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In another synthesis (Fladmark 1982:
112) it is argued that there is no solid evidence for an initial occupation
by Southwestern Coastal culture people and that the assemblage which had
been earlier attributed to this culture actually dates to Period III (4,000
to 1,000 B.C.). Further, it is proposed that the earliest occupation
actually was represented by people with a microblade technology who moved
up the Fraser River from the coast rather than out of the central interior.
"The prior occurrence of microblades on the Northern and Central Northwest
Coast suggests that this technology may have originally penetrated the
southern British Columbia Interior from the west, rather than southwards
from the Yukon"
(Fladmark 1982: 128). This
hypothesized population movement has been correlated with the expansion of
salmon spawning ranges into the interior
(Carlson 1979: 222-223;
1990: 66). The most recent synthesis
(Stryd and Rousseau: In
press) proposes that the earliest occupation was by a number of
different cultures represented by Palaeo-Indian, Stemmed Point,
Northwestern Coastal (Early Coastal Microblade), and Southwestern Coastal
(Cordilleran or Old Cordilleran) cultures. The phase regarded in Sanger's
synthesis as the earliest occupation is now treated in Stryd and Rousseau
as a late penetration from the coast into the interior beginning near the
end of Period II (4,250 B.C.).
The problem faced by all of the preceding syntheses relative to the
initial occupation of the Southern Plateau is that a human antiquity
in the interior equivalent to that of other regions has generally not
been demonstrated by either excavation or radiocarbon dating. In lieu of
direct evidence, hypotheses have been supported by typological
cross-dating using a number of tool varieties which are now known to have
limited diagnostic value
(Stryd and Rousseau: In
press). Recent evidence
(Rousseau 1991) indicates that
the first significant occupation of the Southern Plateau probably came
from the northern interior and involved a culture whose tool kit was
dominated by a microblade technology. The earliest occupation of the
multi-component Landels site by Early Plateau culture has been dated to
8,500 B.P. The date is contemporaneous with the Gore Creek human remains
discovered a short distance to the east on the same drainage system. No
artifacts were found with this adult male who died accidentally in a
mudslide. Solid carbon isotope analysis, however, revealed that his
consumption of marine foods, such as anadromous salmon and steelhead,
was relatively insignificant. Such evidence compromises the proposition
that microblade technology was introduced into the interior from the
west by coastal people following the expanding spawning ranges of
salmon. Further, evidence of a specialized microblade technology on
the Southern Coast is absent
(Fladmark 1982: 112). Thus,
the chronology of syntheses relating to the earliest occupants appears
to have come full circle and returned to an early hypothesis which
stated that the microblade users who occupied the Southern Plateau
originated in the northern interior
(Borden 1975). This would
imply a close relationship between Early Plateau culture and Early
Northwest Interior culture. There is also no reason to assume that
the 8,500 B.P. date from the Landels site represents the earliest
evidence of the peopling of the Southern Plateau. Certainly prior
to 9,000 B.P. the region was available for colonization
(McAndrews et al. 1987).
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