0:00:08 > 0:00:10The north-west coast of North America.
0:00:12 > 0:00:15A dramatic landscape on the edge of the Pacific.
0:00:20 > 0:00:281,400 miles of rugged coastline, dominated by impenetrable forests,
0:00:28 > 0:00:32isolated archipelagos and inhospitable terrain,
0:00:32 > 0:00:36battered by relentless wind and pounding ocean waves.
0:00:37 > 0:00:41The north-west coast is a place of stunning scenery
0:00:41 > 0:00:45and remote locations, but for me what really defines the region
0:00:45 > 0:00:47is its people.
0:00:47 > 0:00:51They mastered this tough environment to develop a culture that has
0:00:51 > 0:00:54lasted over 10,000 years,
0:00:54 > 0:00:58which recent discoveries suggest is the longest continuous culture
0:00:58 > 0:01:00anywhere in the Americas.
0:01:03 > 0:01:05They created unique,
0:01:05 > 0:01:10complex communities that redefined how human society develops.
0:01:13 > 0:01:18They produced art infused with meaning that ranks alongside any
0:01:18 > 0:01:20of the world's great civilisations.
0:01:23 > 0:01:26And following the arrival of Europeans in the 18th-century,
0:01:26 > 0:01:28they were very nearly wiped out.
0:01:30 > 0:01:33Their lands were occupied, their population decimated.
0:01:35 > 0:01:40An entire culture faced extinction and yet the people left standing
0:01:40 > 0:01:44didn't simply survive - they adapted, they endured,
0:01:44 > 0:01:46and they stand out as one of the most successful
0:01:46 > 0:01:49and resilient cultures anywhere on Earth.
0:01:52 > 0:01:56This extraordinary durability has often been ignored
0:01:56 > 0:01:58when their history has been told by outsiders...
0:02:00 > 0:02:03..their traditions looked on as curiosities,
0:02:03 > 0:02:05their art misunderstood.
0:02:05 > 0:02:10But look closely and you find a way of life that has sustained
0:02:10 > 0:02:15across millennia, and I believe has a lot to teach us today.
0:02:15 > 0:02:17It's the sustainable,
0:02:17 > 0:02:20respectful relationships that really are the strength of who we are.
0:02:22 > 0:02:24We're getting stronger as a people all the time.
0:02:26 > 0:02:29We've always been here and we belong here, and we will take care
0:02:29 > 0:02:30of this place for future generations.
0:02:33 > 0:02:37Strength, robustness and innovation allowed the peoples
0:02:37 > 0:02:40of the north-west coast to colonise these lands,
0:02:40 > 0:02:44and it's these qualities of cultural resilience that allowed them to
0:02:44 > 0:02:47thrive here for thousands of years.
0:02:47 > 0:02:51How they did it is one of the most inspiring stories in human history.
0:03:04 > 0:03:05TRIBAL CHANTING
0:03:17 > 0:03:20This is a traditional dance of the Makah,
0:03:20 > 0:03:23a Native American tribe from what is now Washington State.
0:03:29 > 0:03:34Re-enacting customs from the past like this is important, since their
0:03:34 > 0:03:38ancestors had no written language and much of their material culture
0:03:38 > 0:03:40was made of wood and textiles.
0:03:43 > 0:03:45Little survives decay -
0:03:45 > 0:03:48with almost four metres of rainfall every year,
0:03:48 > 0:03:51the north-west coast is one of the wettest places on earth.
0:03:55 > 0:03:58Defined by a densely-forested region,
0:03:58 > 0:04:03it begins in the north on what is now the Panhandle of Alaska,
0:04:03 > 0:04:06continues down through the rugged coastline of modern
0:04:06 > 0:04:10British Columbia, Canada to present-day Washington State.
0:04:11 > 0:04:15And on the Olympic Peninsula, west of Seattle, lies one of
0:04:15 > 0:04:18the most important archaeological sites in North America.
0:04:31 > 0:04:35It was here that secrets of an ancient society were revealed.
0:04:41 > 0:04:43This is Ozette, the location of a village
0:04:43 > 0:04:46once occupied by the Makah tribe.
0:04:46 > 0:04:49Around 300 years ago it was entombed in a landslide,
0:04:49 > 0:04:52and so today it is a veritable time capsule.
0:04:57 > 0:05:02The oral history of the Makah mentions a great slide that engulfed
0:05:02 > 0:05:05this once thriving community around the year 1560.
0:05:12 > 0:05:14It remained hidden,
0:05:14 > 0:05:20encased in mud until it was hit by wild winter weather 400 years later.
0:05:25 > 0:05:30In February 1970, a storm came in and eroded this bank,
0:05:30 > 0:05:33revealing a series of perfectly preserved longhouses.
0:05:33 > 0:05:37Over the next 11 years, archaeological excavations revealed
0:05:37 > 0:05:42over 40,000 objects spanning 2,000 years of human occupation.
0:05:50 > 0:05:56The objects represent 97% of all artefacts ever found in this region
0:05:56 > 0:05:58that date to before European contact.
0:06:03 > 0:06:07It had long been assumed that the arrival of Europeans changed
0:06:07 > 0:06:10every aspect of life on the coast,
0:06:10 > 0:06:14but these objects prove a continuity of culture and tradition.
0:06:15 > 0:06:18Some of the very finest artefacts are kept in the storeroom of the
0:06:18 > 0:06:22Makah Museum, where Janine Ledford is in charge of the collection.
0:06:24 > 0:06:28We have always been such a capable and hard-working people.
0:06:28 > 0:06:32We just have no other option than succeeding.
0:06:35 > 0:06:40The collection includes tools made of whalebone, wooden harpoon points,
0:06:40 > 0:06:43equipment for hunting seals and fishing for salmon and halibut.
0:06:44 > 0:06:47It confirms what our ancestors have told us, what our elders
0:06:47 > 0:06:50have told us - that we didn't only survive here
0:06:50 > 0:06:53but that we've really thrived here for centuries.
0:06:53 > 0:06:57You can see wealth so clearly, so you get to see social stratification
0:06:57 > 0:06:59that you normally wouldn't see.
0:06:59 > 0:07:03That for me really brings out the people behind the objects.
0:07:03 > 0:07:07Right. You see things like this canoe paddle, for example,
0:07:07 > 0:07:09which was maybe someone's favourite paddle.
0:07:09 > 0:07:13You can see the wear marks from where it hit the side of the canoe.
0:07:13 > 0:07:16Lots of miles were already put on that paddle before the mudslide.
0:07:16 > 0:07:18And in terms of clothing, this is a hat?
0:07:18 > 0:07:20That would be hat, a rain hat,
0:07:20 > 0:07:24so it's got an inner layer and an outer layer.
0:07:24 > 0:07:25Hats were pretty important -
0:07:25 > 0:07:30it rained so much here, right where we live, so lots of hats were made
0:07:30 > 0:07:34and they were made waterproof and several different styles,
0:07:34 > 0:07:37and some of them denoted a higher rank.
0:07:39 > 0:07:42The mud sealed out oxygen,
0:07:42 > 0:07:45creating the perfect conditions that preserved all this organic material
0:07:45 > 0:07:48for hundreds of years.
0:07:48 > 0:07:50It's a very unique collection -
0:07:50 > 0:07:52it looks like they're a couple of decades old
0:07:52 > 0:07:54rather than centuries old.
