Submitted by coldrum ---
Broken spear tips and flakes of materials difficult to date, but likely between 400 and several thousand years old, prof says
Broken spear tips and flakes of raw materials unearthed near Prince George are believed to be the remnants of a stone-tool manufacturing camp dating back more than 400 years.
Students at the University of Northern B.C. have discovered more than 200 artifacts at a protected archeological site at Beaverley, about 30 km west of Prince George. The group, which has been digging for the past month, will now try to figure out who was making the tools, and when.
"It's really exciting. It's obvious evidence of people being there way in the past," said student Leana Garraway, 32. "Not much archeological work has been done here, so we don't have a lot of answers. It's like any other kind of detective work to figure out what has happened."
The dig, near the confluence of the Nechako and Chilako rivers, marks the first time a university-led archeological dig has been conducted in the northern Interior in more than 30 years. UNBC Prof. Farid Rahemtulla said the area, which was protected three years ago, remains "virtually unknown" to archeologists, most of whom focus their digs on the coast or in the southern Interior.
The dig uncovered several remnants of projectile points, suggesting the first nations people used the site to craft tools while collecting game and berries.
The flakes are from various materials including dacite, which is common in the Interior, along with chert, usually found in limestone, and obsidian or volcanic glass, which isn't normally found in the area.
Rahemtulla said the next step is to establish a cultural chronology for this area and to get lab tests done on a radial carbon sample as well as soil sediment.
The students will continue working with the Lheidli T'enneh and Nazko first nations to research the area.
For more, see the story by Kelly Sinoski in the Vancouver Sun.
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