Salmon Species Use at the French Rapids and Hole-In-The-Wall Archaeological Sites on the Columbia River, Vantage, WA

French Rapids (45KT12) and Hole-In-the-Wall (45KT13) sites were excavated in the 1960s by Robert Kidd, but the fish remains were never analyzed. At least two periods of occupation have been identified at each site: upper house occupations (ca. 700 BP) and lower house occupations (ca. 1700-1900 BP). Between these times there is a suggested change in salmon use throughout the region, based on the Swiftwater Shelter site. This change is from an emphasis on Chinook to steelhead, for either behavioral or environmental reasons. As part of my analysis of fish bone from these two sites, I identified salmon vertebrae from both the upper and lower levels of the house features at 45KT12 and 45KT13. Determination of salmon species from vertebrae is difficult, but two methods were attempted here, the radiographic technique from Cannon and the measurement technique from Huber et al. Measurements of vertebra length and height and radiographs were taken for 13 whole vertebrae. Both tests suggest all 13 vertebrae are from Chinook. Although the sample size is small, these results provide no evidence of dietary change at these sites as purported for the Swiftwater Shelter at about the same time.