Abstract

Recent recovery of organic material from the Old Songhees Reserve (DcRu-25) in Victoria, British Columbia has shed light on a dynamic period of human occupation. Dating to the European contact period, an interesting assemblage of prehistoric, ethnographic and historic items was unearthed. Notably this assemblage includes basketry, wooden fish hooks, a bentwood box, and one of the largest collections of leather shoes recovered from a North American wetsite. Analysis of the ethnographic artifacts depicts a rich story of the cosmopolitan life near Fort Victoria in the late 19th century. Less than 20 archaeological wetsites have been excavated from the entire Northwest Coast and this is the only one from the European contact period.