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87-675: The site is home to more than 115 pit house (quiggly hole or kekuli ) depressions, left from semi-subterranean wooden dwellings, some of which would have been 18 to 21 meters in diameter. The site is one of the largest and well-studied house pit village sites in Canada, home to some of the biggest house pit depressions in the archaeological record . Researchers believe that the site was first inhabited as early as 7,000 Before Present . A large complex community whose economy centered around gathering, fishing, and hunting began developing from 4,800 BP. The Keatley Creek site blossomed from around 2,400 BP with

174-624: A quiggly or kekuli , is the remains of an earth lodge built by the First Nations people of the Interior of British Columbia and the Columbia Plateau in the United States . The word quiggly comes from a mispronunciation of the nsyilxcǝn term qʷc̓iʔ, which was incorporated into Chinook Jargon as kickwillie . Kick willy , kickwillie, or keekwulee are the spelling variations of

261-408: A root cellar . In their most elaborate form, a deep pit is covered by a dome made out of a log frame, then covered by earth. Usually entrance is made either by a side hole, or a ladder via the fire hole in the top. Today the word quiggly usually only means the archaeological remains, not an active underground house, if one is being spoken of in a story or a history. Similar structures are used in

348-408: A root cellar . In their most elaborate form, a deep pit is covered by a dome made out of a log frame, then covered by earth. Usually entrance is made either by a side hole, or a ladder via the fire hole in the top. Today the word quiggly usually only means the archaeological remains, not an active underground house, if one is being spoken of in a story or a history. Similar structures are used in

435-421: A " Malthusian ceiling " associated with reduction in critical subsistence resources, social change, and eventual village abandonment. Morin, who published radiocarbon dates of material at the house pits sites, concluded that the highest population densities were between 1,550 and 1,150 BP (400 AD and 800 AD) with a maximum around 1,200 BP (700 AD). He argues that Keatley Creek's drastic population decline began in

522-440: A "fundamental socioeconomic division" within the structure – perhaps including controlling families and tenant families or those who worked for the household. It is possible that some members of this household held high status in the community at large. Evidence indicates that the major housepits were continuously occupied over several generations, perhaps more than 1,000 years, by "a single, identifiable social group" which maintained

609-419: A consequence of households changing the rules of food sharing and consumption under stressful conditions." Keatley Creek has been the site of active excavations from 1986 and ongoing in 2013–present. The main projects have been led by Brian Hayden and Anna Marie Prentiss . In 1986, Brian Hayden of Simon Fraser University , British Columbia, began the initial project at Keatley Creek. That study's initial aim

696-420: A ladder protruding through the smoke hole of the roof; and we think that people were relatively tightly bunched together in these houses for warmth during the frigid winters. By March, the people were anxious to move into the open and began to look for the first edible plant shoots and bulbs, such as young raspberry shoots and wild onions. Spring was often a time of hunger if winter food stores had been used up, and

783-530: A long-lasting dam for salmon, preventing access to necessary spawning beds. The exact date of the Texas Creek slide is unclear, as is evidence of a large backed-up lake. These and other problems have been cited with Hayden's thesis. Prentiss, on the other hand, estimates that occupancy was from 1,700 BP to 800 BP (ca 300–1200 AD). Significant climatic warming was taking place during the initial period of village formation, increasing vegetation and likely decreasing

870-557: A mispronunciation of the nsyilxcǝn term qʷc̓iʔ, which was incorporated into Chinook Jargon as kickwillie . Kick willy , kickwillie, or keekwulee are the spelling variations of the Chinook Jargon word for "beneath" or "under". A quiggly hole appears as a circular depression in the ground, the remnants of a former log-roofed pithouse (locally named a barabara or an ulax). Quigglies generally come in large groupings known as quiggly towns , some with hundreds of holes indicating

957-464: A nearby highway. The Keatley Creek Site includes well-defined architectural features and provides valuable evidence of complex socioeconomic organization. Recently, the site has earned attention at a UNESCO conference hosted as part of its 2013 World Heritage Thematic Programme, at Biblioteca Palafoxiana in Mexico City. Quiggly hole A quiggly hole , also known as a pit-house or simply as

