Road project reveals millennia-old wetland-gardening site
Road project reveals millennia-old wetland-gardening site
As early as 1,800 BC, ancestors of the Katzie First Nation appear to have engineered the wetland environment to increase yields of wapato
Geordon Omand, The Canadian Press
December 21, 2016
VANCOUVER – An ancient wetland-gardening site unearthed during a road-building project in British Columbia is as culturally important as any other wonder of the world, says a member of the indigenous group who directed the excavation project.
A study published Wednesday found that as early as 1,800 BC, ancestors of the Katzie First Nation in B.C.’s Lower Mainland were engineering the wetland environment to increase the yield of a valuable, semi-aquatic plant known as a wapato. The report describes the finding as the first direct archeological evidence of the cultivation of wild plants in the Pacific Northwest.
“This is as important to us as the Egyptian pyramids, or the temples in Thailand, or Machu Picchu,” said Debbie Miller, who works with an archeological consulting firm owned by the Katzie Nation.
Road building crews uncovered a rock platform measuring about 12-square metres made up of flat stones that would have rested several feet underwater four millenniums ago. The distribution of the stones into a pattern of single and double layers, as well as their closely packed arrangement, suggests they were placed deliberately, the study published online in ScienceAdvances found.
More:
http://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/road-project-reveals-millennia-old-wetland-gardening-site/
Also posted in LBN:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10141646491
