Historical Background

    The Scowlitz archaeological site is located in the Lower Fraser River Valley near Chilliwack,
B.C., at the confluence of the Harrison and Fraser Rivers.  The present-day ancestors of the
Scowlitz tribe live across the Harrison River from this site.

    Scowlitz means "steering the canoe around the corner," and refers to the bend in the Harrison
River, just before it enters the Fraser River.  The Scowlitz are part of the Sto:lo group of the Coast
Salish Nation, and have lived along the lower reaches of the Fraser River for thousands of years.
Sto:lo simply means "river."

The Scowlitz are thought to have occupied a permanent plank-house village at this site between
1500 - 3500 years ago.

("Interior of a Ceremonial Lodge," Columbia River,
from "Paul Kane's Great Nor-West" by Diane Eaton and Sheila Urbanek.)
 


  Archaeologists use burial sites and house remains as
  their main source of information for reconstructing
  ancient cultures.  Part of the reason why this site is one
  of the most intensely studied native sites on the coast
  is because it contains both burial mounds and house
  remains at the site, which rarely occurs.

   This site also is of interest because it was occupied through a time when a major cultural change
was happening in the area; from that of simple hunter-gatherers to complex hunter-gatherers.

   Using data collected by archaeologists at Simon Fraser University, our group set out to create a
database that could be queried, in order to allow researchers to visualize spatial and temporal
relationships between various archaeological features and, eventually, artifacts.

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