Origins of A People in This Region
The first traces of people living in the Fraser Valley date from 8,000 to 10,000 years ago. The Stó:lō called this area, their traditional territory, S'ólh Téméxw. These early inhabitants of the area were highly mobile hunter-gatherers. There is archeological evidence of a settlement in the lower Fraser Canyon (called "the Milliken site") and a seasonal encampment ("the Glenrose Cannery site") near the mouth of the Fraser River. Remains of this latter campsite show that in spring and early summer, they came here to hunt land and sea mammals, such as deer, elk, and seals and, to a lesser extent, to fish for salmon, stickleback, eulachon, and sturgeon and to gather shellfish. Their livelihood depended on their success at harvesting the resources of the land and the rivers through fishing, foraging, and hunting.
Stó:lō elders describe their connection to the land in the statement "we have always been here." They tell of their arrival in S'ólh Téméxw as Tel Swayel ("sky-borne" people) and through the transformations of ancestral animals and fish such as the beaver, mountain goat, and sturgeon. Xexá:ls (transformers) fixed the world and the people and animals in it, creating the present landscape. As Carlson notes:
- The Stó:lō walk simultaneously through both spiritual and physical realms of this landscape, connected to the Creator through the land itself, as transformed by Xexá:ls.
Read more about this topic: Sto:lo People
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