Ulna Bone Tools

Originally published in The Midden, 44(3/4). Ulna Bone Tools: Identifying Their Function By Grant Keddie. 2012. Ulna tools have several main uses that are often not recognized in the archaeological literature. Based on my own experi­mental uses and an examination of the ethnographic literature, we can describe at least four different common uses of ulna tools. Ulna bones, which are the lower limb bones in animals, have a naturally shaped end that functions as a handle with little or no modification needed, and the pointed end is easy to shape into a functioning tool. The working ends of these tools need to be dif­ferent to fit the intended function. Non-ulna bones with similar ends may, of course, have similar functions. … Continue reading “Ulna Bone Tools”

Stone Cultural Feature in Thunderbird Park

By Grant Keddie.  22-02-2013. Introduction At the Royal B.C. Museum, in Victoria, British Columbia, a large natural stone with a shallow concave surface can be seen outside in the native plant garden near the North-East corner of Thunderbird Park (Figure 1 & 2).     This is a cultural object associated with First Nations that was once located south of Kamloops in the Southern Interior of British Columbia. The recorded details of its history are somewhat confusing. The natural shallow depression on the top of the rock fills with water when it rains, often forming unique patterns on the surface of the water. One could speculate that it may have been used like a mirror (Figure 3). During light rainfalls, … Continue reading “Stone Cultural Feature in Thunderbird Park”

The Atlatl Weapon

By Grant Keddie. 1988. Introduction The atlatl (pronounced at-ul-at-ul) is a fascinating weapon, used long before the bow and arrow. An atlatl is made of wood or antler, often thin and flat, and ranges from 30 cm to 1 meter in length. One end is held in the hand while the butt of a light spear is placed in a surface groove at the other end. At the end of the groove is a raised spur or attached pin to hold the bottom of the spear in place while it is held in a slightly raised position by the same hand that holds the handle end of the atlatl. Using the leverage of this short board, which functioned like an … Continue reading “The Atlatl Weapon”

Victoria’s Chinese Immigrant Fishermen

By Grant Keddie. August 2013. Introduction A little known history of 19th century British Columbia was the creation of an early commercial fishing industry by Chinese immigrant fishermen. In 1861, Chinese fishermen began using fine meshed nets to catch large quantities of herring, flounder, anchovy and trout in Victoria’s inner waterway. These fish were salted and dried for shipment to Barkerville and other mining areas of the Interior, where they retailed at 40 to 50 cents per pound. The salting and drying took place in Victoria’s upper harbour at the north end of Store Street on the banks of Rock Bay. On April 11, of 1861 the Colonist newspaper reports: “These fish are esteemed a great luxury by the Chinese … Continue reading “Victoria’s Chinese Immigrant Fishermen”

Japanese Shipwrecks

By Grant Keddie. August 2013. Japanese Shipwrecks in British Columbia – Myths and Facts The Question of Cultural Exchanges with the Northwest Coast of America.  Arguments have been presented by Quimby (1989; 1985; 1948) and other proponents going back 135 years ago (Anderson 1863) that Aboriginal Cultures of the Northwest Coast have been strongly influenced by the effects of Japanese shipwrecks. If iron from Japanese ships was available on a regular basis and ship survivors introduced even the occasional new idea – such as the development of a new fish net technology with a pronounced higher efficiency than pre-existing technology – the influence on aboriginal cultural may have been substantial. Determining the past existence and frequency of the landing of … Continue reading “Japanese Shipwrecks”

The Importation of old Chinese Coins for the Playing of Fan Tan
Gambling Games in British Columbia.

By Grant Keddie. 26-11-15. Introduction Chinese brass one cash coins were imported to British Columbia in the late 19th and early 20 century to be used as counter pieces in the gambling games of Fan Tan. The coin packages are now extremely rare and have never been described in print. In 1981, I purchased an unopened package of 280 Chinese brass one cash coins and a partially filled bag of coins from an opened package from Len Jenner of Courtenay. Mr Jenner purchased the coins along with a large collection of Chinese cultural items from an elder Chinese man, known only as “Mr Lowe”. Mr Lowe had once lived on northern Vancouver Island, but the collection was purchased when he … Continue reading “The Importation of old Chinese Coins for the Playing of Fan Tan
Gambling Games in British Columbia.”

Review of: An Archaeology of Asian Transnationalism. By Douglas E. Ross

By Grant Keddie Book Review of: An Archaeology of Asian Transnationalism. By Douglas E. Ross. Gainesville, FL, University Press of Florida, 2913. 245 pp. $103.95 cloth. In: B.C. Studies, Winter 2015/16, pp. 123-124. Although descriptive work on historic artefacts of Asian origin has been sporadically produced by American archaeologists since the 1960s, and by BC archaeologists since the 1970s, recent years have seen Asian archaeology in North America blossoming into a more humanities informed scholarship. By subjecting archaeological finds to historical (written and oral) documentation and to the analytical writing on diaspora and Transnationalism, Douglas Ross, in An Archaeology of Asian Transnationalism, develops a useful model for understanding historical Asian archaeology in late nineteenth and early twentieth-century British Columbia. Ross’s … Continue reading “Review of: An Archaeology of Asian Transnationalism. By Douglas E. Ross”

JAMES TEIT DOCUMENT ON ROCK PAINTING

Compiled by Grant Keddie. 1982. Introduction The following typescript is from a handwritten letter sent in 1918 by James Teit of Spence’s Bridge, to Francis Kermode – then director of the Provincial Museum of Natural History [now the Royal B.C. Museum]. The original is in the James A. Teit Papers, Mss M3689 in the Glenbow Alberta Institute Archives. It is not known who typed the version I have. I have re-typed it to make it available electronically. The typescript is double spaced on four legal size pages. I have single-spaced it, but did not make any other changes. I left miss-spellings, grammatical errors, the one bracketed word “Render”, and some very long paragraphs. This is an important document, as it was written after Teit had traveled widely and had studied … Continue reading “JAMES TEIT DOCUMENT ON ROCK PAINTING”

Pacific Rubber Snake

By Grant Keddie. Oct 3, 1974. The Pacific Rubber Snake in the Lower Chilcotin. This article was published in 1975, in the British Columbia Provincial Museum’s publication Syesis. I have added in the original images that were not used in the final publication. I have also added the specific geographical points for the two snake specimens. 51 degrees, 44’ 02” north latitude and 122 degrees, 25’ 30” longitude for the higher elevation specimen and 51 degrees, 44’ 05” North latitude and 122 degrees, 24’, 15” latitude for the lower elevation specimen.   The Pacific Rubber Snake in the Lower Chilcotin During an archaeological and ecological survey of the Lower Chilcotin region in the summer of 1972, two Pacific rubber snakes, Charina … Continue reading “Pacific Rubber Snake”

Bison in British Columbia

Originally published in Discovery 27(2). 1999. The Loss and Return of Wild Bison. by Grant Keddie   There I sat in the middle of the Bison herd. I was only three years old, but I remember it vividly. Along the Hay River near Great Slave Lake, my father had driven into the herd; we rolled down the windows and stared at these gentle beasts – they looked like a cross between teddy bears and cattle. I maintained my interest by collecting “buffalo head” nickels and dragging home cattle skulls. But the chance to actually work with Bison bones did not come about until I began investigating finds and examining remains brought to the Royal BC Museum (RBCM). Around 1500 AD, … Continue reading “Bison in British Columbia”