0:07:54 > 0:07:57The objects show that the Makah had been living here
0:07:57 > 0:08:01for at least two millennia before the mudslide buried the village
0:08:01 > 0:08:03in the 16th century.
0:08:03 > 0:08:07In what might appear to be a remote and inhospitable landscape,
0:08:07 > 0:08:10they had developed a thriving, sophisticated,
0:08:10 > 0:08:11and hierarchical society.
0:08:15 > 0:08:16Elsewhere on the coast,
0:08:16 > 0:08:19the archaeological record isn't as rich...
0:08:20 > 0:08:24..but evidence does show that there were hundreds of tribes living here,
0:08:24 > 0:08:28each with distinct identities and different languages,
0:08:28 > 0:08:30yet similar cultural traditions.
0:08:35 > 0:08:38The Panhandle of Alaska is homeland of the Tlingit.
0:08:39 > 0:08:42In British Colombia, Canada,
0:08:42 > 0:08:46are the Tsimshian, the Nisga'a and the Gitxsan.
0:08:46 > 0:08:48South-west is the territory of the Haida Nation.
0:08:50 > 0:08:54Further south are the Kwakwaka'wakw and Nuu-chah-nulth.
0:08:57 > 0:09:01In the US state of Washington are the Makah and the Coast Salish,
0:09:01 > 0:09:02who straddle the border.
0:09:05 > 0:09:09These are just a handful of the independent communities that make up
0:09:09 > 0:09:12the peoples of the north-west coast, who,
0:09:12 > 0:09:15when the Europeans arrived in the 1770s,
0:09:15 > 0:09:17numbered in their hundreds of thousands.
0:09:20 > 0:09:23By that time, people had been living here for millennia.
0:09:26 > 0:09:28In fact, research shows that they are some of
0:09:28 > 0:09:32the longest surviving inhabitants of the American continent.
0:09:42 > 0:09:45To find the evidence, you have to travel across
0:09:45 > 0:09:48the near-freezing waters to an island lying between
0:09:48 > 0:09:50Vancouver Island and the Canadian mainland.
0:09:53 > 0:09:57And you have to start looking not where the shoreline is today,
0:09:57 > 0:10:00but where it would have been thousands of years ago.
0:10:09 > 0:10:12So this is sort of the edge, the old shoreline.
0:10:12 > 0:10:16Archaeologist Daryl Fedje has established that the effects
0:10:16 > 0:10:18of glaciation and changing sea levels
0:10:18 > 0:10:22have pushed one ancient settlement inland and uphill.
0:10:22 > 0:10:24So this is where you head the excavation, then?
0:10:24 > 0:10:27That's right. We started with a little shovel test here
0:10:27 > 0:10:28and found quite a bit of material,
0:10:28 > 0:10:31then came further in and decided to put a larger unit.
0:10:31 > 0:10:35So this one-metre-square here is where we decided to focus and work.
0:10:35 > 0:10:36And so the cultural layers then,
0:10:36 > 0:10:38whereabouts are the cultural layers in the stratigraphy?
0:10:38 > 0:10:41Basically the darker soils from about level with where
0:10:41 > 0:10:45Joanne's pointing there, up towards about 20 or 30cm from the top,
0:10:45 > 0:10:49there's a series of... They're not very well defined, but thin smears
0:10:49 > 0:10:53of charcoal, lots of stone tools, flakes and flake tools,
0:10:53 > 0:10:56a few hearth features and things like that,
0:10:56 > 0:10:59and they date between about 6,000 and 6,500 years ago.
0:11:01 > 0:11:06Beautifully worked stone spear points give hints of the hunting
0:11:06 > 0:11:09that went on here thousands of years ago.
0:11:09 > 0:11:11Can you grab the door there?
0:11:12 > 0:11:16But Daryl and his team have unearthed an even rarer
0:11:16 > 0:11:19piece of evidence that dates back much further still.
0:11:23 > 0:11:24Wow.
0:11:26 > 0:11:31This is the ancient preserved footprint of a child.
0:11:31 > 0:11:35But you can see the outline... A small child's footprint,
0:11:35 > 0:11:41and with the toes here, heel print here. And we saw a series of these,
0:11:41 > 0:11:44like four or five child-sized footprints
0:11:44 > 0:11:47as well as these other ones again with...
0:11:47 > 0:11:52Sometimes they are crossed over and sometimes they show better or worse,
0:11:52 > 0:11:54but this is one of the ones that showed fairly well.
0:11:54 > 0:11:57And in some of them you can see individual toes really clearly.
0:11:59 > 0:12:03The footprint was impressed into a light-grey clay and later covered
0:12:03 > 0:12:06over with sand and charcoal, ensuring its survival.
0:12:07 > 0:12:10And when tiny pieces of charcoal from the footprint were
0:12:10 > 0:12:13radiocarbon dated, an astonishing discovery was made.
0:12:15 > 0:12:19It was dated to be 13,200 years old,
0:12:19 > 0:12:24making it the oldest footprint ever discovered in North America.
0:12:24 > 0:12:27To see a place where people were actually physically, you know,
0:12:27 > 0:12:30doing something, there was motion and different things going on,
0:12:30 > 0:12:31it's really exciting.
0:12:31 > 0:12:33And also children, like, we hardly ever see children
0:12:33 > 0:12:36- in the archaeological record.- But they're there all the time, right?
0:12:36 > 0:12:38Exactly, they're there but we very rarely find them or see them
0:12:38 > 0:12:41in the record, and therefore, thinking about that,
0:12:41 > 0:12:43the children and parents living in this coastal environment,
0:12:43 > 0:12:46learning how to live off this landscape.
0:12:46 > 0:12:48Yeah, for sure. Size seven shoes.
0:12:49 > 0:12:51We measured.
0:12:55 > 0:12:58I think there's something so evocative about that footprint
0:12:58 > 0:13:00because it is something we can all relate to -
0:13:00 > 0:13:03a glimpse of a life lived thousands of years ago,
0:13:03 > 0:13:05a child of the north-west coast.
0:13:11 > 0:13:14But where did this child and the other first settlers come from?
0:13:21 > 0:13:25The first people of the American continent are believed
0:13:25 > 0:13:28to have arrived here about 15,800 years ago.
0:13:32 > 0:13:35Sea levels at that time were much lower
0:13:35 > 0:13:37because the ice caps were much bigger.
0:13:39 > 0:13:42Modern-day Siberia and Alaska were connected,
0:13:42 > 0:13:44allowing migration from west to east.
0:13:46 > 0:13:51Exactly how the first people made the journey across is still debated.
0:13:54 > 0:13:58Some people believe they walked overland, hunting large mammals,
0:13:58 > 0:14:00whilst others think they travelled along the coast,
0:14:00 > 0:14:02relying on maritime resources.
0:14:04 > 0:14:08I personally believe they came along the coast.
0:14:08 > 0:14:13These intrepid maritime colonisers hugged this coastline and became
0:14:13 > 0:14:15the first humans in the Americas.
0:14:18 > 0:14:22Since this coastline would have been periodically covered in ice sheets,
0:14:22 > 0:14:23they would have continued south,
0:14:23 > 0:14:27colonising other parts of the Americas rather than settle here.
0:14:29 > 0:14:31But a little over 10,000 years ago,
0:14:31 > 0:14:35the ice sheets receded for the last time and humans could permanently
0:14:35 > 0:14:36settle this coast.
