November 2010 - BC Hydro

2.3.2 Pre-Contact Culture History
Duncan Dam Reservoir Archaeological Overview Assessment Final Report
Because of the dearth of archaeological data from the northern Purcell Trench, especially from
controlled excavation, it is necessary to extrapolate cultural history from adjacent areas.
Archaeology in north western North America has tended to focus on inductive data retrieval and
classification, the end product of which is a linear construct of temporal units subjectively based
on “diagnostic” artifacts. Following this approach, the upper Columbia region has been lumped
into the “Plateau” Culture Area and its archaeological record interpreted within the constructs
developed for the more intensively investigated lower Columbia and Fraser-Thompson regions.
There is little systematic information available regarding early postglacial human inhabitation of
the Fraser-Thompson drainage, while two "traditions" have been defined for the later Holocene
(Rousseau 2004): Nesikep (ca. 7000 years to 4500 years before present [BP]) and Plateau
Pithouse (ca. 4500 years to 200 years BP). The latter comprises the Lochnore Phase (ca. 5000
to 3500 BP) and the Shuswap (ca. 3500 years to 2400 years BP), Plateau (ca. 2400 years to
1200 years BP) and Kamloops (ca. 1200 years to 200 years BP) "horizons”. Four "Archaic
periods" have been proposed for the Columbia Plateau to the south of the study area: Palaeo
(pre-11,000 years to 8000 years BP), Early (8000 years to 5000 years BP), Middle (5000 years
to 2000 years BP) and Late (2000 years BP - AD 1720). Each is comprised of a number of local
phases and horizons (Andrefsky, 2004).
The archaeological record of the Arrow Lakes / lower Kootenay River / Slocan locality was
initially subdivided into three phases: Deer Park, Vallican and Slocan (Turnbull 1977; Eldridge
1984, based on Mohs 1981). These were later subsumed into a second linear sequence based
largely on data from the Pend d'Oreille River valley in north eastern Washington (Goodale et al.
2004). Four "adaptive patterns" were defined: Forager (6200 years to 4200 years BP), Collector
I (3799 years to 2000 years BP), Collector II (1999 years to 600 years BP), and Collector III
(599 years to 100 years BP). The three Collector patterns are essentially a reclassification of the
three original phases (ibid).
An alternative approach based on decades of research within the upper Columbia region itself
has placed much greater emphasis on stratigraphically controlled assemblages from a wide
range of settings that is inclusive of all types of archaeological remains, as well as their
palaeoenvironmental contexts. This type of research at Kettle Falls has resulted in the
identification of a series of archaeological cultural-temporal periods (e.g. Chance et al. 1977;
Eagle Vision Geomatics & Archaeology Ltd. 16 November 28, 2010