Learn How to Identify Potential Pre-1846 Artivacts
Historical Archaeology Primer
This is a guide created by the author for anyone working in British Columbia Archaeology. So often historic artifacts are ignored, but remember that direct contact with Europeans on the British Columbia Coast started as early as 1774 with the Spanish. Contact with European material culture in the Interior of the province is known to have dated to before the 1790s when explorers found the First Nations already using European goods. For example, on May 15, 1793, Alexander MacKenzie, the first European explorer to travel down the Peace River noted seeing "... a quantity of wood, which had been cut down by axes ..." (Alexander MacKenzie's Journal 1793). Other non-First Nation artifacts could date much earlier with the occasional Asian or Pacific Islander expedition to the coast.
History Affecting the Use and Distribution of European Artifacts in British Columbia
Specifically concerning "Historical" artifacts - or artifacts made in regions other than what is now known as British Columbia, the earliest artifacts could have come in with fur traders and then aboriginal traders. Juan de Fuca is said to have reached the shores of Vancouver Island in 1592, although there is no proof of this. Sir Francis Drake is known to have reached the Oregon coast in 1759, and in 1775, an expedition led by Juan Josef Perez Hernandez is said to have seen the southern tip of Haida Gwai.