0:14:38 > 0:14:41They represent perhaps the longest continuing culture
0:14:41 > 0:14:43anywhere in the Americas.
0:14:43 > 0:14:47A claim supported by the archaeological record.
0:14:47 > 0:14:51The complexity of the many different languages that developed
0:14:51 > 0:14:53over thousands of years.
0:14:53 > 0:14:56And, more recently, another discovery has been made
0:14:56 > 0:14:59that helped to rewrite the history of this region.
0:14:59 > 0:15:0220 years ago in a cave not too far from here,
0:15:02 > 0:15:06a skeleton was found that dated to 10,000 years ago.
0:15:06 > 0:15:10A recent scientific study has identified a genetic link with the
0:15:10 > 0:15:14modern-day native North Americans still living on this coast.
0:15:15 > 0:15:18To have a bloodline that survived for thousands of years
0:15:18 > 0:15:20in the same location is extraordinary.
0:15:27 > 0:15:30The reason they eventually settled here is the same reason
0:15:30 > 0:15:32they have endured so long.
0:15:34 > 0:15:37This might look like a rocky and exposed landscape,
0:15:37 > 0:15:41but in fact it is one of the most ecologically rich places on earth.
0:15:50 > 0:15:54People here were not living a perilous hand-to-mouth existence.
0:15:55 > 0:15:58The resources they found in the forests,
0:15:58 > 0:16:01the rivers and the ocean were incredibly abundant...
0:16:04 > 0:16:06..and it had an effect that has forced us
0:16:06 > 0:16:09to re-evaluate human development entirely.
0:16:14 > 0:16:17For many years in western scholarship, it was thought
0:16:17 > 0:16:20that bands of hunter-gatherers would roam the landscape,
0:16:20 > 0:16:25looking for food on an ad hoc basis until they learned how to cultivate
0:16:25 > 0:16:27crops and domesticate livestock,
0:16:27 > 0:16:30and that this would lead to the larger populations.
0:16:30 > 0:16:33And from agriculture came complexity,
0:16:33 > 0:16:37through artistic expression, social organisation and hierarchy.
0:16:37 > 0:16:40But the peoples here in the north-west coast achieved all of
0:16:40 > 0:16:44that cultural complexity without ever farming a day in their lives.
0:16:47 > 0:16:50A complex society that develops without agriculture
0:16:50 > 0:16:53is extremely unusual.
0:16:53 > 0:16:56How they did it reveals that they had a deep understanding
0:16:56 > 0:17:00of their environment, and developed great skills to exploit it.
0:17:00 > 0:17:03And this is fundamental to understanding not just
0:17:03 > 0:17:07how the culture was established, but why it was so robust.
0:17:08 > 0:17:13I've come to see just one example of ancient ingenuity on Quadra Island.
0:17:16 > 0:17:18Joining me for a dip is archaeologist Nicole Smith.
0:17:26 > 0:17:28Beneath the freezing waters,
0:17:28 > 0:17:32these rocks reveal a hidden story, not of agriculture,
0:17:32 > 0:17:34but of aquaculture,
0:17:34 > 0:17:38because they are actually the scattered remains of an ancient wall
0:17:38 > 0:17:40believed to be more than 1,000 years old.
0:17:41 > 0:17:45The wall formed something called a clam garden,
0:17:45 > 0:17:48an inventive construction used to harvest clams and other shellfish.
0:17:50 > 0:17:54It worked by enclosing and protecting them as the tide came in,
0:17:54 > 0:17:57and when it went out again there were easy pickings
0:17:57 > 0:17:59for the resourceful foragers.
0:18:02 > 0:18:06As the famous north-west coast saying goes, "When the tide is out,
0:18:06 > 0:18:07"the table is set."
0:18:09 > 0:18:13That's amazing. So it stretches all the way down the coast, really?
0:18:13 > 0:18:17Yeah, it does. This is actually a really beautiful one to see
0:18:17 > 0:18:19and it's so interesting seeing it underwater.
0:18:19 > 0:18:22Think of all the marine life - there's crabs down there,
0:18:22 > 0:18:25- there's starfish, there's the clams, there's a few seals.- Yeah.
0:18:25 > 0:18:27LAUGHTER
0:18:27 > 0:18:30And so it really gives you the sense that this maritime world
0:18:30 > 0:18:32- is full of amazing things to eat. - Yes, absolutely.
0:18:35 > 0:18:39This highly sophisticated marine management allowed people
0:18:39 > 0:18:41to accumulate the reliable food supply
0:18:41 > 0:18:44required to develop social complexity.
0:18:46 > 0:18:49The resources of the coastal environment were rich enough
0:18:49 > 0:18:51for communities to thrive.
0:18:52 > 0:18:56Just how rich can be seen by travelling to the homeland
0:18:56 > 0:18:59of the Haida Nation and to the remote islands of Haida Gwaii.
0:19:04 > 0:19:08They are located nearly 100 miles off Canada's west coast -
0:19:08 > 0:19:10an archipelago 150 miles long.
0:19:18 > 0:19:22The rivers here are alive with salmon during their migrations,
0:19:22 > 0:19:24as they are all along the coast.
0:19:30 > 0:19:33The people understood these patterns in the natural world
0:19:33 > 0:19:37and salmon formed the most important part of many coastal peoples' diet.
0:19:51 > 0:19:54This river has four big fish runs every year -
0:19:54 > 0:19:58the pink, coho and chum salmon, the steelhead trouts -
0:19:58 > 0:20:01there's tens of thousands of fish coming up here every year.
0:20:01 > 0:20:04When you start to think about how much food that is and how easily
0:20:04 > 0:20:07accessible it is, it really changes your perspective
0:20:07 > 0:20:09of how you get your food within society.
0:20:13 > 0:20:18Fish numbers in some rivers can be an astonishing 25 million annually.
0:20:26 > 0:20:29These coho salmon can be up to 17lbs in size.
0:20:35 > 0:20:39For thousands of years, the Haida used nets, harpoons,
0:20:39 > 0:20:42fish-hooks and traps to catch huge quantities of salmon
0:20:42 > 0:20:44on stretches of this river.
0:20:46 > 0:20:49So in just half an hour, that's about 25lbs of salmon -
0:20:49 > 0:20:52that's enough fish to feed a family for a long time.
0:20:56 > 0:20:59The accessibility of large quantities of fish meant that
0:20:59 > 0:21:02there was less need to spend time moving from place to place,
0:21:02 > 0:21:05hunting in the forests.
0:21:05 > 0:21:08But the rivers weren't bountiful all year round -
0:21:08 > 0:21:12peak salmon season on Haida Gwaii is between May and September,
0:21:12 > 0:21:15which meant the Haida and other communities had to devise
0:21:15 > 0:21:17a method of preservation.
0:21:17 > 0:21:21And it was this that had a profound effect on their development.
0:21:28 > 0:21:30- Roberta?- Hi.
0:21:30 > 0:21:31Hey, how are you doing?
0:21:32 > 0:21:35Roberta Olsen has smoked salmon all her life.
0:21:38 > 0:21:41They had smokehouses everywhere when we were kids.
0:21:41 > 0:21:45I mean, smokehouses are just part of our life.
0:21:45 > 0:21:48If you're going to smoke it, you've got to cut it down the back.
