In Search of Camas: Archaeological Correlates of Camas Root Intensification on Vancouver Island and Southern Gulf Islands, British Columbia.

Camas (Camassia sp.) is perhaps the most ethnographically-renowned plant species within the threatened Garry Oak meadows of southeastern Vancouver Island and southern Gulf Islands, British Columbia. Coast Salish Hul’qumi’num and Sencoten-speaking peoples are historically well-documented to have intensively harvested carbohydrate-rich camas lily bulbs, among other local plant roots, at a community-level scale for food, storage and trade, and camas has even been described as an economic ‘staple’. The significance of camas for Coast Salish peoples’ diet, subsistence economy and   settlement patterns over time, however, is not well understood. To date, camas lily has yet to be identified in any archaeological context in coastal British Columbia.

This paper examines Coast Salish ethnohistorical accounts of camas use and outlines potential material correlates of camas and other root plant production in the archaeological record. Archaeological research in the Cowichan Valley and southern Gulf  Islands is explored as comparative landscapes for different lines of material evidence to focus efforts in search for camas and, more importantly, to more fully understand the scale and influence of camas root intensification over time for Coast Salish cultures.