{"id":57,"date":"2020-09-25T20:41:06","date_gmt":"2020-09-26T00:41:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/preconfederation2e\/chapter\/2-2-history-without-archives\/"},"modified":"2025-05-02T16:35:51","modified_gmt":"2025-05-02T20:35:51","slug":"2-2-history-without-archives","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/preconfederation2e\/chapter\/2-2-history-without-archives\/","title":{"raw":"2.2 History without Archives","rendered":"2.2 History without Archives"},"content":{"raw":"The idea that the\u00a0Americas have no history before the arrival of Europeans derives mainly from the apparent absence of a written record. European, Middle Eastern, and Asian civilizations evolved highly bureaucratic and centralized administrative functions based on the ability to\u00a0write things down. The influential\u00a0Canadian economic historian, <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Harold_Innis\">Harold Innis<\/a>, described the impact of writing on the building of empires in his 1951 book,\u00a0<em>The Bias of Communication.<\/em>\u00a0He argued that there are two kinds of communications: time-biased and space-biased.\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Time-biased media seek to transcend time. They are heavy and durable, such as clay and stone. They have a long lifespan but they do not encourage the extension of empires. Think here of ancient Egypt or Sumeria as examples. Innis associated these media with the customary, the sacred, and the moral: they're heavy on gods and proclamations, light on detailed instructions. Time-biased media facilitate the development of social and economic hierarchies. They also favour the growth of religion and the hegemony that religion imposes on secondary institutions, such as education. For Innis, speech is also a time-biased medium. Speech, in the form of oral culture, can be passed down from generation to generation, yet does not encourage territorial expansion. Oral culture is concerned with preserving values and traditional knowledge. Oral cultures emphasize their past and create a collective society rich in tradition, ceremony, and custom.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Space-biased media, conversely, seek to obliterate physical boundaries. They are light and transportable and can be transmitted over distances. They are associated with secular and territorial societies and facilitate the expansion of empire over land and sea. Paper (and papyrus) is an example of space-biased media: it is readily transported, but has a relatively short lifespan since it degrades and can be easily destroyed or lost. Writing, closely linked with paper, is also an example of a space-biased media. Writing emphasizes the present and the future, and is not localized like oral culture. Writing is grounded in technical knowledge and facilitates the growth of states, political authorities, and decentralized institutions.[footnote]The Libraries and Archives of Canada, <em>Old Messengers, New Media: The Legacy of Innis and McLuhan<\/em>. Accessed January 5, 2015,\u00a0http:\/\/www.collectionscanada.gc.ca\/innis-mcluhan\/030003-1030-e.html.[\/footnote]<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\nMany societies \u2014 perhaps most or even all \u2014 combine elements of both kinds of media, but they also privilege one over the other. Europeans in the 1400s had space-biased media at their disposal, in the form of writing. This gave them the power to pass instructions across long supply lines that wrapped their way around Africa and across the Atlantic. It gave their delegates the ability to devise documents that assigned \"ownership\" to lands they'd just encountered. And it was the very embodiment of their belief system, bound up in the form of the <em>Holy Bible<\/em>.\r\n\r\nIndigenous peoples in this hemisphere had time-biased media, which\u00a0put them at a disadvantage in many ways\u00a0(which we'll explore in <a class=\"internal\" href=\"\/preconfederation2e\/chapter\/3-1-introduction\/\">Chapter 3<\/a>). But the important point is that they <em>did<\/em> have\u00a0media;\u00a0they had a written record, which the Europeans chose to ignore or\u00a0attempt to destroy\u00a0where it challenged their own media. Oral tradition was, as well, disregarded and disrespected by Europeans and, from the 19th century on, attacked in schools and in the courts. Consequently, it is a generally, and wrongly,\u00a0held\u00a0belief that the Americas (as we've come to call them) had no historic\u00a0record. In truth,\u00a0writing, media, and historic accounts were widespread.\r\n<h1>The Archive of Place<\/h1>\r\nOne of the barriers to appreciating the depth of history in what is now Canada is our commitment to the notion of the country being \"new\" in the so-called New World. In fact, human occupation of the northern half of this continent began at least 14,000 years ago and probably much earlier. That is a long time indeed \u2014 long enough for any group of people to establish a profound relationship with their location, with their place. This is no less true of the indigenous peoples of Canada than it is of the peoples of the Steppe, the Gobi, the Orkneys, or Melanesia. Places themselves are a record of memory, most of which is accessible only to those who know how to read it.\r\n\r\nIn his study of British Columbia's Chilcotin Plateau,\u00a0<em>The Archive of Place<\/em>, William J. Turkel describes the complex of [pb_glossary id=\"584\"]grease trails[\/pb_glossary] of the region. This was the extensive system of footpaths carved out of very challenging terrain in order to facilitate communication and commerce between the west coast and the interior plateau. They were called <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Grease_trail\">grease trails<\/a> because of the trade in [pb_glossary id=\"585\"]oolichan[\/pb_glossary] grease (a fish oil) that was ported on the backs of hundreds of freight-bearers over hundreds of\u00a0kilometres. Turkel\u00a0writes,\r\n<blockquote>For the people of Ulkatcho, as for their Aboriginal neighbours throughout the Chilcotin, memory is everywhere anchored in the landscape, along the grease trails and rivers, of course, but also in the meadows and forests between. For them, there is not a single trail that connects the Fraser [River] with the [Pacific] coast or that unites provinces east and west; rather, there is a dense, lived mesh of trails and a cyclicity and seasonality of travel.[footnote]William J. Turkel, <em>The Archive of Place: Unearthing the Pasts of the Chilcotin Plateau<\/em> (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2007 ), 109.[\/footnote]<\/blockquote>\r\nEach trail, with its multitude of markers, rock cairns, and boundaries signifies to its reader a history of commerce, conflict, stability, and change. In societies with a strong oral tradition, these are stimulants to memory. They act just as a series of volumes on a shelf might.\r\n\r\nAcross Canada, there are many\u00a0places similarly invested with meaning and symbols, in many\u00a0forms. Lobsticks, for example, show up across the country:\r\n<blockquote>Aboriginal inhabitants of the boreal forest would shape a tall and conspicuous white spruce or pine tree by \"lopping\" most of its branches off. Branches that strategically pointed in the right direction would remain. The top would bush out in a tuft, making it easy to spot. Nearby trees were cut and hauled away, leaving the lobstick in rather lonely splendour. Lobsticks were used in many ways, both practical and symbolic. They were often signposts, chosen and designed to mark trails, portages, and pathways through the boreal forest, berry patches or hunting grounds.[footnote]Merle Massie, \u201cLobstick: Canada\u2019s next symbol?\u201d <em>ActiveHistory.com<\/em>, http:\/\/activehistory.ca\/2012\/10\/lobstick-canadas-next-symbol\/.