Archaeological Overview of the Kamloops Forest District, Land and Resource Management Planning (LRMP) Region
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ARCHAEOLOGICAL OVERVIEW OF THE KAMLOOPS FOREST DISTRICT, LAND AND RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PLANNING REGION Prepared for: ARCHAEOLOGY BRANCH Ministry of Small Business, Tourism and Culture Victoria, B.C. Prepared by: ARCAS CONSULTING ARCHEOLOGISTS LTD. 994 Thermal Drive Coquitlam, B.C. V3J 6Sl August 31, 1994 CULTURE DEPARTMENT LKNARY MINISTRY OF SMALL iWWESS, TOURISTS AN0 CLLTURE ROOM 101 - 803 rOi?NS!N STREET VICTORIA, BRITISH COLUMBIA VW 1x4 Archaeological Overview of the Kamloops LRMP Region CREDITS PROJECT COORDINATION Robert I. Muir, M.A. Amoud H. Stryd, Ph.D. ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH Robert Muir Mary DePaoli, B.A. ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH Diana Alexander, M.A. (Consulting Ethnographer) REPORT AUTHORS Robert Muir Diana Alexander Richard Brolly ELECTRONIC MAPPING Terra Pacific Information Systems REPORT PRODUCTION Susan K. Woods, B.A. Robert Muir All personnel an from Arca.s Consulting Archeologists Ltd unless otherwise indicated. ii Archaeological Overview of the Kamloops LRMP Region ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We would like to thank the Archaeology Branch of the Ministry of Small Business, Tour- ism and Culture, for their support. In particular, we would like to acknowledge Bob Powell, Heather Moon, Pradeep Singh and Jack Foster for their assistance and encouragement throughout the course of this study. Bob Powell and Kay Kenny also deserve thanks for initiating this study and for reviewing an earlier draft of this report. In addition we are indebted to the staff of Unique Drafting Services Ltd. for their patience and assistance in producing the maps which accompany this report. Arcas Consulting Archaeologists Ltd. would also like to thank Diana Alexander for her very valuable contributions to this study and Doug Campbell and Jim Campbell of TPIS for handling the technical aspects of digital mapping. 111 Archaeological Overview of the Kmloops LRMF’ Region TABLE OF CONTENTS Page CREDITS ................................................. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...................................... iii 1.0 INTRODUCTION ......................................... 1 1.1 Objectives ......................................... 2 1.2 Study Area ......................................... 2 2.0 METHODOLOGY ........................................ 4 2.1 Background Research .................................. 4 2.2 Consultation ........................................ 4 2.3 Archaeological Resource Potential Assessment ................... 5 2.4 Mapping .......................................... 5 2.4.1 Archaeological Potential Mapping ..................... 5 2.4.2 Documenting Known Archaeological Sites ................ 6 3.0 PHYSICAL SETTING ...................................... 8 3.1 Post Glacial Geomorphology .............................. 8 3.2 Palaeoenvironment .................................... 9 3.3 Modem Environment .................................. 9 4.0 ETHNOGRAPHIC OVERVIEW ................................ 11 r 4.1 Native Groups in the Kamloops Forest District ................... 11 4.2 Scope and Objectives of the Ethnographic Overview ............... 15 4.3 Primary Sources of Ethnographic Information ................... 16 P 4.3.1 Shuswap ..................................... 16 4.3.2 Thompson ................................... 16 4.3.3 Okanagan-Colville ............................... 17 4.4 Basic Site Selection and Recognition ......................... 18 4.5 Subsistence Strategies on the Interior Plateau .................... 20 4.5.1 River Division ................................. 20 4.5.2 Lakes Division ................................. 21 4.5.3 Effects of Subsistence Strategies on Village Size and u Site Densities ................................. 22 4.6 Subsistence and Settlement Patterns .......................... 23 4.6.1 Potential Variability in the Ethnographic Patterning .......... 24 4.6.2 Seasonal Round of Subsistence Activities ................. 26 4.7 Description and Use of Environmental Units in the Study Area ......... 27 4.7.1 River Valleys ................................. 27 4.7.2 River Terraces ................................. 30 4.7.3 Intermediate Lakes .............................. 31 iv Archaeological Overview of the Kmloops LP.MP Region TABLE OF CONTENTS - Continued Page 4.7.4 Intermediate Grasslands ...................... 33 4.75 Montane Forest ........................... 34 4.7.6 Montane Parkland .......................... 37 4.7.7 Alpine ................................. 4.8 Other Cultural Practices Producing Archaeological Sites ........ : : 40 42 4.8.1 Burials. ................................ 42 4.8.2 Rock Art ............................... 