Category: Salish

A Lekwungen Herring Fishing site in Esquimalt Harbour: A Unique photograph in the Collection of the Royal B.C. Museum

By Grant Keddie. Nov 2016. 19th century photographic images in the Victoria region that show Lekwungen (Esquimalt and Songhees First Nations) undertaking traditional food gathering practices are rare. The only example of fishing is a photograph, taken in 1868, by Frederick Dally in Esquimalt harbour at the south entrance to Lang Cove (RBCM PN905). Lang Cove is located south of Skinner’s Cove, both of which are within the larger Constance Cove. This is the location of an ancient shellmidden as demonstrated by the scattered white clam shells seen in the image and later observed by the author at this location. This image (fig. 1 and close-up fig.2) of a man and woman at a herring fishing site is listed in … Continue reading “A Lekwungen Herring Fishing site in Esquimalt Harbour: A Unique photograph in the Collection of the Royal B.C. Museum”

Lekwungen Resources. Part 1. Fishing

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Introduction Fishing was a major part of the traditional Lekwungen economy. The availability of some fish resources, however, changed on a decadal basis because of the changing water temperatures (Chevez et. al. 2003) and the intensity of important seasonal fish runs could vary over longer periods of time due to other climatic factors (Finney et. al. 2000 and 2002). There were times when the salmon runs did not arrive or drought conditions prevented them from running up local streams. People then had to refocus on other resources or starve. Although a few species of fish were often considered the most important, the old village sites reveal the remains of numerous species. Not enough analysis of fish remains from sites has … Continue reading “Lekwungen Resources. Part 1. Fishing”

Pallatsis. A Special Place in Lekwungen Tradition

By Grant Keddie. For the Indigenous Lekwungen of greater Victoria there are two special places associated with the acquiring of spirit power. One is at the Gorge waterfalls under the Tillicum bridge and one here in the downtown core of Victoria. This is the location of Songhees Point – the rocks sticking out into Victoria Harbour across from Laurel Point. Pallatsis (p’alac’as) “place of cradle” is the name given by Songhees Sophie Micheal and Ned Williams for Songhees Point In traditional culture the natural and supernatural worlds are inseparable; each is intrinsically a part of the other. Pallatsis, was a sacred place where people deposited the cradles of children who had reached the walking stage and put there to ensure … Continue reading “Pallatsis. A Special Place in Lekwungen Tradition”

Spindle Whorls in British Columbia Part 4. Thunderbird and Lightening Snake Iconography

By Grant Keddie. March 2023. Introduction The rigid distinction between culture and nature in historic western societies did not exist in Indigenous cultures. Animals were not just sources of food and raw materials but intelligent sentient beings as conscious and capable of understanding as humans and as capable in undertaking planned intentional activities. Symbolic presentations of animals or supernatural beings in both material artifacts and mythology, such as Thunderbird in his various transformations, are about relationships between what we see as the social world and natural world. In the indigenous cosmologies beings such as Thunderbird play a role as active participants in ecological relationships. Anthropologist Franz Boas felt that myth adjusts to the world and that it supports existing institutions … Continue reading “Spindle Whorls in British Columbia Part 4. Thunderbird and Lightening Snake Iconography”

Spindle Whorls of British Columbia Part 3. Large Historic Spindle Whorls in the Indigenous Collection of the Royal B.C. Museum.

By Grant Keddie. March 2023. [Part 4 in this series on Spindle Whorls in British Columbia will deal with the Thunderbird and Lightening Snake Iconography most relevant to Part 3] Introduction Large wooden spindle whorls from the historic post contact period were used primarily for twisting together two already twisted strands of fibre. The fibre consisting mostly of hair of mountain goat, domestic dogs, seal and other mammals as well as bird down and plant material such as the plume of the fireweed. Description of the Large Whorls in the Ethnology Collection There are 30 large spindles whorls in the Royal B.C. Museum Ethnology Collection. The term ethnology is used here to refer to non-archaeological artifacts in the Indigenous collections. … Continue reading “Spindle Whorls of British Columbia Part 3. Large Historic Spindle Whorls in the Indigenous Collection of the Royal B.C. Museum.”

