The archaeological region school helps indigenous students to learn more about their history – and themselves
On Tuesday morning in July, in a warm sun, nine students prepare to throw through the soil in search of answers.
It is part of the six -week archaeological zone school ESK’ETEMC (Pronunciation Ess-Ket-E) First Nation, which gives indigenous students a chance to learn about the profession, but also about the long history, culture, and ultimate, of their families.
As the group exits the ground in the BC’s alkali valley, about 180 kilometers in the north -west of the lotules, they are all vibrated with anticipation, eager to highlight a pit’s house – and all innumerable artifacts within it.
50 -year -old Greg Harry of Kshar Lake has been interested in archeology for a long time.
“This kind of my eyes open,” he said. “I want to go back and see how we live during the day, and how we still live.”
Recent archaeological conclusions
Earlier this year, Williams Lake First Nation and ESK’ETEMC revealed Raised the entire communities In July 2024, the Chilkotin River landslide, it was not recorded earlier.
A total of 70 sites, some new and some were already known, were documented. The First Nations said that there are 31 pre-contact saved village sites. Seven include things like burial, cave and rock art.
Williams Lake First Nation Cooki 7 (Chief) Willy Sellers told CBC News in April, “It is very clean to think about the amount of history in our traditional areas.” “We need to continue to tell stories and we need to continue to celebrate the area because there is a massive treatment component to be out on the ground.
“This is what we need to encourage more people to do, because it is what our ancestors were and are still for most parts.”
ESK’ETEMC Education Director Calvin Dabre did this. Through a partnership with Thompson River University (Tru), he put the field school together, which teaches skills such as survey, mapping, excavation and laboratory works, all ESK’ETEMC was completed on land.
“We have always had to contract various contractors to do archaeological work,” he said. “I thought, why can’t we do this ourselves?”
At the end of the program, all nine students will be eligible to work at archaeological sites.
“They will have enough experience called ‘Field Ready’, so they will be able to go out with certified archaeologists and work some fields,” said Dabre.
This is the first of its kind for ESK’ETEMC First Nation. An archaeological zone school for students of all ages. This is the opportunity to know more about family history and get experience on the equipment and hands required to work in the profession. CBC’s Shelley Joyce Williams fell into a orbit in the Kshar Valley, south of the lake, south of the lake.
The 52 -year -old Audrey Grinder said that she would like to become a certified archaeologist one day.
“This is the most natural form,” he said. “Every time when I go with a trowel, it’s like wow, what am I going to find? What is the ancestors to show me? What are they going to allow me to see, understand or learn me? I feel excited every time.”
ESK’ETEMC protocol
Archaeologist and TRU instructor Beth Bedard said that the special program is unique that the project is ruled by the protocol of ESK’ETEMC Nation, and they control whose project and its conclusions are accessible.
“This is a very important part of this work,” he said. “ESK’ETEMC protocol combines with scientific hardness and results, understanding the history of the community in a complete way.”
He said that this work is more depth than other excavation sites, as it combines oral history with scientific conclusions.
“When it is tied together with the oral history of the community, we get a more complete and meaningful picture of the past than an archaeological excavation of the past which is conducted only through scientific functioning.”
‘A real second calling’
For many students, Field School has been an opportunity to achieve that experience, and perhaps consider another career, one that will have a deep meaning for them. For others, the program has given them a better understanding of who they are and where they come from.
Grinder said, “I wanted to understand a little more about where I came from, more about my history, about the past and the past to understand the past, why we are here to understand our purpose,” Grinder said.
67 -year -old Tena Ogden described the experience as “rejuvenation”.
“I am going to tell everyone about it,” she said.
Ogden said she inspires her work to continue learning about her history, and after that, expects to learn secwepemctsín language.
“It is as if I am getting another wind, it is as if I am getting a real second calling.”
