\u201cAll three of [the caves] had archaeological evidence, so my guess is that there are hundreds of comparable caves on the coast,\u201d says Mackie. The public is prohibited from entering caves on Haida Gwaii. Research is only conducted by permitted archaeologists.<\/p>\n
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<\/a>Nearly two decades of work by the team including Al Mackie (left) and Daryl Fedje (right) went into excavating and analyzing the archaeological artifacts found in caves on Haida Gwaii, an archipelago off British Columbia\u2019s north coast. Photo by Fedje et al.<\/p><\/div>\n
Caves are magnets for animals and people, explains Daryl Fedje, an archaeologist at the Hakai Institute* in British Columbia and lead author of the study. But unlike in other parts of the world, where caves have yielded many archaeological insights, cave excavations aren\u2019t common in British Columbia. Archaeologists in the province are typically hired to assess proposed development or logging sites, not to explore caves\u2014though they do also conduct research excavations at known villages and intertidal sites.<\/p>\n
Several field seasons spent excavating at the three caves on Haida Gwaii\u2014which are all protected under the Canada National Parks Act and Haida law\u2014revealed a range of uses. K1 and Gaadu Din 1 were likely bear dens used up to 13,400 years ago. There, the team found weapons, including spearpoints and stone flake tools that are more than 11,000 years old. Fedje says these artifacts were probably brought in by impaled animals or by hunters butchering their catch. Meanwhile, hunters likely used Gaadu Din 2 as a temporary camp between 12,500 and 10,700 years ago. Fedje notes that the team found a hearth, stone tools, and resharpening flakes in this cave.<\/p>\n
Among the animal bones collected from the caves are the remains of brown bears and deer. Both species appear to have been extirpated from the archipelago by the end of the Pleistocene, around 11,700 years ago\u2014though deer were later reintroduced. While brown bears are common on the British Columbia mainland, this is the first evidence they were ever on Haida Gwaii, Fedje says. This work has \u201cdeveloped into an incredible story that tells a huge amount about the history of the environment and people.\u201d<\/p>\n
By far the most striking of the animal remains, though, was a tooth. Using DNA analysis and radiocarbon dating, the team determined it came from a domestic dog that lived 13,100 years ago\u2014the oldest evidence of domestic dogs ever reported in the Americas. What\u2019s more, dogs are \u201ca proxy for the presence of humans,\u201d Mackie says. This find extends the length of human occupation of Haida Gwaii as recorded by archaeological evidence by 2,000 years\u2014though Fedje expects more searching will reveal artifacts that push this back even further.<\/p>\n
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