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1044-481: A neighborhood. Studies indicate an early socioeconomic strategy and signs of sociopolitical complexity suggesting domestic subgroups within households and within the community at large, especially in the final centuries of Keatley Creek's occupation. The biggest dwellings have the largest storage capacity, more prestige foods (i.e. chinook salmon) and lithics such as obsidian , steatite and nephrite which would have been difficult to obtain. Following from this analysis,

1131-489: A population of about 1,000 people. At this time the network of villages in the Mid-Fraser region would have been one of the largest pre-contact aboriginal communities in the modern borders of Canada. Although there is continued debate about the site's occupation and abandonment or depopulation, the community was vacated perhaps as early as 1,000 BP or as late as 800 BP, as were the other neighboring villages. Rock slide stopped

1218-439: A potential population of thousands. Some of these holes were residential for single family or larger groups, while some may have been storage only. Quiggly towns are typically located where solar exposure, water supply, and access to fish, game and gatherable foodstuffs are favorable. Quiggly towns and smaller groups of quiggly holes are common features of the landscape in certain areas of southern British Columbia , notably from

1305-643: A principal hearth in central area. The large housepit was especially important to Hayden's study of residential corporate groups and how the artifacts and assemblages could be used to compare the life practices of people living in the larger structures with those in the smaller size housepits. Hayden's team excavated Housepit #7 which measured 19 meters in diameter from rim crest to rim crest. They estimated that at least 45 people lived in this structure at one time—perhaps eight separate families or domestic units. The deposits found here indicated that these occupants enjoyed substantial economic resources and wealth compared to

1392-733: Is Lillooet . Keatley Creek is "...nestled in a small basin at the back edge of a Pleistocene river terrace, where it meets the mountain slope over 1,200 ft. (360 m) above the Fraser River" on terrain described as "benchlands above the Fraser River gorge". The village was close to many other small and medium communities including the down-river villages of Seton Lake (EeRl-21), Lillooet, Bridge River (EeRl-4), Fountain and Bell (EeRk-4), as well as, upriver, Pavilion, McKay Creek (EfRl-3 and −13), Chicken Gully (EfRl-5), and Kelly Creek/Pełtêqet (EfRk 1 and EfRl 25). Several of these villages (including Lillooet, Fountain and Pavilion) have now been destroyed. Of

1479-762: Is an archaeological excavation site in southwestern British Columbia , Canada, and is today located within the traditional territory of the St'at'imc First Nation. The site is situated on the British Columbia Plateau (also known as the Canadian Plateau) about 25 km upstream along the Fraser River in what is called the Middle Fraser Canyon or "Mid-Fraser". The site is between the St'at'imc communities of Xaxli'p ( Fountain ) and Ts'kw'aylaxw ( Pavilion ). The closest town

1566-518: Is based on notes drawn by anthropologist James Teit , who had settled and married in with the Nlakaʼpamux people of Spences Bridge . Teit had never been to Lillooet and based his knowledge of the si7xten and the rest of his notes on that people and from interviews with a Stʼatʼimc woman who had married into the Spences Bridge people. Teit's drawings, upon which Lillooet's rebuilt si7xten

1653-408: Is based on notes drawn by anthropologist James Teit , who had settled and married in with the Nlakaʼpamux people of Spences Bridge . Teit had never been to Lillooet and based his knowledge of the si7xten and the rest of his notes on that people and from interviews with a Stʼatʼimc woman who had married into the Spences Bridge people. Teit's drawings, upon which Lillooet's rebuilt si7xten

1740-471: Is geographically positioned near the Fraser River to "protect access to critical salmon resource." The area also provided the village access to a wide array of natural resources (game for hunting, wood for construction, stone for tools). The housepits of Keatley Creek are semi-subterranean structures. Their construction was obviously labor-intensive and provided permanent structures in a generally circular shape with conical or pyramidal roof shapes. Entrance to

