Past Lectures
April 13, 2007
SPEAKER: Al Mackie has been an archaeologist for 30 years working in BC, Washington State and the UK. He has worked for museums, as a consultant and for the last decade with the BC Government's Archaeology Branch. Al is one of the coordinators of the Kwädąy Dän Ts’ìnchį project.
Kjerstin Mackie has been a textiles conservator at the Royal BC Museum for 15 years, with responsibility for ethnographic textiles. She initially trained as an archaeologist and worked in BC, the US, Egypt and Peru and then did post-graduate studies in textiles conservation in the UK. Kjerstin is responsible for the conservation of leather artifacts from the Kwädąy Dän Ts’ìnchį site.
Topic: The Kwädąy Dän Ts’ìnchį Project: The recovery and study of a man frozen in a glacier and of the fur robe that he was wearing.
In 1999 three hunters came across some artifacts and human remains melting from a glacier in the Tatshenshini-Alsek Park in north west British Columbia. The discovery was named Kwädąy Dän Ts’ìnchį by Champagne and Aishihik Elders which means Long Ago Person Found. This discovery led to a project managed by the Champagne and Aishihik First Nation, the Royal BC Museum and the BC Archaeology Branch. This management team jointly conducted and coordinated research which has been carried out locally and around the world. In this talk we recount the background to the discovery and recovery of the human remains, the manner in which research has proceeded and recent results concerning the man and his life. As an illustration of the complexities of the project, we discuss the conservation and analysis of the ground squirrel robe that the man was wearing. We show how the robe has been treated in a way that does not compromise ongoing and future studies, and how the integration of the conservation results and other studies will lead to a greater understanding of the man’s life.
March 9, 2007
SPEAKER: Darcy Mathews
Title: Burial Cairns and the Mortuary Landscape of Rocky Point, British Columbia
My ongoing research is an investigation into burial cairns and mounds, a type of interment built by the Salish people of the Strait of Georgia a more than a millennium before the establishment of Fort Victoria. These burials, consisting of rock and soil built up over the dead, once numbered in the thousands in Greater Victoria. Although there was a flurry of study by archaeologists in the late 19th century from prestigious institutions such as the American Museum of Natural History, these burials are still relatively unexplored and unknown. Recent archaeological investigations in Metchosin, southwest of Victoria, have resulted in the identification of many archaeological sites with burial cairns and mounds. The largest of these, the Rocky Point site, has over 300 cairns and mounds, which consist of patterned piles of rock and soil, and occur in a variety of shapes and sizes. Based on the analysis of this site, the Rocky Point cairns are analogous to historic and modern grave markers, presumably meant to denote something of the identity of the deceased. Like contemporary cemeteries, which are partitioned along social, ethnic, and economic lines, the manner in which cairns and mounds were built and placed on the Rocky Point landscape may amount to a similar statement of the identity of the deceased and their place in society. By studying the external attributes of these burials without disturbing them, and where they were placed relative to other burials and the landscape, may allow a unique insight into the social lives of the Salish people more than a thousand years ago. It is hoped that this work will highlight the long and extraordinary social history of the Salish people and the importance of protecting these threatened archaeological site
February 9, 2007
SPEAKER: Gay Frederick, Department of Anthropology, Malaspina University College
Topic: Precontact Nuu-chah-nulth Resource use in Barkley Sound, west coast Vancouver Island.
Excavations at the village locations from which the Tseshaht and Huu-ay-aht peoples derive their names, Ts'ishaa and Huu7ii respectively, have provided faunal samples allowing us to reconstruct resource use in this area of Barkley Sound over the past 5000 years. Considerable change is recorded in patterns of site use and resource activities over this time period. Excavations were directed by Alan McMillan and Denis St. Claire, on behalf of theTseshaht and Huu-ay-aht Nations.
RESCHEDULED :: January 19th , 2006
SPEAKER: Deidre Cullon'd
Topic: Hamatla Treaty Society Foreshore and Archaeological Management
Hamatla Treaty Society Foreshore and Archaeological Management Training and Research Project
The Hamatla Treaty Society (HTS) is a group of four First Nations on north-central Vancouver Island who are working together toward treaty. In the summer of 2006, the HTS obtained funding to conduct archaeological fieldwork on fish traps and clam gardens (loxiwe) within their territory. Previously, a few, primarily stone fish traps, had been recorded in rivers and creeks, and at Comox Harbour, numerous, large wooden stake traps were gaining wide recognition. Other than this, little was known about the location and density of fish traps in HTS lands. The same was true for clam gardens. Much inventory work had been done in the Broughton Archipelago, but only a small pocket of Quadra Island had been surveyed within HTS territory. The HTS was certain there were more traps and gardens waiting to be recorded. We were right. The research indicates that fish traps and clam gardens, of varying shape and size, are numerous throughout HTS territory. This discussion will present the results of our inventory work, including the results of radiocarbon dating completed on fish trap stakes, and some preliminary thoughts about what this data means for the HTS and for the archaeological record.
November 10, 2006
SPEAKER: Cheryl Roy
Topic:Digging Stratigraphy
Discovered in 1971, Scladina Cave is one of the major Middle Palaeolithic sites of Belgium. The cave is situated on the south side of the Meuse River above the village of Sclayn. Excavations at the site commenced in 1978. The project continues today under the direction of the chief archaelogist, Dominique Bonjean. Scladina Cave is the only site in Belgium excavated on a year round basis. In October 2003, a re-evaluation of the cave's stratigraphy was undertaken by Stephane Pirson, a geologist from the Royal Institute of Natural Sciences in Brussels. Since that time, a microstratigraphic method of excavation has been employed. In the words of Nicolas Rolland (2006; personal communication) Scladina Cave is becoming a model excavation site.
This presentation will discuss the value of the microstratigraphic approach and the logistics of microstratigraphic excavation. In addition, the results of this excavation strategy will be correlated to ongoing research at Scladina
October 13, 2006
SPEAKER: Camilla Speller, Department of Archaeology, Simon Fraser University
Topic: Ancient DNA and the Pithouses of Keatley Creek
This study of the prehistoric pithouse village of Keatley Creek, BC, used ancient DNA techniques to examine the species of Pacific salmon consumed at the site. Previous archaeological work had suggested that economic stratification within the community might have resulted in differential access to some preferred salmon species, such as sockeye and chinook, however these species could not be identified using visual analysis alone. The unambiguous ancient DNA species identification method now makes it possible to more accurately address the issue of early salmon consumption in the region. This study analyzed 60 salmon remains from four housepits in order to identify any species differences among salmon remains found within the structure. Although high success rates (over 90%) were obtained for ancient DNA tests, only three salmon species (chinook, sockeye and coho) were identified from the remains. Pink salmon was not identified among the tested sample, despite the fact that it was originally assumed to be a staple species for the site’s native inhabitants. The absence of pink salmon in our sample significantly altered the picture of early salmon fishing activities in the region. As a result, the effects of economic stratification on differential access to the remaining so-called preferred species of sockeye and chinook within the four structures studied were not as dramatic as previously thought, although access to different sized salmon may characterize some structures.
Camilla Speller is a graduate student in the Archaeology Department Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, BC. She received her BA in Archaeology and Physical Anthropology from the University of Calgary. Her MA research, completed in May 2005, was focused on ancient DNA analysis of salmon remains from an archaeological site on the Northwest Plateau. Her PhD research interests continue to be focused on ancient DNA analysis of archaeological faunal remains to study past subsistence strategies.