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UPDATE: ‘Archaeology in the Agassiz-Harrison Valley’ event postponed due to weather

Agassiz-Harrison Museum will reschedule debut of winter speaker series when conditions improve
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FILE - Archaeological excavation of a subterranean pit house at Seabird Island in August 1974. The dig was supervised by Roger Poulton from Simon Fraser University. (Agassiz-Harrison Historical Society)

The Agassiz-Harrison Museum has postponed the “Archaeology in the Agassiz-Harrison Valley” event that was planned for Wednesday (Jan. 15) due to weather and road conditions.

“Given this week’s winter weather conditions, we are postponing this event until the weather improves,” museum staff wrote in a post on Facebook. “We will let you know as soon as we reschedule it.”

When rescheduled, the event will mark the debut of the museum’s new monthly winter speaker series.

Museum manager and curator Lindsay Foreman, who is also an archaeologist by training, previously told the Observer that Sts’ailes heritage research archaeologist Morgan Ritchie and a team from the Sto:lo Research and Resource Management Centre will speak at the event.

“From what I can tell they’re going to take an educational perspective and talk about the role of archaeology in the development of our community,” Foreman said, adding that the speakers would also be bringing items for people to interact with and answering questions.

She said Ritchie may choose to speak about the UBC summer field school he organized with UBC professor Chris Springer. From July 2 to Aug. 2, 2019, he and eight other students carefully dug through layers of sediment and charcoal to learn about an ancient Sts’ailes village situated on the banks of the Nancy and William Phillips Slough, traditionally named after Qwetosiya and Ōltu:s Phillips.

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Foreman also said the “Archaeology in the Agassiz-Harrison Valley” event is part of larger efforts to strengthen connections between the Agassiz-Harrison Historical Society and Indigenous communities, and bring an inclusive archaeology display to the museum, which currently doesn’t have one.

“We did have some First Nations items on display, but they were displayed in a very colonial way,” she said.

For example, she said, baskets were previously displayed among European Canadian belongings as “collected items,” with no discussion about the groups who made them.

“We have quite a number of baskets and we do have some archaeological belongings as well,” she said. “We’re working with the two nations to figure out what exactly we have and who made it.

“Hopefully at some point we can return them.”

She said she is working on a new gallery that talks about the valley from 10,000 years ago up until the present.

“We will be working with the First Nations to share what they would like to share.”

To reserve tickets for the “Archaeology in the Agassiz-Harrison Valley” event ($5) or to subscribe to the monthly winter speaker series ($18), call 604-796-3545 or email agassizharrisonmuseum@shawbiz.ca.

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