A 4,000-year-old fishing village was unearthed this month up Sechelt Inlet, where archeologists and university students have been working with nine Sechelt Nation youth to sift through their people's past.
The students are part of this years Shíshálh Archaeological Research Project, which is a joint venture between the Sechelt Nation, the Canadian Museum of Civilization and the University of Toronto.
This is the fifth year the project has seen traditional sites of the Sechelt people explored during the summer months.
Past visits have resulted in the discovery of an ancient chieftain burial site far up Sechelt Inlet, which was dubbed one of the most important archaeological discoveries in the province.
This year the research team left that site in order to take their project closer to Sechelt where members of the Sechelt Indian Band could visit by vehicle and see the team's progress.
Coast Reporter was asked not to print the exact location of the site so the general public doesn't flood the area and disturb the team's work.
Various Sechelt Nation members and the chief and council of the band have stopped by periodically to see the excavation since it began on July 5.
What the team has found at the site in every layer of excavation are thousands of herring bones definite evidence the area was once used as a fishing village or camp site.
About 4,000 years ago, at least 3,000 years ago, there was probably fairly continuous occupation and use of the site. There may have been brief periods of time when people didn't use the site, but it seems that eventually they always came back to it, said Dr. Gary Coupland, professor of anthropology at the University of Toronto.
Dr. Terence Clark, curator of western Canadian archaeology with the Canadian Museum of Civilization, said the team believes herring spawning in the bay brought the Sechelt people to the site time and time again.
In addition to herring bones, the team has found piles of burnt mussel shells, stone and bone tools used for fishing, a stone net weight and a decorated brow band.
Some of the artifacts retrieved date back more than 4,000 years.
In order to excavate the site, teams use trowels to carefully scrape off the surface of marked areas into dustpans. The dustpans of material are poured into buckets and, once full, those buckets are poured into screen boxes to have the sand sifted out so only rocks, small debris and tiny artifacts remain. Team members then search for any bone piece or unusual rock or wooden shape in the screen box and carefully put those pieces into bags for further analysis.
It is definitely time consuming and tedious, but if you do it accurately, it gives an accurate record of how they lived back then and what their diet was like, Coupland said. The basic question we're always trying to answer in archeology is how did they live and in this case we can tell a bit about how they lived by figuring out what their diet was like.
All the artifacts found will go to the Canadian Museum of Civilization for further study and then be returned to the Sechelt Nation's museum to be catalogued or put on display.
Sechelt Indian Band Chief Garry Feschuk said the yearly project has proved beneficial for the Sechelt Nation in many ways.
One benefit has been to have our students immerse themselves in our history and learn about an important academic pursuit, he said. We are very pleased with the work that has been conducted and excited about the future.
The goals of the Shíshálh Archaeological Research Project are to strengthen collaboration between the partners, further knowledge about past uses of traditional Sechelt Nation lands, provide skills training to Sechelt Nation and University of Toronto students, increase awareness and respect of the Sechelt Nations territory, facilitate the exchange of ideas and experiences and introduce Sechelt Nation youth to potential careers in the social sciences.
To learn more, visit http://shishalharchaeology.wordpress.com.
