Anthropology Colloquium is the department’s speaker series that invites a mixture of anthropologists from within and outside of UBC to present their research. This speaker series is scheduled throughout the academic year, typically with a lunch reception in the AnSo Lounge.
The Historical Ecology of Cultural Keystone Species and Places of the Northwest Coast
Thursday, February 4, 2016
Anthropology and Sociology Building (ANSO) 134
11:30-1:00 pm
Event Poster: PDF
Dr. Dana Lepofsky
Professor in the Department of Archaeology at Simon Fraser University
Abstract
Cultural Keystone Places (CKPs) are landscapes that hold particular importance to the identity and well-being of cultural groups today. I introduce three CKPs of the Northwest Coast: Hauyat, Laxgalts’ap (Old Town), and Dałk Gyilakyaw (Robin Town) (territories of Heiltsuk, Gitga’ata, and Gitsm’geelm, respectively). Our team brings together the data and knowledge gleaned from interviews, oral histories, and ecological, archaeological, and botanical studies to recreate the deep and recent histories of these cultural landscapes. Archaeological features at each CKP are situated within expansive landscapes transformed by generations of people interacting with their surrounding environments. Extensive management and use of culturally valued resources and ecosystems – reflected in a continuum of native fruit orchards, berry gardens, intertidal root gardens, and clam gardens – belies the appellation of Northwest Coast peoples as “hunter-gatherers”. We use websites and touch screens to share the historical secrets held within the lands, water, and ecosystems of these special places.
Bio
Dana Lepofsky is a professor in the Department of Archaeology at Simon Fraser University. She is interested in past human-environmental interactions and in situating this information in current social and ecological contexts.