[\/footnote]<\/blockquote>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_646\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"300\"]<img class=\"wp-image-646\" src=\"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/preconfederation2e\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/319\/2020\/09\/Petroglyphs-two.jpg\" alt=\"Simple images carved into a rock face.\" width=\"300\" height=\"450\" \/> Figure 2.1 Petroglyphs found near Peterborough, Ontario.[\/caption]\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_648\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\"]<img class=\"wp-image-648\" src=\"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/preconfederation2e\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/319\/2020\/09\/Petroglyph-Thorsen-Creek-e1605918403333.jpg\" alt=\"A human face carved into dark rock. The carving is sprinkled with pine needles.\" width=\"500\" height=\"337\" \/> Figure 2.2 Petroglyphs near Bella Coola, in Nuxalk territory, British Columbia.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nRock paintings ([pb_glossary id=\"589\"]pictographs[\/pb_glossary]) and rock carvings ([pb_glossary id=\"628\"]petroglyphs[\/pb_glossary]) are other visible records of storytelling and meaning, and a reminder of the long-term human occupation of Canada. These traces of memory are found in many parts of the country. Less durable examples of record keeping include the [pb_glossary id=\"630\"]winter counts[\/pb_glossary] maintained on animal hides and other surfaces by several plains nations, especially the Lakota, one of the Sioux nations. Totemic illustrations \u2014 on poles, house faces, tipis \u2014 often announce clans and lineages, implicitly another record of past events.\r\n<h1>The Written Record<\/h1>\r\nWritten records \u2014 of a kind that compares more completely with those of Asia, Europe, and Africa \u2014 abounded in [pb_glossary id=\"633\"]Mesoamerica[\/pb_glossary]. The indigenous Mayan civilizations in particular advanced writing to a point where it included glyphs (symbols for things or people) and syllabics (symbols that represent a sound or, indeed, an entire word). The work of the Mayans rested on the foundations established by still earlier civilizations in the region (see <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Mesoamerican_writing_systems\">Mesoamerican writing systems<\/a>).\u00a0Their neighbours and successors, the [pb_glossary id=\"634\"]Aztecs[\/pb_glossary], had their own\u00a0similar\u00a0written form of communication.\r\n\r\nScrolls\u00a0written by Aztec authors and scribes from the period both before and after the arrival of Europeans are known as [pb_glossary id=\"635\"]codexes[\/pb_glossary], or codices. Mayan codexes also exist, although many from both nations were destroyed by Spanish invaders who regarded these remarkable forms of writing as highly suspect, because they\u00a0believed \"the\u00a0word of God\" was written only in Latin, not Nahuatl, let alone hieroglyphics.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_650\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"600\"]<img class=\"wp-image-650\" src=\"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/preconfederation2e\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/319\/2020\/09\/Palenque-glyphs.jpg\" alt=\"Raised square glyphs made of stucco. The glyphs are arranged in three rows of four with neat spaces between each.\" width=\"600\" height=\"418\" \/> Figure 2.3 Maya glyphs in stucco at the Museo de sitio in Palenque, Mexico.[\/caption]\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_651\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"300\"]<img class=\"wp-image-651\" src=\"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/preconfederation2e\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/319\/2020\/09\/Dresden-Codex-page-49.jpg\" alt=\"A faded parchment with rows of symbols and three coloured drawings depicting people.\" width=\"300\" height=\"650\" \/> Figure 2.4 An example of Yucatec Maya writing, c. 11th or 12th century CE from Chichen Itza, preserved in the Dresden Codex.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nThe nearest equivalent or comparable script known in Canada are the birchbark scrolls prepared by members of the Anishinaabeg nation. Some scrolls found in a cave near Burntside Lake in Quetico Provincial Park, Ontario, near the Minnesota border, have been carbon-dated to the mid-16th century. It is likely that they first appeared in the [pb_glossary id=\"637\"]proto-contact[\/pb_glossary] period if not the\u00a0[pb_glossary id=\"639\"]pre-contact[\/pb_glossary] period. The scrolls vary in size and shape: most are about 30 centimetres wide and up to 1\u00a0metre long. Some show signs of binding and indexing. Images and symbols are drawn on the soft inner surface of the bark and sometimes darkened in black, red, or blue. The subject matter ranges from the banal to the sublime, from simple instructions and maps to spiritual tales and lessons. A secret or at least semi-secret medicine society called\u00a0Midewiwin was responsible for preserving and reproducing scrolls as they became more fragile or at risk from missionaries and colonial administrators. For that reason, these documents are often called \"Midewiwin scrolls.\"\r\n<h1>The Oral Record<\/h1>\r\nAs Innis observed, societies that write on stone but not on paper are more likely to be time-biased. One of the qualities of such cultures is that they are well suited for a strong oral tradition. Certainly these societies move around, but overwhelmingly they move within cycles and retain a deep attachment to a particular locale. They gather annually, in some cases to exchange goods, seek marriage partners, determine group responses to threats or opportunities, and indulge in oratory. Without exception, European observers in the earliest days of contact (and, in some areas, much later as well) commented on the oratorical skills of Indigenous speakers. Whether in the longhouses of the Haudenosaunee (Five Nations Iroquois) or the seaside camps of the Mi'kmaq, Europeans witnessed the fruit of a long tradition of storytelling that paid close attention to the core elements of a tale, preserving its integrity while allowing for personal style. To be able to tell a familiar tale well and with panache was highly valued among Indigenous societies. This included \"true\" stories of history.\r\n\r\nSome 50\u00a0years ago, when Bruce Trigger was preparing his landmark two-volume history of the Huron\/Wendat,\u00a0<em>The Children of Aataentsic<\/em>, he demonstrated the value of what came to be known as \"ethnohistory.\"[footnote]Bruce Trigger, <em>The Children of Aataentsic: A History of the Huron People to 1660<\/em> (Montreal &amp; Kingston: McGill\u2013Queen\u2019s University Press, 1987).[\/footnote] This included extensive and critical use of the [pb_glossary id=\"641\"]oral tradition[\/pb_glossary] which, of course, meant working very closely and respectfully with Indigenous peoples, especially elders. Many years later, Wendy Wickwire demonstrated how the oral tradition \u2014 whether living or transcribed years ago \u2014 passed the historians' tests of reliability and verifiability. Comparing the oral record of the Nlaka'pamux with fur trader and explorer Simon Fraser's written account of contact in 1808, she found both remarkable similarities and revealing differences.[footnote]Wendy C. Wickwire, \u201cTo See Ourselves as the Other\u2019s Other: Nlaka\u2019pamux Contact Narratives,\u201d <em>Canadian Historical Review<\/em> 75, issue 1 (1994): 1\u201320.[\/footnote]\u00a0After 1492 and for the next 500\u00a0years \"Old World\" epidemic diseases raced back and forth across\u00a0the Americas, leading to demographic disasters, which in some communities, ruptured and even broke the chain of the oral tradition. This was the worst-case scenario but\u00a0fortunately, many pre-contact accounts continue to be nurtured.