In an archaeological survey of Shelter Point, Gillies Bay, done by Aquilla Archaeology, artifacts and evidence of an extensive first nations village were discovered, dating as far back as the Charles Period, or 5,500 to 3,300 years ago.
This means that while the first nations at Shelter Point were going about their daily lives, hunting, fishing, building war canoes and longhouses, across the sea somewhere out of sight and out of mind, the founding of Rome was undertaken, the Olmecs constructed the first pyramids in Mesoamerica, the Assyrians ransacked and conquered Egypt, the Egyptians set sail to circumnavigate Africa for the first time—the new world was not even considered yet—Cheops was buried in the first great pyramid in Egypt, itself built by Imhotep, the world’s first known architect.
Prior to cultural remains being discovered at Shelter Point, it was believed, via urban legend, that no first nations—neither Tla’amin, nor Sechelt—would inhabit Texada Island because it was believed the island would sink some day. In fact a cursory search reveals several websites that attest to this. To quote a real estate website for the area, “Surviving middens and fish weirs show that First Nation people spent time on Texada long before Europeans discovered North America.” The author suggests that because of an ancient legend relating to the island sinking again, there were no permanent settlements on Texada.
The Aquilla archaeological report does suggest that from what they can infer, the artifacts and cultural remains found at the Shelter Point site indicate the village was deserted sometime during the early 19th century. So what really happened around 200 years ago to cause an entire first nations village here to disappear?
The stratified layers of history under our feet hide many secrets. Beneath the well-trodden paths of our comings and goings, is it possible that further research and excavation will reveal what happened to a culture that once had obviously thrived here? Lacking any evidence of a conflict with the first Spanish ships that landed here during the late 1700s we could reason fairly accurately that they were not massacred. Lacking any skeletal remains, one could assume the first nations that were so well entrenched here did not perish by the insidious creeping of some foreign plague. Did they leave on their own accord? Is it possible they were advised that the island would sink? If so, by whom?
