New excavations on the coast of British Columbia have revealed an extensive 3,000-year-old trade network focused on high-quality soapstone and aromatic cedar products. Using mass spectrometry, researchers traced soapstone artifacts from the interior mountains to coastal villages over 500 kilometers away.
This network highlights the complexity of early Northwest Coast societies and their sophisticated log-processing technologies. The findings suggest that inter-tribal diplomacy and formalized trade protocols were established much earlier than once thought, facilitating the exchange of specialized resources between diverse linguistic groups.