0:21:48 > 0:21:51- Right.- Cut the head off first, of course.
0:21:55 > 0:21:57Wow, look at the colour of that meat, it's amazing.
0:22:05 > 0:22:09In the smokehouse, the fish is hung just below the ceiling,
0:22:09 > 0:22:12ensuring it isn't cooked by the fire's heat but is dried out
0:22:12 > 0:22:17by its smoke, which eradicates moist areas where bacteria could grow.
0:22:20 > 0:22:24So once you've smoked the fish, how long can you keep them for?
0:22:24 > 0:22:30Well, nowadays, you can vacuum-seal it so it will last at least a year.
0:22:30 > 0:22:33Yeah. And traditionally, before people had fridges
0:22:33 > 0:22:34and vacuum-sealers?
0:22:34 > 0:22:37They smoked it.
0:22:37 > 0:22:41They sliced it till it was quite thin and then smoked it till
0:22:41 > 0:22:45it was dry and they would store it in bins and use it all winter long.
0:22:50 > 0:22:54Preserving fish in this way provided food for Roberta's
0:22:54 > 0:22:57resilient ancestors in the months when the rivers didn't.
0:22:59 > 0:23:03Crucially, it also meant they could develop from hunter-gatherers
0:23:03 > 0:23:04to settled communities.
0:23:08 > 0:23:11What may seem like such a simple process as smoking fish
0:23:11 > 0:23:15can be transformative in terms of society, because when a community
0:23:15 > 0:23:17doesn't have to worry about food production
0:23:17 > 0:23:20cos they have it available all year round,
0:23:20 > 0:23:23they can concentrate on other aspects of their culture.
0:23:29 > 0:23:33By developing from hunter-gatherers to settled communities in this way,
0:23:33 > 0:23:37they broke conventional Western understanding
0:23:37 > 0:23:39of how societies evolve,
0:23:39 > 0:23:43where agriculture was assumed to be a necessary tipping point
0:23:43 > 0:23:45for population growth and cultural advancement,
0:23:45 > 0:23:48as it had been in Europe and elsewhere.
0:23:49 > 0:23:50All along this coast,
0:23:50 > 0:23:56sophisticated societies emerged and developed without agriculture,
0:23:56 > 0:23:58and because their food supply was secure,
0:23:58 > 0:24:01they had time for artistic expression
0:24:01 > 0:24:04such as petroglyphs or rock carvings.
0:24:04 > 0:24:08Rock art is notoriously hard to date, but these carvings are part of
0:24:08 > 0:24:10a tradition stretching back thousands of years.
0:24:13 > 0:24:17They depict animals which feature prominently in north-west coast art,
0:24:17 > 0:24:20most famously in the iconic totem pole,
0:24:20 > 0:24:23the largest wooden sculptures in the world.
0:24:35 > 0:24:39Since the environment played such a key role in coastal life,
0:24:39 > 0:24:42images of wildlife are to be expected.
0:24:43 > 0:24:47But totem poles such as these at Vancouver's Museum of Anthropology
0:24:47 > 0:24:49represent much more than the natural world.
0:24:51 > 0:24:56Ingrained in every single one are meanings and complex stories
0:24:56 > 0:25:01about people, events and spiritual beliefs that only those
0:25:01 > 0:25:05with inherent knowledge and cultural understanding can interpret.
0:25:12 > 0:25:15One of them is Nika Collison of the Haida Nation.
0:25:18 > 0:25:23My name is Jisgang, I belong to the Ts'aahl clan of the Haida Nation,
0:25:23 > 0:25:26and my English name is Nika Collison.
0:25:30 > 0:25:35The figures you will see on poles could be telling of origin stories
0:25:35 > 0:25:39of a family that raised the pole.
0:25:39 > 0:25:45It could be telling of crests, animals, supernatural beings,
0:25:45 > 0:25:49to represent their lineage, who they are.
0:25:49 > 0:25:54There's a link then between the poles and the imagery and stories
0:25:54 > 0:25:55and also the landscape?
0:25:55 > 0:25:59Yes, it's an expression of our relationship to the lands,
0:25:59 > 0:26:02the waters and the supernatural,
0:26:02 > 0:26:05but it's a completely different way of looking at the world.
0:26:08 > 0:26:10A profound connection to the environment
0:26:10 > 0:26:14not only rooted the early societies to their lands,
0:26:14 > 0:26:19it forged an unbreakable and everlasting sense of identity.
0:26:19 > 0:26:23I think that the relationship to your environment is relevant
0:26:23 > 0:26:26to everyone in the world but, in Haida culture,
0:26:26 > 0:26:29we are Haida because of the lands and waters where we live.
0:26:34 > 0:26:38This is a belief that runs deep and is reflected in origin myths.
0:26:43 > 0:26:47Haida legend says that the first humans were found by a raven
0:26:47 > 0:26:51in a clamshell, who coaxed them out to join his world,
0:26:51 > 0:26:54an event portrayed in this sculpture by Nika's grandfather,
0:26:54 > 0:26:57the renowned Haida artist, Bill Reid.
0:26:58 > 0:27:03The apparent paradox of exploiting the natural world for resources
0:27:03 > 0:27:05while infusing it with spiritual importance,
0:27:05 > 0:27:07in fact makes perfect sense.
0:27:09 > 0:27:13The coastal peoples felt that they were part of the ecology,
0:27:13 > 0:27:15not separate from it.
0:27:15 > 0:27:18The sets of relationships that link the environment inspired
0:27:18 > 0:27:21the way they organised their communities.
0:27:22 > 0:27:26By structuring their society in harmony with the animal world,
0:27:26 > 0:27:29people weren't just recognising the importance of animals
0:27:29 > 0:27:32in the environment, they were expressing their connection
0:27:32 > 0:27:33to them spiritually.
0:27:54 > 0:27:57Animals had a fundamental role in every tribe or nation
0:27:57 > 0:27:59because of what they stood for.
0:28:02 > 0:28:03There's a bear.
0:28:05 > 0:28:08The bear is an important animal on the north-west coast.
0:28:08 > 0:28:10It represents family and strength,
0:28:10 > 0:28:13and the spirituality of the forest realm.
0:28:15 > 0:28:19Such symbolism is important in identifying social divisions
0:28:19 > 0:28:20within a tribe.
0:28:20 > 0:28:26Most tribes are made up of a number of clans. Each clan is named after
0:28:26 > 0:28:29an animal and reflects its traits or characteristics.
0:28:33 > 0:28:35Individuals are assigned to a particular clan
0:28:35 > 0:28:37during their lifetime.
0:28:40 > 0:28:44Here on Haida Gwaii, the main clans of the Haida
0:28:44 > 0:28:45are the Raven and Eagle.
0:28:48 > 0:28:50Each clan has several chiefs
0:28:50 > 0:28:54and one of the Eagle clan chiefs is Haida carver, Jim Hart.
0:28:58 > 0:29:02You are either Eagle or Raven, and we're Eagles.
0:29:02 > 0:29:04We are one clan that stands here on the islands,
0:29:04 > 0:29:07we're one of many clans, and I am the chief of our clan.
0:29:09 > 0:29:12Clans are basic social units,
0:29:12 > 0:29:16groups of people bound together by common loyalties,
0:29:16 > 0:29:19and the chiefs of each clan are usually inherited positions.
0:29:20 > 0:29:24There's the hereditary chiefs, which you inherit from your uncle.
