Hauyat Sneak Peak

Check out a sneak peak of the on-going studies at Hauyat, a remarkable place on the Central Coast of British Columbia that embodies people’s deep connection to the land and sea.

Located on the northern end of Hunter Island near the modern day Heiltsuk community of Bella Bella, the long-standing Heiltsuk connection to Hauyat is evident—from mountaintop to ocean floor, and from the archaeology, oral traditions, and people’s memories.

In collaboration with and guided by the Heiltsuk community and the Heiltsuk Integrated Resource Management Department, archaeologist Dana Lepofsky and her team are combining a variety of data and knowledge sources to arrive at a richer understanding of Hauyat’s past and continued ties to the local community today.

“The mystery of this place is really just waiting to be told. What you find is that people have lived here for thousands and thousands of years. You’re standing on 6,000 years of terraces of house platforms—in this unbelievable spot with this commanding view of this entire watershed, the watershed of Hauyat. So what we’re doing is trying to peel back that past, listen to the stories, the memories of people today, and also the stories that are told in the ground, and put that together and tell the history of Hauyat,” says Lepofsky, a Hakai affiliate and professor at Simon Fraser University.

Hakai Magazine produced for a longer video about Hauyat that came out in November, 2016.