\r\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\r\n\r\n<strong>Audio 2.1<\/strong>\r\n\r\nThis sound clip is of Indigenous voices retrieved from the late 19th century, specifically, the Nlaka'pamux Dance Song (recorded by Franz Boas).\r\n\r\n[audio ogg=\"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/preconfederation2e\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/319\/2020\/09\/Nlaka\u2019pamux-Dance-Song.ogg\"][\/audio]\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\nPerhaps still more remarkable has been the survival in the oral tradition of accounts of [pb_glossary id=\"642\"]megafauna[\/pb_glossary], including a giant beaver that non-Indigenous people understood to be a mythical creature. We now know the stories about gargantuan beavers are true: their skeletal remains have been found throughout Canada, some of them measuring 2.5 metres in length and indicating a body weight of as much as 100 kilograms. These massive rodents became extinct about 10,000 years ago, and yet recollections of their existence appear to have been passed down orally across thousands of generations. The lesson of this scrupulous research seems clear: if you want to know something about the history of Indigenous peoples you might try listening to Indigenous historians. A further lesson for Canada as a whole would be to value storytellers more highly.\r\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\r\n\r\n<strong>Historians on Video<\/strong>\r\n\r\nWendy Wickwire is an anthropologist and historian at the University of Victoria whose research into the vitality, viability, and reliability of the oral tradition has been the foundation of important changes in both scholarly and legal attitudes toward Indigenous historic knowledge. Here is a link to a <a href=\"https:\/\/barabus.tru.ca\/hist1121\/hist1121_ww_u1_01.pdf\">transcript for Wendy Wickwire's introductory video and her video on oral history [PDF]<\/a>.\r\n\r\nhttps:\/\/youtu.be\/-PK7b6k6EZI?si=fBjmLMAUmjpgdoPh\r\n\r\nhttps:\/\/youtu.be\/cbggCXkIcgs?si=GGw-pr4l0uXKNRtD\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<h1>The Archaeological Record<\/h1>\r\nA further method of reaching into the pre-contact past is by digging it up \u2014 literally. Archaeology, as both a science and a school of thought, has evolved a great deal since its emergence in the 18th century. Since that time, it has become increasingly systematic, thorough, and technical. What is called the [pb_glossary id=\"644\"]archaeological record[\/pb_glossary] contributes a great deal to current understandings of human experience in what is now Canada and elsewhere in the Americas.\r\n\r\nKeep in mind that archaeology originally developed as a technique for studying earlier and long-gone Mediterranean societies like those of classical Rome, Greece, Egypt, and the lands stretching east from Syria through the Euphrates Valley. Its application, too, to sites in Britain and France (e.g., Stonehenge and the Ard\u00e8che caves) did not involve any local, living populations. In Europe, the archaeological study of more recent societies is usually described as historical archaeology. The modifier \"historical\" is, revealingly, not consistently used in North America when it comes to the study of Indigenous peoples. In the late-19th century, however, much ethnographic work was described as \"salvage ethnography,\" in that it was presented by its Euro-Canadian practitioners as an effort to \"save\" evidence of an extinct people, despite the fact that those people were living just down the road. An archaeological dig on Sto:lo or Innu territory occurs in close proximity to people whose lives are, in point of fact, continuations of the stories being excavated.\r\n\r\nAs Trigger has pointedly observed, the \"ethnohistorian normally depends upon documentary evidence that was produced not by the people\" who are being studied, \"but by representatives of a radically different culture.\" This is important to keep in mind when assessing the archaeological evidence. It is isn't just that an authentic Indigenous record presents special challenges \u2014 because an authentic historic record of any kind does \u2014 but that the \"view from here\" is impeded by sources and perspectives offered up by contemporaries and scholars whose perspectives may be entirely different from and at odds with that of indigenous people. In short, archaeology is a filter, not a crystal-clear lens; interpretation and analysis is a necessary part of the science.\r\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--key-takeaways\"><header class=\"textbox__header\">\r\n<p class=\"textbox__title\">Key Takeaways<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/header>\r\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>The dearth of a written record does not mean there is no record at all.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Oral traditions and histories are as reliable as written primary sources. They are subject to the same tests of verifiability and reliability.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>The archaeological record can complement the historical record and advance historical theories.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<h3>Audio and Video Attributions<\/h3>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li><a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/File:Dance_Song_of_the_Thompson_River_Indians.ogg\">Dance Song of the Thompson River Indians<\/a> \u00a9 1897 by the Nlaka'pamux and recorded by Franz Boas is licensed under a <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/publicdomain\/mark\/1.0\/\">Public Domain<\/a> license<\/li>\r\n \t<li><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/-PK7b6k6EZI\">Dr. Wendy Wickwire Question 1 - Introduction<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/cbggCXkIcgs\">Dr. Wendy Wickwire Question 2 - Oral history.<\/a> \u00a9 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UC-9TuI09di8EcXWaJx-IUhA\">2015 by TRU Open Learning<\/a> are licensed under <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/\">CC BY (Attribution)<\/a> licenses<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>","rendered":"<p>The idea that the\u00a0Americas have no history before the arrival of Europeans derives mainly from the apparent absence of a written record. European, Middle Eastern, and Asian civilizations evolved highly bureaucratic and centralized administrative functions based on the ability to\u00a0write things down. The influential\u00a0Canadian economic historian, <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Harold_Innis\">Harold Innis<\/a>, described the impact of writing on the building of empires in his 1951 book,\u00a0<em>The Bias of Communication.<\/em>\u00a0He argued that there are two kinds of communications: time-biased and space-biased.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Time-biased media seek to transcend time. They are heavy and durable, such as clay and stone. They have a long lifespan but they do not encourage the extension of empires. Think here of ancient Egypt or Sumeria as examples. Innis associated these media with the customary, the sacred, and the moral: they&#8217;re heavy on gods and proclamations, light on detailed instructions. Time-biased media facilitate the development of social and economic hierarchies. They also favour the growth of religion and the hegemony that religion imposes on secondary institutions, such as education. For Innis, speech is also a time-biased medium. Speech, in the form of oral culture, can be passed down from generation to generation, yet does not encourage territorial expansion. Oral culture is concerned with preserving values and traditional knowledge. Oral cultures emphasize their past and create a collective society rich in tradition, ceremony, and custom.