0:29:24 > 0:29:26You always work with your mother's side of the family -
0:29:26 > 0:29:29not the father's side but the mother's side.
0:29:29 > 0:29:32One of the reasons for that, one of the main reasons for that,
0:29:32 > 0:29:35is because you always knew where you came from.
0:29:35 > 0:29:39Chiefs could be male or female, and having several chiefs with authority
0:29:39 > 0:29:43had a fascinating effect on how the society worked.
0:29:45 > 0:29:49Anthropologist Ken Ames has been studying north-west coast peoples
0:29:49 > 0:29:50for nearly 50 years.
0:29:55 > 0:29:57There were chiefs, but most chiefs...
0:29:57 > 0:30:02There were also counsels or advisers, there were elders,
0:30:02 > 0:30:06and government flowed through those individuals.
0:30:06 > 0:30:09So chiefs might make decisions about...explicit decisions,
0:30:09 > 0:30:13like it's time to move the village, it's time to do this or do that,
0:30:13 > 0:30:16but again there would also have to be...
0:30:16 > 0:30:19There would be checks on them in terms of the counsel,
0:30:19 > 0:30:22and then there would also be people that you would draw on for their
0:30:22 > 0:30:24expertise on certain topics.
0:30:24 > 0:30:27Do you think that slightly decentralised form of power
0:30:27 > 0:30:31was a part of their success in terms of longevity, because power was not
0:30:31 > 0:30:34centralised in one individual permanently for a tribe?
0:30:34 > 0:30:38That's an aspect of north-west coast that would be shared
0:30:38 > 0:30:39with western North America,
0:30:39 > 0:30:42which is, power and authority gets diffused.
0:30:42 > 0:30:45There's a lot of resistance to accumulating a great deal
0:30:45 > 0:30:49in any one individual, and always the power of voting with your feet.
0:30:52 > 0:30:55People who didn't like what a chief was asking could refuse to do it,
0:30:55 > 0:30:57they could simply leave.
0:30:57 > 0:31:00Social hierarchy here was a completely different
0:31:00 > 0:31:02system of power.
0:31:02 > 0:31:06Chiefs were motivated to act in everyone's best interests,
0:31:06 > 0:31:10to maintain allegiances that were the basis of their authority.
0:31:13 > 0:31:17A picture begins to emerge of hundreds of sophisticated societies
0:31:17 > 0:31:19with many common aspects...
0:31:21 > 0:31:26..from shared art and spiritual belief, to kinship with nature
0:31:26 > 0:31:29and a social structure that governed everything
0:31:29 > 0:31:31down to individual families.
0:31:36 > 0:31:39At the heart of every family unit was the longhouse.
0:31:41 > 0:31:46They used to be widespread, but today, sadly, they are a rarity.
0:31:46 > 0:31:50They are defined by the monumental beams that span the house frontage
0:31:50 > 0:31:52and slot into the vertical house posts.
0:31:53 > 0:31:55Because of the size of the trees,
0:31:55 > 0:31:59longhouses could be up to 300 square metres,
0:31:59 > 0:32:02making them the largest structures the people of the Coast built.
0:32:03 > 0:32:07Large extended families would have occupied just one house,
0:32:07 > 0:32:11working together obtaining food and carrying out other daily tasks.
0:32:13 > 0:32:15Houses were grouped together to form villages -
0:32:15 > 0:32:19in some cases, up to 1,000 people would live in just 30 houses.
0:32:23 > 0:32:25And there was no shortage of building material.
0:32:35 > 0:32:40Over 23,000 square miles of dense forest cover British Columbia alone.
0:32:51 > 0:32:55You only have to see a huge red cedar like this to appreciate
0:32:55 > 0:32:58what a special environment the north-west coast is.
0:32:58 > 0:33:01It's one of the most resource-rich regions on the planet,
0:33:01 > 0:33:03with everything that humans could want.
0:33:07 > 0:33:11But felling trees of this size would have been incredibly difficult.
0:33:11 > 0:33:15They grow up to 250ft in height, and can be about 30ft around.
0:33:25 > 0:33:28To get some idea of their sheer size and the challenges
0:33:28 > 0:33:32of taking one down, I've come to see modern cedar harvesting in action
0:33:32 > 0:33:34here on Haida Gwaii.
0:33:37 > 0:33:40It's a major industry, and heavily regulated,
0:33:40 > 0:33:43not least because it's one of the most dangerous in the world.
0:33:44 > 0:33:46- John?- Hello.- Good to meet you.
0:33:46 > 0:33:49John is on the front line.
0:33:49 > 0:33:52- Hey, John, how are you doing? Nice to meet you.- Fine, thanks.
0:33:52 > 0:33:54Brilliant. So these trees are coming down, then?
0:33:54 > 0:33:57- Yes, sir.- So who taught you to take down a tree?
0:33:57 > 0:33:58- An old-timer.- Really?- Yeah.
0:33:58 > 0:34:01What were his pearls of wisdom that he told you?
0:34:01 > 0:34:04Ah... Walk out at the end of the day.
0:34:04 > 0:34:05That's good advice!
0:34:15 > 0:34:18When you see trees being felled today like this,
0:34:18 > 0:34:20using modern machinery, it's pretty impressive,
0:34:20 > 0:34:22but just imagine what it was like to do it
0:34:22 > 0:34:25with traditional tools - just stone, axes and adzes,
0:34:25 > 0:34:29maybe fires placed around the bottom to help weaken it before it goes.
0:34:33 > 0:34:35There is something a little bit sad.
0:34:35 > 0:34:40The tree's been growing here for 500 years and now it's coming down.
0:34:40 > 0:34:43But I think when you start to think about why it's coming down,
0:34:43 > 0:34:46the purpose it's going to be for - it's going to be used to build
0:34:46 > 0:34:49a house or a canoe - you can start to understand something
0:34:49 > 0:34:52of the cycle about why they're being harvested.
0:34:53 > 0:34:55Can you hear it creaking?
0:34:55 > 0:34:57- Yeah.- She's ready to go.- Yeah?
0:35:11 > 0:35:13That is extraordinary.
0:35:13 > 0:35:18The sheer power and weight of the tree coming down.
0:35:18 > 0:35:19Incredible.
0:35:39 > 0:35:43Dropping such huge trees without the use of a chainsaw,
0:35:43 > 0:35:45or any metal tool, for that matter,
0:35:45 > 0:35:48demonstrates a control of the landscape,
0:35:48 > 0:35:52past peoples' ability to harness a challenging
0:35:52 > 0:35:56yet resource-rich environment, providing the raw material
0:35:56 > 0:35:59that was at the heart of their enduring culture.
0:36:05 > 0:36:09Deep into the forest, hidden from view,
0:36:09 > 0:36:12is evidence revealing the next phase of a giant tree's life.
0:36:14 > 0:36:16This tree has been taken down with metal tools,
0:36:16 > 0:36:18probably more than 100 years ago,
0:36:18 > 0:36:22and to find out why they did it, we can just look down here.
0:36:27 > 0:36:32And this is great - here you can see how a tree has been felled down
0:36:32 > 0:36:35and started to be carved into a dugout canoe.
0:36:35 > 0:36:39You can see the shape starting to be preformed, with the side sloping
0:36:39 > 0:36:41straight down coming up here into the prow.
