November 2010 - BC Hydro

Duncan Dam Reservoir Archaeological Overview Assessment Final Report
archaeological record. The convergence of the environmental and archaeological data streams
produced lines of evidence to support a series of predictive hypotheses of pre-contact human
land and resource use in Duncan Reservoir. Four distinctive pre-contact human settlement
pattern models applicable to the study area and spanning the Holocene were extracted from the
archaeological record. It should be noted that there is such a paucity of archaeological data
from the West Kootenay area for the interval between about 8000 and 5000 years BP that it is
not possible to construct a suitably detailed model for this important span of time. The models
are summarized in Section 3.
TESTING LANDSCAPE HYPOTHESES
The pre-contact human land settlement models outlined in Section 3 served as the explicit basis
for identifying where archaeological remains might have accumulated in the reservoir landscape
and where they might be visible surficially in their stratigraphic and geomorphological context.
Section 4 elaborates on testing of the models through explication of the sampling rationale,
creation of a survey sampling design, identification of sampling strata and summary of the
survey methods employed.
FIELD SURVEY METHODS
It was possible to define a set of informed expectations regarding micro-topographic features
present within the reservoir drawdown zone. The orientation of the sampling survey was
primarily towards obtaining information about the presence of archaeological remains in the
Duncan Reservoir and about the character and condition of the strata and landforms that
contain the archaeological materials. Section 5 provides descriptive data pertaining to the
archaeological remains that were identified, their contexts in the reservoir and the remnants of
the landscape with which they are associated.
SYNTHESIS / MANAGEMENT RECOMMENDATIONS
The information derived from the previous stages was to be synthesized and interpreted in
terms of the objectives identified in Section 6. Any new sites and cultural material found were to
be reported according to provincial standards to form part of the permanent archaeological
record. The findings (positive and negative) were to be assessed for scientific significance and
evaluated against the models they were designed to test. Recommendations for further surveys
and reservoir monitoring / management were to be made based on the synthesis.
Eagle Vision Geomatics & Archaeology Ltd. 4 November 28, 2010