ASBC Victoria News

ASBC Victoria Meeting, Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Spectacular Artifacts from the Williston Reservoir in Northern B.C.

 -Morley Eldridge, Millennia Research Limited

Some archaeologists have jokingly described the many spectacular artifacts found at Williston Lake as “archaeological porn”.  Archaeological work by Millennia Research Limited continued in the Williston Reservoir in 2010; now some 7300 ha have now been intensively surveyed, with archaeologists no more than 5 m from any location over this vast area.  Thousands of artifacts have been collected and even more mapped with 2 to 5 m precision.  The fieldwork took place on a remarkable landscape, the nearly billiard-table level surface of ancient glacial lakes, dissected by small drainages.  Scattered on this surface, and re-exposed because overlaying soils have washed away, are the artifacts from the entire late Pleistocene and Holocene periods.  A large number of apparently Clovis-diagnostic artifacts, including very large blades and blade cores, continue to be found, but the lack of true Clovis points and reduction strategies suggest that the Clovis-style blade-and-core technologies probably date to a later period and were retained longer in the Peace drainage compared to much of the rest of North America.  During analysis of the 2009 data it was realized that the ‘fishtail’ point style appears to be a northern point style probably contemporaneous with Folsom.  These points occasionally are found in Folsom components, in dated contemporaneous sites near the Great Lakes, and on the oldest glacial lake shorelines in northern Alberta.  Also present are artifacts spanning almost all the paleoindian period as defined on the Great Plains.  Two pieces of what are believed to be the same ancient point were found some 23 km apart, and on opposite sides of the river valley. Besides points, other artifacts diagnostic of the paleoindian period such as burins and spurred scrapers were found.  Although paleoindian period artifacts formed the majority of the finds, the archaic or middle period, late precontact, and historic period artifacts of the Tsay Keh Dene were also present.  More evidence for Ice Mountain Microblade Industry was found in 2010. A unique find in 2010 was a spectacular large polychromatic nephrite adze blade, likely traded from southern BC.  The artifact assemblages show strong links to the plains to the east, the boreal forests to the north and northeast, mountains to the northwest, and sporadic contacts with peoples to the south. 

Morley Eldridge is the president of Millennia Research Limited, a Victoria archaeological consulting company.   2010 marks his 42^nd field year.  Morley’s special interests are predictive archaeological modeling and remote sensing (particularly with LiDAR data), wet sites and basketry, archaeological data management, and (especially now!) paleoindian remains in northwest America.

ASBC Victoria Meeting, Tuesday, October 19, 730pm

You want to live where? Living and dying in Viking Iceland

 -Dr Erin McGuire, University of Victoria

More than 1100 years ago a group of settlers decided that Iceland looked like a suitable place to live. They established farms in a virgin landscape and attempted to recreate, and perhaps reinvent, the lives they had been living in their homelands. These settlers were one wave of an extended period of migration that defined what we call the Viking Age. In their new Icelandic homes, they lived, farmed, fought, loved, and died, much as they would have in Norway. But subtle differences in the landscape and resources available to them, as well as the new opportunities and challenges that arise when people start fresh, provided them with the opportunity to forge distinct identities. In this talk, we will look at what life would have been like for the Icelandic Viking settlers, using evidence drawn from archaeological excavations across the country. Although the evidence is fragmentary, as is the case in any archaeological research, the stories we can tell are compelling, and I hope that they will inspire you, much as they have inspired me.

Dr Erin McGuire is a Senior Instructor in Anthropology at the University of Victoria. Her research looks at human migration and burial practices in the context of the Viking North Atlantic. Recently moved to Victoria from Glasgow, Scotland, Erin has been on the move most of her life, and studying the emergence of migrant identities seemed like a natural choice for her. At the University of Glasgow, she completed her PhD in archaeology and taught for both the Department of Archaeology and the University of Glasgow’s Learning and Teaching Centre. Although she spends much of her time these days teaching about the discipline of Anthropology, the Vikings still hold a special place in her heart, and she enjoys speaking about them when the opportunity arises.