1827-499: The Athapaskan people resident in the area now, who had originally used their familiar style of housing when they first migrated into the region. Quiggly hole A quiggly hole , also known as a pit-house or simply as a quiggly or kekuli , is the remains of an earth lodge built by the First Nations people of the Interior of British Columbia and the Columbia Plateau in the United States . The word quiggly comes from

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1914-746: The British Columbia Heritage Conservation Act , on both public and private lands. Although many quiggly towns are relatively new, up to a few hundred years, many more are very ancient, as at Keatley Creek, but also throughout the Interior. And in addition to the Plateau cultures, there is an isolated appearance of quiggly-type structures on the Oregon Coast , in what is otherwise exclusively log-frame/housepost housing area. Its occupants are believed by archaeologists to have been ancestors of

2001-507: The British Columbia Heritage Conservation Act , on both public and private lands. Although many quiggly towns are relatively new, up to a few hundred years, many more are very ancient, as at Keatley Creek, but also throughout the Interior. And in addition to the Plateau cultures, there is an isolated appearance of quiggly-type structures on the Oregon Coast , in what is otherwise exclusively log-frame/housepost housing area. Its occupants are believed by archaeologists to have been ancestors of

2088-675: The Chinook Jargon word for "beneath" or "under". A quiggly hole appears as a circular depression in the ground, the remnants of a former log-roofed pithouse (locally named a barabara or an ulax). Quigglies generally come in large groupings known as quiggly towns , some with hundreds of holes indicating a potential population of thousands. Some of these holes were residential for single family or larger groups, while some may have been storage only. Quiggly towns are typically located where solar exposure, water supply, and access to fish, game and gatherable foodstuffs are favorable. Quiggly towns and smaller groups of quiggly holes are common features of

2175-689: The Fraser Canyon near Lillooet across the Thompson River valley and down the Okanagan Valley . Hudson's Bay Flats is the old location of a site called Fort Chilcotin , which contains several quiggly holes. The Thompson River between Pritchard and Kamloops also has quiggly holes. Indigenous artifacts have been recovered from quiggly holes including arrowheads and scrapers. Some rockhounds believe digging around quiggly holes looking for artifacts destroys what little historical record remains. One of

2262-488: The Medieval warm period or the "early Neoglacial period." Stress on these communities was probably exacerbated by resource exhaustion of local roots and tubers. Dietary records suggest that people searched for food further afield from the villages and had more reliance on lower-quality food such as seeds. The complexity of hunting tools indicated that more diverse species of animals also were hunted further afield. This adds up to

2349-465: The Stl'atl'imx , a Salish-speaking people [8] who were gatherer-hunter-fishers living during the cold winter months in pit houses, and engaging in a variety of forms of food storage that included both harvest and material storage, and husbandry of one domesticated animal, the dog. Life in the ancient village continues to capture people's interest and imagination. The house pit village in some ways lends itself to

2436-515: The sweat lodges that are common in First Nations communities today, though those are made out of sticks instead of logs, with branches and blankets instead of earth as a covering. As with sweat lodges, some quiggly holes were once undoubtedly used for ritual and community as well. Although found to a limited degree on the southern British Columbia Coast and Puget Sound where log-frame longhouses and lean-to structures are more common, they are

2523-459: The sweat lodges that are common in First Nations communities today, though those are made out of sticks instead of logs, with branches and blankets instead of earth as a covering. As with sweat lodges, some quiggly holes were once undoubtedly used for ritual and community as well. Although found to a limited degree on the southern British Columbia Coast and Puget Sound where log-frame longhouses and lean-to structures are more common, they are

2610-697: The 19th century, were launched by the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate as part of their missionary work. A reconstruction of an underground house can be seen by the public near the Lillooet Tribal Council 's offices near the reserve community of Tʼtʼikt (in English the " T-bird Rancherie ") in Lillooet, British Columbia. Called a si7xten ( SHIH-stn ) in the St̓át̓imcets language , its design

2697-417: The 19th century, were launched by the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate as part of their missionary work. A reconstruction of an underground house can be seen by the public near the Lillooet Tribal Council 's offices near the reserve community of Tʼtʼikt (in English the " T-bird Rancherie ") in Lillooet, British Columbia. Called a si7xten ( SHIH-stn ) in the St̓át̓imcets language , its design

