Papers by Alexander P Mackie
Unpublished report, 1982
This paper describes the artifacts recovered in in 1981 from undisturbed deposits at the St Mungo... more This paper describes the artifacts recovered in in 1981 from undisturbed deposits at the St Mungo Cannery Site (DgRr2) in North Delta, B.C. This large shell midden is located in the Fraser Delta and includes an important Charles Phase component that has been excavated several times.
Canadian Journal of Archaeology, 2000
Glaciers and icefields in Northern North America have been exhibiting progressive retreat over th... more Glaciers and icefields in Northern North America have been exhibiting progressive retreat over the past several decades. One by-product of this phenomenon is the exposing of evidence for past human use of high altitude areas hidden by ice cover until recent years. The discovery in August, 1999, of well preserved remains of a young man, who perished over 550 years ago on an icefield in Northwestern British Columbia, is presented in this paper, along with initial descriptions and discussions of dating, the artifacts, human biology, and the procedures for stabilization and preservation. The paper also provides an outline of the variety of integrated research studies now underway relating to the goal of understanding who this person was, and the events immediately preceding and following his death.
Dendrochronologia, 2005
A dendroarchaeological survey of a traditional Nuu-chah-nulth plank house at Kiix?in, the former ... more A dendroarchaeological survey of a traditional Nuu-chah-nulth plank house at Kiix?in, the former capital of the Huu-ay-aht First Nations, on the west coast of Vancouver Island British Columbia, was undertaken in the summer of 2002.Standardized dendroarchaeological techniques were employed to collect and analyse increment core samples collected from the house known as Quaksweaqwul.Floating ring-width series were compared to a locally prepared Western redcedar (Thuja heterophylla) master tree-ring chronology (1511–2002 AD) to determine when the trees used to construct the house were felled.The findings of the survey indicate that Quaksweaqwul was built after the 1835 AD growth year.As the amount of perimeter wood loss due to weathering and preparation is difficult to ascertain, no precise felling or construction date can be presented.
The results of this survey provide insights into Huu-ay-aht First Nations history and offer direct evidence for the general state of preservation of individual house posts and beams at Kiix?in.Additionally, the successful dating of a traditional First Nations village using a dendroarchaeological approach highlights the potential this technique may hold for developing similar insights at other sites along Canada’s Pacific Coast.
Fedje, Daryl W. and Rolf W. Mathewes (eds.) Haida Gwaii: Human History and Environments from the Time of the Loon to the time of the Iron People, UBC Press, 2006
Fedje and Mathews ed. Haida Gwaii, Human History and Environment from the Time of Loon to the Time of the Iron People, 2006
This paper explores patterns of shoreline settlement during the early and late Holocene periods i... more This paper explores patterns of shoreline settlement during the early and late Holocene periods in Gwaii Haanas, southern Haida Gwaii. We examine the relationship between environmental variables and aboriginal settlement during two time periods; 9500-9400 years BP and 2000 BP to early post-contact times. While we are primarily interested in the early period settlement patterns, our method for discovering significant trends is to compare early site distributions to those for the relatively well known recent past. We test the relationships between four archaeological site types judged to be temporal representatives of simple (short-term) and complex (long-term) occupations. Differences in site locations and distributions that occur at either end of the Holocene may reflect changes in social organization, economic strategies, technology, settlement patterns, resource accessibility/management, environment conditions or perhaps differential preservation. This approach to analysis is made possible by the unusually large sample sizes we have from both early (N=111) and late (N=325) periods.
American Antiquity, 2007
We report here on the results of AMS dating and isotopic analysis of the frozen human remains nam... more We report here on the results of AMS dating and isotopic analysis of the frozen human remains named Kwaday Dän Ts'inchí and associated materials recovered from a glacier located in Northwest British Columbia, Canada in 1999. The isotopic analysis of bone collagen (bulk and single amino acids) from the individual indicates a strongly marine diet, which was unexpected given the location of this find, more than 100 km inland eroding out of a high elevation glacier; however, bulk hair and bone cholesterol isotopic values indicate a shift in diet to include more terrestrial foods in the year before death. The radiocarbon dating is not straightforward, as there are difficulties in determining the appropriate marine correction for the human remains, and the spread of dates on the associated artifacts clearly indicates that this was not a single use site. By combining the most recent date on a robe worn by Kwaday Dän Ts'inchi with direct bone collagen dates we conclude that the individual likely dates to between cal A.D. 1670 to 1850, which is in the pre-(or early) European contact period for this region.
