...slaves, and the creation and allocation of food stores. Greater freedom from mundane tasks gave elite women time to manufacture valuables such as textiles and baskets used in trade and potlatching. Chiefs depended on their wives' relatives for assistance in potlatching, trade, and defense. Polygyny created and reinforced alliances and increased the numerical strength of households and villages, providing economic and political advantages in an area of frequent warfare. Cross-cultural tests for relationships between women's subsistence contributions and polygyny have neglected consideration of food processing and food storage among foragers like Northwest Coast peoples. (Northwest Coast, polygyny, women's economic importance, marriage alliance)

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Although the Pacific Northwest Coast is a region of cultural diversity, the earliest European accounts of the peoples there and later ethnographic descriptions reveal some recurring themes. These include a reliance on marine resources, especially salmon, extensive food storage, an emphasis on inherited rank and wealth accumulation, dramatic ceremonies and artistic traditions, potlatch feasts, warfare, slavery, and corporate kin group, as well as some individual and/or community ownership of resource harvesting areas (Suttles 1990; Richardson 1982). Two key resources, red cedar and salmon, "formed the environmental base upon which classic Northwest Coast culture was built" (Donald 2003:292); however, shellfish may have been more important in Northwest Coast diets than is usually recognized, particularly for women and those of lower status (see Moss 1993:643). Large, permanent, often multi-family plank houses were occupied during part of the year, while less formidable structures provided shelter at seasonally occupied resource-harvesting sites away from the main villages. While residential mobility was limited, considerable logistical mobility was associated with subsistence activities, trade, warfare, attendance at potlatches, and visiting. Despite a heavy reliance on marine and riverine resources, there was extensive harvesting and storage of land based flora and fauna for manufacturing, food, and medicines. Wood and plant fibers were "absolutely essential to the harvest, transport, processing, and storage of all the other subsistence resources" (Norton 1985:103).

Although less widely discussed, polygynous marriage involving high ranking men and women was also common in this region until well into the nineteenth century. Despite the association of polygynous marriage with wealthy or high ranking people throughout the region (Donald 1997:25; Driver and Massey 1957:400; Jorgensen 1980:167-68, 453-54; Suttles 1990), and the voluminous literature on Northwest Coast societies, polygyny has not been a specific focus of ethnological attention. Yet it was arguably a critical aspect of resource management facilitating the mobilization of food resources, other forms of wealth, and labor.

The period under discussion extends from roughly the 1770s until the 1860s, encompassing the inception and unfolding of the maritime and land-based fur trade. The boundaries of the Northwest Coast culture area have been variously drawn. Under consideration here are groups that extend from the Eyak, the most northerly of Northwest Coast peoples, to the Takelma, the most southerly (Suttles 1990). According to Jorgensen, the proportion of the married male population in polygynous unions "before contact with, and penetration by, Europeans" (2) (1980:1) was between 11 and 25 percent for many groups, and between 5 and 10 percent for the rest (Jorgensen 1980:453-54). The percentage of married women who were co-wives varied also. Polygyny may have become more common throughout the Northwest Coast region as a result of involvement in the fur trade (see Ostenstad 1976:112-13 with respect to the Tlingit, and Cole and Darling 1990:130 regarding the Northwest Coast generally). This paper attempts to demonstrate that the important role of women in creating and monitoring food stores was intimately linked to the preference for polygynous marriage.

Not surprisingly, the cultural context and the institution of polygynous marriage varied geographically and temporally. Descent systems, post-marital residence patterns, ownership and inheritance of property, marriage practices, succession, and other cultural features connected to polygyny differed (see Suttles 1990). In the north, among the Eyak, Tlingit, Tsimshian, Haida, and Haisla, descent was traced matrilineally, and avunculocal residence is reported particularly for high ranking men. Preferential cross-cousin marriage has been noted for these groups, but there is some disagreement regarding whether bilateral, patrilateral, or matrilateral cross-cousin marriage was preferred. It appears that for nephews inheriting positions from their mother's brothers, marriage to the mother's brother's daughter was the preferred choice. Sororal polygynyis reported for northern groups but in some cases this involved marriage to women of the same or linked descent groups, but from different linguistic communities. Most central and southern Northwest Coast groups traced descent ambilineally or bilaterally, with a preference for patrilocality frequently reported, especially for high ranking individuals. Both sororal and nonsororal polygynous marriages have been noted for central and southern Northwest Coast peoples. Commoners and titled men normally did not marry women taken captive in warfare, and in some cases slaves were not allowed to marry. Most men were monogamous. The minority who practiced polygyny were usually elite members of the community, and they ideally and frequently married women of comparable rank. This often entailed local exogamy (Donald 1997:25-26).

ADVANTAGES OF POLYGYNY

The argument presented here is that polygyny was important to high ranking people for at least three reasons. First, women played key roles for subsistence and wealth production, the transmission and preservation of nonmaterial valuables and privileges, social mobility, potlatching, and trade. Of particular importance were women's processing of food, their management of food stores, and the manufacture of textiles. Second, marriage established alliances between families, and plural marriage multiplied or reinforced the economic and political benefits of marriage alliances. Third, plural marriage increased household size and labor power, enhancing the ability of high ranking household heads to organize potlatches, protect household members, and defend their resources, whether material or intangible in nature. Large and productive households were in a better position to attract additional members, thereby increasing their size and productivity (Suttles 1960).

Potlatches and other feasts were essential to validate the assumption of titles or privileges. Procedures surrounding the inheritance of titles and succession varied. In some cases several candidates competed for a position, and whoever could mobilize support to potlatch first would acquire the title and/or privilege in question. In instances involving an incumbent selecting a...

NOTE: All illustrations and photos have been removed from this article.



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