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2784-467: The Keatley Creek area was occupied by "residential corporate groups of differing economic and social status" which can also be described as a transegalitarian community. At its peak population (c. 700 A.D.), Keatley Creek's population numbered over 700 people and probably around 1,000. Tools, baskets and hunting weapons found in excavations of Keatley Creek indicate that its ancient inhabitants had been

2871-663: The Mid-Fraser greatly exceeding those at contact or even today and the abandonment of such settlements at least six centuries before contact. The history of these communities was undoubtedly marked by the founding of new villages; the rise and fall of powerful lineages and chiefs; the shifting of alliances between chiefs, lineages, villages, and distant trading partners; the spread of new technologies and rituals; periods of strife and peace; and others of plenty and dearth. Although archaeology can illuminate no more than an outline of this rich and varied history, researchers will continue to question current understandings of and add information about

2958-465: The abandonment is believed to have been the collapse of a slide which had blocked the Fraser River , forming a lake reaching upstream many miles, such that the location at Keatley Creek was near the shoreline (it is today on a benchland high above the river's canyon). This type of structure was used for storage as well as housing and cooking, and may have had its origins as an expansion of the concept of

3045-411: The abandonment is believed to have been the collapse of a slide which had blocked the Fraser River , forming a lake reaching upstream many miles, such that the location at Keatley Creek was near the shoreline (it is today on a benchland high above the river's canyon). This type of structure was used for storage as well as housing and cooking, and may have had its origins as an expansion of the concept of

3132-414: The alpine meadows. When cold weather set in, everyone would retreat to winter villages on the terraces of the Fraser River, where fish, meat, and plant foods were stored. During the winter, families lived in pithouses dug partly into the ground and covered with a conical wooden roof on which soil and sediment was piled for insulation, much like the roof of historical sod-covered cabins. Entry was generally via

3219-409: The archaeological evidence. This suggests that the yearly round or seasonal life movements of the inhabitants of Keatley Creek were likely in general accord with those recorded in traditional ethnography. Hayden and Spafford suggest: In the fall, large stores of salmon would be caught and dried along the Fraser River for winter food. After the fishing ended, the major deer hunt of the year took place in

3306-421: The broader context of First Nations land claims , where they are more than symbols of native occupancy: they are the proof of ownership, as well as a priori occupation rights including sovereignty . Inventories of quigglies and other archaeological remains are important parts of the land claims process and archaeological protection acts may be invoked to preserve and study them. Quigglies are protected under

3393-421: The broader context of First Nations land claims , where they are more than symbols of native occupancy: they are the proof of ownership, as well as a priori occupation rights including sovereignty . Inventories of quigglies and other archaeological remains are important parts of the land claims process and archaeological protection acts may be invoked to preserve and study them. Quigglies are protected under

3480-462: The climate, and likely also the seasonal round, varied significantly in the region with a dry interval (2,200 to 1,600 BP) followed by a cool, moist time (1,600 to 1,200 BP) and then return to dry interval, corresponding with the Medieval Warm Period . These changes would have also affected salmon populations, with growth in the salmon population during the cooler, moist era and reduction during

3567-443: The coast). These occupants had access to a wide array of wealth items. Overall, they were economically well off. It is possible that they even had dogs as pets. Separate domestic units in the large housepit each contained hearths, tools, comforts, and conveniences. The structure held a central communal area with an especially large hearth. The division of the overall space indicates the possibility of sexual division of workspaces and for

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3654-491: The creation of a material history, as Anne Marie Prentiss explains: Housepit villages such as Keatley Creek and Bridge River developed over hundreds of years. The archaeological record of many housepits formed through regular reoccupations organized around cleaning and rebuilding activities. An early researcher in this area, James Teit recorded that people constructed them by first digging a pit and then acquiring wood for upright posts and horizontal beams. The wood superstructure

