WOODWORKING more -->
Woodworking and the use of wood is an important part of aboriginal culture. Not only does it represent the use of an abundant resource, but also reflects the cultural beliefs about the world around them.
What symbols or images can you see here? (For example, the adze handle has an animal carved on it.) What do you think they might mean?
Because wood does not preserve well in the archaeological record, wooden tools are rare finds. We learn from the people themselves how woodworking has been done by their ancestors. What parts of these tools would be preserved in an archaeological site? (What parts are made from metal or stone?)
As wood was an abundant resource on the Northwest Coast, the aboriginal people developed complex and efficient techniques of woodworking. Small wooden pegs were inserted into a groove in a log and struck with a maul until the log split (as pictured to the left). Do you think it would have taken a lot of time and energy to split logs into planks? What might people do with the planks? What would they build?