ASBC Victoria Meeting Tuesday Sept 21, 730pm

Spindle Whorls, Stinging Nettle and Fireweed

 -Grant Keddie

There is a lot of misunderstanding about the nature of Ethnological collections and how they relate to the archaeological record. What do we know about the archaeology of tools used in the processing of plant fibers that appear in the Ethnographic record? Grant will talk about various tools and some of his experiments in plant processing. 

 Grant Keddie has worked as a Curator of Archaeology at the Royal British Columbia Museum for the last 38 years.  He has a broad interest in the history of First Nations cultures of British Columbia, as well as the early history of European and Asiatic cultures in B.C. 

During the last 42 years he has undertaken archaeological survey and excavation work in many parts of the province. His museum job involves all facets of research, public programs and public inquiries on the archaeology of British Columbia and the Pacific Rim. He has provided thousands of lectures and demonstrations to school children where he has put an emphasis on understanding the value and importance of the history of indigenous cultures.

Tool technology is one of Grant’s specialties.  He is well known for his popular public demonstrations and experiments in making and using stone and bone artifacts. He has butchered dead sea lions with stone tools and trained movie actors in the art of throwing and making weapons.

He has a particular interest in cultural diffusion and trade around the Pacific Rim; examining such questions as when did the first iron spread around the north Pacific Rim and how it was modified and used by First Nations?  He has long maintained an interest in the occurrence of Japanese ship wrecks on the Pacific Rim and the potential influence of Asian or Pacific Island cultures on those of the Eastern Pacific coast.  One of his many side interests includes the study of imported Chinese ceramic food containers used by the first Chinese immigrants to British Columbia.

One of his broader interests includes the revolution in the field of DNA analysis that is changing and broadening our understanding of human cultures and how they have populated the planet. He has had much of his own genome analysed in order to gain a more personal perspective on this subject.

ASBC Victoria Meeting, Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Seven Thousand Years of Occupation at the Ruskin Dam Site

 -Duncan McLaren and Brendan Gray

Excavations of the Ruskin Dam Site, located on the north side of the Fraser Valley, were conducted over four months in 2009 as part of a salvage project.  Our talk will discuss the significance of the major discoveries at the site including: the house features, quartz crystal tools, biface styles, woodworking technology, objects of personal adornment, and faunal remains which contain a high proportion of sturgeon bones.  Combined, the artifacts, radiocarbon dates, and site stratigraphy provide a unique opportunity for gaining a perspective on the long-term occupation of this strategically located archaeological site.

Duncan McLaren is the owner and operator of Cordillera Archaeology, an archaeological contracting firm based in Victoria, BC.  He also is an adjunct professor in the Department of Anthropology and the University of Victoria.

Brendan Gray is a consulting archaeologist based in Victoria. He has a B.A. in archaeology from S.F.U and an M.A. in Anthropology from the University of Victoria. His research interests include northwest coast archaeology and household archaeology.

ASBC Victoria Meeting, Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Ritual & Metallurgy: Genealogies of Practice in Banda, Ghana
 -Dr. Ann Stahl

The goal of the Banda Research Project has been to investigate the dynamism of African village life in relation to shifting global connections ranging from the imposition of colonial rule at the end of the 19th century and extending to the early first millennium AD when Banda villagers participated in the Saharan trade. Our 2008 and 2009 field seasons at Ngre Kataa revealed extensive primary metal-working contexts dating to the period cal AD 1200-1400 where the site’s inhabitants produced copper alloy and iron objects. These metal-working features and deposits co-occur with a series of apparent shrine deposits. The evening’s presentation will explore the nature of these deposits, and share preliminary insights into the implications of our findings for our understanding of craft specialization and the genealogies of metallurgical practice in the Banda area.
Ann Stahl is Professor and Chair of the Anthropology Department at UVic. From 1988 to 2008 she was on the anthropology faculty at the State University of New York at Binghamton and prior to that taught at the Institute of Archaeology, University College, London (1985-88). She holds a PhD in Anthropology from UC Berkeley and an MA in Archaeology from the University of Calgary. She has published numerous book chapters and journal articles on her work in Banda in addition to a 2001 Cambridge University Press book entitled “Making History in Banda: Anthropological Perspectives on Africa’s Past.”  Her 2005 edited collection on African Archaeology published by Blackwell was awarded the 2006 ‘best book’ award by the Society for Africanist Archaeologists.