3741-430: The dates of Keatley Creek's occupation and the reason for its depopulation. The debate is frustrated partly by the margin of error associated with radiocarbon dating . What is agreed by all researchers is that long before contact and colonization the large villages had disappeared—although the local area was never abandoned by indigenous peoples and, before contact and colonization, the indigenous population rose again. As

3828-462: The development of competitive feasting , social inequality emerged. The villages were long-lived until a serious problem with the salmon population arose, leading to abandonment in 1000 AD. This is when a single catastrophic event — a massive rockslide below Lillooet at Texas Creek — destroyed salmon runs in the Fraser and creating a sudden crisis for Keatley Creek residents. The slide would have created

3915-654: The distribution of ethnographic cultures in the region. Additionally, her work identified the possibility that the Keatley Creek community had emerged as a "complex collector socioeconomic strategy." Her study of Keatley Creek Site contributes to her exploration of the "rise and fall of human societies during that long time span we call the Archaic." Prentiss' studies have been numerous and documented in several publications such as: Several other subjects of study have involved Keatley Creek Site including (but not limited to): The Keatley Creek winter village of housepits (Figures 1 – 3)

4002-440: The first signs of spring salmon were eagerly awaited. When the snows had cleared in the mountains, most groups went to dig spring beauty corms ("mountain potatoes") and mountain lilies, as well as hunt and fish in the mountain lakes (Alexander 1992). In mid to late summer, people gathered saskatoon and other berries as they ripened at lower elevations. By late summer, everyone was back down at the river fishing sites preparing fish for

4089-408: The fish run and we had to relocate to pavilion or fountain. No decisive evidence has been found of either warfare or a devastating epidemic, although this as well as an environmental catastrophe or climate change have all been theorized, and aboriginal peoples continued living throughout the region. Keatley Creek holds a special heritage importance to First Nations communities. Since the mid-1980s

4176-438: The floors. Instead, they would import new sediments and dump them over the old floors, thereby preserving an even more detailed record of household life over multiple generations. It is worth noting that the Keatley Creek and Bridge River sites have some differences in housepit formation. At Keatley, houses generally consist of the final inhabitant's floor; previous floors and roofs are re-deposited on rims. Keatley Creek society

4263-409: The formation of different types of strata and construction, closely examining floors, roofs, middens, and hearths. They sought to identify activities and social habits that occurred at Keatley Creek through examining stone artifacts and debitage (waste products from manufacture). The nature of each structure was examined in order to compare the "economic and social organization" of the residences. Over

4350-503: The four largest pit homes represent the accommodations of multi-household clans or otherwise higher status social groups. Dogs were also kept by higher status dwellings for "hunting, transportation, protection and companionship, clothing (hides), weaving materials (hair), ritual, and food." Subsequent research has reconsidered the relationship between economic stratification and salmon species distribution at Keatley Creek as "visible but clearly not as dramatic as previously assumed" because of

4437-461: The housepit was made possible by a log ladder that emerged through an opening located somewhat centrally in the roof protruding through the smoke hole. In general, each housepit affords only 2.5 square meters of floor space per person occupying the space. Pit houses, like other First Nations boreal forest home structures, were environmentally friendly leaving almost no footprint on the landscape when abandoned. Hayden's group tested Housepit 12 – one of

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4524-597: The landscape in certain areas of southern British Columbia , notably from the Fraser Canyon near Lillooet across the Thompson River valley and down the Okanagan Valley . Hudson's Bay Flats is the old location of a site called Fort Chilcotin , which contains several quiggly holes. The Thompson River between Pritchard and Kamloops also has quiggly holes. Indigenous artifacts have been recovered from quiggly holes including arrowheads and scrapers. Some rockhounds believe digging around quiggly holes looking for artifacts destroys what little historical record remains. One of

4611-417: The larger housepits. Hayden's excavation included Housepit No. 3, which measured 14 meters in diameter. It is estimated that thirty people (i.e., five or six nuclear families) occupied this structure. Deposits here indicate some elements of wealth, larger storage pits, some higher grade food products, and probable access to better fishing sites than the residents of the smaller housepits. The wood used for fuel

