Calibrated Radiocarbon Dating at Keatley Creek: The Chronology of Occupation at a Complex Hunter-Gatherer Village

Abstract

This paper provides an analysis of radiocarbon dates acquired during earlier and recent field seasons at the Keatley Creek site, southern British Columbia. Results indicate that early occupations predating 1900 cal. B.P. occurred, but were not likely associated with population aggregation and large housepits. The aggregated village appears to have emerged by approximately 1700 cal. B.P. and was abandoned at approximately 800 cal. B.P. A break in the occupational sequence is recognized at 1450-1350 cal. B.P. and one other short break may have occurred shortly after 1250 cal. B.P. Peak socioeconomic complexity appears to have been achieved between 1350 and 800 cal B.P. Climatic warming may have provided a selective environment favoring population aggregation and intensification during this time. The final abandonment of the Keatley Creek village appears to have been part of a regional phenomenon suggesting the possibility that climatic factors were important in this case as well.

The emergence of status inequality in intermediate scale societies: A demographic and socio-economic history of the Keatley Creek site, British Columbia

“…Recent research by Prentiss et al (2003Prentiss et al ( , 2005a has offered an alternative dating sequence for the rim midden deposits of Housepit 7 and the Keatley Creek village. New dating of early features suggests that Housepit 7 and likely the entire aggregated village existed between 1614 and 747 cal.…”

“…1) has been at the center of many discussions regarding the emergence of complex hunter-gatherers featuring socio-economic status inequality (Hayden, 1997a). The site offers one of North America's best examples of a complex hunter-gatherer community (Cannon, 1999) as it is large (over 115 house depressions), there is a long occupation span, and preservation conditions for organic artifacts are extremely good (Hayden, 1997b;Prentiss et al, 2003). Hayden's extensive excavations at the site (and other tangential studies [e.g., Schulting, 1995]) have suggested that the large aggregate winter village was probably occupied by ranked corporate groups that controlled access to a variety of resources possibly including fishing places and quarries.…”

Defensibility of large prehistoric sites in the Mid-Fraser region on the Canadian Plateau

“…Although there are debates concerning the founding and occupation sequence of these large village sites, they were definitely aggregated and concentrated by ca. 1600-1000 B.P, and perhaps earlier (Hayden, 2005;Kuijt and Prentiss, 2004;Lenert, 2001;Morin et al, 2008;Prentiss et al, 2003Prentiss et al, , 2005Prentiss et al, , 2007Prentiss et al, , 2008. However, the Mid-Fraser region was largely depopulated associated with decline of large village sites after ca.…”

“…Thus, most of this information is based on the total number of housepits derived from our recent work (Morin et al, 2008) in addition to Stryd and Hills (1972) who conducted an initial archaeological survey in the Mid-Fraser region. The database also needs an updated Mid-Fraser chronology, since 14 C dating at the Keatley Creek and Bridge River sites has been refined quite recently (Hayden, 2000b;Prentiss et al, 2003Prentiss et al, , 2008. Based on new and original archaeological reports, we have modified the site attributes, such as site typology and dating, as needed.…”

“…Secondly, within The Fountain vicinity there are a limited number of large village sites with thirty or more housepits, such as the Keatley Creek, Bell, Bridge River, and West Fountain (Stryd and Hills, 1972). These large village sites are believed to have been major sociopolitical centres based on their long occupation history, the large and diverse archaeological assemblages of exotic materials, and the large regional population inferred from overall housepit density in the region (Hayden, 2000a;Hayden and Schulting, 1997;Prentiss et al, 2003Prentiss et al, , 2008. An exception to this trend is the West Fountain site, which appears to have a short chronology and less intensive occupation compared to other large sites, such as Keatley Creek, Bell and Bridge River (see Morin et al, 2008).…”