Category: Palaeontology

Muskox in British Columbia

May 6, 2016? By Grant Keddie One of the most exciting fossil finds on Vancouver Island is the skull of an extinct muskox called Symbos cavifrons (1). It was collected in 1969, from the lower half of a 15 meter thick gravel deposit at the bottom of the Butler Brothers gravel pit on the Saanich Peninsula, 12km north of Victoria. Overlaying this lower layer were 6 meters of sediment with a lower glacial till, then silts and sands and another till layer near the top.       The only other Symbos fossil from British Columbia that has survived in a Museum collection is a skull from Dease Lake in the northern part of the Province. Details of these finds were published in 1975, by … Continue reading “Muskox in British Columbia”

Victoria Underwater

January 15, 2019 By Grant Keddie The Haultain Valley 14 meter Ocean Standstill. At the end of the ice age the land, in relation to the sea level, was undergoing enormous changes around Greater Victoria. Where the land surface was covered by ice or had ice sheets nearby, it was pushed down making local sea level high in relation to the land. This was occurring even when world-wide sea levels were much lower. As ice melted the local earth’s crust quickly rebounded and relative sea level fell at least 45 meters below where it is today. The sea then slowly came back up to near its present level around 4500 years ago – creating Victoria harbour, Esquimalt harbour and the … Continue reading “Victoria Underwater”

The Late lce Age of Southern Vancouver Island

Originally published in The Midden 11(4), 16-22. October 1979. By Grant Keddie A radio carbon date of 17,000 B,P. on a mammoth bone, the first date from the Saanichton Gravels north of Victoria, provides new evidence that alters the previously suggested timing of glacial events on southern Vancouver Island. The precise timing of these glacial events is of importance for archaeologists because the events define the times during which animal and human populations could have inhabited the Island. The purpose of this paper is to give a brief overview of what is known about the last stages of the Wisconsin glacial period on southern Vancouver Island; to show how the new radiocarbon date fits into the sequence of events; and … Continue reading “The Late lce Age of Southern Vancouver Island”