Welqámex Archaeological Research Project
Canada
June 22 - August 2, 2008
Situated in the upper Fraser Valley of southern British Columbia, the Welqámex Archaeological Project offers oral, historical, and archaeological data to enhance the study of the eighteenth-century contact between politically complex indigenous communities and newly arrived Europeans. This region is rich in natural resources and was home to the Stó:lo (Coast Salish) peoples for thousands of years.
Students will participate in ongoing household-level investigations at Welqámex, a large island village that featured several forms of residential architecture and was inhabited by at least one high-status slave-owning family. This village seemed positioned to control trade between the newly established British-Canadian Fort Hope and the Stó:lo people downriver. Student participation includes excavation of an above-ground cedar plank house, the first to be investigated in the upper Fraser Valley region. Students will also conduct small-scale subsurface testing in semisubterranean pithouses (or sqémél) and assist with surface survey, mapping, and testing at one or more additional upper Fraser Valley sites for the purpose of exploring Late Period and Contact Era regional interaction. While living in one of the most beautiful areas of southern British Columbia, students will work with an international team of scholars, including members of the Chawathil First Nations community.