Zooarchaeology of Predatory Mammals at Tse’K’wa, Northern Peace River Region

Presentation Type: 
Oral (live)
Author(s): 
Alessandria Testani - Simon Fraser University
Key Word(s): 
Zooarchaeology
Boreal Subarctic Region
Dane-zaa First Nations

The site of Tse'K'wa (formerly known as Charlie Lake Cave) holds a well-preserved archaeological record of 12,000 years of human relationships with the land. Located near Fort St. John in Northeastern British Columbia, Tse’K’wa is within the territory of the Dane-zaa people. We have conducted morphological analyses of archaeological fauna from Tse’K’wa dating from over 10,000 years ago to 1950 CE. Approximately 10% of the Holocene assemblage consists of predatory mammal remains, with over 50% of these remains bearing evidence of burning. We postulate these predatory remains were deposited by Ancestral Dene and Dane-zaa peoples who were hunting and trapping these animals for their furs and other resources. Over 85% of these predatory remains consist of distal limb and crania elements, suggesting that fur processing occurred at the site of Tse’K’wa over hundreds of generations.