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The Clearwater River region of north-central Idaho is a distinct cultural region within the Columbia Plateau, yet no studies have comprehensively assessed the composition of recorded faunal assemblages to explore prehistoric subsistence practices by the region's Nez Perce people. We analyzed 27 Holocene zooarchaeological mammalian assemblages from 20 sites across the Clearwater and adjacent lower Snake River regions. A variety of leporids, rodents, carnivores, and artiodactyls were identified in assemblages, including several species (e.g. bison [Bison bison], pronghorn [Antilocapra americana], and grizzly bear [Ursus arctos]) no longer present in the study area. Taxonomic richness and taxonomic evenness suggest a specialized subsistence economy where one or two taxa were the focus of subsistence activities. Relative frequencies of mammals indicate that subsistence practices were focused disproportionately on large mammals (> 25 kg), and artiodactyl index values indicate subsistence practices were specialized on artiodactyls regardless of cultural phase. Across all artiodactyl species, however, only relative frequencies of deer (Odocoileus spp.) were negatively correlated with taxonomic evenness values. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that deer were a particularly important component of aboriginal diets in the Clearwater River region throughout most of the Holocene.

The July 1998 discovery of a 10,300 year old archaeological site in a fluvial setting near Lewiston, Idaho, enhances the current understanding of the Windust phase as defined for the lower Snake River region of the Columbia Plateau. This early Holocene site contained preserved faunal remains of elk ( Cervus elaphus) and grizzly bear ( Ursus horribilis) associated with a brief human occupation that included evidence of multiple activities ranging from mammal processing to lithic tool manufacture. A general description of the riverside occupation is presented, since this site is unlike any previously recorded in this region in terms of age, constitution, and preservation. Laboratory analyses have implications for immunological studies, radiometric dating, and faunal resources. Wewukiyepuh is interpreted in terms of a briefly occupied mid-latitude forager site.

Current paleodemographic studies are insufficient for the examination of smaller, non-urban populations. An ecological methodology, based on research and methods in landscape ecology, may be used to analyze landscape resources availability, thereby allowing analysis of populations that are too small for examination using existing paleopopulation study methods. This new methodology, through its development of a Human Suitability Index (HSI), is applied to the Interior Salish populations of the northern Columbia Plateau of British Columbia, inclusive of the Okanogan, Lillooet, Thompson, and Shuswap tribes. The resulting application demonstrates the accuracy and inaccuracy of population counts variously applied to the area and suggests future uses in other non-urban areas in the context of maximum population size, percentage of population size achieved, location of settlement, and migration and growth factors.