0:36:45 > 0:36:49It is fantastic to find an object like this abandoned in the forest,
0:36:49 > 0:36:53because it gives us a window into a process of manufacture -
0:36:53 > 0:36:57how the tree is being transformed into one of the monumental objects
0:36:57 > 0:37:01for which the peoples of the north-west coast are so famous.
0:37:08 > 0:37:12The skill of creating a canoe from a single piece of wood has been passed
0:37:12 > 0:37:15down from generation to generation.
0:37:16 > 0:37:18And today, on the east of Vancouver Island,
0:37:18 > 0:37:21in the homeland of the Coast Salish, one is being made.
0:37:27 > 0:37:31My name is Luke Marston, my native name is Ts'u t'su mutl.
0:37:31 > 0:37:35Most people are taught at a young age to look after their environment,
0:37:35 > 0:37:38and whether you're taking the salmon or whether you're taking the cedar
0:37:38 > 0:37:42for carving, you are always to give respect back to that thing
0:37:42 > 0:37:45and to only take what you need.
0:37:47 > 0:37:50- Hey, how're you doing?- Hey, how's it going?- Good, good, good.
0:37:50 > 0:37:52- Good to see you.- Nice to see you.
0:37:52 > 0:37:55- That's a beautiful canoe.- Thank you. - How long have you been working on it?
0:37:55 > 0:37:57Off and on, it's been a couple of months now.
0:37:57 > 0:38:01How do you see the link between the living tree and the finished object?
0:38:01 > 0:38:04Cos when the tree came down, it's quite an emotional thing
0:38:04 > 0:38:05and you feel a responsibility
0:38:05 > 0:38:07that you've got to do something good with it.
0:38:07 > 0:38:09Yeah, we call it the tree of life.
0:38:09 > 0:38:12The Halkomelem name, the Coast Salish name
0:38:12 > 0:38:15is x'pai, which means, like cedar, the tree of life.
0:38:15 > 0:38:19We were even taught that even though the tree has been cut down,
0:38:19 > 0:38:21it's still alive, right?
0:38:21 > 0:38:23So even when you are working on it, too,
0:38:23 > 0:38:25you can totally feel the energy.
0:38:25 > 0:38:29This thing has been growing for over 500 years and you get to hang out
0:38:29 > 0:38:33with it and carve with it and create it and give it a new life
0:38:33 > 0:38:36as something else now, whether it's going to be a canoe
0:38:36 > 0:38:37or whether it's going to be a mask
0:38:37 > 0:38:40or something like that, or a sculpture.
0:38:42 > 0:38:46Creating a dugout canoe is a tricky process.
0:38:46 > 0:38:48I'll just show you a little demonstration here.
0:38:50 > 0:38:53First, you have to split a log in half without cracking it,
0:38:53 > 0:38:55and then burn and scrape out the middle.
0:38:55 > 0:38:59This hand is for the angle more and this one is more for pushing.
0:39:01 > 0:39:03But if you want to just start...
0:39:03 > 0:39:05Don't try and take a whole bunch off.
0:39:05 > 0:39:08I won't. I won't ruin it, I promise.
0:39:08 > 0:39:10Don't carve a hole in it, please.
0:39:10 > 0:39:12OK.
0:39:12 > 0:39:14If you sink, it will be my fault.
0:39:15 > 0:39:16Brilliant.
0:39:19 > 0:39:21Look at this - a natural.
0:39:21 > 0:39:22I don't know about that,
0:39:22 > 0:39:25but it's lovely how these shavings just peel off.
0:39:35 > 0:39:38The canoes of the north-west coast are the finest examples
0:39:38 > 0:39:40anywhere in the world.
0:39:40 > 0:39:44They were a central feature of many tribes' lives.
0:39:45 > 0:39:49They could carry 20 people or more, and some were known to travel
0:39:49 > 0:39:52more than 1,000 miles and ride out the roughest of storms.
0:39:59 > 0:40:03The canoe is such an iconic object of the north-west coast.
0:40:03 > 0:40:06It doesn't only open up this coastal landscape,
0:40:06 > 0:40:08it also brings communities together.
0:40:12 > 0:40:13TRIBAL SINGING
0:40:19 > 0:40:24Canoes weren't just transportation, they were symbols of identity
0:40:24 > 0:40:26and vital to the lives of the communities.
0:40:37 > 0:40:41Guujaaw is former president of the Haida Nation, and this is his canoe.
0:40:52 > 0:40:56The canoe, basically, is the survival of the people.
0:40:56 > 0:41:01If you don't have access to the water and you don't have access
0:41:01 > 0:41:04to the trade goods, then you basically get left behind.
0:41:05 > 0:41:07Especially for an island people...
0:41:07 > 0:41:12Sometimes people perceive the north-west coast as being remote
0:41:12 > 0:41:15and isolated, but in reality it was very connected.
0:41:15 > 0:41:18Yeah, we never looked at it that way - we looked at Britain
0:41:18 > 0:41:21as being isolated and remote.
0:41:21 > 0:41:22It certainly is!
0:41:24 > 0:41:26Exactly. It's funny how people's perspectives change
0:41:26 > 0:41:28depending on where they are.
0:41:31 > 0:41:34The geography of thousands of islands and inlets explains
0:41:34 > 0:41:36why so many different communities developed.
0:41:38 > 0:41:42But the canoe, and the maritime networks it made possible,
0:41:42 > 0:41:45meant that the communities weren't a scattered collection
0:41:45 > 0:41:49of remote settlements - they were an interconnected group of nations.
0:41:50 > 0:41:52Marriages and alliances between them
0:41:52 > 0:41:55followed the exchange of goods and ideas.
0:41:56 > 0:42:01Items produced and bartered from around 3,000 years ago included
0:42:01 > 0:42:06stone and metal work, woven baskets and chilkat blankets.
0:42:07 > 0:42:09These were worn by high-ranking tribal members
0:42:09 > 0:42:11on ceremonial occasions.
0:42:12 > 0:42:16They were one of the most valuable objects traded on the coast
0:42:16 > 0:42:19because they were much more than an item of clothing.
0:42:20 > 0:42:24Chilkat weaving was practised by many north-west coast tribes in
0:42:24 > 0:42:28the north. Among them, the Tlingit, located on the Alaskan Panhandle.
0:42:31 > 0:42:35The technique might have died out altogether but for a recent revival.
0:42:36 > 0:42:40Teri Rofkar is recapturing the skills of her ancestors.
0:42:40 > 0:42:43The word Tlingit, if you break it down -
0:42:43 > 0:42:45"Tlin" is tide and "git" is people.
0:42:45 > 0:42:48We were known as People of the Tides.
0:42:52 > 0:42:55How do you make one of these robes in this traditional technique?
0:42:55 > 0:43:00It's two-strand twining and the twining... In the basket
0:43:00 > 0:43:03it's watertight, in here it's very detailed.
0:43:03 > 0:43:07It's like black, black, black, white, black, white,
0:43:07 > 0:43:12or zero, one, one, one, zero. It's just like binary code.
0:43:13 > 0:43:17Traditionally, wool from mountain goats is used and it can take
0:43:17 > 0:43:21hand-spun wool from five goats just to make one blanket,
0:43:21 > 0:43:23a process that could take a year or more.
0:43:24 > 0:43:28The meanings in the patterns and the skill and time invested in
0:43:28 > 0:43:31the creation of each blanket conferred status on the wearer.