<\/li>\n<li>Space-biased media, conversely, seek to obliterate physical boundaries. They are light and transportable and can be transmitted over distances. They are associated with secular and territorial societies and facilitate the expansion of empire over land and sea. Paper (and papyrus) is an example of space-biased media: it is readily transported, but has a relatively short lifespan since it degrades and can be easily destroyed or lost. Writing, closely linked with paper, is also an example of a space-biased media. Writing emphasizes the present and the future, and is not localized like oral culture. Writing is grounded in technical knowledge and facilitates the growth of states, political authorities, and decentralized institutions.<a class=\"footnote\" title=\"The Libraries and Archives of Canada, Old Messengers, New Media: The Legacy of Innis and McLuhan. Accessed January 5, 2015,\u00a0http:\/\/www.collectionscanada.gc.ca\/innis-mcluhan\/030003-1030-e.html.\" id=\"return-footnote-57-1\" href=\"#footnote-57-1\" aria-label=\"Footnote 1\"><sup class=\"footnote\">[1]<\/sup><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Many societies \u2014 perhaps most or even all \u2014 combine elements of both kinds of media, but they also privilege one over the other. Europeans in the 1400s had space-biased media at their disposal, in the form of writing. This gave them the power to pass instructions across long supply lines that wrapped their way around Africa and across the Atlantic. It gave their delegates the ability to devise documents that assigned &#8220;ownership&#8221; to lands they&#8217;d just encountered. And it was the very embodiment of their belief system, bound up in the form of the <em>Holy Bible<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Indigenous peoples in this hemisphere had time-biased media, which\u00a0put them at a disadvantage in many ways\u00a0(which we&#8217;ll explore in <a class=\"internal\" href=\"\/preconfederation2e\/chapter\/3-1-introduction\/\">Chapter 3<\/a>). But the important point is that they <em>did<\/em> have\u00a0media;\u00a0they had a written record, which the Europeans chose to ignore or\u00a0attempt to destroy\u00a0where it challenged their own media. Oral tradition was, as well, disregarded and disrespected by Europeans and, from the 19th century on, attacked in schools and in the courts. Consequently, it is a generally, and wrongly,\u00a0held\u00a0belief that the Americas (as we&#8217;ve come to call them) had no historic\u00a0record. In truth,\u00a0writing, media, and historic accounts were widespread.<\/p>\n<h1>The Archive of Place<\/h1>\n<p>One of the barriers to appreciating the depth of history in what is now Canada is our commitment to the notion of the country being &#8220;new&#8221; in the so-called New World. In fact, human occupation of the northern half of this continent began at least 14,000 years ago and probably much earlier. That is a long time indeed \u2014 long enough for any group of people to establish a profound relationship with their location, with their place. This is no less true of the indigenous peoples of Canada than it is of the peoples of the Steppe, the Gobi, the Orkneys, or Melanesia. Places themselves are a record of memory, most of which is accessible only to those who know how to read it.<\/p>\n<p>In his study of British Columbia&#8217;s Chilcotin Plateau,\u00a0<em>The Archive of Place<\/em>, William J. Turkel describes the complex of <a class=\"glossary-term\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\" aria-describedby=\"definition\" href=\"#term_57_584\">grease trails<\/a> of the region. This was the extensive system of footpaths carved out of very challenging terrain in order to facilitate communication and commerce between the west coast and the interior plateau. They were called <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Grease_trail\">grease trails<\/a> because of the trade in <a class=\"glossary-term\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\" aria-describedby=\"definition\" href=\"#term_57_585\">oolichan<\/a> grease (a fish oil) that was ported on the backs of hundreds of freight-bearers over hundreds of\u00a0kilometres. Turkel\u00a0writes,<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>For the people of Ulkatcho, as for their Aboriginal neighbours throughout the Chilcotin, memory is everywhere anchored in the landscape, along the grease trails and rivers, of course, but also in the meadows and forests between. For them, there is not a single trail that connects the Fraser [River] with the [Pacific] coast or that unites provinces east and west; rather, there is a dense, lived mesh of trails and a cyclicity and seasonality of travel.<a class=\"footnote\" title=\"William J. Turkel, The Archive of Place: Unearthing the Pasts of the Chilcotin Plateau (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2007 ), 109.\" id=\"return-footnote-57-2\" href=\"#footnote-57-2\" aria-label=\"Footnote 2\"><sup class=\"footnote\">[2]<\/sup><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Each trail, with its multitude of markers, rock cairns, and boundaries signifies to its reader a history of commerce, conflict, stability, and change. In societies with a strong oral tradition, these are stimulants to memory. They act just as a series of volumes on a shelf might.<\/p>\n<p>Across Canada, there are many\u00a0places similarly invested with meaning and symbols, in many\u00a0forms. Lobsticks, for example, show up across the country:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Aboriginal inhabitants of the boreal forest would shape a tall and conspicuous white spruce or pine tree by &#8220;lopping&#8221; most of its branches off. Branches that strategically pointed in the right direction would remain. The top would bush out in a tuft, making it easy to spot. Nearby trees were cut and hauled away, leaving the lobstick in rather lonely splendour. Lobsticks were used in many ways, both practical and symbolic. They were often signposts, chosen and designed to mark trails, portages, and pathways through the boreal forest, berry patches or hunting grounds.<a class=\"footnote\" title=\"Merle Massie, \u201cLobstick: Canada\u2019s next symbol?\u201d ActiveHistory.com, http:\/\/activehistory.ca\/2012\/10\/lobstick-canadas-next-symbol\/.\" id=\"return-footnote-57-3\" href=\"#footnote-57-3\" aria-label=\"Footnote 3\"><sup class=\"footnote\">[3]<\/sup><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<figure id=\"attachment_646\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-646\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-646\" src=\"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/preconfederation2e\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/319\/2020\/09\/Petroglyphs-two.jpg\" alt=\"Simple images carved into a rock face.\" width=\"300\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/preconfederation2e\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/319\/2020\/09\/Petroglyphs-two.jpg 504w, https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/preconfederation2e\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/319\/2020\/09\/Petroglyphs-two-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/preconfederation2e\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/319\/2020\/09\/Petroglyphs-two-65x98.jpg 65w, https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/preconfederation2e\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/319\/2020\/09\/Petroglyphs-two-225x338.jpg 225w, https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/preconfederation2e\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/319\/2020\/09\/Petroglyphs-two-350x525.jpg 350w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-646\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Figure 2.1 Petroglyphs found near Peterborough, Ontario.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_648\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-648\" style=\"width: 500px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-648\" src=\"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/preconfederation2e\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/319\/2020\/09\/Petroglyph-Thorsen-Creek-e1605918403333.jpg\" alt=\"A human face carved into dark rock. The carving is sprinkled with pine needles.