4698-414: The long and extraordinary human past of this remarkable region. The significance of Keatley Creek's cultural heritage is especially true for local First Nations peoples, who have striven to overcome over a century of colonial policies aimed at forms of cultural destruction and genocide, and to reclaim their history, language and identities, as well as sovereignty and self-determination. Since Keatley Creek

4785-509: The main trait of native pre-Contact archaeology throughout the Interior cultures, and may have variously been either seasonal or permanent settlements. Replacement of quigglies with modern-style housing in the Interior only began in the late 19th century, with individual holdouts of active underground house living into the mid-20th century. Efforts to resettle Indigenous peoples of the Interior Plateau in log-cabin villages, "modern" housing in

4872-451: The main trait of native pre-Contact archaeology throughout the Interior cultures, and may have variously been either seasonal or permanent settlements. Replacement of quigglies with modern-style housing in the Interior only began in the late 19th century, with individual holdouts of active underground house living into the mid-20th century. Efforts to resettle Indigenous peoples of the Interior Plateau in log-cabin villages, "modern" housing in

4959-437: The more real as the population of Keatley Creek grew. Storage technologies in the mid-Fraser were varied and included cache pits, above-ground facilities, baskets, and cords. In this direction, three types of " corporate groups " were reportedly identified in the Keatley Creek village: several families living in the same structure, an individual family in its own structure, and large amorphous residential groups assembled, such as

5046-558: The most famous "quiggly towns" in the Fraser Canyon is the Keatley Creek Archaeological Site , between the modern-day First Nations communities at Fountain and Pavilion and home of over 115 quiggly holes. It has been the subject of formal archaeological investigation. Diggings have shown its origins to have been between 4,800 BCE and 2,400 BCE, with ongoing habitation up to 1,100 BCE. The reason for

5133-427: The most famous "quiggly towns" in the Fraser Canyon is the Keatley Creek Archaeological Site , between the modern-day First Nations communities at Fountain and Pavilion and home of over 115 quiggly holes. It has been the subject of formal archaeological investigation. Diggings have shown its origins to have been between 4,800 BCE and 2,400 BCE, with ongoing habitation up to 1,100 BCE. The reason for

5220-555: The ninth century. By 950 BP (1000 AD) the Keatley Creek Site's population was barely half that of three centuries before. Also skeptical of a single catastrophic crisis, Morin also looks at internal contradictions in Mid-Fraser society. Although little evidence exists for warfare, it may have increased with the introduction of the bow and arrow, as elsewhere in the interior plains. Morin and others have suggested as well that variability in salmon populations could have been coupled with

5307-413: The over-all prevalence of chinook salmon. Some archaeologists have also suggested that social stratification took place not during a moment of population growth, but social contraction due to internal or external contradictions facing Keatley Creek. Therefore, "the pattern of inequality was not triggered by any major technological changes or expansions in per-capita storage. Rather, it appears to have come as

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5394-456: The reality that more densely settled population is vulnerable to disease. Perhaps summarizing the common ground in the discussion, Morin and others have written: Rather than a static, timeless picture of the aboriginal past, research in the Mid-Fraser offers a glimpse of the rich history of these peoples and their settlements [like Keatley Creek]. Briefly, this history included the development of many large villages with population densities along

5481-594: The remaining Plateau Pithouse Tradition house pit village settlements in the Mid-Fraser region, only the Kelly Creek and Keatley Creek sites have more than one hundred depressions, although large villages (with over 130 depressions) have also been identified along the Upper Chilcotin , South Thompson , and Slocan River . This so-called zenith in the population is known as the Classic Lillooet Phase , where

5568-449: The residents of small structures. Higher grade construction materials and processes were employed. There were multiple hearths used regularly, some of them unusually large. Per capita storage areas were far larger and more numerous than those of other housepits. High quality foods were available including more meat products (such as fox, bear, and sheep) and some unexpected species (such as scallops which would have been obtained in trade from

5655-454: The roof and floor. In these cases, good timbers would be salvaged and the old roof burned down. Families returning from late warm-season food-gathering trips would then rebuild roofs and floors before they re-inhabited the houses. Sometimes rebuilding involved removing all of the burned roof materials and scraping out the old floors. At other times, as with many Bridge River houses, the people would remove burned and collapsed roof materials but not

