Abstract

With the implementation of the archaeology section of the BC Forestry Practices Code, archaeologists have been faced with many new challenges. This paper will present an anthropological perspective on the practice of Interior forestry archaeology. The relevance of research strategies commonly employed in applied anthropology to contemporary archaeological consulting will be discussed. Certain approaches are more conducive to the incorporation of the perspectives and concerns of First Nations, as well as those of forestry practitioners. Archaeologists have had to devise new methodologies for working in different types of survey units, including operations areas, cutting permits, and cut blocks. In some types of terrain, the latter are frequently in a mutually exclusive distribution to archaeological and traditional use sites. The need to consider the results of investigations beyond the context of Forest Districts boundaries and Forestry Development Plans is demonstrated. Lastly, archaeologists like ethnographers must be aware of the role they play in translating and writing about culture. Archaeological reporting should be sensitive to the potential long term implications for First Nations, as well as to meeting the needs of the forestry industry.