Hitting the West Coast highlight

Page 9

Review

Since the Time of the Transformers: The Ancient Heritage of the Nuu-chah-nulth, Ditidaht, and Makah

By Alan D. McMillan

252 pages, $29.95

UBC Press, Vancouver

For the past four decades, the West Coast of British Columbia and Washington State has been the site of some of the most extensively studied archaeological sites on the continent.

Archaeologists from around the world have brought their expertise to places like Yuquot, Ozette, Kiixin, Tsishaa, and Hesquiaht Harbour, trying to understand how people have survived and thrived in the rugged landscape.

Among those archaeologists are James Haggarty, Denis St. Claire, and Alan D. McMillan, who have spent their entire professional lives exploring the histories, cultures, and linguistics of the Nuu-chah-nulth, Ditidaht, and Makah nations.

In his latest book from UBC Press, McMillan brings together decades of archaeological papers, presentations and professional studies to present a look at the histories of the West Coast peoples as told through the artifacts found at ancient village locations.

McMillan, an anthropology instructor at Douglas College in New Westminster, and an adjunct instructor of archaeology at Simon Fraser University, takes readers through the many excavations that have taken place along the West Coast, examining in detail many of the artifacts unearthed, some as many as 5,000 years old.

The artifacts tell fascinating tales of whaling, hunting, fishing and gathering, as well as provide a glimpse into the ancient cultures of the Nuu-chah-nulth, Ditidaht and Makah nations.

Political governance through chieftainship, marriage, the potlatch and wars are detailed, giving readers an understanding of pre-contact population dynamics and the incredible wealth held by the Tyee Ha'wiih (head chiefs) within their Hahoulthee (traditional territory).

Since the Time of the Transformers is not a 'complete' view of the people. It presents the views of archaeologists, anthropologists and linguists. It is short on the oral histories, stories, and first-person interviews that really bring "artifacts" to life, but that is not what this book is supposed to be about.

Since the Time of the Transformers is a compendium of the scientific work done along the West Coast, written in a style that anyone can understand and presented in a way that is educational, informative, and entertaining.

"As is known from archaeological research, the record of human presence on western Vancouver Island spans at least the last 4,200 years. From an Indigenous perspective, human history extends back to mythic times when the transformers, such as Kwatyat among the central Nuu-chah-nulth, put the landscape and the animals in the present forms," McMillan writes in his introduction.

Since the Time of the Transformers is an excellent introduction to the Nuu-chah-nulth, Ditidaht, and Makah nations.