Determination of Site Use as Inferred From the Lithics Data of the Post Adandonment Occupation of Housepit 7 at the Keatley Creek Site: Comparing Winter Village and Short-term Camp Models

The Keatley Creek site is located on the Canadian Plateau, in the Middle-Fraser Canyon region o f south central British Columbia.It is perhaps the largest winter pithouse village in the region, and it has been occupied from the Middle Prehistoric through the Late Prehistoric Periods ca.5000-200 B.P. During the late prehistoric it was occupied by semi-sedentary hunter-gatherers utilizing intensive resource harvesting and storage techniques, mainly focusing on salmon.The social organization was likely ranked, with hereditary ascribed status, similar to that of the Northwest Coast cultures.Most of the archaeological record of the Keatley Creek site is associated with housepit occupations, but the first and last occupations of the site included open camps.This analysis deals with the last occupation of Housepit 7, or rather the Post-Abandonment Occupation, 300-400 years after the last occupants of the pithouse had left.