0:43:32 > 0:43:35They were highly sought after and the value of the craft
0:43:35 > 0:43:39gave weavers important standing in their own community.
0:43:40 > 0:43:41We were specialists in the old days.
0:43:41 > 0:43:44My skill level that I have -
0:43:44 > 0:43:47I could weave a couple of robes for a family group.
0:43:47 > 0:43:52Maybe you belong to the killer whale group and you need some robes.
0:43:52 > 0:43:55Well, I maybe need a new clan-house and you're carvers.
0:43:55 > 0:43:58We were specialists and that meant
0:43:58 > 0:44:01that I could weave these and trade them.
0:44:01 > 0:44:05The exchange of skills was a vital part of the economy,
0:44:05 > 0:44:09a system of reciprocation that required no currency.
0:44:09 > 0:44:11Go ahead, grab this black and white one there.
0:44:11 > 0:44:13Go ahead and take that across.
0:44:13 > 0:44:15Well, now, there you go.
0:44:15 > 0:44:17You're doing really well.
0:44:17 > 0:44:18Better than sometimes.
0:44:18 > 0:44:21- Oh, yeah.- And then give it a twist. - Oh, my gosh, and that killer grip
0:44:21 > 0:44:25you've got. Go ahead and move your left hand a little bit.
0:44:25 > 0:44:28This doesn't have to be watertight, you know.
0:44:28 > 0:44:30That's true, that's a good point.
0:44:36 > 0:44:40With thriving trade networks within and between the tribes,
0:44:40 > 0:44:44stable social structures and plentiful resources
0:44:44 > 0:44:46in an environment they'd mastered,
0:44:46 > 0:44:50the north-west coast might sound like a Utopia,
0:44:50 > 0:44:54but it was often violent and at times brutal.
0:45:15 > 0:45:18It's a big night for the Makah tribe - their high school team
0:45:18 > 0:45:20is playing one of their local rivals.
0:45:20 > 0:45:22Let's go, Red Devils!
0:45:32 > 0:45:37Status was incredibly important in north-west coast society,
0:45:37 > 0:45:41and protecting status and revenge for the loss of status
0:45:41 > 0:45:45or a perceived lack of respect often erupted into conflict.
0:45:58 > 0:45:59Here we go.
0:46:10 > 0:46:12I think that does it, the Makah won.
0:46:16 > 0:46:20Warfare here was different from other parts of the world.
0:46:29 > 0:46:31Maria Pascua is an author and expert
0:46:31 > 0:46:34at the Makah Cultural And Research Centre.
0:46:37 > 0:46:41Within a European context, war is often about territory,
0:46:41 > 0:46:44it's about invading large territories
0:46:44 > 0:46:46and then holding on to them and then expanding sort of empires.
0:46:46 > 0:46:49But I don't really feel like war on the north-west coast is like that.
0:46:49 > 0:46:53What were the main motivations for that conflict in the past, do you think?
0:46:53 > 0:46:58For example, if a group became too big for the resources in that area,
0:46:58 > 0:47:01maybe someone might split off.
0:47:01 > 0:47:06But other things that might have motivated war
0:47:06 > 0:47:08were women,
0:47:08 > 0:47:14and so I know of some instances where we went to war
0:47:14 > 0:47:18due to one of our women that was married to another tribe,
0:47:18 > 0:47:20married into another tribe,
0:47:20 > 0:47:22and wasn't treated properly.
0:47:22 > 0:47:25And so we went, picked her up and went to battle over that.
0:47:29 > 0:47:32Wars were fought to establish reputations,
0:47:32 > 0:47:36maintain the status of elites and to exact revenge.
0:47:37 > 0:47:40The Makah developed a particularly fearsome reputation.
0:47:43 > 0:47:48One of the things about Makah warfare is we took the head off
0:47:48 > 0:47:53of the enemy, and just like other people, groups, you know,
0:47:53 > 0:47:57you hear of scalping and things like that - we just took the whole head,
0:47:57 > 0:48:00- brought it back and... - What did you do with the heads?
0:48:00 > 0:48:04Displayed it on a pole back at our village just to say,
0:48:04 > 0:48:08"This is what we did and don't mess with us."
0:48:11 > 0:48:15Makah weaponry included bows and arrows, spears, and this object,
0:48:15 > 0:48:17known as a "ch'tuk".
0:48:18 > 0:48:20What does that word mean?
0:48:20 > 0:48:24- Face splitter.- Right, so these are face-splitting clubs?
0:48:24 > 0:48:28Yes. So most of them you will see there is a hole
0:48:28 > 0:48:33and that was for a line or a cord that went around your wrist
0:48:33 > 0:48:35so that if you clubbed someone,
0:48:35 > 0:48:37you would still have your weapon.
0:48:37 > 0:48:40Even if it fell, it would hang and then you could get it back up
0:48:40 > 0:48:42and go at it again.
0:48:47 > 0:48:52Attacks were often carried out at night, maximising surprise,
0:48:52 > 0:48:53terror and confusion.
0:48:58 > 0:49:00And while men were often killed,
0:49:00 > 0:49:04women and children routinely met a different fate - slavery.
0:49:06 > 0:49:09Slave raiding was another motivation for war.
0:49:11 > 0:49:14One view of slaves is that they provided a pool of labour
0:49:14 > 0:49:18at the disposal of chiefs. Another view of slaves is that they were
0:49:18 > 0:49:22a mark of prestige, so if you had a lot of prestige, a lot of slaves,
0:49:22 > 0:49:25that was an indicator of your status,
0:49:25 > 0:49:27that having slaves was a status marker.
0:49:27 > 0:49:29If you're a slave on the north-west coast,
0:49:29 > 0:49:32you're a person who has lost...
0:49:34 > 0:49:36..their social identity,
0:49:36 > 0:49:40and you've also lost your kinship ties, and all that kind of stuff,
0:49:40 > 0:49:44so you've just been pulled out of your context, your social context.
0:49:46 > 0:49:49An essential part of every tribe's culture and identity
0:49:49 > 0:49:52is a strong sense of belonging,
0:49:52 > 0:49:55and so to deprive a slave of theirs
0:49:55 > 0:49:59was to inflict extreme psychological trauma.
0:49:59 > 0:50:02And it wasn't just warfare that produced slaves.
0:50:02 > 0:50:05In some parts, particularly the southern coast,
0:50:05 > 0:50:06there were forms of debt slavery,
0:50:06 > 0:50:10sort of like indentured servitude where you could pay off a debt
0:50:10 > 0:50:12by enslaving yourself and then there might be a term of service
0:50:12 > 0:50:14and you would be released, or not.
0:50:17 > 0:50:21Slavery here is believed to go back at least 2,000 years,
0:50:21 > 0:50:25reaching its height in the early 19th century when around 15%
0:50:25 > 0:50:28of the population were slaves -
0:50:28 > 0:50:31the spoils of war, more than the drivers of the economy,
0:50:31 > 0:50:33as slaves were elsewhere in the world.
0:50:47 > 0:50:52Slave raiding and warfare were an integral part of life,
0:50:52 > 0:50:55and the ferocity with which the various communities were prepared
0:50:55 > 0:50:59to defend their individual cultures and practices is telling.
0:51:02 > 0:51:04It is an aspect of resilience.
