WLFN owned company brings a decolonial lens to archaeology: `We need Indigenous knowledge’

By Dionne Phillips  Local Journalism Initiative Reporter On a recent archaeological exploration for the Cariboo Memorial Hospital project in Williams Lake, Demetrius George discovered a small, ancient rock tool in the dirt. The fine-grained volcanic artifact is very sharp, he explains, but doesn’t seem to be made for scraping deer hide  rather, for smaller jobs, such as cutting string. “I’ve been trying to find a tool for three years now,” he says with a smile. George is a junior archaeological field technician with the Indigenous-owned company Sugar Cane Archaeology. Through his work, the member of Esk’etemc First Nation explores Secwepemc lands and beyond uncovering village sites, pithouses, tools and other amazing glimpses into the past in order to illuminate and preserve this important history. In a historically colonial field, SCA…

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