Journal of Archaeological Science, 2008
The remains of the preserved ice body from the Kwädąy Dän Ts'ìnchį discovery were recovered from ... more The remains of the preserved ice body from the Kwädąy Dän Ts'ìnchį discovery were recovered from a retreating glacier in the Tatshenshini-Alsek Park, British Columbia in August 1999. Despite the remote location 80km inland, bone collagen stable isotope analysis indicated that the individual spent much of his life in a region rich in marine foods (δ13C −13.7‰ and δ15N +17.9‰). Since finds of such bodies are exceptionally rare we undertook detailed lipid analyses in order to assess their preservation and determine whether they might provide new insights into the individual’s dietary life history. Molecular fingerprinting and compound-specific carbon isotope analysis were performed on individual lipids extracted from his bone (turnover approximately ≥1year) and skin (turnover approximately several weeks). A considerable abundance was observed of C12:0, C14:0, C16:0, C16:1, C18:0 and C18:1 fatty acids (FAs), cholesterol and hydroxy FAs (the latter being decay products). Most unusual was the presence of long-chain hydroxy FAs (LCHFAs), 10- and 12-hydroxyeicosanoic acid and 10- and 12-hydroxydocosanoic acid, in the bone. The latter components are most likely the products of microbially mediated hydration of the double-bonds of C20:1 and C22:1 FAs, the latter almost certainly originating from the consumption of a largely marine-based diet. A suite of three isoprenoidal lipids, phytanic acid, pristanic acid and 4,8,12-trimethyltetradecanoic (TMTD) acid, was also detected supporting the notion of a significant marine component of the diet for a substantial part of his life. In contrast, the skin lipid composition was dominated by C16:0 FA, with lower abundances being observed of the marine LCHFAs and isoprenoidal compounds, suggesting reduced reliance on coastal marine foods in the last period of life. This interpretation is supported by the enhanced marine dietary signal observed in the bone than skin FA δ13C values.
Journal of Archaeological Science, 2009
The remains of the Kwädąy Dän Ts’ìnchį individual, a frozen male human, were recovered from a ret... more The remains of the Kwädąy Dän Ts’ìnchį individual, a frozen male human, were recovered from a retreating glacier within the Tatshenshini-Alsek Park in British Columbia in August 1999. In order to provide information on both the geographical origin of this individual and low long he spent in the remote interior region prior to his death, molecular analysis and compound-specific carbon isotope analyses were performed on individual amino acids purified from his skin and bone. Gas chromatographic quantification of constituent amino acids of both tissues revealed a molecular distribution characteristic of collagen, dominated by glycine and to a lesser extent proline, hydroxyproline and alanine. Chiral gas chromatography indicated that protein preservation in both tissues was exceptional. Carbon isotope analysis of a faunal assemblage from an earlier prehistoric site from southern British Columbia provided reference dietary amino acid d13C values for terrestrial (deer and domestic dog) and marine species (salmon and sealion), showing clear separation in all amino acids, particularly glycine which was extremely 13C-enriched in the marine animals. The distinction between terrestrial and marine organisms was increased by exploring D13CGlycine-Phenylalanine values (6.6 ! 0.6& and 15.0 ! 2.1&, respectively), which were higher in the latter by approximately 8&, mirroring the increased d15NBulk collagen values observed for the marine animals (R2 ¼ 0.78; p < 0.001). The Kwädąy Dän Ts’ìnchį individual’s bone had a similarly elevated D13CGlycine-Phenylalanine value of 15.6 ! 1.0&, indicating his extreme reliance on marine dietary resources throughout early life. The skin amino acid d13C values were consistently lower than those observed for bone, with a concurrently lower D13CGlycine-Phenylalanine value of 12.7 ! 0.9&. The shift between the carbon isotope composition of bone (long-term diet) and skin amino acids (short-term diet) confirmed a sudden divergence away from marine food sources in the last months of life, consistent with his discovery 80 km inland.