5742-413: The salmon population. Small village formation was driven by resource scarcity and a need to come together to conserve the salmon resources. A complex process of cultural transmission associated with population expansion took place later, when the climate shifted to be more favorable for salmon. Later, depopulation took place in two waves, around 800 BP (1200 AD) associated with climatic deterioration during

5829-490: The site has also been the subject of the Simon Fraser University 's Fraser River Investigations into Corporate Group Archaeology Project , led by Brian Hayden , as well as other research projects led by Anne Marie Prentiss . It is now a provincially recognized cultural heritage area and also gaining international attention through interest at a UNESCO research forum. The Keatley Creek Site ( Borden Number EeR17)

5916-402: The site is also recognized as a special heritage resource for the province of British Columbia. Keatley Creek has also been described as "a world heritage quality site." It earned this distinction not only because its excavation is important for understanding the development of complex hunting and gathering cultures but also because it is well preserved, clearly visible, and easily accessed from

6003-414: The smaller housepits at the Keatley Creek site. It measured 9 meters in diameter (rim crest to rim crest) where most small housepits are 7m in diameter. Compared to other small structures, housepit 12 had a substantial roof, indicating that these residents were not the poorest in the Keatley Creek community, but they were still impoverished compared to the residents of the larger structures at the site. There

6090-463: The social communities came together. Two main proposals have been formulated: Hayden emphasizes technological development, and Prentiss' emphasizes environmental factors and limitations. Hayden places Keatley Creek's occupancy as beginning in 2,600 BP and ending in 1,000 BP (ca 400 BC – 1000 AD). The villages came together at a moment which allowed for technological improvements to allow for the production of food surpluses through salmon harvest, and with

6177-438: The structure's roof, storage areas, and basic organization. It is remarkable that these households were able to successfully replenish themselves by recruiting new members over such a long period. Of the 119 housepits noted at Keatley Creek, some were apparently used as storage facilities of varying sizes (some quite large). Also evident are communal roasting pits outside of the residential structures. Some controversy surrounds

6264-456: The villages existed in some form of network—either relatively autonomously or with multi-village communities. The site itself stretches over a kilometer, with the core area with the greatest concentration of house pits covering in a four hectare radius. The site supported a lengthy period of human occupation, and was one of the largest villages in the Mid-Fraser region. Earliest carbon dating puts initial occupation around 7,000–8,000 BP. The site

6351-468: The villages in the mid-Fraser Canyon contained one of the highest population densities in the Pacific Northwest, their breakup must have had significant repercussions for social life throughout the entire region. In identifying the exact reason, or reasons, for that change there is less consensus. To be sure, not all researchers agree the site was continuously inhabited, nor do they agree on how or why

6438-541: The warmer periods. The presence of somewhat unequal pit house sizes, storage pits, as well as differences in the type and quality of dietary and lithic (stone tool) remains, have meant that Keatley Creek has become an important archaeological site in debates about the development of social inequality. Initial research formulated that "mass harvest and storage permitted sedentism and inequality in natural abundances led to social inequalities." Certainly, winter survival relied on extensive use of food storage, which became all

6525-551: The winter and trading with visitors. Therefore, although a critical amount of nutrition came from gathered foods (plants, geophytes or roots and tubers, and berries) and deer also supplemented nutrition, salmon fishery was a key source of nutrients. Trade and exchange for dried salmon also brought together goods from considerable distances away, like ground stone bowls, obsidian, and nephrite jade. Sockeye , Chinook , Chum and Coho salmon were available from August to October and were caught, dried, and stored for later use throughout

6612-465: The winter. Chinook and Sockeye were, in the ethnographic record, preferred over Chum and Coho because of their stronger, richer flavor, although they also take longer to dry. Salmon DNA studies show that during the period Keatley Creek was inhabited, pink salmon, a fish known as easy to catch and easy to dry, were absent from the region. At the same time, palynology , alluvial stratigraphy , paleo - oceanography , and studies of pre-history now show