ASBC Victoria Meeting, Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Making the Abstract Concrete: The Place of Geometric Signs in French Upper Paleolithic Cave Art

 -Genevieve von Petzinger (University of Victoria)

In Paleolithic cave art, geometric signs tend to outnumber figurative images and yet, they remain relatively understudied.  To address this gap in our knowledge, I compiled a digital catalogue of all known geometric signs found in parietal art in France, and then trended the results looking for patterns of continuity and change over time and space.  I focused on parietal art, as I could be certain of its provenance, and picked France as my region due to its abundance of decorated sites and its natural boundaries of water and mountain ranges.  The database is searchable by a variety of criteria such as sign category, method of production, date range, site type, geographical coordinates and region.  It is now being converted into an online resource.  To provide a visual dimension, it includes a selection of linked photographs and reproductions of the different signs.  In this thesis, I detail the chronological and regional patterning in sign type and frequency and the implications of these patterns for understanding where, when and why the making of these signs was meaningful to the Pleistocene peoples who created them.

Genevieve von Petzinger - Having been interested in the cognitive evolution of modern humans since her undergraduate days at the University of Victoria, Genevieve von Petzinger was finally able to explore this in more depth at the Master’s level.  Working with Dr April Nowell, again at the University of Victoria, she was able to pursue this interest, and received her MA in June 2009.  Using the geometric signs of Upper Paleolithic rock art, Genevieve discovered some very interesting information about these early examples of symbolic behaviour, and presented her findings at the Paleoanthropology Society meeting in Chicago, Illinois in April 2009.  This presentation was the catalyst for her research being featured as the Feb. 20^th, 2010 cover story in New Scientist magazine.  This exposure then led to a strong media follow-up, which included an interview on the Discovery Channel, a feature in the Tuttoscienze supplemental of La Stampa in Italy, an article in the Globe and Mail, and a full page feature in the Vancouver Sun, as well many other popular press articles and radio interviews in French and English, both nationally and internationally.  While being slightly overwhelmed by all the attention, Genevieve has been very excited about the positive response, and is just thrilled that other people want to hear her talk about her favourite subject!      

ASBC Victoria Meeting, Tuesday, February 16, 2010

The Powerful Dead: The Rocky Point Cemetery and Straits Salish Identity

 -Darcy Mathews

Burial cairns and mounds are two types of pre-contact burial features in the Strait of Georgia region of south-western British Columbia.  More than a millennium ago, the Straits Salish people, an ethno-linguistic group centered on present day Victoria, constructed a cairn cemetery at the Rocky Point site.  Located 18 km southwest of present-day Victoria, this cemetery has over 300 cairns which occur in a variety of patterned shapes and sizes.  Analysis of cairn construction and the use of space within this cemetery suggests that there was a strategic use of both material culture and landscape in Salish mortuary ritual, simultaneously expressing individual, household and perhaps even village-wide group identity.  Underlying these statements of identity is the material expression of relationships between the living and the powerful dead, which were carefully navigated through the process of the funerary ritual, of which building cairns and mounds was but one part of a long-term process; a process that may have an antiquity of several thousand years.

Darcy Mathews is a PhD candidate at the University of Victoria.  Working with the Scia’New First Nation, his ongoing dissertation research focuses on the identification, preservation, and study of pre-contact burial cairn and mound cemeteries in the Strait of Georgia.