43 4.8.3 Quarries ................................ 4.9 Euro-Canadian Settlement and Historic Changes to Native Land Use : : 43 44 5.0 PREVIOUS ARCHAEOLOGY ................................. 46 5.1 Archaeological Inventory of the Kamloops LRMP Region ............ 46 5.2 Major Excavations .................................... 47 5.3 Documented Archaeological Sites in the Study Area ................ 48 5.3.1 Prehistoric Sites ................................ 48 5.3.2 Historic Sites .................................. 53 5.3.3 Site Distributions ............................... 56 5.3.4 Site Densities .................................. 59 6.0 OVERVIEW RESULTS ..................................... 61 6.1 A Model of Archaeological Resource Distribution in the Study Area ..... 61 6.2 DataGaps ......................................... 63 6.2.1 Survey Coverage of Left bank of the Thompson River ........ 64 6.2.2 Lowland Secondary Drainages South of the Thompson River .... 64 6.2.3 Major Lakes in Northern Part of the Study Area ............ 65 6.2.4 Upland Lakes Throughout the Study Area ................ 65 6.2.5 Alpine Environments ............................. 65 6.2.6 Traditional Travel Routes .......................... 65 6.2.7 Lithic Raw material Quarries ........................ 66 6.2.8 Initial Peopling and Early Prehistoric Sites ................ 66 6.2.9 Models of Culture History and the Origins of Extant Native Cultures ................................ 66 6.2.10 Variability of Pithouse Design and Construction ............ 67 6.2.11 Non-Residential Activities Occurring at Winter Villages ....... 67 6.3 Study Limitations ..................................... 67 7.0 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH .................. 70 8.0 REFERENCES CITED . 72 V Archaeological Overview of the Kamloops LXWP Region 1 1.0 INTRODUCTION This report summarizes the results of an Archaeological Overview of the Kamloops Forest District, Land and Resource Management Planning (LRMP) region. The overview was conducted by Arcas Consulting Archeologists Ltd (Arcas), Diana Alexander, M.A. (Consulting Ethnographer), and Terra Pacitic Information Systems (IPIS) for the Archaeology Branch, Ministry of Small Business, Tourism and Culture. It has been prepared in accordance with the “study proposal” prepared by Arcas (June 15, 1994) and the guidelines for an Archaeological Overview Assessment in the British Columbia Archaeological Impact Assessment Guidelines (Apland and Kenny 1992), issued by the Archaeology Branch. The primary purpose of the overview was to provide written and mapped information about known archaeological resources, and archaeological resource potential in the Kamloops LRMP region to assist in resource management and land use decision making. The results of this overview consists of three components: (1) a report (this document), providing background information and summarizing the results of the overview: (2) digitized maps displaying the distribution of known archaeological sites and identifying areas of low, moderate and high archaeological site potential and predicted density, using archaeological resource polygons; and (3) two archaeological resource databases, electronically linked to the digitized map set, containing information about each archaeological resource polygon and individual archaeological sites respectively. It is important to note that this overview is exclusively concerned with archaeological resources. It is not intended to provide a complete synthesis of information on all types of “Heritage Resources” in the study area. Resources such as “Traditional Use Sites”, and “Cultural Landscape Features” (as defined by the Heritage Conservation Branch 1994) are not dealt with in this study. Furthermore, this overview does not provide a thorough review of the history or ethnography of the study area, though considerable historical and ethnographic information has been incorporated into it. In this overview, the term “archaeological resources” is synonymous with “archaeological remains,” that is, the physical remains found at archaeological sites. Archaeological sites are places containing such material evidence, often in the form of artifacts (objects made or used by people) and alterations to the landscape (such as pit depressions, rock cairns, or bark-stripped trees). Archaeology seeks to understand the human past through the examination of the nature and organization of these remains. Archaeological Overview of the Kamloops LRMP Region 2 1.1 Objectives The primary purpose of the study was to provide a synthesis of information on the distribution of archaeological sites in the study area which would assist in land-use and development planning. Specifically, the objectives of the study were to: (1) produce a report which describes the methodology used to conduct the study, a summary of previous archaeological research in the region, provides a discussion of the nature and