A Pollen Analysis of a Hudson's Bay Company Non-garden Provenience, Fort Vancouver, Washington.

Summary

The Andrew Fiske Memorial Center for Archaeological Research at the University of Massachusetts Boston conducted a palynological analysis on six contiguous soil samples that were collected from the Fort Vancouver site. The samples were recovered from a location associated with the Hudson Bay Company's occupation that is situated in close proximity to what is today Fort Vancouver's Visitors Center, which is scheduled to undergo extensive renovations in the near future (Dorset 2010 Pers. Comm.). In particular, the selected sample collection site is of a non-garden provenience, located east of a circa 1849 wheat field (Dorset

2010 Pers. Comm.). Not much is known as to how the Hudson Bay Company utilized this space; nonetheless, after their occupation the collection site's former landscape underwent numerous modifications. From the mid to late 19th century the site served first as the location of the U. S. Army Vancouver Arsenal, then after 1878, the Department of Columbia reconfigured the area with roads and constructed new buildings while moving others; the buildings were removed with

the Department's abolishment around 1913 and ultimately the site was left open and vacant (Dorset 2010 Pers. Comm.).

The goal of the current pollen study of the non-garden provenience is twofold. The

results of this examination are desired chiefly for comparisons to findings of a previous pollen analysis of soil samples that were collected from various locations associated with the Fort Vancouver "garden-testing area" (see Jacobucci 2008). Archaeologists are eager to see what vegetation differences exist between the two contexts which would allow us to characterize a garden context. Also archaeologists hope the analysis of the non-garden provenience would

provide information as to how the Hudson Bay Company utilized this space. In particular, this study attempts to identify the types of vegetation that existed on the collection site before the Hudson Bay Company's occupation, specifically if the area was formerly a meadow or tree covered, and when the agricultural field to the west of the collection site was developed. This current pollen analysis addresses these issues and augments the archaeological and historical records of Fort Vancouver.

Keywords

Temporal Coverage

Calendar Date: 1849 to 2010

Spatial Coverage

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