Muse (Canadian Museums Association), 2009
This paper examines the context which led to a successful collaboration on the Kwädąy Dän Ts’ìnch... more This paper examines the context which led to a successful collaboration on the Kwädąy Dän Ts’ìnchį Project between the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations, the BC Archaeology Branch and the Royal BC Museum.
Quaternary Science Reviews, 2018
A refined relative sea level (RSL) history spanning the past 14,300 calendar years is described f... more A refined relative sea level (RSL) history spanning the past 14,300 calendar years is described for the Quadra Island area in the northern Strait of Georgia on the Pacific coast of Canada. Here marine shorelines dating to the time of earliest post-glacial emergence are at least 197 m above present-day sea-level at 14,300 years ago. RSL fell rapidly, reaching two to three metres above present-day by 12,000 years ago. A series of raised marine terraces at ca. 4, 10 and 30 m above present day high tide level suggest the rapid fall in RSL during early post-glacial time may have been briefly interrupted by factors such as regional ice advances and recessions and global meltwater pulses generated by climatic variations. A possible minor sea-level transgression of 1e2 m around 12,000 to 11,400 years ago was followed by slow regression to modern levels. This sea-level reconstruction is providing critical input for efficient discovery and cataloging of late Pleistocene and early Holocene archaeological sites on ancient raised shorelines in the region. Integration of the sea-level history with LiDAR imagery has proven successful in locating a number of archaeological sites on these ancient shorelines.
Books by Alexander P Mackie
In Ed. Roy L. Carlson and Luke Dalla Bona. Early Human Occupation in British Columbia, UBC Press, 1996
In RG Matson, G Coupland and Q Mackie ed. Chapter 5, Emerging from the Mist: Studies in Northwest Coast Culture History, UBC Press, 2003
In 1984 we conducted a detailed shoreline inventory of a part of the Huu-ay-aht First Nation trad... more In 1984 we conducted a detailed shoreline inventory of a part of the Huu-ay-aht First Nation traditional territory. This paper describes the variability of house size and form that is found within a single village which has exceptional preservation. It also looks at variations in houses between a number of Huu-ay-aht sites. Comparisons are drawn with ethnographic descriptions of Nuu-chah-nulth houses.
Royal BC Museum, on line, 2012
An on-line summary of highlights of the book Kwädąy Dän Ts’ìnchį: Teachings from Long Ago Person ... more An on-line summary of highlights of the book Kwädąy Dän Ts’ìnchį: Teachings from Long Ago Person Found (2017) in which we explore key discoveries and points of individual chapters. We follow the outline of the volume by first exploring the circumstances of the discovery and its natural and human setting (Part 1). We then explore the story of the original people of the discovery area including their current and past lifeways, relationships to neighbours and the obligations and ceremonies associated with the discovery (Part 2). The next part of the book explores the life of “Long Ago Person Found”, the individual, through studies of his remains in search of the reasons he may have traveled to the glacier and why he perished there (Part 3). These observations and those in the following part about the belongings at the site teach us a great deal about life in the not so distant past, but a past whose understanding is fast slipping away (Part 4). For many of us the northern wilderness may seem remote and inhospitable, yet people have thrived there for millennia. Travelling great distances across the land was a regular part of life and travelling was certainly what Long Ago person Found was doing, a theme explored in Part 5. Connections
Kwädąy Dän Ts’ìnchį: Teachings from Long Ago Person Found. Edited by Richard J. Hebda, Sheila Greer, Alexander P. Mackie. Royal British Columbia Museum. ISBN 9780772666994, 2017
IN 1999, WHEN THREE TEACHERS WERE HUNTING in Tatshenshini-Alsek Park and came across an unusual f... more IN 1999, WHEN THREE TEACHERS WERE HUNTING in Tatshenshini-Alsek Park and came across an unusual find, could they ever have imagined what their discovery would lead to or the teachings that would come from it? Could they have foreseen how it would bridge cultures and times, connecting the present with the past? They triggered a complex but powerful process of learning—or kets’ädän, as it would be said in Dákwänje, the language of the Southern Tutchone people. The resulting story about the Kwädąy Dän Ts’ìnchį man found on a remote glacier is more than a simple discovery of human remains and artifacts. It is a journey of learning that the hunters, and the many project participants, could never have imagined.
