Once, a river ran in front of this village site; but, the river changed its course and the site was isolated from the main transportation and communication route throughout the valley. Maybe it is for this reason the village was abandoned.

Now, the ground surface has a variety of features including pits, depressions, and mounds that identify it as an archaeological site.

With information from the written records relating to the Bella Coola Valley, the knowledge of Elders from the local Nuxalk People, and the results of other archaeological investigations in this area, archaeologists were certain that these large mounds were raised central hearths marking the location of elevated, cedar plank houses.

The houses were built on stilts several feet above the ground surface so that flooding from seasonal meltwater runoff would not wash them away. An excavation through the back of this mound revealed layer upon layer of sand transported and dumped here to build up the hearth mound so that it protruded through a large hole in the floor of the house.

Two of the three large mounds and the shallow area between them were selected for further study. Excavations were placed to reveal the nature of the subsurface deposits.


You can select the highlighted areas to see what the excavations revealed.


© 1997 Simon Fraser University. Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology