by KIM PEMBERTON
Vancouver may be celebrating its 125th birthday, but there’s another birthday that could be celebrated in the city dating back 9,000 years.
The oldest known residents of Vancouver are the Musqueam First Nations, who also happen to have the only reserve that falls within the city’s boundaries, adjacent to the wealthy enclave known as Southlands.
The Musqueam residential area centres around the Musqueam midden, also known as the Great Fraser midden — a mound of shells, animal bones and other refuse indicating human settlement dates back 9,000 years.
As 74-year-old Musqueam elder Larry Grant explains, that “brings us back to the last ice age” for occupation on their still unceded territory.
“In my mother’s words we’ve been here all the time,” says Grant, who was interviewed at his family’s home on the Musqueam Band reserve, just a stone’s throw away from the archeological site.
The ancient deposit, near the mouth of the Fraser River estuary, also contained evidence of a fire pit, cedar weaving and textiles as well as animal and fish bones. It was discovered in the 1970s when the Greater Vancouver Regional District was putting in a sewer line. A backhoe operator lifted up a shovel full of artifacts, Grant said, and stopped work immediately. He called the Musqueam Band, who brought in University of B.C. anthropologists to help them research the material.
The Vancouver Sun for more
via Archaeology