People Of The Middle Fraser Canyon

The Middle Fraser Canyon contains some of the most important archaeological sites in British Columbia, including the remains of ancient villages that supported hundreds, if not thousands, of people. How and why did these villages come into being? Why were they abandoned? In search of answers to these questions, Anna Marie Prentiss and Ian Kuijt take readers on a voyage of discovery into the ancient history of the St’át’imc, or Upper Lillooet people. Drawing on evidence from archaeological surveys and excavations and from the knowledge of St’át’imc people, they find explanations in the evolution of food-gathering and -processing techniques, climate change, the development of social complexity, and the arrival of Europeans. This wide-ranging vision of the ancient history of British Columbia is brought to vivid life through photographs, artist renderings and fictionalized accounts of life in the villages, a guide to the St’át’imc language, and sidebars on archaeological methods, theories, and debates.

Living on the banks of the turbulent Fraser River, the Nlaka'pamux people of Spuzzum have a long history of contact with non-aboriginal peoples. They watched as Hudson's Bay Company employees hacked a path through the mountains for the fur brigades, and over time they found themselves in the path of the Cariboo road, the CPR, and virtually every commercial and province-building initiative undertaken in the region over the past two centuries. Juxtaposing historical narratives and cultural interpretation from the community of Spuzzum with archival information, this book explores the history of Spuzzum in the light of concepts central to the Nlaka'pamux definition of family, political authority, land, and cosmos.

The Middle Fraser Canyon contains some of the most important archaeological sites in British Columbia, including the remains of ancient villages that supported hundreds, if not thousands, of people. How and why did these villages come into being? Why were they abandoned? In search of answers to these questions, Prentiss and Kuijt take readers on a voyage of discovery into the ancient history of the St’át’imc, or Upper Lillooet, a people whose struggles and successes are brought to vivid life through photographs, artistic and fictionalized reconstructions of life in the villages, and discussions of evidence from archaeological surveys and excavations.

A detailed reconstruction of a traditional North American aboriginal household

This book traces the development of the route through the Fraser Canyon from the early Fur Traders' Trail, to the Cariboo Wagon Road, to the present-day Super Highway. The magnificent Fraser Canyon provided passage between coastal and interior British Columbia for centuries before the Europeans arrived, though the dangerous journey frequently claimed lives. With photographs and written history, this book traces the development of the route through the canyon from the early fur traders' trail, to the Cariboo Wagon Road, to the present-day super highway.