6699-463: The world for any period. They are much larger than most, if not all, prehistoric villages on the adjacent Northwest Coast. The only precontact settlements of comparable size within the modern borders of Canada were the horticultural Iroquoian villages of southern Ontario." Archaeologists have argued for at least a basic level of cultural continuity in the region, noting the consistency between traditional knowledge, oral and written historical records with

6786-640: The years, Hayden's excavations have expanded, and his work continued with varied hypotheses. Ongoing studies have been documented in several publications: Anna Marie Prentiss of the University of Montana has included Keatley Creek in her study of Plateau villages throughout prehistory. She has explored the evolution of variations in the Plateau villages, including the need to draw distinctions between "socioeconomically 'complex' communities and those designated as 'sociopolitically' complex." She anticipated that findings at Keatley Creek would contribute to understanding

6873-543: Was built, also owed to his knowledge of underground houses in the Thompson and Bonaparte valleys; in his day, people still resided in them. The reconstruction proceeded with his designs, with the caveat that the si7xten as built may not exactly resemble those used by the Stʼatʼimc, as those with the knowledge of how they were built died years before there was interest in restoring one. Quiggly towns are important landmarks in

6960-440: Was built, also owed to his knowledge of underground houses in the Thompson and Bonaparte valleys; in his day, people still resided in them. The reconstruction proceeded with his designs, with the caveat that the si7xten as built may not exactly resemble those used by the Stʼatʼimc, as those with the knowledge of how they were built died years before there was interest in restoring one. Quiggly towns are important landmarks in

7047-429: Was home to a large community for an extremely long time, it is extremely important for archaeological study, representing the culmination of centuries of human experimentation with housepit living. The site contributes to the bank of knowledge regarding North American history and communities. It suggests a past that was more socioeconomically or politically complex and more culturally diverse than previously recorded. Today

7134-451: Was little use of the fire hearth, foods required no cooking and were served unheated. It was essential for inhabitants to huddle for warmth. In this site, there was evidence of lower grade foods and clothing. There was very little storage space. The overall space was divided into distinct areas for butchering/eating, stonework and tools, open or communal areas. No distinct areas were reserved for lying down or sleeping, unlike peripheral areas of

7221-547: Was more or less consistently occupied from the Shuswap horizon (2400–4000 BP) through the Plateau horizon (1200–2400 BP) and into the early Kamloops horizon (1200 BP). The site features include 119 house depressions, called a house pits or quiggly holes ( kekuli or kickwillie ). Keatley Creek is "known for the unusually large size of its semi-subterranean houses" some more than 20 meters in diameter, although many are no larger than 5 meters. Archaeological investigation has concluded

7308-653: Was part of the spectrum of complex gatherer-hunter-fisher societies. Such sedentism is widespread in the archaeological record (such as the Middle Jōmon culture of Japan, the northern European Mesolithic , the Natufian of the Near East, the Thule tradition of North America's Western Arctic, etc.). At the same time, the pithouse villages along the Mid-Fraser are arguably "among the largest hunter-gatherer settlements recorded anywhere in

7395-418: Was the same type as for the small housepit, but here was evidence of greater use of fire and of the hearths. There were bedding materials at the peripheral walls with some raised sleeping platforms signifying another difference from the residents of the smaller structures. The medium-sized housepit included separate domestic spaces with a central communal area. The overall space was divided into four sectors with

7482-567: Was then built by using strong upright posts to support the horizontal beams. Layers of timbers and matting covered the roof, and in some cases sediments sealed the construction, offering extra insulation. People dug pits indoors and lined them with birch bark to store food. They constructed hearths and made benches and storage platforms. Aside from regular cleaning, a family could live in such a house for up to 20 years without significant architectural modification. At some point, however, wood would become dangerously old, and vermin could infest portions of

7569-409: Was to "determine why this site was so large and why some of the individual semisubterranean housepits were also unusually big." Hayden's group was also interested in the cultural continuity in the region and exploring houses where multiple families lived in what were described as "residential corporate groups" Hayden's expedition examined the botanical, faunal, and lithic remains at the site and explored

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