In the United States, archaeology is generally divided into two major areas: Prehistoric and Historic. Historic archaeology involves the study of sites for which there is written history of some kind. While history often focuses on the rich, powerful, and literate, historic archaeology often uncovered information about ordinary people, people who aren’t famous and whose lives are often unrecorded in the written record.
Shown above are some stone arrowheads made by the early inhabitants of the Columbia River area.
Shown above is a carved Argillite tobacco pipe bowl which was uncovered at an Indian village site.
The Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) was given a royal charter by the British Crown in 1670 which provided it with a trading monopoly over a vast domain in Canada. By the nineteenth Century, HBC had extended its empire into the Pacific Northwest. In 1825, HBC established Fort Vancouver on the Columbia River as the administrative center and principal supply depot of the Columbia Department, an area of about 700,000 square miles. According to the display:
“The Hudson’s Bay Company hired skilled workers from across the continent to operate and support the fort’s operations. These men often married American Indian women from local tribes. These families—men, women, children, and slaves—made their homes here.”
Shown above is a European clay pipe bowl.
In 1846, a treaty between the United States and Great Britain set the boundary between the United States and Canada at 49°. With this Fort Vancouver was in United States territory and the Fort was then occupied by the U.S. Army. According to the display:
“During the U.S. Army period, Vancouver Barracks was home to a diverse corps of soldiers and their families, many of whom were recent immigrants to the United States. For soldiers, Vancouver could be a place to start a new life, and a place to remember the place from which they had come.”
Shown above is European clay pipe bowl from Bavaria which was probably owned by a German-American soldier in the Vancouver Barracks.
Fort Vancouver has been part of the National Park System since 1948. Artifacts uncovered by archaeologists at Fort Vancouver are on display at the Visitor Center and show the diversity of the Fort’s residents.
Museums 101
Museums 101 is a series of photo tours of different museum exhibits. More from this series:
Museums 101: Japanese glass fishing floats (photo diary)
Museums 101: Model railroad (photo diary)
Museums 101: The Fort Vancouver Surgeon's Quarters (Photo Diary)
Museums 101: Logging (Photo Diary)
Museums 101: Household Items in the East Benton County Museum (Photo Diary)
Museums 101: The Moon (photo diary)
Museums 101: The Little Black Dress (photo diary)
Museums 101: The Maki Homestead Cabin (Photo Diary)