Ethnobotany is the scientific study of the relationships that exist between peoples and plants.If The First Nation people are still looking to prove "ownership rights" of their lands AND resources...... here's one source "we" might be interested in persuing:
Nancy J. Turner OBC No. 224 May 17, 1999
Introduction
In this study we attempt to record as much information as possible on the traditional names and uses of plants by the Hesquiat people. General Information on the role of plants in Hesquiat culture is also provided. The second part of the text consists of a list of plant species having Hesquiat names or traditional uses. Appendices provide further information on plants known or used by the Hesquiat people but not yet identified botanically, a dictionary of terms pertaining to plants and plant products that have been important to the Hesquiat people.
Because most of the information was gathered during joint interviews with several Hesquiat elders, including ....Snip
The botanical identification of most of the plants mentioned was verified, often on several different occasions, with live specimens. If such verification was not made, this is noted in the text. Plant collections made in conjunction with the study are housed in the Botany Division of the British Columbia Provincial Museum. .... Snip
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Directly behind Hesquiat village is a small lake, Village Lake, which is drained by Village Creek, running immediately around the village. Researchers have found, through pollen analysis of the sediments around Village Lake, that this area was a salt-water lagoon as recently as 700 - 900 years ago, and hence the village itself must have been near a low spit enclosing the lagoon (Richard Hebda, Archaeology Division, B.C.P.M., pers. comm.). Gradually, with a slight build-up of sediment and organic debris at the mouth of the lagoon and a probable slight lowering of sea level, the ocean was blocked off and the lagoon became a fresh-water body.
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Aside from the typical forest cover, many specialized habitats, each with its own topographic features, soil type and characteristic combination of plant species, can be found in the territory of the Hesquiats. Edible and useful plants occur in abundance in practically every type of habitat, but some were particularly significant to the Hesquiat economy, notably the marine intertidal and subtidal habitats with their many species of seaweeds and seagrasses, the lakeshore and fresh-water habitats with their rushes and aquatic vegetation, and the acid bog areas with Sphagnum moss, Labrador tea, Lodgepole pine and Bog cranberries. Each of these areas also supports certain forms of animal life on which the Hesquiat people relied for food.
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Near Hesquiat Village, and in some cases, some distance from the village, the resources of the rivers, lakes and forest were "owned" by individuals in the village, who thus had control over the use of the these resources by others. Such natural resources as berry patches, patches of edible "root" vegetables, as well as stands of western red cedar for inner bark and other sources of plant materials were considered private property. The owner could, and often did, give permission to others to participate in the harvest. Different local groups might have different kinds of resources in their territories and this factor undoubtedly influenced inter-group relationships. People from other villages might not be granted such permission or, if they were, would probably have to pay for the privilege or reciprocate in some way. Some resources, however, were not as strictly controlled as others, and hence, one might be able to harvest some types of berries without asking permission. Apparently, also, some areas, such as the inland montane regions, were not strictly controlled, and one could travel and harvest most resources there without fear of trespassing.
The journals of Captain Cook and other early visitors to the West Coast of Vancouver Island indicate that even in those early times, there was considerable contact among the various West Coast villages and that the trading of foods and other resources was very common. John Jewitt (1824, 1931), who, in 1803, survived a massacre of the other members of his crew by the west coast people, and who was held captive at Nootka Sound for several years, records that dried cakes of salal berries were a major trading item between village groups. Jewitt also mentions the edible bulb "Quawnoose" (Hesquiat......), undoubtedly blue camaa, being brought to the Sound be peoples some 300 miles to the south, probably Salish. Hence trading must have not only been common, but far-reaching, even then, both for the Nootka Sound peoples, and their close neighbours, the Hesquiats.
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The dried stems of the short beach kelps were used as "pucks" and sticks in a type of "beach hockey" enjoyed by the Hesquiats, especially young boys.
Google Image Search Criteria: Ethnobotany of the Hesquiat Indians of Vancouver Island
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Ethnobotany of Vancouver????
Ethnobotany of newcomers????? to British Columbia eg. Captain Cook
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Scotty on Denman Comment:
....... It occurred to me one day, high up on a mountain, eating lunch beside a skinny, twisted red cedar, that the pattern of CMT distribution illustrated proprietorial working of the forest: why would anybody come all the way up here, maybe a kilometre of steep, broken ground to the water, to strike a plank off a shitty little pecker-pole cedar when there were (and still are) plenty of much better candidates down by the water's edge? The answer is because the trees down by the water were owned by somebody else; the poor guy who had to crawl all the way up there to get a difficult, twisted plank wasn't allowed to harvest lower down---it didn't belong to him and he didn't have permission from the owner(s). ......
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Google Search Criteria: Hesquiat ethnoarchaeology cedar trees
We were developing some timber on private land on an island near Bella Bella. Part of the job was to recognize what used to be called "Indian Trees"---now called "Culturally Modified Trees" or CMTs---western red cedar trees, usually still alive, from which planks or bark were periodically harvested. For us it affected road location and cutting boundaries: if a CMT was pre-1864, we had to stay 300 metres away from it, and post-1864 only 100 metres away. We'd note the CMTs on the map and give it to a team of ethno-archaeologists to determine the date of "modification", that is, the removal of bark or planks, and often holes burned into the bole to test for soundness---these were being considered for canoes. We had occasion to wonder why exactly we were developing timber in an area where you literally couldn't find a spot where at least one CMT wasn't visible.
ReplyDeleteIt occurred to me one day, high up on a mountain, eating lunch beside a skinny, twisted red cedar, that the pattern of CMT distribution illustrated proprietorial working of the forest: why would anybody come all the way up here, maybe a kilometre of steep, broken ground to the water, to strike a plank off a shitty little pecker-pole cedar when there were (and still are) plenty of much better candidates down by the water's edge? The answer is because the trees down by the water were owned by somebody else; the poor guy who had to crawl all the way up there to get a difficult, twisted plank wasn't allowed to harvest lower down---it didn't belong to him and he didn't have permission from the owner(s).
Hung out with the ethno-archaeologists one afternoon. Quite interesting the techniques they used to determine the age of the working, like was it done by metal or stone axe? was it burned down or chopped down (some CMTs are stumps ). But man! those guys were expensive, about $1600 per day, maybe assess two or three CMTs. Meanwhile each one of us engineers would note dozens and dozens of CMTs every single day. They're virtually everywhere up there. Heiltsuk territory. Wet, no forest fires to destroy evidence of primitive workings. We only needed to know pre-or-post-1864 but they estimated some of the workings to be several hundred years old---count the annual rings in the scar tissue around the edges of the working.
Another disturbing realization on Nootka Island was the reason why all these canoes, about ten of them, had been started but abandoned: it was the smallpox epidemic, killed so many people, the canoes were started then forgotten until we showed up a hundred years later. It was a ghostly realization.