Musqueam

At www.vancouversun.com/story_print.html?id=4542566&sponsor= is a report on a huge midden of the Musqueam people who lived for generations on the estuary of what is now the Fraser River = Vancouver. The mound of shell, animal and fish bones, and general refuse, goes back some 9000 years – it is estimated. This is probably a guess and not an actual scientific date but they appear to have been living in the region since at least 6000BC. Maybe even before that. The population, however, in the 1700s, was between 20 and 60 thousand souls, but three outbreaks of smallpox and Spanish Flue in the early 20th century reduced the numbers of around just 100. There are now 1300 living on what is designated a First Nations reserve – which does not take into account any people absorbed into mainstream society. The midden is still in the process of being taken to pieces by archaeologists. If link broken go to www.vancouversun.com/technology/Ancient+history+Vancouver+first+peoples/…