project my friends and I worked on last summer , which was
basically the recreation of an ancient earth oven
(Earth Oven Blog Page). An earth oven is a very common
pre-historic cooking method, performed across the world. The
experimental archaeology project was really successful and fun
because it brought together my group member’s families in the
process because it was extremely labour intensive and lasted
potentially up to 10 to 24 hours. My group and I cooked potatoes,
carrots, and rice while it was sunny and then tried it again when
it was raining. For both cooking trials the food cooked just as
well as modern day electrical and gas run cooking elements. My
group and I certainly were not experts on earth oven cooking,
considering none of us were really capable of cooking with modern
day elements, but we followed the steps as written in academic
articles. Our research relied greatly on H.V. Kuhnlein, N.J.
Turner and P.D. Kluckner research as represented in their article
“Nutritional Significance of Two Important Root Foods (Springbank
clover and Pacific silverweed) used by Native people on the Coast
of British Columbia.” Fascinatingly enough, most of the
information this article uncovered was not found in history text
books or academic articles but was conducted by interviewing
first nation Elders. The memories of many First Nations Elders
are truly keystones to the cultural past of the Northwest Coast.
This gift of knowledge is something that is really being utilized
when archaeologists and First Nations set about developing a
narrative of the Prehistoric Northwest Coast culture. Evidently,
the lived experience of the Elders and their memories regarding
the food their people have traditionally eaten, the way their
people have traditionally cooked and lived has remained very
strong in Northwest Coastal culture. ’s Lagoon, close to the sea
where there are I discovered how important memory is when
researching Northwest Coast archaeology was when I went on a
school field trip for my first year archaeology class to
Mitchosin. The location the field trip was near Witty
many remains of surface burial cairns (Link to my B.C. Cairn
Blog)). In the study of Northwest Coast archaeology First
Nation Elders are imperative to work with when studying these
cairns because they have a strong and intimate relationship
with their communities past and their traditional territory.
The field trip was led by a local archaeologist and Professor at
the Univeristy of Victoria named Mathew Darcy and Randy Chipps, a
member of the Beecher Bay First nation, whose traditional
territory is located in Metchosin. Randy Chipps utilized the
knowledge of his traditional territory during the excursion,
describing the local plant life, traditional transportation
methods, traditional mortuary practices, the process and usage of
tree modification.
The knowledge that Randy possessed is extremely valuable to
anyone who wants to learn more about the landscape of British
Columbia and the traditional people who live here. Randy’s
knowledge of the Beecher Bay First Nation territory was powerful
when it was spoken because there is so much truth in what he
says. Evidently, the living memory and oral history truly taught
me more than any archaeology textbook ever could. It is people
like Randy Chipper whose memory can expand the worlds knowledge
on a cultural history. It is oral traditions and memory
that lead many archaeologist to study a site because
the knowledge of a site is remembered by the people of a
particular territory. It is truley unique in the archaeology of
the Northwest Coast for archaeologists to be able to work along
side people who have an intamite knowledge with the landscape
through the continuation of their cultural traditions.
In this way memory is extremly important, and is
a very reputable source when tackling archaeological problems.
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