Field Notes- St6:16 Fortification Sites- Permits SERIALS SERVICES RECEIVED APR - 4 2001
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a 1HE Publication of the Archaeological Society of British Columbia ISSN 0047-7222 Vol. 32, No. 4 - 2000 Field Notes- St6:16 Fortification Sites- Permits SERIALS SERVICES RECEIVED APR - 4 2001 UNIVERSITY OF VICTOR:A McPHERSON LIBRARY ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF A MIDDEN BRITISH COLUMBIA Published four times a year by the Dedicated to the protection of archaeological resources Archaeological Society of British Columbia and the spread of archaeological knowledge. Editorial Committee President Editor: Heather Myles (604-274-4294) Andrew Mason (604-874-9221 ) [email protected] andrew_mason @golder.com Assistant Editor: Helmi Braches (604-462-8942) [email protected] Membership Permit Lists: Richard Brolly (604-689-1678) Leah Pageot (604-687-7754) [email protected] [email protected] News Editor: Heather Myles Annual membership includes a year's subscription to Field Editor: vacant and the ASBC newsletter, Publications Editor: Monica Karpiak (604-294-3394) The Midden SocNotes. [email protected] Membership Fees Production & Subscriptions: Fred Braches (604-462-8942) Individual: $25 Family: $30 Seniors/Students: $18 [email protected] Send cheque or money order payable to the ASBC to: SuBSCRIPTION is included with ASBC membership. ASBC Memberships Non-members: $14.50 per year ($17.00 USA and overseas), P.O. Box 520, Bentall Station payable in Canadian funds to the ASBC. Remit to: Vancouver BC V6C 2N3 Midden Subscriptions, ASBC ASBC on Internet P.O. Box 520, Bentall Station http://asbc.bc.ca Vancouver BC V6C 2N3 SuBMISSIONs: We welcome contributions on subjects germane to BC archaeology. Guidelines are available on request. Submis Affiliated Chapters sions should be directed to the appropriate editor at the ASBC address. Nanaimo Contact: Pat [email protected] President: Mary Durdle (250) 754-9681 Copyright Monthly lectures at Malaspina College, 900 Fifth Street, Contents of The Midden are copyrighted by the ASBC. Nanaimo, BC It is unlawful to reproduce all or any part, by any means whatso Victoria Contact: Shirley Cuthbertson (250) 382-0288 ever, without the Society's permission, which is usually gladly given. Internet: http://www.museumsassn.bc.ca/-bcmalmuseums/asbc Contributors this issue Meetings on the third Thursday of the month at 7:30pm at the Royal British Columbia Museum, Victoria. Karen Brady, Richard Brolly, Jean Bussey, Renee Carriere, Rob Commisso, Anne Edwards, Ray Kenny, Andrew Mason, Eric McLay, Sheila Minni, Heather Myles, David Schaepe ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA The ASBC greatfully acknowledges the fmancial assistance meetings in Vancouver featuring illustrated to this project provided by the British Columbia Heri lectures are usually held on the second tage Trust to support conservation of our heritage re sources, gain further knowledge, and increase public un Wednesday of each month from September to derstanding of the complete history of British Columbia. June at 8:00P.M. in the Auditorium of the Vancouver Museum at 1100 Chestnut Street. BRITISH COLUMBIA New members and visitors are welcome. [J!Jrltage Admission is free. Next lecture: II April, Dr. James Russell: "Zeno, qr~ the !saurian, the archaeology of an early Byz antine emperor." Joint ASBC/AIA meeting. a THE IDDEN Volume 32 No. 4, 2000 In this issue Rock Wall Fortifications in the Lower Fraser Canyon 2 by David Schaepe Field Notes Areas Consulting Archeologists Ltd. 5 Cariboo Heritage Archaeological Consulting 6 Chunta Resources 7 Coast Research 7 Points West Heritage Consulting Ltd. 8 Sheila Minni Research and Consulting 9 St6: lo Nation 9 The British Columbia Heritage Trust 2001 10 by Anne Edwards I Abdrew Mason Seriation, Stratigraphy, and Index Fossils: 11 The Backbone of Archaeological Dating. Edited by Michael J. O'Brien and R. Lee Lyman. Review by Rob Commisso Permits 12 Lectures 16 Who's Who at the Archaeology Branch Inside back cover by Ray Kenny Conferences 2001 Outside back cover Cover Page The cover photo, taken by Eric McLay, shows shell midden coring on Valdes Island. From left to right are Kimberley Williams and Stewart ·Thomas (Lyackson First Nation) and Robert Liang (Penelakut Tribes). Coast Research's fieldwork summary, written by Eric McLay, is presented on page 7. The Midden 3214 ROCKWALL FORI1F1CATIONS IN THE LOWER FRASER CANYON by David Schaepe THIS ARTICLE FOCUSES On my preliminary gated on southern Vancouver Island and analysis of a unique class of pre-con more broadly throughout the Northwest tact site- rock wall fortification fea Coast. Historic accounts of early explor tures-never before reported on the ers and Hudson Bay traders in the Gulf of Northwest Coast. I link my analysis of Georgia region describe villages sur these features to the nature of pre-con rounded by wooden palisades and wide tact Coast Salish leadership and politi spread occurrences of warfare and inter cal organization as it