Green Lake Burial Grounds: An Unprecedented Collaboration in Shuswap Territory

Summary

Located atop the shores of Green Lake, and on Shuswap First Nation traditional territory, a First Nations burial site was slumping into the water. Long bones began emerging 40 years ago, when the local landowner was just nine years old. In 1997, archaeologists relocated one burial; but up to 15 individuals remained in this sliding cemetery. Since 1997, provincial government Archaeology Branch has worked toward moving those individuals. In July of 2013, Crossroads Cultural Resource Management worked in collaboration with other industry agencies and four First Nations to relocate these individuals. This project is historic in British Columbia, as Archaeology Branch acted as the client for the first time. Moreover, in another industry first, two distinct cultural resource management firms collaborated on the overall management of the project – one focused on archaeological recovery, and the other on sociocultural aspects of past and present peoples. The Canim Lake Indian Band has since purchased the site. They plan to make it into a memorial. The success of this project is attributed to the emphasis on intangible cultural aspects surrounding archaeological recovery and First Nations protocols, which will be the focus of this presentation.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 17498