https://shop.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/product/kwaday-dan-tsinchi-teachings-from-long-ago-person-found/, 2017
Collaborations between scientists and First Nations are essential to the success of complex archa... more Collaborations between scientists and First Nations are essential to the success of complex archaeological projects in Canada, especially those that involve human remains. The Kwädąy Dän Ts’ìnchį project has been noted for its cooperative and productive approach to understanding the accidental death of an Aboriginal man hundreds of years ago. In 2002 the project partners received the Award of Merit from the British Columbia Museums Association in recognition of the partnerships created and the ongoing collaborative efforts. Such working partnerships can be difficult, even impossible, to achieve for a number of reasons, including a historical lack of trust by First Nations for archaeological projects and insufficient autonomy for the First Nations in decision-making. Also, there are often huge gaps between cultural sensitivities and scientific procedures. Insufficient time, money and personnel to devote to relationship-building are other contributing factors. This is especially true given the urgency when human remains are discovered, which can leave little time to develop the necessary partnerships before decisions are made and actions taken.
In this chapter we discuss how the successful collaboration between the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations, BC Archaeology Branch, Royal BC Museum and scientific community came about. We hope that by examining our working relationship in detail, illustrating some of the initial differences and subsequent resolutions to challenges encountered, the project can contribute to future successful partnerships. We begin by summarizing pre-existing agreements and conditions that set the stage for this project to move forward in a cooperative manner. Then we recount the process of planning and implementing the recovery of the remains, as well as the subsequent negotiations to determine an appropriate level and period of study plus an overall management framework for the project.
The resulting formalized co-management agreement, which guided all ensuing project efforts, allowed each of the parties to take on different roles and areas of responsibility within the agreed-upon framework of decision-making.
Kwädąy Dän Ts’ìnchį: Teachings from Long Ago Person Found. Edited by Richard J. Hebda, Sheila Greer, Alexander P. Mackie. Royal British Columbia Museum. ISBN 9780772666994, 2017
The remains of the Kwädąy Dän Ts’ìnchį man were found on a glaciated and windswept pass between t... more The remains of the Kwädąy Dän Ts’ìnchį man were found on a glaciated and windswept pass between the Samuel Glacier and the headwaters of Fault Creek, a tributary of the O’Connor River. While seemingly remote, hostile and inaccessible in today’s terms, the mountainous homelands of the Dän (Tutchone), Tagish and Tlingit are full of glaciated landscapes, and the oral history of these peoples recount the use of glaciers as travel routes. One hypothesis is that the Long Ago Person Found was walking a travel route between the lower Chilkat River and an inland destination when he died, with his body then becoming incorporated into perennial snow and glacial ice. To better understand the Kwädąy Dän Ts’ìnchį man’s travel route, the alpine portion of his last day was retraced on foot. Photographs from that effort illustrate the route he would have seen. As the discovery site and surrounding area is officially closed to visitors, our reconnaissance effort ended one kilometre before the actual site where the body was found, but we nonetheless traversed a major lobe of the Samuel Glacier, the more difficult section of his journey.
Kwädąy Dän Ts’ìnchį: Teachings from Long Ago Person Found. Edited by Richard J. Hebda, Sheila Greer, Alexander P. Mackie. Royal British Columbia Museum. ISBN 9780772666994, 2017
Since the 1999 discovery of the Kwädąy Dän Ts’ínchį man (Long Ago Person Found) in Tatshenshini-A... more Since the 1999 discovery of the Kwädąy Dän Ts’ínchį man (Long Ago Person Found) in Tatshenshini-Alsek Park, a wealth of studies have been undertaken to learn as much as possible about this individual and his physical and cultural environment. The incredible preservation of both the body and the associated belongings have allowed for detailed archaeometric and molecular research to investigate this young man’s short- and long-term diet, place of residence, population affinity and even clan identity, as well as the approximate age of the remains. Our study follows a similar vein, by applying molecular analysis to several items associated with the Kwädąy Dän Ts’ínchį individual, including a robe and bag made from animal pelts.
