Archaeological Society of British Columbia
The Archaeological Society of British Columbia (ASBC) is a Canadian organization that has existed since 1966 and deals with the archeology of British Columbia and thus makes significant contributions to the history of British Columbia . She has published the quarterly journal The Midden since 1968 with the support of the BC Heritage Trust . The SocNotes newsletter also appears as a newsletter . Its headquarters are in Vancouver , with branches in Victoria , the provincial capital, and since 1994 in Nanaimo . The society has over 300 members in Vancouver alone. In addition to supporting research and teaching, the company has set itself the goal of protecting the artifacts . To this end, it also tries to influence legislation and intervene in legal disputes over property.
Public lectures are held every first or second Thursday from September to June. Annual meetings are held in Victoria at the Pacific Forestry Center . The Victoria branch has had a news blog since January 2008. The president in Victoria is Pete Dady, in Nanaimo Julie Cowie. The branch there publishes its own newsletter called The Digger .
While the members initially took part in excavations, the ASBC now focuses on the identification and protection of sites and artefacts, as well as on public relations and teaching.
history
Archeology has long been a scientific discipline barely noticed by the Canadian public, especially in the province of British Columbia. The province's history began at best with its discovery by Europeans at the end of the 18th century. As early as 1967, the year after its foundation, the society, which enabled its members to participate, supported an excavation campaign in Marpole (DhRs 1). This site had already been examined by Charles E. Borden the previous year . In 1968 an emergency excavation followed in Musqueam (DhRt 4) under the direction of Moira Irvine , from the University of British Columbia . In 1969 members took part in the excavation of the St. Mungo Cannery Site (DgRr 2), under the direction of Gay Calvert of the Vancouver Museum , which at the time was still called the Centennial Museum . 24 members brought in 35 working days, but the excavation had to be stopped due to lack of money. By means of C-14 dating it was found that these were pieces from around 2360 BC. Chr. + - 110 years, making it the oldest site in the Fraser Valley at the time.
In the meantime, the ASBC had developed into a kind of “watchdog” that was ready to stop construction work in order to carry out emergency excavations. This was particularly evident in 1969 when construction work was planned for the English Bluff in the Tsawwassen area . The owner stopped the project and had the ASBC carry out its own excavation on his site for the first time (DgRs 11). She was supported by Dr. Borden and Moira Irvine supported. Eileen Sutherland even took classes at the university to write a scientific excavation report. This excavation was followed in 1970 by an excavation in the vicinity, at Tsawwassen Beach (DgRs 9). The artifacts from the Marpole phase went to the Archeology Laboratory of the University of British Columbia . The ASBC for its part supported university excavations, such as in 1969/70 at the Liquid Air Site (DhRs 19). Contacts with Simon Fraser University meant that members with growing expertise also supported their excavations, such as at the Crescent Beach site (DgRr 1).
In September 1970, road works in the Katz Indian Reservation near Hope endangered the largest known pit house village (DiRi 1) in the Fraser Valley . Gordon Hanson of the University of British Columbia led the dig, and 18 members spent the first weekend on the site. 1972/73 the ASBC took part in the excavation at the Glenrose Cannery (DgRr 6) (leader: Tom Loy), Musqueam followed 1972-74 (leader: David Archer), Noons Creek and Crescent Beach (leader: Rick Percy, Leonard Ham ) followed 1976-77. Members from Abbotsford helped with the excavations of Pitt Meadows Golf Course , and at the site Maurer (DhRk 8) in Agassiz . Until 1982 the ASBC did not participate in any further excavations.
In 1982, however, a bridge was to connect Annacis Island with the south bank of the Fraser. The south side was supposed to be built on the St. Mungo Cannery site , of all places . The Ministry of Roads agreed to stop the construction work and even to finance the excavation. After the BC Heritage Conservation Branch and the BC Heritage Trust also participated, it was the best financed excavation to date. The involvement of the so-called "developer", as construction companies are often called in Canada, was based on a law from 1976 that forced them to be considerate of excavations and even to pay for them.
However, this also resulted in greater professionalism, so that ASBC members were excluded, including those with excavation experience. They were only allowed to help, like every volunteer in British Columbia, with the examination of the remains, for example by fine sieving. There was a great deal of public interest in the site and an information center was established. The Heritage Trust entrusted the ASBC members with the task of processing the finds and the public relations work after the campaign was essentially completed. 18,000 visitors came, and numerous school classes were able to learn how to carry out an excavation.
A new excavation opportunity did not arise until 1986 when Gary Coupland brought a field school to Point Gray (DhRt5). Here the ASBC received its own excavation section and the task of public relations under the direction of the archaeologist Kitty Bernick. In just six weeks, 1,373 visitors were registered while just under 40 members were working on the site. In 1988 it went again to Tsawwassen, to the Water Hazard Site , DgRs 30. Since it was in a hurry because of the quickly perishable, organic artifacts, especially the remains of baskets, the ASBC was entrusted with the excavation, which could react faster than the anthropological departments of Universities.
The shift in focus of ASBC, like all volunteer societies, is irreversible because archaeological digs could no longer be left to lovers. Nevertheless, volunteers were increasingly used in public relations, but also for entering data into databases or for laboratory work. In addition to this excavation-related work, the ASBC sees its main task in public relations and the preparation of scientific results.
literature
- Helmi Braches, Don Bunyan: 30 Years of ASBC Participation in Archaeological Projects: Grubbing Among the Middens , 1996 (PDF, 880 kB)
Web links
See also
Remarks
- ↑ ASBC Victoria News ( Memento of the original from December 20, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ The editions since 2001 can be found here ( Memento of the original from July 26, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. can be accessed.