\" width=\"500\" height=\"337\" srcset=\"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/preconfederation2e\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/319\/2020\/09\/Petroglyph-Thorsen-Creek-e1605918403333.jpg 896w, https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/preconfederation2e\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/319\/2020\/09\/Petroglyph-Thorsen-Creek-e1605918403333-300x202.jpg 300w, https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/preconfederation2e\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/319\/2020\/09\/Petroglyph-Thorsen-Creek-e1605918403333-768x518.jpg 768w, https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/preconfederation2e\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/319\/2020\/09\/Petroglyph-Thorsen-Creek-e1605918403333-65x44.jpg 65w, https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/preconfederation2e\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/319\/2020\/09\/Petroglyph-Thorsen-Creek-e1605918403333-225x152.jpg 225w, https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/preconfederation2e\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/319\/2020\/09\/Petroglyph-Thorsen-Creek-e1605918403333-350x236.jpg 350w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-648\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Figure 2.2 Petroglyphs near Bella Coola, in Nuxalk territory, British Columbia.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Rock paintings (<a class=\"glossary-term\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\" aria-describedby=\"definition\" href=\"#term_57_589\">pictographs<\/a>) and rock carvings (<a class=\"glossary-term\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\" aria-describedby=\"definition\" href=\"#term_57_628\">petroglyphs<\/a>) are other visible records of storytelling and meaning, and a reminder of the long-term human occupation of Canada. These traces of memory are found in many parts of the country. Less durable examples of record keeping include the <a class=\"glossary-term\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\" aria-describedby=\"definition\" href=\"#term_57_630\">winter counts<\/a> maintained on animal hides and other surfaces by several plains nations, especially the Lakota, one of the Sioux nations. Totemic illustrations \u2014 on poles, house faces, tipis \u2014 often announce clans and lineages, implicitly another record of past events.<\/p>\n<h1>The Written Record<\/h1>\n<p>Written records \u2014 of a kind that compares more completely with those of Asia, Europe, and Africa \u2014 abounded in <a class=\"glossary-term\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\" aria-describedby=\"definition\" href=\"#term_57_633\">Mesoamerica<\/a>. The indigenous Mayan civilizations in particular advanced writing to a point where it included glyphs (symbols for things or people) and syllabics (symbols that represent a sound or, indeed, an entire word). The work of the Mayans rested on the foundations established by still earlier civilizations in the region (see <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Mesoamerican_writing_systems\">Mesoamerican writing systems<\/a>).\u00a0Their neighbours and successors, the <a class=\"glossary-term\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\" aria-describedby=\"definition\" href=\"#term_57_634\">Aztecs<\/a>, had their own\u00a0similar\u00a0written form of communication.<\/p>\n<p>Scrolls\u00a0written by Aztec authors and scribes from the period both before and after the arrival of Europeans are known as <a class=\"glossary-term\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\" aria-describedby=\"definition\" href=\"#term_57_635\">codexes<\/a>, or codices. Mayan codexes also exist, although many from both nations were destroyed by Spanish invaders who regarded these remarkable forms of writing as highly suspect, because they\u00a0believed &#8220;the\u00a0word of God&#8221; was written only in Latin, not Nahuatl, let alone hieroglyphics.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_650\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-650\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-650\" src=\"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/preconfederation2e\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/319\/2020\/09\/Palenque-glyphs.jpg\" alt=\"Raised square glyphs made of stucco. The glyphs are arranged in three rows of four with neat spaces between each.\" width=\"600\" height=\"418\" srcset=\"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/preconfederation2e\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/319\/2020\/09\/Palenque-glyphs.jpg 896w, https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/preconfederation2e\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/319\/2020\/09\/Palenque-glyphs-300x209.jpg 300w, https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/preconfederation2e\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/319\/2020\/09\/Palenque-glyphs-768x535.jpg 768w, https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/preconfederation2e\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/319\/2020\/09\/Palenque-glyphs-65x45.jpg 65w, https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/preconfederation2e\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/319\/2020\/09\/Palenque-glyphs-225x157.jpg 225w, https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/preconfederation2e\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/319\/2020\/09\/Palenque-glyphs-350x244.jpg 350w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-650\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Figure 2.3 Maya glyphs in stucco at the Museo de sitio in Palenque, Mexico.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_651\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-651\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-651\" src=\"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/preconfederation2e\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/319\/2020\/09\/Dresden-Codex-page-49.jpg\" alt=\"A faded parchment with rows of symbols and three coloured drawings depicting people.\" width=\"300\" height=\"650\" srcset=\"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/preconfederation2e\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/319\/2020\/09\/Dresden-Codex-page-49.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/preconfederation2e\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/319\/2020\/09\/Dresden-Codex-page-49-138x300.jpg 138w, https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/preconfederation2e\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/319\/2020\/09\/Dresden-Codex-page-49-472x1024.jpg 472w, https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/preconfederation2e\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/319\/2020\/09\/Dresden-Codex-page-49-768x1665.jpg 768w, https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/preconfederation2e\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/319\/2020\/09\/Dresden-Codex-page-49-708x1536.jpg 708w, https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/preconfederation2e\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/319\/2020\/09\/Dresden-Codex-page-49-945x2048.jpg 945w, https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/preconfederation2e\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/319\/2020\/09\/Dresden-Codex-page-49-65x141.jpg 65w, https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/preconfederation2e\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/319\/2020\/09\/Dresden-Codex-page-49-225x488.jpg 225w, https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/preconfederation2e\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/319\/2020\/09\/Dresden-Codex-page-49-350x759.jpg 350w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-651\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Figure 2.4 An example of Yucatec Maya writing, c. 11th or 12th century CE from Chichen Itza, preserved in the Dresden Codex.