An Archaeological Perspective on Alpine/Sub-Alpine Land Use in the Clear Range and Pavilion Mountains, South-Central British Columbia

AN ARCHAEOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE ON ALPINE/SUB-ALPINE LAND USE IN THE CLEAR RANGE AND PAVILION MOUNTAINS, SOUTH-CENTRAL BRITISH COLUMBIA by ANTHONY VANAGS B.A., The University of British Columbia A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES (Department of Anthropology & Sociology) We accept this thesis as conforming to the required standard THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA December 2000 © Anthony E. N. Vanags, 2000 In presenting this thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of British Columbia, I agree that the Library shall make it freely available for reference and study. I further agree that permission for extensive copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by the head of my department or by his or her representatives. It is understood that copying or publication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. Department The University of British Columbia Vancouver, Canada DE-6 (2/88) Abstract This study uses two independent surveys of the Alpine/Sub-alpine environmental zones of the Clear Range and Pavilion Mountain to explore the nature of the archaeological record in the higher elevations of the Southern Interior Plateau of British Columbia. The archaeological site information is derived from the original site records as well as a lithic analysis of associated assemblages. The archaeological material is examined in relation to ethnographic subsistence and settlement patterns, archaeological pattering in Upland Valleys (Upper Hat Creek Valley), and to other investigated Alpine/Sub-alpine areas such as the Cornwall Hills and Potato Mountain. Neither the Ethnographic nor Upland Valley Models provided a perfect fit for the archaeological information, but these two models did provide the foundation upon which the archaeological site classes could be derived. The results were clear in that the Alpine/Sub-alpine zones were an important part of the seasonal round for both hunting and plant food gathering/processing activities and were not just an extension of the Upland Valley zones. The diagnostic artifacts recovered from the Clear Range and Pavilion Mountain suggest that this area, and more specifically the Alpine/Sub-alpine environmental zones, have been used for hunting purposes for approximately 7000 years, though most of the dates are concentrated between 3500 and 200 BP. There are fewer dates for plant gathering and processing activities, but the radiocarbon dates suggest that plant processing started approximately 2000 BP. The majority of the archaeological sites for both the Clear Range and Pavilion Mountain are situated within the Montane Parkland environmental zone. Even so, the Alpine/Sub-alpine zones in the Clear Range and Pavilion Mountain were used differently. The Clear Range was used for both hunting and plant gathering/processing activities, while Pavilion Mountain and the Cornwall Hills were used primarily for hunting activities. Only on Potato Mountain were the majority of sites related to plant gathering/processing activities. it Table of Contents Abstract ii Table of Contents iii List of Tab les iv List of Figures v Acknowledgements vi Chapter 1 Introduction 1 Chapter 2 Model Summaries 4 2.1 Ethnographic Model and Archaeological Expectations 4 2.2 Upland Valley Model and Archaeological Expectations 8 Chapter 3 Archaeological Data 10 3.1 Data Collection Methodologies 10 3.2 Range and Nature of the Data 10 3.3 Tools 11 3.4 Debitage 12 3.5 Lithic Raw Material 14 3.6 Culture History , 16 Chapter 4 Archaeological Analysis 19 4.1 Comparison with the Ethnographic and Upland Valley Models 19 4.1.1 Evaluation of the Ethnographic Model 20 4.1.2 Evaluation of the Upland Valley Model 26 4.1.3 New Site Classes 28 4.2 Intra-regional Comparison and Feature Analysis 33 4.2.1 Feature Analysis 37 Chapter 5 Regional and Inter-regional Comparisons 41 5.1 Cornwall Hills Summit 41 5.2 Potato Mountain (Chilcotin) 43 5.3 Mouth of the Chilcotin and Keatley Creek 44 Chapter 6 Summary and Conclusion 46 6.1 Summary 46 6.2 Conclusion 48 References Sited 50 Appendix I Resources Sought by the Interior Salish 60 Appendix II Ethnohistoric Settlement Summary and Archaeological Implications 62 Appendix III Upland Valley Model 66 Appendix IV Site Summary Information 67 Appendix V Assemblage Summary by Site 80 Appendix VI Pit Summary Information 82 iii List of Tables Table 1 Environmental zones 2 Table 2 Ethnographic Alpine/Sub-alpine Site Classes and their Attibutes 7 Table 3 Generic Archaeological Site Classes and their Attributes 8 Table 4 Reduction Stage Definition. 13 Table 5 Debris Type by Reduction Stage 14 Table 6 Lithic Raw Material 15 Table 7 Time Periods of the British Columbia's Southern Interior Plateau 16 Table 8 Site Dates 17 Table 9 Ethnographic Site Classes and their Corresponding Archaeological Sites 21 Table 10 Archaeological Site Classes and their Associated Sites 29-30 Table 11 Listing of the Sites by Class and Region 34 Table 12 Alpine/Sub-alpine Assemblage Summary Information. 