Cordova Bay dig reveals signs of thriving First Nations village – Times Colonist

Signs of a once-thriving village of the W̱SÁNEĆ peoples are emerging at Agate Lane Park in Cordova Bay.

It’s 8 a.m. and a cool breeze flows through a tiny park in Cordova Bay where Roger Charlie is digging into his ancestors’ past.

He is lying flat on the ground on the edge of a hole. Layers of soil reveal ash and fire-cracked rocks, shells and animal bones — and a large piece of elk antler that Charlie believes might have been used as a tool to move hot rocks in a cooking pit.

Charlie can envision people around a cooking hearth sharing salmon and venison.

Signs of ȾEL¸IȽĆE (pronounced Tel-eech) — a once-thriving village of the W̱SÁNEĆ and Lekwungen-speaking peoples dating back more than 1,000 years — are emerging from deep in the ground at Agate Lane Park as a University of Victoria-led archaeological field school draws to a close.