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The nearest equivalent or comparable script known in Canada are the birchbark scrolls prepared by members of the Anishinaabeg nation. Some scrolls found in a cave near Burntside Lake in Quetico Provincial Park, Ontario, near the Minnesota border, have been carbon-dated to the mid-16th century. It is likely that they first appeared in the <a class=\"glossary-term\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\" aria-describedby=\"definition\" href=\"#term_57_637\">proto-contact<\/a> period if not the\u00a0<a class=\"glossary-term\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\" aria-describedby=\"definition\" href=\"#term_57_639\">pre-contact<\/a> period. The scrolls vary in size and shape: most are about 30 centimetres wide and up to 1\u00a0metre long. Some show signs of binding and indexing. Images and symbols are drawn on the soft inner surface of the bark and sometimes darkened in black, red, or blue. The subject matter ranges from the banal to the sublime, from simple instructions and maps to spiritual tales and lessons. A secret or at least semi-secret medicine society called\u00a0Midewiwin was responsible for preserving and reproducing scrolls as they became more fragile or at risk from missionaries and colonial administrators. For that reason, these documents are often called &#8220;Midewiwin scrolls.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h1>The Oral Record<\/h1>\n<p>As Innis observed, societies that write on stone but not on paper are more likely to be time-biased. One of the qualities of such cultures is that they are well suited for a strong oral tradition. Certainly these societies move around, but overwhelmingly they move within cycles and retain a deep attachment to a particular locale. They gather annually, in some cases to exchange goods, seek marriage partners, determine group responses to threats or opportunities, and indulge in oratory. Without exception, European observers in the earliest days of contact (and, in some areas, much later as well) commented on the oratorical skills of Indigenous speakers. Whether in the longhouses of the Haudenosaunee (Five Nations Iroquois) or the seaside camps of the Mi&#8217;kmaq, Europeans witnessed the fruit of a long tradition of storytelling that paid close attention to the core elements of a tale, preserving its integrity while allowing for personal style. To be able to tell a familiar tale well and with panache was highly valued among Indigenous societies. This included &#8220;true&#8221; stories of history.<\/p>\n<p>Some 50\u00a0years ago, when Bruce Trigger was preparing his landmark two-volume history of the Huron\/Wendat,\u00a0<em>The Children of Aataentsic<\/em>, he demonstrated the value of what came to be known as &#8220;ethnohistory.&#8221;<a class=\"footnote\" title=\"Bruce Trigger, The Children of Aataentsic: A History of the Huron People to 1660 (Montreal &amp; Kingston: McGill\u2013Queen\u2019s University Press, 1987).\" id=\"return-footnote-57-4\" href=\"#footnote-57-4\" aria-label=\"Footnote 4\"><sup class=\"footnote\">[4]<\/sup><\/a> This included extensive and critical use of the <a class=\"glossary-term\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\" aria-describedby=\"definition\" href=\"#term_57_641\">oral tradition<\/a> which, of course, meant working very closely and respectfully with Indigenous peoples, especially elders. Many years later, Wendy Wickwire demonstrated how the oral tradition \u2014 whether living or transcribed years ago \u2014 passed the historians&#8217; tests of reliability and verifiability. Comparing the oral record of the Nlaka&#8217;pamux with fur trader and explorer Simon Fraser&#8217;s written account of contact in 1808, she found both remarkable similarities and revealing differences.<a class=\"footnote\" title=\"Wendy C. Wickwire, \u201cTo See Ourselves as the Other\u2019s Other: Nlaka\u2019pamux Contact Narratives,\u201d Canadian Historical Review 75, issue 1 (1994): 1\u201320.\" id=\"return-footnote-57-5\" href=\"#footnote-57-5\" aria-label=\"Footnote 5\"><sup class=\"footnote\">[5]<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0After 1492 and for the next 500\u00a0years &#8220;Old World&#8221; epidemic diseases raced back and forth across\u00a0the Americas, leading to demographic disasters, which in some communities, ruptured and even broke the chain of the oral tradition. This was the worst-case scenario but\u00a0fortunately, many pre-contact accounts continue to be nurtured.<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\n<p><strong>Audio 2.1<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This sound clip is of Indigenous voices retrieved from the late 19th century, specifically, the Nlaka&#8217;pamux Dance Song (recorded by Franz Boas).<\/p>\n<p><audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-57-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/ogg\" src=\"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/preconfederation2e\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/319\/2020\/09\/Nlaka\u2019pamux-Dance-Song.ogg?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/preconfederation2e\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/319\/2020\/09\/Nlaka\u2019pamux-Dance-Song.ogg\">https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/preconfederation2e\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/319\/2020\/09\/Nlaka\u2019pamux-Dance-Song.ogg<\/a><\/audio><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Perhaps still more remarkable has been the survival in the oral tradition of accounts of <a class=\"glossary-term\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\" aria-describedby=\"definition\" href=\"#term_57_642\">megafauna<\/a>, including a giant beaver that non-Indigenous people understood to be a mythical creature. We now know the stories about gargantuan beavers are true: their skeletal remains have been found throughout Canada, some of them measuring 2.5 metres in length and indicating a body weight of as much as 100 kilograms. These massive rodents became extinct about 10,000 years ago, and yet recollections of their existence appear to have been passed down orally across thousands of generations. The lesson of this scrupulous research seems clear: if you want to know something about the history of Indigenous peoples you might try listening to Indigenous historians. A further lesson for Canada as a whole would be to value storytellers more highly.<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\n<p><strong>Historians on Video<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Wendy Wickwire is an anthropologist and historian at the University of Victoria whose research into the vitality, viability, and reliability of the oral tradition has been the foundation of important changes in both scholarly and legal attitudes toward Indigenous historic knowledge. Here is a link to a <a href=\"https:\/\/barabus.tru.ca\/hist1121\/hist1121_ww_u1_01.pdf\">transcript for Wendy Wickwire&#8217;s introductory video and her video on oral history [PDF]<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"oembed-1\" title=\"Dr.  Wendy Wickwire Question 1 - Introduction\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-PK7b6k6EZI?feature=oembed&#38;rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"oembed-2\" title=\"Dr.  Wendy Wickwire Question 2 - Oral history.