Precontact and Historic Archaeology for the Seabed Remediation of Esquimalt Harbour, Esquimalt, BC.

Author(s): Charles Moore

Year: 2016

Summary

Archaeological investigations of the seabed within Esquimalt Harbour and in advance of extensive seabed remediation have revealed archaeological evidence of human activity over millennia.  Testing methodologies have included testing between the upper inter-tidal area and the subtidal areas to about 10 m water depth.  Evidence of precontact use on landsurfaces that may have been exposed 7,000 years previously have included fragments of basketry.  The port has been well known for the last 150 years as the naval base for the Pacific Fleets of the Royal Navy and the Royal Canadian Navy.  Along with the naval presence, there have also been extensive civilian and private enterprises.  The latter has left a ship graveyard, but has also impacted the seascape in unexpected ways, including with undocumented dregding operations and the abandonment of a cradle for a patent slip, which was one of the largest of its kind when fabricated in the 1880s.

Cite this Record

Precontact and Historic Archaeology for the Seabed Remediation of Esquimalt Harbour, Esquimalt, BC.. Charles Moore. Presented at Society for Historical Archaeology, Washington, D.C. 2016 ( tDAR id: 434794)

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Keywords

Temporal Keywords
7,000 BP -- 1966

Spatial Coverage

min long: -141.003; min lat: 41.684 ; max long: -52.617; max lat: 83.113 ;

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 863