burnt embers

I was in Gwaii Haanas twice this past summer looking for and recording archaeological sites in areas that potentially had not been examined carefully enough by previous researchers. As it happens, for most of the areas looked at I was that previous researcher, in the early 1990s. Twenty years ago there were certain kinds of sites we were not aware of, especially in the intertidal zone, and we were otherwise often in areas without good tides as we had to work pretty fixed hours every day so you took the tides that were offered up. This was especially true on the west coast where access is very difficult and anchorages are few.

So, I went back to the tidal areas and inland up creeks to look for things like fish traps, modified beaches for improving intertidal productivity (better clam habitat in particular) and the remnants of ancient camp sites dating…