The social relationships maintained through trade were kinship relationships as well as economic ones.

Marriage alliances between Makah families and families from other communities created the kinship connections that both enabled and obligated trade relationships.

The person from another community who was one’s relative by marriage was a trading partner, a potential host, and a source of information about conditions in other ecological zones.

This social dimension of the trade network means that understanding the Ozette community requires understanding its place in a network of relationships extending far beyond Cape Alava.

The specific objects in the Ozette houses were not just the products of the Makah household economy.