Along Vancouver Island’s west coast, the traditional territories of the Tseshaht First Nation span the Broken Group Islands, with thousands of years of pre-colonial history.
Along Vancouver Island’s west coast, the traditional territories of the Tseshaht First Nation span the Broken Group Islands, with thousands of years of pre-colonial history.
For the past few summers, the Tseshaht First Nation has generously collaborated with UVic archaeologist Iain McKechnie, co-director Denis St. Claire, Parks Canada, the Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre and Hakai Institute to bring UVic students into the field. Tseshaht First Nation community members including project members Wanda Robinson and Cole Gomez-Leishman as well as the Tseshaht Beach Keepers played a significant role in sharing culture and knowledge with the students.
An exciting outcome of this collaboration has been the isotopic analysis of domestic dog remains dating back 3,000 years including an ancient breed of ‘woolly dog’ on Keith Island (Kakmakimilh), an ancient Tseshaht settlement in the Broken Group Islands. For UVic student and lead author, Dylan Hillis, the analysis of ancient dog remains was the cornerstone of his undergrad honours research and NSERC undergraduate research award.
In a newly published paper in Scientific Reports, Hillis and co-authors St. Claire, Eric Guiry University of Leicester and UVic professors Iain McKechnie and Chris Darimont provide the first specific estimate of ancient dog diets on the BC coast using zooarchaeological data as well as a stable isotope modelling approach which uses statistical estimates to distinguish from potential food sources.
Continue reading at University of Victoria.
Image via Eric Guiry.