Watersheds and Coastal Archaeology: A Northwest Coast Perspective

-Rich Hutchings

The watershed or basin has been considered a primary unit of analysis for hydrologists, geologists, ecologists, human geographers, and historians.  On the Northwest Coast, the economic significance of riverine settlement has long been a central focus, yet it is only in the last decade that anthropologists have begun to contemplate the social, political and ideological implications of rivers, river edges, and, to a lesser degree, basins.  In this lecture, I will explore the concept of watersheds as a unit of analysis for archaeologists working on the Coast.  Specifically, I consider the notion of what I call ‘watershed identity’, the issue of territorial boundaries, and the social implications of changing basin landscapes.  Finally, these issues are highlighted in relation to the increasing threat of coastal erosion and its impact on maritime heritage, a concern for archaeologists and communities alike in this region. 

Rich Hutchings was born and raised in Seattle, Washington.  Having trained and worked as a diver in the marine industry, Rich completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Idaho, Moscow.  He then undertook research in the area of alluvial and coastal geoarchaeology on the Nooksack River, earning his Masters degree from Western Washington University, Bellingham in 2004.  Rich is currently pursuing Doctoral research at the University of British Columbia, looking at maritime cultural landscapes, coastal erosion, and marine heritage management in the Sechelt area. 

Preserving Polar History – The Conservation of Material Culture from the Early Exploration of Antarctica
-Jana Stefan

At the turn of the 20th century, Antarctica was host to one of the last great races of geographic discovery, as explorers including Scott, Shackleton and Amundsen breached the shores of the frozen continent in search of the South Pole.  In addition to bringing with them thousands of pounds of provisions and personal belongings, each of these expeditions erected a large wooden hut to serve as winter living quarters and from which their sledging and scientific excursions were based.  Remarkably, several of these huts, as well as the thousands of artefacts in and around them, survive to this day.  A massive conservation project is currently underway to prevent these huts and their contents from being lost entirely to the ravages of the Antarctic environment.  This talk provides a first-hand account of the exceptional challenges involved in planning and executing the conservation and archaeological excavation of a site hampered by extreme inaccessibility and unparalleled environmental conditions.    Jana Stefan currently gets to scurry around behind the scenes at the Royal BC Museum each day in her role as Exhibit Arts Technician.  Trained as a conservator and art historian, she has previously worked in the conservation labs at not only that institution, but at museums, libraries and sites of historic and archaeological interest around the globe.  Most recently, she spent six months living in a tent in Antarctica as a conservator for the Antarctic Heritage Trust, helping to preserve the historic sites associated with the early explorers of that continent.

A Demonstration of Microblade Manufacture and Hafting Techniques
- Nick Waber

Microblades are very sharp stone blades produced from a specially-prepared core.  They are an efficient use of material, and an exceptionally versatile and portable technology.  They were common throughout much of the prehistoric Northwest Coast, yet the use of microblades died out before the beginning of the late period.  Their makers and users employed a variety of manufacture and hafting strategies.  We will demonstrate and discuss a few of these methods, addressing practical advantages and drawbacks from a first-person perspective.  There will be opportunities for some of those in attendance to try their hands at producing microblades!         Nick Waber is a first year graduate student at the University of Victoria.  He specializes in lithic technology, experimental archaeology, and Northwest Coast archaeology.  His current research involves replication and experimental studies with microblades.

Subsistence at the Willows Beach Siteand the Culture History of Southeastern Vancouver Island
-Ila Willerton           

Culture types in Pacific Northwest archaeology are characteristic artifact assemblages that often distinguish different prehistoric periods. Artifact assemblages indicate a culture type transition occurred during the 2,630 BP–270 BP occupation of Willows Beach (DcRt-10), a shell midden in Oak Bay, Greater Victoria. Faunal remains from this long-occupied site reveal links to subsistence patterns, following Dale Croes’s theory that culture type change reflects subsistence intensification over time. Five DcRt-10 faunal assemblages were analyzed, and those of stratigraphic units associated with the later Gulf of Georgia and earlier Locarno Beach culture types were compared. The youngest assemblage contains a smaller proportion of land mammal bone, suggesting increased sea mammal, fish, and bird procurement. The remains also suggest a greater variety of taxa exploited over time. These results hint that culture type change is linked to subsistence change, shedding light on the nature of culture types and the culture historic sequence of this region.  Ila Willerton is an Anthropology student with a keen interest in Northwest Coast archaeology. She completed her Bachelor of Arts at the University of Victoria in 2007, and recently defended her Master of Arts thesis at UVic as well. Her area of specialization is zooarchaeology and the relationship between diet and cultural change. The subject of this talk will be Ila’s recent M.A. work on faunal bones from the Willows Beach site in Oak Bay.

