Eric McLay envisions kiosks, fencing, an outdoor classroom, interpretive signage and trails at the site of an ancient native village in Duncan, located in the Cowichan Valley on Vancouver Island.
McLay, who is an archaeologist, and members of a number of other groups recently spent two weeks preparing the site, called the YeB次元官网网址檡umnuts village, to eventually become an outdoor classroom that will highlight the history of the 2,000 year-old settlement.
He said the project received a BC 150 grant that allowed the various groups involved in the project, which include Cowichan Tribes, Nature Trust of BC, the province, School District 79 and the Municipality of North Cowichan, to do further work to protect and prepare the site for continued work that is still in the planning stages.
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The 2.4-hectare two-millennium old YeB次元官网网址檡umnuts village is located near the foot of Mount Prevost where archaeological evidence of ancient tools, homes, hearths and grave sites was first discovered in the 1990s.
The site was slated for a private residential development, which was called Timbercrest Estates, at the time, but work stopped with the discovery of dozens of human skeletons in the area.
For almost 25 years since then, the site was fought over until it was finally protected in a deal involving the B.C. and federal governments.
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McLay said the recent project involved implementing some longstanding heritage conservation and management at the site.
He said the work involved removing invasive plants, brush cutting, clearing and mowing the burial site area, placing a protective geotextile fabric over archaeologically sensitive areas, and finally capping the burial ground that has been found there with more than three feet of imported clean soil.
B次元官网网址淢ost importantly, after 25 years of exposure, the original bulldozer trench by Timbercrest Estates Ltd. was filled in and covered up in order to help protect the site and respectfully commemorate and manage it,B次元官网网址� McLay said.
B次元官网网址淚n the next few weeks, this area will be seeded and restored with native grasses and flowers, and a protective split cedar rail fence will be installed. Future steps at YeB次元官网网址檡umnuts involve establishing new trail systems, an interpretive kiosk, outdoor classroom area, fencing and signage for public education about the site, along with curriculum development between the Cowichan Tribes, the Cowichan Valley school district and the University of Victoria. There are several designs in the development stage for the new heritage site park.B次元官网网址�
McLay said the next step is to find more funding for the next stage of the project.
B次元官网网址淚 believe this heritage management work at YeB次元官网网址檡umnuts is a significant change toward how we publicly treat First Nation heritage sites in British Columbia,B次元官网网址� McLay said.
B次元官网网址淚t reflects a movement from historical neglect, destruction and conflict toward working collaboratively to actively preserve, respect and learn about First NationsB次元官网网址� history for the future.B次元官网网址�
ItB次元官网网址檚 been estimated local indigenous people lived there for 600 years, then used the area as a large burial ground for another 600 years.
McLay said among the hundreds of artifacts excavated at the site were shells from the IslandB次元官网网址檚 west coast, Jade from the Fraser River area, and obsidian from as far away as Idaho and Oregon, suggesting wide-ranging trade routes used by native peoples through the ages.
B次元官网网址淭he site has a lot of regional implications, and thatB次元官网网址檚 why we want to set it up as an outdoor classroom for the public and students from the local schools,B次元官网网址� he said.
robert.barron@cowichanvalleycitizen.com
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