existed among the tribal conflicts. In at least one instance, central Coast Salish of the Gulf ofGeor painter Paul Kane captured on canvas a gia/Puget Sound regions in late pre-con scene of actual warfare being waged at a tact times. This topic is the focus of an Coast Salish settlement. In general, ongoing debate among social anthro though, warfare has so far gone relatively pologists and ethnohistorians. The na uninvestigated, anthropologically or ar ture of the anthropological and chaeologically, and on the Northwest etlmohistorical information applied to Coast and in the Gulfof Georgia and Puget this debate, however, is frustrated in Sound regions in particular. various and often uncertain ways by the Researchers at St6:16 Nation have, of effects of smallpox epidemics on "tra late, focused some effort on the investi ditional" Coast Salish society. Breach gation of warfare and inter-tribal conflict ., ing this "smallpox barrier" requires the a. among the central Coast Salish. St6:lo oral .<:::" use of Aboriginal oral history and/or ar "'0 histories, together with archaeological, chaeological data from pre-smallpox ·"'"0;; historical, and ethnohistorical data, reveal times, preferably immediately preced 0.. the workings of a late pre-contact defen > .0 ing the first smallpox outbreak to af 0 sive system in the lower Fraser Canyon. 0 fect the central Coast Salish, circa 1782. a..<::: At the centre of our studies are recently Although the nature of this argument Figure / . The view downriver from the main identified rock wall fortification features logically entails a "pre-contact" per wall feature at Lexwts 'o:kw 'em to the lyem that provide insight into the workings of spective, archaeologists have so far not locality. this defensive system. Apparently unique contributed to this debate. The recent within the Northwest Coast region, these findings and analysis of a number of features are constructed ofloosely stacked Defense against the attacks of enemies unique archaeological features- rock rock slabs or boulders, sometimes three and raiders was a central concern of wall fortifications in the lower Fraser Can or more courses high, with individual St6: 16 society that affected many aspects yon-present an opportunity to engage in rocks measuring over a metre in length and of St6: 16 culture and the broader Coast this discussion from an archaeological likely weighing in excess of a quarter ton. Salish culture, including village location perspective. These fortification features, These rock alignments, some over five and layout, house architecture, and in now identified at five sites in the lower metres in length, are built oflocally avail ternal social organization. Archaeologi Fraser Canyon, provide insights into the able talus from the heavily fractured bed cal evidence for significant inter-commu nature of St6:16 warfare and defensive rock of the Fraser Canyon. Simply in re nity violence on the Northwest Coast strategy as applied to the Fraser Canyon. gard to their construction, these features dates back at least 3,000 years. In the I speculate that these walls were con represent considerable investment in la Gulf of Georgia region, warfare appears structed and functioned within a central bour and coordination, which is indica to have increased in scale and intensity ized leadership system aimed at defend tive of some form of coordinated effort I ,500-1 ,000 years ago, establishing at ing and regulating access to the entire and leadership. I have now documented this time the need for defensive sites and lower Fraser Canyon rather than to indi five such fortification sites between the fortified villages as a part of everyday vidual villages. This application of ar entrance to the Fraser Canyon between life among these central Coast Salish. chaeology provides a perspective and data Lady Franklin Rock and Lexwts'6:kw'em, Numerous defensive features, includ set useful in evaluating the multi-disci roughly 4.5 miles upriver. ing trenches, embankments, and refuge plinary debate over traditional Coast sites, have been identified and investi- Salish leadership. 2 The Midden 3214 Figure 2. The main wall feature at Lexwts '6: kw 'em. other rock wall fea tures were 'identified in other parts of the canyon-partly by chance and partly through predictive modelling. Ken Malloway of the Tzeachten First Na tion informed me of a second rock wall/ platform-type con struction on the Xethlath Reserve op posite Lady Franklin Rock. My investiga tion of this feature also confirmed its cultural nature. Malloway's descrip- tion of at least one St6:16 Nation Historian Keith Carlson In our interviews with Chief Charles, he rock "ball" found in association with this and I were initially introduced to the first recalled oral history describing the use of rock feature matched that of the slingshot of these unique features in the summer of the rock wall at Lexwts' 6:kw'em. The pellets found at Lexwts' 6:kw'em and de I 998. During the time of the St6: 16 elders wall, more extensive long ago than the sur scribed by Duff.