\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/cbggCXkIcgs?feature=oembed&#38;rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h1>The Archaeological Record<\/h1>\n<p>A further method of reaching into the pre-contact past is by digging it up \u2014 literally. Archaeology, as both a science and a school of thought, has evolved a great deal since its emergence in the 18th century. Since that time, it has become increasingly systematic, thorough, and technical. What is called the <a class=\"glossary-term\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\" aria-describedby=\"definition\" href=\"#term_57_644\">archaeological record<\/a> contributes a great deal to current understandings of human experience in what is now Canada and elsewhere in the Americas.<\/p>\n<p>Keep in mind that archaeology originally developed as a technique for studying earlier and long-gone Mediterranean societies like those of classical Rome, Greece, Egypt, and the lands stretching east from Syria through the Euphrates Valley. Its application, too, to sites in Britain and France (e.g., Stonehenge and the Ard\u00e8che caves) did not involve any local, living populations. In Europe, the archaeological study of more recent societies is usually described as historical archaeology. The modifier &#8220;historical&#8221; is, revealingly, not consistently used in North America when it comes to the study of Indigenous peoples. In the late-19th century, however, much ethnographic work was described as &#8220;salvage ethnography,&#8221; in that it was presented by its Euro-Canadian practitioners as an effort to &#8220;save&#8221; evidence of an extinct people, despite the fact that those people were living just down the road. An archaeological dig on Sto:lo or Innu territory occurs in close proximity to people whose lives are, in point of fact, continuations of the stories being excavated.<\/p>\n<p>As Trigger has pointedly observed, the &#8220;ethnohistorian normally depends upon documentary evidence that was produced not by the people&#8221; who are being studied, &#8220;but by representatives of a radically different culture.&#8221; This is important to keep in mind when assessing the archaeological evidence. It is isn&#8217;t just that an authentic Indigenous record presents special challenges \u2014 because an authentic historic record of any kind does \u2014 but that the &#8220;view from here&#8221; is impeded by sources and perspectives offered up by contemporaries and scholars whose perspectives may be entirely different from and at odds with that of indigenous people. In short, archaeology is a filter, not a crystal-clear lens; interpretation and analysis is a necessary part of the science.<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--key-takeaways\">\n<header class=\"textbox__header\">\n<p class=\"textbox__title\">Key Takeaways<\/p>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\n<ul>\n<li>The dearth of a written record does not mean there is no record at all.<\/li>\n<li>Oral traditions and histories are as reliable as written primary sources. They are subject to the same tests of verifiability and reliability.<\/li>\n<li>The archaeological record can complement the historical record and advance historical theories.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h3>Audio and Video Attributions<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/File:Dance_Song_of_the_Thompson_River_Indians.ogg\">Dance Song of the Thompson River Indians<\/a> \u00a9 1897 by the Nlaka&#8217;pamux and recorded by Franz Boas is licensed under a <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/publicdomain\/mark\/1.0\/\">Public Domain<\/a> license<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/-PK7b6k6EZI\">Dr. Wendy Wickwire Question 1 &#8211; Introduction<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/cbggCXkIcgs\">Dr. Wendy Wickwire Question 2 &#8211; Oral history.<\/a> \u00a9 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UC-9TuI09di8EcXWaJx-IUhA\">2015 by TRU Open Learning<\/a> are licensed under <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/\">CC BY (Attribution)<\/a> licenses<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"media-attributions clear\" prefix:cc=\"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/ns#\" prefix:dc=\"http:\/\/purl.org\/dc\/terms\/\"><h2>Media Attributions<\/h2><ul><li about=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/loneprimate\/87049703\/in\/photolist-8G9QX\"><a rel=\"cc:attributionURL\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/loneprimate\/87049703\/in\/photolist-8G9QX\" property=\"dc:title\">Petroglyphs, two<\/a>  &copy;  <a rel=\"dc:creator\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/loneprimate\/\" property=\"cc:attributionName\">1998 by Lone Primate<\/a>    is licensed under a  <a rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-sa\/4.0\/\">CC BY-NC-SA (Attribution NonCommercial ShareAlike)<\/a> license<\/li><li about=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/9958155@N05\/781032812\/\"><a rel=\"cc:attributionURL\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/9958155@N05\/781032812\/\" property=\"dc:title\">Petroglyph &#8211; Thorsen Creek<\/a>  &copy;  <a rel=\"dc:creator\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/9958155@N05\/\" property=\"cc:attributionName\">2006 by Lloyd Guenther<\/a>    is licensed under a  <a rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-sa\/4.0\/\">CC BY-NC-SA (Attribution NonCommercial ShareAlike)<\/a> license<\/li><li about=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Palenque_glyphs-edit1.jpg\"><a rel=\"cc:attributionURL\" href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Palenque_glyphs-edit1.jpg\" property=\"dc:title\">Palenque glyphs<\/a>  &copy;  <a rel=\"dc:creator\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/User:Kwamikagami\" property=\"cc:attributionName\">2004 by Kwamikagami<\/a>    is licensed under a  <a rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/publicdomain\/mark\/1.0\/\">Public Domain<\/a> license<\/li><li about=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Dresden_codex,_page_2.jpg\"><a rel=\"cc:attributionURL\" href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Dresden_codex,_page_2.jpg\" property=\"dc:title\">Dresden Codex, page 49<\/a>  &copy;  c. 1200    is licensed under a  <a rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/publicdomain\/mark\/1.0\/\">Public Domain<\/a> license<\/li><\/ul><\/div><hr class=\"before-footnotes clear\" \/><div class=\"footnotes\"><ol><li id=\"footnote-57-1\">The Libraries and Archives of Canada, <em>Old Messengers, New Media: The Legacy of Innis and McLuhan<\/em>. Accessed January 5, 2015,\u00a0http:\/\/www.collectionscanada.gc.ca\/innis-mcluhan\/030003-1030-e.html. <a href=\"#return-footnote-57-1\" class=\"return-footnote\" aria-label=\"Return to footnote 1\">&crarr;<\/a><\/li><li id=\"footnote-57-2\">William J. Turkel, <em>The Archive of Place: Unearthing the Pasts of the Chilcotin Plateau<\/em> (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2007 ), 109. <a href=\"#return-footnote-57-2\" class=\"return-footnote\" aria-label=\"Return to footnote 2\">&crarr;<\/a><\/li><li id=\"footnote-57-3\">Merle Massie, \u201cLobstick: Canada\u2019s next symbol?\u201d <em>ActiveHistory.com<\/em>, http:\/\/activehistory.ca\/2012\/10\/lobstick-canadas-next-symbol\/. <a href=\"#return-footnote-57-3\" class=\"return-footnote\" aria-label=\"Return to footnote 3\">&crarr;<\/a><\/li><li id=\"footnote-57-4\">Bruce Trigger, <em>The Children of Aataentsic: A History of the Huron People to 1660<\/em> (Montreal &amp; Kingston: McGill\u2013Queen\u2019s University Press, 1987). <a href=\"#return-footnote-57-4\" class=\"return-footnote\" aria-label=\"Return to footnote 4\">&crarr;<\/a><\/li><li id=\"footnote-57-5\">Wendy C. Wickwire, \u201cTo See Ourselves as the Other\u2019s Other: Nlaka\u2019pamux Contact Narratives,\u201d <em>Canadian Historical Review<\/em> 75, issue 1 (1994): 1\u201320. <a href=\"#return-footnote-57-5\" class=\"return-footnote\" aria-label=\"Return to footnote 5\">&crarr;<\/a><\/li><\/ol><\/div><div class=\"glossary\"><span class=\"screen-reader-text\" id=\"definition\">definition<\/span><template id=\"term_57_584\"><div class=\"glossary__definition\" role=\"dialog\" data-id=\"term_57_584\"><div tabindex=\"-1\"><p>Trade routes that originated in the pre-contact era in what is now British Columbia. Used for transporting oolichan grease, an important Indigenous commodity.