差异。我们旨在比较这些可变的数据源，以更深入地了解西北海岸整个全新世晚期大比目鱼的使用性质。