Welqámex Archaeological Research Project
British Columbia
Summer 2010
Situated in beautiful southwestern British Columbia, this project examines the evolution of Stó:lō (Coast Salish) political economy over the last 600-800 years in the upper Fraser Valley. At the heart of the project is the study of indigenous cultural developments immediately preceding and following European arrival in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Current research is focused on household-level investigations at Welqámex, a large settlement situated on a heavily forested island only 200 meters downriver from Hudson's Bay Company Fort Hope, an early British outpost. Research at Welqámex is designed to better understand and model (1) changes in household activities, and (2) the decisions underlying important political developments during a period of intermittent interaction with British-Canadian settlers. In 2009, investigations will focus on two above-ground cedar plank longhouses. One of these was occupied in the Colonial period and is estimated to have featured 4,000 square feet of interior living space. The other is smaller (approx. 2,500 square feet) and hypothesized to have been occupied during the Late period.
Students will work with an international team of scholars, including cultural advisors and members of the surrounding Chawathil and broader Stó:lō First Nations communities. Curricular emphasis is placed on understanding and exploring links between Stó:lō oral history, cosmology, historical texts, and the archaeological record.
All students will learn fundamentals of field archaeology, including core elements of research design, survey, digital mapping, subsurface sampling, and excavation. Other skills to be acquired include materials/artifact identification and analysis, basic archaeological laboratory procedures, and soil flotation.