Archaeology in Greater Vancouver
by Roy Carlson
Archaeologists have been active here for more than a century. In 1895 Charles Hill-Tout, a New Westminster teacher, published Later Prehistoric Man in British Columbia, which brought together the results of research into the local mounds of earth and clam shells as well as the uses of stone tools found in farmers’ fields. Hill-Tout asked, “What are these things, who made them, and how old are they?” Today most of these questions can be answered. There are many professional archaeologists working in the universities and colleges of Greater Vancouver and as consultants employed by environmental firms. The archaeology branch in Victoria oversees the implementation of legislation, issues permits for excavations, and maintains the master file of the thousands of archaeological sites.
The oldest known site in Greater Vancouver area is at the Glenrose Cannery in Surrey. A walk on the beach there reveals both the occasional “pebble tool,” a simple artifact made by taking a cobble and hammering it with another rock to remove flakes and form a sharp edge, and the stubs of waterlogged posts protruding from the beach deposits. These posts have been interpreted as the remains of a fish weir and dated by radiocarbon to 4,500 years ago. Excavations in the 1970s on the rise of land behind the beach cross-sectioned a deep cultural deposit with the lower layers dating to 8,000 years ago. At that time pebble tools and rather simple flaked stone leaf-shaped knives and spear points were found. The artifacts from Glenrose are very similar to those found on the central coast at Namu dated at 9,700 years, at the Milliken site near Yale at 9,000 years and at the Bear Cove site on northern Vancouver Island at 8,000 years ago. All of these early sites are situated at places where fish or sea mammals could be taken. Shellfish remains are scarce in these early sites whereas sites younger than 5,000 years ago are typically “shell middens” made up of masses of clamshells.
A hundred years ago the area on the North Arm of the Fraser River opposite the east end of Sea Island was the site of a huge shell midden, up to at least 5 metres in depth, which covered 1.8 hectares and was known as either the Marpole site, the Eburne Mound or the Great Fraser Midden. Hill-Tout excavated there as have many archaeologists since his time. The centre of the site is approximately the Fraser Arms Hotel on Marine Drive. Marpole shows a very rich culture with tools made by grinding and polishing stone, ornaments of hand hammered native copper, sculptured stone bowls, and bone and antler carvings indicative of a well-developed ceremonial life. The site was occupied between approximately 2,500 and 1,500 years ago before the extensive delta at the mouth of the Fraser had reached its present size. Other sites of this time period on the Strait of Georgia and lower Fraser show much the same configuration of culture. In Greater Vancouver excavations in such sites have taken place at Locarno Beach, Crescent Beach, Point Grey, at Whalen farm and Beach Grove on Boundary Bay, at the St. Mungo Cannery near the south end of the Alex Fraser Bridge, on the Pitt River and at several sites in Tsawwassen near the ferry dock. Several of these sites predate Marpole and show assemblages of artifacts that are transitional in style between Marpole site and the earlier Glenrose assemblages.
The best known excavated late period sites those that date within the last 1,500 years are several sites on the Musqueam Reserve, the Belcarra Park site on Indian Arm and parts of the Crescent Beach and Beach Grove sites. There are differences in artifacts found at these later sites, but there are also many continuities from earlier periods. What archaeologists see in the archaeological record is a gradual change from the early flaked stone tools of the pre-5,000 period to the elaborate culture of Marpole times to the culture of the native Salish-speaking peoples who were here at the time of the early explorers.
Exhibits of local archaeological remains can be found in the Museum of Anthropology at UBC and the Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at SFU. The Vancouver Museum at Vanier Park has a large collection of artifacts from the St. Mungo and Marpole sites, although no artifacts are currently on display.
The department of archaeology at SFU offers an undergraduate major program as well as graduate degrees in archaeology. UBC offers a specialization in archaeology as part of its anthropology programs. Capilano, Douglas, Langara and Kwantlen offer undergraduate courses in B.C. archaeology including evening courses. The Archaeology Society of British Columbia sponsors a monthly lecture at the Vancouver Museum and publishes a newsletter, The Midden. Technical publications are available from Archaeology Press at SFU and from UBC Press.
Archaeology Resources - archaeology related news, books and web resources.
(1)
Recent Comments