Five Coquitlam residents travelled to B.C.'s Central Coast recently to witness a rare reburial of Aboriginal human remains that were excavated more than three decades ago.
Retired Simon Fraser University archaeology professor Roy Carlson removed the remains in 1977 - with permission from the Heiltsuk First Nation - from Namu, a former trading post and B.C. Packers cannery site.
Carlson and his wife, Maureen, along with SFU archaeology department chair Catherine D'Andrea were invited by the Heiltsuk people to participate in the reburial of the First Nation's ancestors. Steve Ray, a former Tri-City News photographer, and Dixon Tam, who also live in the Tri-City area and work for SFU, went to document the event.
"I feel very privileged to participate in the return of the ancestors," said Carlson. "This has been a marvellous experience I simply felt everything had come full circle. We've had these burials for quite awhile - they've been thoroughly studied and now they can go back into the ground."
Heiltsuk chiefs and elders accompanied the ancestral remains from SFU Burnaby to Bella Bella, where the community watched as the remains were blessed and then transferred to handmade cedar bent-wood boxes.
The next day, about 100 people took the 50-minute boat ride to Namu to witness the reburial. At the site, more than 30 bent-wood boxes were lowered into a six-foot deep pit lined with cedar planks. Down feathers from eagles were then spread around and into the pit before more cedar planks were nailed down to form a permanent cover.
Analysing the ancestral remains may yield important information for the Heiltsuk, Carlson says.
"[The Heiltsuk are] very proud of the fact that the archaeology indicates their ancestors have been here for a very, very long period of time. Once the DNA analyses are complete, they will show what other peoples in the world that they are related to," he says. "Also, the isotopic analyses will show what resources were used in the past, and they should be able to tell us how much salmon people were eating. And since there have been no treaties between the Heiltsuk and the Canadian government, all of this is evidence for their claims, which one day will be settled."
But for Heiltsuk First Nation chief Harvey Humchitt, treaties are not the most important matter at the moment.
"A lot of times we talk about how archaeology will be answers to treaties, but when I look at our ancestors this is way beyond treaties," says Humchitt, who wiped away a tear when the first shovel of dirt was thrown on the grave. "When you look at our ancestors 4,500 years ago, this was a different place. It felt good to repatriate them and return them to the place they were taken them."
Watching Heiltsuk First Nation members lower the remains of their ancestors into a grave made D'Andrea reflect about the value of archaeology.
"I thought about how it issometimesviewedas a hobby withvery limited practical value orrelevance to themodern world," she says. "The scale of the effort put forth by Harvey and the Heiltsuk, both young and old,in making the bent-wood boxes and all the other preparations,reminded me that even our distantpast can have a profoundimpact on our daily lives.
"Although wemay not think about it very often,our ancient history,as well asour recent past,greatly affects how we view ourselves, how we form our identities, and it can be a source of national pride.
"Archaeologycan beespecially important to First Nations andto othernations worldwide that have suffered through and survived the ravages of colonialism. Unfortunately archaeology was sometimes used toperpetuateinjustices,but we can nowturn it around now and use ittoassist thosewho are attempting to rediscover their cultural identity and tounderstand andvaluetheir unique contributions to human history."