0:51:04 > 0:51:08They were uncompromising when it came to maintaining their place
0:51:08 > 0:51:11in the coastal ecology, and getting the most out of it.
0:51:14 > 0:51:17And there is no greater illustration of the fearlessness
0:51:17 > 0:51:21and determination that characterises north-west coast society
0:51:21 > 0:51:24than the ability to take down the biggest animals on the planet.
0:51:28 > 0:51:31Hey, good to meet you.
0:51:31 > 0:51:32How are you doing?
0:51:32 > 0:51:35For the Makah tribe in Washington State,
0:51:35 > 0:51:37no creature is more important than the whale.
0:51:52 > 0:51:54Getting close to the whale,
0:51:54 > 0:51:58you get a real sense of the size and strength they have.
0:51:58 > 0:51:59To think about trying to hunt one
0:51:59 > 0:52:01just from a dugout canoe is incredible.
0:52:10 > 0:52:14The Makah once regularly hunted grey whales,
0:52:14 > 0:52:18which can reach almost 50 metres in length and weigh up to 38 tonnes.
0:52:20 > 0:52:23It seems like a bit of a callous thing to talk about
0:52:23 > 0:52:26when they're right next to you, but the whale is an incredible resource.
0:52:26 > 0:52:30It's full of blubber, meat, whale oil and bone -
0:52:30 > 0:52:32very useful things for the peoples of the north-west coast.
0:52:36 > 0:52:39The whale was the ocean's ultimate gift
0:52:39 > 0:52:42and the Makah imbued them with spiritual significance.
0:52:43 > 0:52:48Whale hunting is therefore steeped in symbolic and ritualistic beliefs,
0:52:48 > 0:52:51and whalers spent weeks ensuring they were ready spiritually
0:52:51 > 0:52:53as well as physically.
0:52:55 > 0:52:59Makah whaler Greg Arnold has had first-hand experience.
0:52:59 > 0:53:05You can't go whaling without being spiritually ready, physically ready,
0:53:05 > 0:53:07mentally ready.
0:53:07 > 0:53:08It's critical.
0:53:09 > 0:53:13And when you're preparing for it,
0:53:13 > 0:53:18there's nobody stronger than those guys that are getting ready.
0:53:18 > 0:53:23You have to be... When you're leaving a beach to go whaling,
0:53:23 > 0:53:25you have to be ready to die that day.
0:53:27 > 0:53:30Because of... These are not small animals
0:53:30 > 0:53:34and it's a sobering moment in your life.
0:53:34 > 0:53:37You have children, you have family,
0:53:37 > 0:53:42and you know at that day when you leave the beach...
0:53:43 > 0:53:45..this could be it.
0:53:47 > 0:53:50Hunting whales wasn't something any member of the Makah could do.
0:53:52 > 0:53:56The prerogative was inherited, but then it had to be earned -
0:53:56 > 0:54:00the young learning from their elders, showing that they deserve
0:54:00 > 0:54:03to join the hunt and could use the weaponry required.
0:54:05 > 0:54:08You have these large wooden shafts,
0:54:08 > 0:54:10which is the sort of thing you hold on to and throw?
0:54:10 > 0:54:16Yes, they have barbed points, whalebone or elk antler.
0:54:19 > 0:54:22They are attached to a sinew line that detaches,
0:54:22 > 0:54:28and they let the line out and throw seal floats out to keep it afloat.
0:54:29 > 0:54:33And then they keep at it until they dispatch a whale.
0:54:33 > 0:54:35How close to the whale do you have to get?
0:54:35 > 0:54:37Within 10 metres or 20 metres or...?
0:54:37 > 0:54:38Oh, no, you have to be right there.
0:54:38 > 0:54:40Right.
0:54:40 > 0:54:43This is a hard thing to throw, so you're...
0:54:45 > 0:54:49..you're almost right on top of them.
0:54:49 > 0:54:51Once the whale had been killed,
0:54:51 > 0:54:54one hunter had the task of diving into the waters
0:54:54 > 0:54:57to sew the whale's mouth shut to prevent it sinking
0:54:57 > 0:54:59as it was towed back to shore.
0:55:00 > 0:55:03Hunting this way required knowledge,
0:55:03 > 0:55:06an understanding of their prey and the sea that represented
0:55:06 > 0:55:09the experience of generations.
0:55:09 > 0:55:11And it became part of who they were.
0:55:14 > 0:55:16It's real important to our people to pass on...
0:55:18 > 0:55:19..our traditions.
0:55:21 > 0:55:26Because my great-grandfather, my grandfather hunted,
0:55:26 > 0:55:28my uncle hunted - I got to hunt.
0:55:28 > 0:55:30It became our identity.
0:55:30 > 0:55:33You know, for Makah,
0:55:33 > 0:55:35this is really important to us.
0:55:40 > 0:55:42Harpoon barbs recovered from Ozette
0:55:42 > 0:55:46prove that the custom dates back more than 1,000 years,
0:55:46 > 0:55:50and today the Makah and a handful of Alaskan Inuit communities are the
0:55:50 > 0:55:53only people permitted to whale hunt in the United States.
0:55:54 > 0:55:58But partly because of modern environmental concerns,
0:55:58 > 0:56:01just one traditional Makah whale hunt has been carried out
0:56:01 > 0:56:02in the last 80 years.
0:56:06 > 0:56:09The whale is at the heart of Makah identity,
0:56:09 > 0:56:12and from a Makah perspective, they have been harvesting whales
0:56:12 > 0:56:16sustainably for thousands of years so why should they be forced
0:56:16 > 0:56:19to change their way of life because of the failings of others?
0:56:22 > 0:56:26The culture of the north-west coast could only ever have
0:56:26 > 0:56:30been established through a deep understanding of the environment.
0:56:35 > 0:56:40And it is the symbiotic relationship with the natural world that explains
0:56:40 > 0:56:45the longevity of a society that has endured for over 10,000 years.
0:56:49 > 0:56:51From the very beginning,
0:56:51 > 0:56:55each community took from their surroundings an identity
0:56:55 > 0:57:00and a system of beliefs, as well as the resources they needed to thrive.
0:57:05 > 0:57:11They traded skills and goods across vast distances, fought their rivals,
0:57:11 > 0:57:15and established a network of nations,
0:57:15 > 0:57:20all of it expressed in artwork that is meaningful,
0:57:20 > 0:57:22practical and spiritual.
0:57:25 > 0:57:29How the relative success of different societies is judged
0:57:29 > 0:57:32is up for debate but, for me, the people here
0:57:32 > 0:57:35reached the highest levels of cultural achievement.
0:57:38 > 0:57:41But how the peoples of the north-west coast established
0:57:41 > 0:57:43their culture is just part of the story.
0:57:45 > 0:57:46In the second episode,
0:57:46 > 0:57:50I explore how the people of the north-west coast managed to maintain
0:57:50 > 0:57:53their culture and identity against the odds.
0:57:54 > 0:57:59In 1492, Europeans arrived in what they called the New World.
0:58:00 > 0:58:04That moment and what followed had a profound impact
0:58:04 > 0:58:08on indigenous peoples throughout the Americas.
0:58:08 > 0:58:12Many were completely wiped out by violence and disease,
0:58:12 > 0:58:16whilst others saw their culture and beliefs decimated.
0:58:16 > 0:58:20And yet, somehow, the peoples of the north-west coast survived.