34 Table 13 Alpine/Sub-alpine Assemblage Summary Information without Locus sites 35 Table 14 Tool Expediency Ratio Index 36 Table 15 Alpine/Sub-alpine Processing Pit Summary Information 37 Table 16 Rim Crest Summary Information 39 Table 17 Processing Pit Summary Statistics 44 iv List of Figures Figure 1 Map of British Columbia's Southern Interior Plateau 53 Figure 2 Map of the Environmental Units 54 Figure 3 Contour and Environmental Zone Map of Moore Peak and Chipuin Mountain 55 Figure 4 Contour and Environmental Zone Map of Cairn Peak and Blustry Mountain 56 Figure 5 Contour and Environmental Zone Map of Pavilion Mountain 57 Figure 6 Picture of the Diagnostic Tools 58 Figure 7 Boxplot of the Rim Crest Sizes for Clear Range & Pavilion Mountain 59 Figure 8 Boxplot of the Rim Crest Sizes for Upper Hat Creek and Clear Range/Pavilion Mountain 59 v Acknowledgements I would like to express my appreciation to a number of individuals who have contributed to the completion of this study. Professor David Pokotylo, as graduate advisor, and Professor R.G. Matson, as interim advisor and graduate committee member, provided an excellent study environment as well as encouragement, advice, and assistance throughout the process. Thanks also to Professor Michael Blake, Professor Richard Pearson, Li Min, Martin Bale, Patricia Omerod, and all UBC archaeology people for your encouragement support and friendship. Professor Brian Hayden and Diana Alexander also provided information and materials crucial to the completion of the thesis. Gillian Dickenschied provided her expertise as an editor, and Robyn Levy volunteered to catalogue the lithic assemblages. Thanks also to the McCalisters, residents of Hat Creek Valley, for the cooperation and hospitality on our field trip. This thesis would not have been possible without the support and the wonderful gift of time provided by my parents, Ruth and Indulis Vanags, and my parents-in-law, Sylvia and Wayne Horricks, who took care of Lauren while I was at the university. Finally, I wish to acknowledge my wife and daughter, Gayle and Lauren Vanags, for the sacrifices they have made and for providing encouragement, support, and the incentive to get this written. It is to Gayle and Lauren that I dedicate this thesis. vi Chapter 1: Introduction Archaeologists have been working in the Southern Interior Plateau of British Columbia for over one hundred years. During this time there have been several major shifts in research focus, though most of the work has been done since the 1960's when archaeologists developed regional sequences through investigations of large winter pithouse villages in the major river valleys. With the 1970's came a concern for subsistence and settlement patterns and a renewed interested in the early ethnographies (Teit 1900, 1909; Smith 1900), as researchers wanted to determine the antiquity of the archaeological patterns. The focus of archaeological research also shifted from salmon-bearing streams to other environments, including upland areas. Early ethnographers had noted that upland regions were important sources of faunal and floral resources, and recent work in Upper Hat Creek Valley (Pokotylo 1978; Pokotylo and Froese 1983), Pavilion Mountain (Alexander 1989), and Komkanetkwa, a traditional root gathering ground near Kamloops B.C. (Peacock 1998), provided archaeological and ethnoarchaeological information to verify and complement the ethnographies. These three locations provided important information on root processing, an important but secondary resource to salmon. In the 1980's, archaeological (Alexander and Matson 1987; Hayden 1992; Matson and Alexander 1990; Pokotylo and Froese 1983; Rousseau et al 1987, 1989, 1991) and ethnoarchaeological projects (Alexander 1989, 1992, 2000; Alexander et al 1985) were undertaken to add Alpine and Sub-alpine areas to our understanding of past use of the regional landscape. Other Alpine/Sub- alpine areas along the Northwest Coast have recently been investigated (Reimer 2000), but a comparison between Coastal Mountain and Interior Plateau Alpine/Sub-alpine information goes beyond the scope of this thesis. This study is based on two independent archaeological surveys of Alpine/Sub-alpine environments: the Clear Range (Pokotylo 1986) and Pavilion Mountain (Alexander 1989). Both are adjacent to Upper Hat Creek Valley in the mid-Fraser region of British Columbia's interior plateau (Figure 1). The floor of Upper Hat Creek Valley ranges from 840m to 1200m with its slopes extending into Intermediate, Sub-alpine and Alpine environmental zones. To date, most of the archaeological reports have focused on the valley floor and lower slopes. It is the goal of this thesis to explore the nature of the archaeological record in the higher elevations of this region. Definitions of the above environmental zones are presented in Table 1 and Figure 2.

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