Excavation of a Red Ochre Cache in a Natural Geological Kettle Formation in the Central Interior of British Columbia.

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Excavations of natural geological kettle formations are uncommon in Cultural Resource Management projects in British Columbia. Discovery of a large cache of processed red ochre is even more rare with only one similar ochre cache known to exist on the Canadian Plateau. Ochre is an iron oxide prevalent in the Rainbow Mountain Range, part of the Anahim Volcanic Belt of mountains that were active approximately 10 million years ago. This range is located 60 kilometers south of the cache and is suspected to be the logical source of the ochre. Weathering, erosion and oxidation of minerals make the mountains colorful with red, yellow and purple hues. This unique discovery is part of a large multicomponent site consisting of at least nine natural kettle formations located on the shore of Tetachuck (Tatichek) Lake, part of a 233 km long hydroelectric reservoir system. In this paper we examine the acquisition, procurement and possible distribution of the ochre with other First Nations as well as the potential cultural uses at this site. We also discuss our excavation and recovery process of the ochre powder from the heavily stained coarse sand in the center of the kettle feature.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 37050.0