An archeologist who has studied the Coast Salish village site at Dionisio Point on Galiano Island

An archeologist who has studied the Coast Salish village site at Dionisio Point on Galiano Island has dispelled the belief that First Nation people travelled great distances for the volcanic rock they used for tools. The study instead says the people just used the rock that washed up on their shores. Colin Grier, associate professor at Washington State University, said his team picked up some dark rock on the beach at Dionisio Point and began questioning the theory of travelling for the rock. They tested the rock from Mount Garibaldi, which is more than 100 km away from Dionisio Point on the mainland, and the rock found on the village beach, and the chemical fingerprint matched. “It was picked right off the local beach, brought there by glaciers, conveniently, 12,000 years ago,” he said. The Dionisio Point village, accessible only by boat, is part of a provincial park and is the best preserved village site on the B.C. coast.