Evidence on the Adequacy of First Nations Consultation - BC Hydro ...

The Inissimi Complex was defined for this time period to encompass a distinctive set of artefact
assemblages on the Kootenay river and its major tributaries, from the big bend in northwestern Montana
at least as far downstream as the north arm of Kootenay lake…Characteristic features of the Inissimi
Complex are predominance of Kootenay Argillite and a distinctive form of projectile point not found in
surrounding regions that has an expanding stem, a ground convex base, and acute to right-angled
shoulders…
The abundance and distribution of Kootenay Argillite in Inissimi Complex sites along Kootenay Lake
and the Kootenay River as far upstream as Libby, Montana has been interpreted to reflect the use of
canoes. The seasonal round is hypothesized to have comprised wintering near the important deer winter
ranges at the south end of the Purcell Mountains and a summer focus on the salmon fishery along the
lower Kootenay River. Prior to the return to the wintering area, a northward swing was made to obtain
stone from quarries above the North Arm of the Kootenay and to hunt deer on the east side of the lake.
Were these Indians the ancestors of modern Ktunaxa? An archaeological discovery in Alberta
appears to cement these ancient argillite sites with the uniquely Ktunaxan mode of life of fishing on
waterways of the Kootenays and hunting east of the Rockies. The archaeologist Brian Reeves wrote
of his work on the 2000 year old “Pelican Lake” phase of the famous site of Head-Smashed-In-
Buffalo-Jump: 11
Some of the projectile points from the Pelican Lake strata have stems rather than being notched at the
corners. These too were made from an exotic raw material: metamorphosed argillite from the Kootenay
Lake area of British Columbia some 800 kilometers west of Head-Smashed-In. Both their source and
their alien shape suggest that visitors from Kootenay Lake occasionally participated in the Pelican Lake
people’s buffalo drives…
For his part, Choquette and his colleagues have been following the distribution of a chert originally
quarried at a site called Top of the World in the Canadian Rockies. This hard stone was highly prized
for tool making and has been found throughout and beyond the Ktunaxa range, in British Columbia,
Washington, Montana and Idaho.
The first scientific archaeological investigation in the study area may have been carried out in 1954,
when an archaeological team led by Charles Borden of the University of British Columbia performed
over 50 site surveys in the Upper Columbia stretching from Lake Windermere to the U.S. border. 12
In a gradient increasing towards the south end of this range, his team uncovered large numbers of
expanded stem points characteristic of the Ktunaxa, many of which were encrusted by a patina
created by centuries of being subjected to the elements. As they moved northward to Columbia
Lakes they encountered more side-notched points which were thought to be more characteristic of
Interior Salish and concluded they were probably left by the Kinbasket people. Remains of what were
identified as Salishan pit houses were also found in the vicinity of Columbia and Windermere Lakes,
leading Borden to conclude that the southern range of the Kinbasket Shuswaps may have at one time
included all of Columbia Lake. Unlike many of the expanded stem points, the side-notch points
appeared to have had virtually no patina of aging, attesting to relatively recent deposition. 13
However subsequent excavations have called into question some of the conclusions of Borden’s team
11 From Scientific American, October, 1983, from Weir, p. 9.
12 Borden, Charles 1956, pp. 73-104,
13 In more recent research, Wayne Choquette has argued that the Ktunaxa also appear to have used side-notch points, thus
disputing an orthodoxy that has usually attributed this style to non-Ktunaxa people. At the least, the conclusions of
Borden’s team should be viewed with some caution
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