Kwäday Dän Ts'ìnchi

Teachings from Long Ago Person Found

Richard J. Hebda, Sheila A. Greer, Alexander P. Mackie

• Publisher: The Royal British Columbia Museum
• Year: 2019
• eBook ISBN: 9780772678164
• Edition: 0
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: North American History
• Index: History

On a late summer day, many years ago, a young man set out on a voyage through the mountains. He never reached his destination. When his remains were discovered by three British Columbia hunters, roughly three hundred years after he was caught by a storm or other accident, his story had faded from even the long memory of the region's people. First Nations elders decided to call the discovery Kwäday Dän Ts'ìnchi—Long Ago Person Found. The discovery of the Kwäday Dän Ts'ìnchi man raised many questions. Who was he and how did he die? Where had he come from? Where was he going, and for what purpose? What did his world look like? But his remains, preserved in glacial ice for centuries, offered answers, too—as did the traditional knowledge and experience of the Indigenous peoples in whose territories he lived and died. In this comprehensive and collaborative account, scientific analysis and cultural knowledge interweave to describe a life that ended just as Europeans were about to arrive in the northwest. What emerges is not only a portrait of an individual and his world, but also a model for how diverse ways of knowing, in both scholarly and oral traditions, can complement each other to provide a new understanding of our complex histories.

Table of contents

• Foreword Professor Jack Lohman
• Foreword Julie Cruikshank
• Foreword Madonna L. Moss
• 1
• introduction
• 1 The Discovery of Kwädąy Dän Ts’ìnchį
• 2 The Natural Setting of the Discovery Region: Landscapes, Ecosystems and Species
• 3 Glacial Setting and Site Survey of the Kwädąy Dän Ts’ìnchį Discovery
• 4 Archaeological Fieldwork at the Kwädąy Dän Ts’ìnchį Site and Surrounding Area
• 5 Vascular Plants, Bryophytes, Lichens and Algae from the Kwädąy Dän Ts’ìnchį Discovery Site in Northwestern British Columbia
• 6 Radiocarbon Dating of Kwädąy Dän Ts’ìnchį Man and Associated Artifacts
• 2
• introduction
• 7 The Contemporary Cultural Landscape of the Kwädąy Dän Ts’ìnchį Discovery Region
• 8 Consultation with Our Neighbours and Cultural Ceremonies in Honour of the Long Ago Person Found
• 9 Tatshenshini-Alsek History
• 10 Where Might He Have Been Headed? The Tatshenshini River Villages
• 3
• introduction
• 11 General Observations on the Conservation and Monitoring of the Kwädąy Dän Ts’ìnchį Human Remains during the Analysis Period
• 12 A Review, Discussion and Interpretation of the Human Remains from the Kwädąy Dän Ts’ìnchį Discovery
• 13 Analysis of Microorganisms in Bone and Muscle Tissues in the Kwädąy Dän Ts’ìnchį Find
• 14 The Parasitology and Entomology of the Kwädąy Dän Ts’ìnchį Find
• 15 Microbial DNA Analysis of the Kwädąy Dän Ts’ìnchį Individual’s Tissues: The Identification of Helicobacter pylori and Mycobacterium tuberculosis DNA
• 16 Origins of the Kwädąy Dän Ts’ìnchį Man Inferred through Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) Analysis
• 17 Mineralization of the Kwädąy Dän Ts’ìnchį Man’s Hair Samples: A Confounding Factor in Interpretation of Metal Content
• 18 The Use of Cellular Structure in Ancient Frozen Human Remains to Predict DNA Retrieval
• 19 Stable Isotope Analysis to Reconstruct the Diet of the Kwädąy Dän Ts’ìnchį Man
• 4
• introduction
• 20 Identification of Sockeye Salmon from the Kwädąy Dän Ts’ìnchį Site
• 21 Technological and Stylistic Analysis of the Kwädąy Dän Ts’ìnchį Basketry Hat
• 22 Conservation of the Kwädąy Dän Ts’ìnchį Woven Hat and Wooden Artifacts
• 23 Wooden Artifacts from the Kwädąy Dän Ts’ìnchį Site and Surrounding Area: An Analytical Catalogue
• 24 The Kwädąy Dän Ts’ìnchį Copper Bead
• 25 Examination and Analysis of the Kwädąy Dän Ts’ìnchį Knife
• 26 Analysis, Documentation and Conservation of the Kwädąy Dän Ts’ìnchį Robe, Beaver-Skin Bag and Undesignated Fragments
• 27 Ancient DNA Analysis of the Kwädąy Dän Ts’ìnchį Robe and Sewn Bag
• 28 Forensic Botany of the Kwädąy Dän Ts’ìnchį Ground Squirrel Robe
• 5
• introduction
• 29 Traditional Stories of Glacier Travel
• 30 Living in and Travelling in Glacier and Mountain Landscapes
• 31 Environmental Scanning Electron Microscopy: A Modern Tool for Unlocking Ancient Secrets About the Last Journey of the Kwädąy Dän Ts’ìnchį Man
• 32 His Travel Route: Retracing the Footsteps of the Kwädąy Dän Ts’ìnchį Man
• 6
• introduction
• Wolf Ancestor
• 33 The Kwädąy Dän Ts’ìnchį Community DNA Study: The Search for Living Relatives
• 34 The Kwädąy Dän Ts’ìnchį Project: A Successful Collaboration
• 35 Our Gopher Robe (Säl Ts’ät) Project: Bringing an Old Art Form Back to Life
• 36 Spruce-Root Weaving: Hats, Baskets and Community Experiences
• 37 Kets’ädän, Learning from the Discovery
• Conclusions
• Appendices
• Notes
• References
• Contributors