Pointing it Out: Fluted Projectile Point Distributions and Early Human Populations in Saskatchewan 
-Jon Hall

This study investigates early Paleo-Indian expansion into Saskatchewan as reflected by the distribution of fluted projectile points, and comparing it to Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene environmental changes.  It consists of a geographic distribution analysis, using an assemblage consisting solely of fluted point surface finds.An initial study of Saskatchewan’s fluted projectile points, conducted in 1966 by Tom Kehoe, made use of information from the then known database, consisting of a mere 36 artifacts.  The current study examines the modern database of 78 specimens, and discusses the distributions of the three separate types of fluted points found in Saskatchewan and the validity of applying terms to them (Clovis, Folsom, and Northwestern) derived outside the province.Not only does Saskatchewan’s assemblage reflect distributional differences between each fluted point type as a result of late Pleistocene/early Holocene environmental changes, but it shows typological similarities to assemblages elsewhere and changes in a time-progressive manner. Jon Hall writes: “I am a local consulting archaeologist with three years of archaeological experience in British Columbia. My archaeological experience prior to this consisted of several archaeological excavations and research projects in Saskatchewan as part of the Study of Cultural Adaptation in the Prairie Ecozone. I completed my Bachelor of Arts degree in 2004 through the University of Saskatchewan and have recently completed my Master of Arts degree through Simon Fraser University. The relatively warm winters on the coast have softened me, prohibiting me from returning to the prairies, but I have and will always maintain an interest in the early prehistory of the Great Plains culture are, specifically the Northern Plains.”

Through the stones we reach the shore: Studies of a Paleolithic marsh in Jordan
-Dr. April Nowell 

The Levantine corridor is one of only two places in the world that was occupied either alternately or simultaneously by Neandertals and modern humans (approximately 50,000 to 100,000 years ago). In order to understand why Neandertals went extinct in this region we are studying their settlement patterns in relation to local climatic variation, their subsistence strategies and technological knowledge. In other words, to understand why they died we must understand how they lived. In this presentation Dr. Nowell will detail the preliminary findings and research directions of the Druze Marsh Paleolithic project in Jordan. She will also briefly discuss the applied component of her work with managers of two local animal and nature reserves to document the complex relationships that existed in the Pleistocene between animals, humans and water in this fragile oasis ecosystem. April Nowell is an associate professor of Anthropology at UVic, where she teaches graduate and undergraduate classes in Paleolithic archaeology, archaeological theory, human paleontology and Paleolithic art. She did her undergraduate degree at McGill University in Anthropology (honours), and her PhD in Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania with Harold Dibble. Her dissertation was The Archaeology of Intelligence: A Study of Symmetry and Standardization in Lithic Artifacts and Their Implications for the Evolution of Human Intelligence. Her research interests are in the origins of language, art, symbol use and the emergence of the modern mind.

