This fall, archaeologists in BC are beginning to hit the ground where massive wildfires burned this year, making inventories of archaeological and cultural heritage sites damaged in the disaster. As I walk along the fireguards built through Skeetchestn territory, looking for archaeological sites and cultural heritage concerns, it’s sad to see the devastation.
Eventually, the forests will recover and the evidence of the destruction will be buried by other sediments. Future archaeologists will be able to recognize that a wildfire occurred from the preserved charcoal in soil profiles and marine sediment core samples. If wildfires are identified in the archaeological record through charcoal, what are the material manifestations of other disasters?
Two previous disasters that archaeologists in this region often encounter are from past volcano eruptions. One of the ash layers is from Mount St. Helens, which erupted 3,400 years ago, and another, even older ash layer is from Mount Mazama, which erupted 7,700 years ago. Archaeologists often use these layers of ash to help determine the age of an archaeological site.
Events of such magnitude have also been passed down through oral tellings, known to the Secwépemc people as stsptékwll. Professor Marianne Ignace and Dr. Ron Ignace explain how stsptékwll reference “the breaking of ice dams, floods, the invention and spread of technologies, and the movements and migrations of our ancient forebears. As the land shaped itself throughout periods of climate change, our ancestors showed enormous resilience against natural disasters […].”
Sometimes these kinds of disasters can also be determined from the archaeological record, such as walls collapsed from an earthquake, settlements abandoned because of a drought, or the context in which human remains are found. For example, just east of Kamloops, the Gore Creek skeleton was found in a geological context indicating that this man was buried by a mudflow approximately 8,250 years ago.
And although not naturally occurring, colonization has had, and continues to have, far greater and long-lasting impacts on Indigenous communities across Turtle Island than any natural disasters. This too leaves archaeological signatures. To date, more than 5,000 burials have been detected using GPR in residential school grounds across Canada, and this number will continue to rise.
In addition to the residential schools, First Nation communities have been displaced from their territories to designated reserves, which were often lands deemed unsuitable (or less desirable) for settler occupation, including some lands with increased exposure to hazards. Today, Indigenous people living on-reserve are 18 times more likely to be evacuated as a result of disasters than people living off-reserve, and fire-related death is more than 10 times higher than the Canadian average.
Archaeologists are in a unique position to study disasters because the discipline bridges the natural and social sciences. Disaster research recognizes that social, cultural, political, and economic factors influence ways in which societies are vulnerable and/or resilient when disasters occur, and studies how these factors influence post-disaster recovery. It is also recognizes that these factors may not be distributed equally among members within the same society. Since archaeologists study such long time scales, they can help determine what these factors are and the contexts in which they develop, which can help contemporary societies better prepare for future hazards.
I am hopeful when I read about, hear about, and see the strength in Indigenous communities and the projects they are spearheading. The Sparks Lake wildfire demonstrated the importance of Traditional Ecological Knowledge - land-based knowledge that comes from living in an area for thousands of years. And the impacts of climate change, which includes more intense wildfire seasons, as well as the biodiversity crisis, illustrate the need to support and implement traditional Indigenous stewardship practices, such as prescribed burning.
On this first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, may we remember (and research) the past, recognize how the past influences our present, and prepare for a better future.