Ochre Quarrying as Placemaking in British Columbia

Author(s): Brandi Lee MacDonald

Year: 2017

Summary

In coastal and interior British Columbia, ochre was a key component of local traditional knowledge among hunter-fisher-gatherer communities. Ochre pigment quarries are found in alpine, lowland, and alluvial geologic deposits, and each are uniquely storied locations that carry ideas about history, tradition, and place. The procurement, trade, and use of ochre from each of those locations is deliberate, and embedded within a complex set of ideas and decision-making. Provenance-based analysis of ochre quarries and artifacts from associated archaeological sites has demonstrated continuity and change in the use of specific sources, preferential selection of some quarries over others, as well as variability in the extent and direction of ochre exchange networks.

Cite this Record

Ochre Quarrying as Placemaking in British Columbia. Brandi Lee MacDonald. Presented at The 81st Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Vancouver, British Columbia. 2017 ( tDAR id: 429696)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

min long: -169.717; min lat: 42.553 ; max long: -122.607; max lat: 71.301 ;

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 15316