War Crimes Investigation: The Role of Forensic Archaeology
-Stefan Schmitt 

Since the 1980s the International Forensic Program of Physicians for Human Rights has been dedicated to providing independent forensic expertise for the documenting and collecting of evidence of human rights violations throughout the world. Exhumation projects have become increasingly more complex, from exhuming single individuals from cemeteries, to the work done on mass graves in Latin America and those in the former Yugoslavia and in Rwanda.  Such forensic operations are faced with temporal, spatial and jurisdictional challenges which impact the way forensic scientists approach such projects. Archaeological techniques and methods are essential in addressing everything from search methods, establishing the “minimum number of individuals” present in sets of remains, to enabling identification of remains in forensic contexts.  However, the legal mandate requires that disciplines such as archaeology adapt to the limits and protocols imposed by law enforcement and the judicial system.  These impacts may affect search and collection strategies, as well as the analysis of remains and artifacts in the laboratory.  International cases will be presented to illustrate how forensic work documenting human rights violations has influenced archaeologists in the field to expand their traditional methodological approaches to include the surviving victims as an aspect of their work. Stefan Schmitt is the director of the International Forensic Program of Physicians for Human Rights.  He was born and raised in Germany, and received his undergraduate degree in Archaeology from the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala.  In 1992 Schmitt helped set the foundation for an independent non-governmental forensic team documenting mass graves in Guatemala with the help of Dr. Clyde Snow and the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team.  In 1995, based on the team’s forensic work, and prior to the Guatemalan truth commission, the team published the first in-depth analysis of the violence suffered by several communities in the Department of Baja Verapaz. Since 1996, Schmitt has been living with his family in Tallahassee where he received his Masters of Science degree in Criminology from Florida State University.  Prior to joining Physicians for Human Rights, he worked for nine and a half years at the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s Crime Lab.  As a Crime Lab Analyst, he led crime scene investigations and provided expert testimony in support of death investigations for the law enforcement community in thirteen north Florida counties.  He has also developed and taught courses on Forensic Investigations and Human Rights for Florida State University’s School of Criminology.

Cops, Coroners, Bodies And Bones: Anthropology and the B.C. Coroner’s Service
-Brenda Clark

The application of anthropology and archaeology to medico-legal death investigation has risen to prominence over the past 20 years. This presentation offers an overview of what happens in British Columbia when skeletal remains are found and enter the medico-legal system. What is the role of an anthropologist or archaeologist who doesn’t have psychic powers or a hologram machine like our television counterparts. Since all too often these remains are from an archaeological context, new initiatives by the BC Coroners Service regarding found human remains will be discussed.Brenda Clark has an M.A. from Memorial University and teaches anthropology at Camosun College.  She has acted as a consultant to the BC Coroners Service on Vancouver Island for 10 years. Her interest in raising public awareness about archaeology in the province led to her co-editing Victoria Underfoot: Excavating a City’s Secrets.  The book has been nominated for a Monday Magazine “M” Award for Favourite Non-fiction Book, so get online and vote at mondaymag.com.

Recent Finds at Williston Reservoir in Northern B.C.
-Morley Eldridge

Archaeological work by Millennia Research Limited in the Williston Reservoir in 2009 recovered hundreds of artifacts and over 200 new archaeological sites were recorded.  The fieldwork took place on a remarkable landscape, the nearly billiard-table level surface of ancient glacial lakes, dissected by small drainages.  Scattered on this surface, and re-exposed because overlaying soils have washed away, are the artifacts from the entire late Pleistocene and Holocene periods.  Included are artifacts that appear to be made with Clovis-diagnostic technology, including very large blades and blade cores, points, and a Clovis point preform.  Also present are artifacts spanning almost all the paleoindian period as defined on the Great Plains; Agate Basin, Hell Gap, Alberta, Cody Complex, and late paleoindian complexes.  Besides points, other artifacts diagnostic of the paleoindian period such as burins and spurred scrapers were found.  Although paleoindian period artifacts formed the majority of the finds, the archaic or middle period, late precontact, and historic period artifacts of the Tsay Keh Dene were also present. These artifacts were collected with precise provenience, allowing a study of the cultural landscapes from different periods, and spatial analyses of artifact distribution by time, by function, and by association with landform features.   A number of very interesting observations were made. Morley Eldridge is the president of Millennia Research Limited, a Victoria archaeological consulting company.   2009 marks his 40th anniversary of doing archaeology in BC and his 41st field year.  Morley’s special interests are predictive archaeological modeling and remote sensing (particularly with LiDAR data), wet sites and basketry, archaeological data management, and (especially now!) paleoindian remains in northwest America.