<\/p>\n<\/div><button><span aria-hidden=\"true\">&times;<\/span><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Close definition<\/span><\/button><\/div><\/template><template id=\"term_57_585\"><div class=\"glossary__definition\" role=\"dialog\" data-id=\"term_57_585\"><div tabindex=\"-1\"><p>An anadromous fish prized on the West Coast for its high oil content.<\/p>\n<\/div><button><span aria-hidden=\"true\">&times;<\/span><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Close definition<\/span><\/button><\/div><\/template><template id=\"term_57_589\"><div class=\"glossary__definition\" role=\"dialog\" data-id=\"term_57_589\"><div tabindex=\"-1\"><p>Images painted onto rock and other surfaces.<\/p>\n<\/div><button><span aria-hidden=\"true\">&times;<\/span><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Close definition<\/span><\/button><\/div><\/template><template id=\"term_57_628\"><div class=\"glossary__definition\" role=\"dialog\" data-id=\"term_57_628\"><div tabindex=\"-1\"><p>Images carved into rock.<\/p>\n<\/div><button><span aria-hidden=\"true\">&times;<\/span><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Close definition<\/span><\/button><\/div><\/template><template id=\"term_57_630\"><div class=\"glossary__definition\" role=\"dialog\" data-id=\"term_57_630\"><div tabindex=\"-1\"><p>A record of events recorded in the form of pictures; associated mainly with Siouan cultures.<\/p>\n<\/div><button><span aria-hidden=\"true\">&times;<\/span><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Close definition<\/span><\/button><\/div><\/template><template id=\"term_57_633\"><div class=\"glossary__definition\" role=\"dialog\" data-id=\"term_57_633\"><div tabindex=\"-1\"><p>The cultural zone that stretches across almost all of Mexico and south through much of Central America. Some of the largest agricultural and urban civilizations in the Americas prior to contact were in Mesoamerica.<\/p>\n<\/div><button><span aria-hidden=\"true\">&times;<\/span><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Close definition<\/span><\/button><\/div><\/template><template id=\"term_57_634\"><div class=\"glossary__definition\" role=\"dialog\" data-id=\"term_57_634\"><div tabindex=\"-1\"><p>A Mesoamerican civilization and polity that collapsed in the early 16th century. The Aztecs developed many agricultural techniques and administrative customs that influenced societies around the Gulf of Mexico. Their influence may have spread up the Mississippi River as well.<\/p>\n<\/div><button><span aria-hidden=\"true\">&times;<\/span><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Close definition<\/span><\/button><\/div><\/template><template id=\"term_57_635\"><div class=\"glossary__definition\" role=\"dialog\" data-id=\"term_57_635\"><div tabindex=\"-1\"><p>Scrolls written by Aztec and\/or Mayan authors and scribes from the period both before and after the arrival of Europeans. Also known as codices.<\/p>\n<\/div><button><span aria-hidden=\"true\">&times;<\/span><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Close definition<\/span><\/button><\/div><\/template><template id=\"term_57_637\"><div class=\"glossary__definition\" role=\"dialog\" data-id=\"term_57_637\"><div tabindex=\"-1\"><p>The period of indirect influence of Europeans on Indigenous peoples. Some of the effects of contact ran ahead of direct encounters. For example, diseases and\/or trade goods might be passed from one Indigenous community that had experienced face-to-face contact to a great many others that had not.<\/p>\n<\/div><button><span aria-hidden=\"true\">&times;<\/span><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Close definition<\/span><\/button><\/div><\/template><template id=\"term_57_639\"><div class=\"glossary__definition\" role=\"dialog\" data-id=\"term_57_639\"><div tabindex=\"-1\"><p>The period before the first documented encounters between Indigenous peoples and Europeans. Pre-contact societies may also be proto-contact societies, depending on circumstances.<\/p>\n<\/div><button><span aria-hidden=\"true\">&times;<\/span><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Close definition<\/span><\/button><\/div><\/template><template id=\"term_57_641\"><div class=\"glossary__definition\" role=\"dialog\" data-id=\"term_57_641\"><div tabindex=\"-1\"><p>Generally refers to an account of events that took place in earlier generations and that is transmitted by oral storytelling (as opposed to writing). Distinctions used to be drawn sharply between oral tradition and oral history, which was regarded as accounts of events within the lifetime of the teller. More recently, oral history has become equated with oral tradition and has been granted greater respect for its reliability.<\/p>\n<\/div><button><span aria-hidden=\"true\">&times;<\/span><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Close definition<\/span><\/button><\/div><\/template><template id=\"term_57_642\"><div class=\"glossary__definition\" role=\"dialog\" data-id=\"term_57_642\"><div tabindex=\"-1\"><p>Large pre-contact animals found globally whose modern descendants are considerably smaller.<\/p>\n<\/div><button><span aria-hidden=\"true\">&times;<\/span><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Close definition<\/span><\/button><\/div><\/template><template id=\"term_57_644\"><div class=\"glossary__definition\" role=\"dialog\" data-id=\"term_57_644\"><div tabindex=\"-1\"><p>Any evidence regarding past societies and civilizations that is derived from the use of archaeological techniques and methods.<\/p>\n<\/div><button><span aria-hidden=\"true\">&times;<\/span><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Close definition<\/span><\/button><\/div><\/template><\/div>","protected":false},"author":90,"menu_order":2,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":"cc-by-nc-sa"},"chapter-type":[48],"contributor":[],"license":[56],"class_list":["post-57","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry","chapter-type-numberless","license-cc-by-nc-sa"],"part":51,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/preconfederation2e\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/57","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/preconfederation2e\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/preconfederation2e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/preconfederation2e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/90"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/preconfederation2e\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/57\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1542,"href":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/preconfederation2e\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/57\/revisions\/1542"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/preconfederation2e\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/51"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/preconfederation2e\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/57\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/preconfederation2e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/preconfederation2e\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=57"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/preconfederation2e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=57"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/preconfederation2e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=57"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}