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UNBC team unearths ancient First Nation site |
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Written by BERNICE TRICK
Citizen staff
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Thursday, 14 August 2008 |
UNBC archeological students have unearthed more than 200 ancient First Nations artifacts along with an "earth oven" believed to have heated and cured rock useful in making tools and weapons.
The dig west of Fort St. James, led by Farid Rahemtulla, UNBC anthropology professor, is an ancient village site of the Nak'azdli Band, whose members selected it based on oral history.
The site on the south shore of Stuart Lake could be from several hundred to several thousand years old, and pieces of charcoal found in various locations will be used for radiocarbon dating to determine when it was an active village, said Rahemtulla.
The 13-member student team, which includes members of the Nak'azdli Band, discovered dozens of stone tools and more than 100 stone flakes that indicate tools were manufactured at the site. A number of cultural depressions dotting the site may have been used for cooking, food storage or heating rock.
"The largest earth oven was excavated to a depth of more than four feet and is believed to be the first ever found in the Northern Interior," Rahemtulla said.
Carrier student Walter Tylee is excited about he find.
"It's important to actually get involved with our past and for the young people to understand where we came from and what we're all about," Tylee said. "In digging we learn a little bit about our past. Even finding something as small as a flake is exciting. It might be just a little flake of rock, but to think that someone was here maybe thousands of years ago and chipped that flake out to make something like an arrowhead is exciting."
Rahemtulla described the three-week project as a "remarkable success" both as a find and training band members and students .
"This kind of experience is very unusual in North America for aboriginal and non-aboriginal student alike."
He added that the northern and interior regions of B.C. have basically been ignored by archeologists with the last excavation on Nak'azdli land being done more than 50 years ago.
"These students have become immersed in history and have gained great personal knowledge, but their work is also making a major contribution to our collective knowledge about people who lived here thousands of year ago."
Last summer Rahemtulla and a 23-member UNBC student team discovered more than 100 ancient First Nations artifacts west of Prince George believed to be more than 400 years old.
The team, working near the confluence of the Chilako and Nechako rivers, recovered stone artifacts probably used for hunting like arrowheads and tools with projectile points.
At that time Rahemtulla said from the remnants of stone discovered, "it seems like the people who lived here brought in raw materials to manufacture stone tools which were then taken away."
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 14 August 2008 )
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