Posted on 10/08/2007 4:47:01 PM PDT by Renfield
A traditional burial ground, or the site of a massacre?
Questions continue to surround the discovery of the remains of more than 80 First Nations people at an excavation site near Departure Bay beach in Nanaimo.
Excavation for a condo development uncovered the remains at the ancient Snuneymuxw burial site.
On Friday, Nanaimo media members received an anonymous tip suggesting that at least 60 of the bodies were uncovered, with their hands bound and their heads removed, suggesting a massacre had occurred.
Calls to Madrone Environmental Services, conducting the archeological excavation of the site near Departure Bay Road's 7-Eleven store, and the Snuneymuxw's Geraldine Manson were not returned on Friday.
When the excavation began in August, at least one set of intact remains were found with three seashells carefully arrayed on its chest, suggesting a peaceful burial.
Chris Sholberg, Nanaimo's heritage planner, said there is no collaborative evidence he knows of to support a massacre scenario.
He said he expects more information will be known once Madrone distributes a report on its findings.
"It's known that the Snuneymuxw were the victims of raids by other First Nations . . . but just what happened to the Departure Bay village is a big question mark," he said.
"There's no doubt there was a loss of population there, but I suspect there is a number of contributing factors to explain why, including disease and being pushed off the land by European settlers. While there's no historical evidence to support a massacre of the population by Europeans or other First Nations, more pieces of the puzzle are expected to be put together with the release of Madrone's report."
Chris Muentzer, of the Nanaimo Community Archives, said there's no reason to believe there was a massacre. "The village was only used by the Snuneymuxw for part of the year, during the winter months," she said. "It's likely they stopped using it after too many white people settled there."
GGGruesome ping...
Mxyzptlk?
Were the Marines charged with this as well?
No one had invented the Nanaimo Bar yet is why..
"It's known that the Snuneymuxw were the victims of raids by other First Nations . . . but just what happened to the Departure Bay village is a big question mark," he said."...but it's well known that I have my head up my ass. That's how I wound up working here in the first place."
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Thanks Renfield. And gesundheit. |
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Nah, it was Bush’s fault in a previous life.
;)
At the time Al Sharpton was in his previous life form as a rat.
gesundheit
They had an IRS back then too?
I know the area well, spent plenty of time in Nanaimo in-and-around Departure Bay in my youth many years ago.
Yeah, “Snuneymuxw” — the local Indians had unpronouncable names for their tribes. A thoroughly fascinating culture on the West Coast, in many ways resembling Maori. And in their own way, just as savage.
Mankind is on the cusp of losing something very precious by not capturing as much info about that culture from as many of he older indians as possible.
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