Kwädąy Dän Ts’ìnchį: Teachings from Long Ago Person Found. Edited by Richard J. Hebda, Sheila Greer, Alexander P. Mackie. Royal British Columbia Museum. ISBN 9780772666994, 2017
A native copper artifact, nearly circular in outline, was found at the Kwädąy Dän Ts’ìnchį site i... more A native copper artifact, nearly circular in outline, was found at the Kwädąy Dän Ts’ìnchį site in 1999. Informally called a bead, it is 7.5–8.0 mm in diameter, 1.5 mm thick, weighs 0.51 grams and has a 2-mm diameter hole located slightly off-centre of the object. Two sinew threads (2 cm and 1.5 cm long) with two-ply S-twists are attached to the bead, which appears to be made from a single piece of coiled copper. Native copper is that which is found naturally in a metallic state, often 99.9 per cent pure, and numerous sources have been noted throughout south-central Alaska and southwestern Yukon. Indigenous people in the region were using native copper by at least 1000 AD and continued to use it after industrially produced metal trade goods became available in the 18th century.
Kwädąy Dän Ts’ìnchį: Teachings from Long Ago Person Found. Edited by Richard J. Hebda, Sheila Greer, Alexander P. Mackie. Royal British Columbia Museum. ISBN 9780772666994, 2017
The artifacts found with people frozen in glaciers provide direct insight into the daily lives of... more The artifacts found with people frozen in glaciers provide direct insight into the daily lives of these individuals. In comparison, burial objects are placed by others after a person’s death and may not be connected to the deceased’s activities in life. Several belongings were found with and near the body of the Kwädąy Dän Ts’ìnchį individual, and other items lay scattered around the discovery site. These belongings may have been his or were perhaps left behind by other travellers. All of the items are exceptional because they consist of perishable organic material that rarely survives in typical archaeological sites. Like the human remains, the belongings open a window into this person’s daily life as he made his way on foot through an icy mountain landscape.
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Papers by Alexander P Mackie
The results of this survey provide insights into Huu-ay-aht First Nations history and offer direct evidence for the general state of preservation of individual house posts and beams at Kiix?in.Additionally, the successful dating of a traditional First Nations village using a dendroarchaeological approach highlights the potential this technique may hold for developing similar insights at other sites along Canada’s Pacific Coast.
Books by Alexander P Mackie
In this chapter we discuss how the successful collaboration between the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations, BC Archaeology Branch, Royal BC Museum and scientific community came about. We hope that by examining our working relationship in detail, illustrating some of the initial differences and subsequent resolutions to challenges encountered, the project can contribute to future successful partnerships. We begin by summarizing pre-existing agreements and conditions that set the stage for this project to move forward in a cooperative manner. Then we recount the process of planning and implementing the recovery of the remains, as well as the subsequent negotiations to determine an appropriate level and period of study plus an overall management framework for the project.
The resulting formalized co-management agreement, which guided all ensuing project efforts, allowed each of the parties to take on different roles and areas of responsibility within the agreed-upon framework of decision-making.
The results of this survey provide insights into Huu-ay-aht First Nations history and offer direct evidence for the general state of preservation of individual house posts and beams at Kiix?in.Additionally, the successful dating of a traditional First Nations village using a dendroarchaeological approach highlights the potential this technique may hold for developing similar insights at other sites along Canada’s Pacific Coast.
In this chapter we discuss how the successful collaboration between the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations, BC Archaeology Branch, Royal BC Museum and scientific community came about. We hope that by examining our working relationship in detail, illustrating some of the initial differences and subsequent resolutions to challenges encountered, the project can contribute to future successful partnerships. We begin by summarizing pre-existing agreements and conditions that set the stage for this project to move forward in a cooperative manner. Then we recount the process of planning and implementing the recovery of the remains, as well as the subsequent negotiations to determine an appropriate level and period of study plus an overall management framework for the project.
The resulting formalized co-management agreement, which guided all ensuing project efforts, allowed each of the parties to take on different roles and areas of responsibility within the agreed-upon framework of decision-making.
The discovery of the Kwädąy Dän Ts’ìnchį 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.