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Inland Lifeways of Haida Gwaii 400-1700 CE

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Inland Lifeways of Haida Gwaii 400-1700 CE University of Calgary PRISM: University of Calgary's Digital Repository Graduate Studies The Vault: Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2015-02-13 Inland Lifeways of Haida Gwaii 400-1700 CE Church, Karen Church, K. (2015). Inland Lifeways of Haida Gwaii 400-1700 CE (Unpublished master's thesis). University of Calgary, Calgary, AB. doi:10.11575/PRISM/26535 http://hdl.handle.net/11023/2107 master thesis University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission. Downloaded from PRISM: https://prism.ucalgary.ca UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY Inland Lifeways of Haida Gwaii 400-1700 CE A Landscape Archaeological Study by Karen Church A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACLUTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS GRADUATE PROGRAM IN ARCHAEOLOGY CALGARY, ALBERTA JANUARY, 2015 © Karen Church 2015 Abstract The inland lifeways of the northwest Pacific archipelago, Xaadlaa gwaayee (Haida Gwaii, British Columbia), have not been the subject of intensive archaeological inquiry. The routes of precontact inland trails are no longer known well due to the decimation of the local population in the 18th and 19th centuries. Industrial logging is threatening to destroy archaeological evidence of the inland trail network, and therefore this inquiry is timely. The largest and most topographically diverse island, Graham, has been the subject of many archaeological impact assessments that have documented hundreds of archaeological sites, most of them containing culturally modified trees. In this thesis, I use a landscape archaeology approach in which I access the local gyaahlang (legendary stories), conduct a brief research into the words and place names associated with inland lifeways, and provide an analysis of historic accounts and maps of the study area. As a mother of xa̱ adaa children and an archaeologist who worked in inland areas and lead an indigenous lifestyle on Graham Island for 22 years, I naturally have a phenomenological perspective of the island and use this experience as the lens through which I interpret the results of this research. The local indigenous language, Xaad Kil, also guides my interpretation. The results are combined within a geographic information system where I use spatial analysis, including a series of least cost path analyses to help define potential archaeological survey corridors along proposed inland pathways. I also compare historic aerial photography with current orthophotos to assess changes to wetlands over the last century and to evaluate the archaeological potential associated with caribou hunting. Finally, three dimensional views of the landscape are used to assess the patterned distribution of culturally modified trees in relation to the least cost paths and ethnographic data, in an effort to refine the archaeological potential model for inland areas of Graham Island. ii Keywords: Graham Island, culturally modified tree, CMT, phenomenology, trail, xa̱ adaa, Haida, language, least cost path, LCP, local knowledge, experience This thesis should be printed in colour. iii Acknowledgements Far above all others, thank-you to my daughters, Lovisa Betty Church Thompson and Norielle Pearl Church Bellis. Thank-you to Barney Edgars, my colleague, good friend, and mentor to my children, for all of the discussions, field trips, laughs and great photos, it has been to my honour and pleasure to bounce my ideas off you, and receive your input. Thank-you to Larrie Thompson, for the knowledge of the land contained absolutely within your body and mind. Thank-you to Morley Eldridge, for your patience with my questions, and your direction on matters of GIS analyses. Over the years it has been a pleasure to learn from your experience and enthusiasm. Thank-you to Bart Hulshof, Department of Geography, University of Calgary, for your patience and interest in my work, and for helping me get on track with my GIS from time to time. Thank-you to Clint Tauber for the reference documents. Thank-you to Chris Butson, GeoBC, for your assistance in acquiring the excellent GIS datasets for this project. Thank-you to Hillary Stewart, for her labour of love, the book, Cedar. Thank-you to Marwan Khoury, for your support and understanding, and the idea that using ‘and’ is often better than using ‘but’. iv Thank-you to Marianne Boelscher Ignace, for leading me in the correct direction with Xaad Kil protocols and for your mentorship. My interest and confidence in higher learning was re-awakened by you. haw’aa. Thank-you to Kerry, Kent, Sue and Kristine Church for the Christmas holiday at home. Thank-you to Gerald Oetelaar for helping me to understand that a CMT can have more than one cultural meaning, and for his precise edits. Huych-q’a Evangeline Tate. Thank-you to the Government of Alberta, for a Graduate Student Grant that helped support my family and I during the completion of this degree. Thank-you to THEN / HiER, the History Education Network, for assisting me in getting my work into the public sphere. Thank-you to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, for financial assistance via a Joseph Bombardier Graduate Student Award, 2012–2013. The confidence that I received with the awarding of this grant was so valuable to this project. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ......................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................... iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ..................................................................................................... vi LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................... x LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................ xi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .............................................................................................. xvi CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................... 1 1.1 Significance of Research ................................................................................................................................. 1 1.1.1 The Current Situation ................................................................................................................................. 3 1.1.2 A Short History of Industrial Logging on the Queen Charlotte Islands ............................ 5 1.1.3 Personal experience supporting significance of research ....................................................... 8 1.1.4 Substance and personal abuse .................................................................................................................. 9 1.2 Hiking on, to, Xaadlaa gwaayee .............................................................................................................. 10 1.2.1 Yaahl (Raven Walking) ............................................................................................................................... 10 1.2.2 Hiking to Xaadlaa gwaayee, a scientific view ............................................................................... 11 1.3 Language Notes ................................................................................................................................................ 13 CHAPTER 2: THEORY AND STRUCTURE OF ARGUMENT ................................................. 15 2.1 Landscape Archaeology: Theory and Practice ............................................................................... 15 2.1.1 Post Processualism in Archaeology .................................................................................................... 17 2.1.2 Phenomenology, a Branch of Post Processualist Landscape Archaeology ................. 18 2.1.3 Tilley on the Land ........................................................................................................................................... 20 2.1.4 My Phenomenology ....................................................................................................................................... 25 2.1.5 Personal Experience ..................................................................................................................................... 27 2.1.6 What CMT archaeological sites may mean to contemporary x̱aadaas ......................... 36 2.1.7 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................................... 40 CHAPTER 3: STUDY AREA: ENVIRONMENT .................................................................... 42 3.1 Physical Description ...................................................................................................................................... 42 3.1.1 Off-Shore North Pacific Archipelago ................................................................................................... 42 3.1.2 Topography ........................................................................................................................................................ 42 3.1.3 Weather
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