Spindle Whorls of British Columbia: Part 2

October 11,2018. By Grant Keddie. Small Spindle Whorls in the Ethnology Collection of the Royal BC Museum Much of the attention in the literature has focused on the large spindle whorls used by speakers of languages in the Salish linguistic family on the south-eastern coast of British Columbia. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, small spindle whorls were found among peoples belonging to several of the larger linguistic families. The lack of iconography on most of these smaller spindles likely contributed to their being of less concern to researchers than the study of the larger whorls – many of which have geometric, anthropomorphic or zoomorphic design patterns. The resurgence of indigenous weaving with the use of large spindle whorls … Continue reading “Spindle Whorls of British Columbia: Part 2”

Spindle Whorls in British Columbia. Part 1.

December 6, 2016. By Grant Keddie. Introduction and Spindle Whorls in the Archaeology Collection of the Royal BC Museum Introduction In order to provide a broader understanding of the earlier history and origins of both historic and pre-contact spindle whorls used in British Columbia, I will provide a description with images of all the spindle whorls in the Archaeology and Ethnology collection of the Royal B.C. Museum. This will be presented in three Parts: (1) Introduction and Spindle Whorls in the Archaeology Collection of the Royal BC Museum. (2) Small Spindle Whorls in the Ethnology Collection of the Royal BC Museum. (3) Large Spindle whorls from speakers of the Salish language family in the Ethnology Collection of the Royal BC … Continue reading “Spindle Whorls in British Columbia. Part 1.”

The Archaeology and Ethnology of Wedges on the Northwest Coast

2018. By Grant Keddie Introduction Wooden and antler wedges are a common tool found in the Northwest Coast cultural area of North America. The purpose of this article is to drive a wedge into our current thinking about wedges and to stimulate further research by making some observations based on Royal B.C. Museum archaeological and ethnological artifacts. I combine this view of collections with my own background experience in working with wedges. Wedges are commonly known to have been used for splitting fire wood, for the manufacture of posts and planks used in house construction, household items such as boxes and bowls, and for the whole process of canoe making from cutting down trees to splitting the tree trunks and … Continue reading “The Archaeology and Ethnology of Wedges on the Northwest Coast”

Bird Bone Tube Snare Guards in the Archaeology Collection of the Royal B.C. Museum

June 3, 2019. By Grant Keddie Introduction There are many different sizes of bird bone artifacts found in archaeological sites in British Columbia. The function of many of these remains unknown. There is often no comparable artifact type in the ethnographic record. They are sometimes ascribed functions by archaeologists for which there is no evidence. Some of the long bird bone tubes referred to as “drinking tubes” are in fact, what I am calling bird bone snare guards – devices on snares which prevent marmots and ground squirrels from biting through the noose cord and escaping.   Here I present the evidence of how I determined, from my own observations and technology experiments, that some of the unidentified bird bone … Continue reading “Bird Bone Tube Snare Guards in the Archaeology Collection of the Royal B.C. Museum”

A First Nations Shell Midden on Raymur Point, Victoria Harbour

September 11, 2017. By Grant Keddie There is an ancient archaeological shell midden – the refuse from what was once, at least, a seasonal camp on Raymur Point at the intersection of St. Laurence Street and Kingston Avenue. Raymur Point is a raised bedrock peninsula on the south side of Victoria’s inner harbour located to the west of Laurel Point and at the east end of Fisherman’s Wharf. The site was not occupied by First Nations in historic times and appears to have had a limited occupation in the distant past. The midden location, known as Archaeological site DcRu-33, includes the extreme northern extension of the point and the shoreline along the wider section of the point extending along the … Continue reading “A First Nations Shell Midden on Raymur Point, Victoria Harbour”