Our Class Visit to Tse'K'wa

Tse'K'wa, the stone house, is an important National Historic Site in Canada. Tse'K'wa plays an important role in understanding the First Peoples of the Americas. At the end of the Late Pleistocene, during the melt of the last Glacial Maximum, Tse'K'wa was hydraulically formed. Initially in a barren wasteland the cave had no visitors. After a time, once the landscape had been partially replenished with soils that could sustain growth, the lifecycles of plants and animals began. Eventually larger mammals, such as Bison, began to graze in the grasslands. However, along with the mammals also came humans during what is referred to in the anthropological literature as the Paleoindian Period. It is during this time, with Tse'K'wa embedded in the rocky stone bedrock, that it began to have its first human visitors.

Over the millennia, the cave was visited again and again with passing groups leaving clues about their lifeways between the cave mouth and the parapet that from below obscures the view of the cave mouth from others. Well known to the local First Nations Communities, Tse'K'wa came to the attention of Dr. Knut Fladmark while doing investigations related to Bennet Dam. His interest in Tse'K'wa bloomed and the cave area was eventually excavated by Dr. Knut Fladmark, Dr. Jon Driver, and a team of researchers from Simon Fraser University. We encourage you to visit Simon Fraser University's webpage to learn more about the life of Tse'K'wa.

In an exciting step Tse'K'wa is once again connected to the peoples it has the closest relationship - Doig River First Nation, Prophet River First Nation, and West Moberly First Nation bought the land where Tse'K'wa dwells in 2012. Through the assistance of the Tse'K'wa Heritage Society and the Treaty 8 Tribal Association, the Nations allow local school classes to visit and undertake land based learning so that they may experience a connection to the past and present of the National Historic Site. Living and Learning in Traditional Treaty 8 Territory, we wish to give our thanks to the Nations for generously allowing our visits. The following images, capturing Tse'K'wa in three dimensions, were made possible by being allowed to visit the site and through equipment used via a SET-BC / Synergy project.

If you are teacher in School District 60 Peace River North, and would like to bring your class (or classes) to the cave, please contact the SD60 Peace River North Indigenous Education Centre for more information.

Our Visit to Tse'K'wa

Fish Creek links to Charlie Lake on the road to Tse'K'wa. The creek and lake, with fish and also a place for getting water, is an ideal area for providing for families. Charlie Lake is a known gathering place for the local First Nations people in the past and the present.

View from the base of the hill looking up toward Tse'K'wa. The grouping of stones hides the cave entrance when viewed from below - however, once up to the platform the place is instantly recognizable as a cave.

One of our Camera People, Wakim, takes a photo as a student cohort prepares to leave their bus.

Here we can see the view from on top of the bedrock, just over the mouth of Tse'K'wa.

Once down from the hill, standing on the Parapet, it is possible to see the mouth of Tse'K'wa.

Our main Spelunker, and Cameraman, Wakim prepares to set up cameras in the Cave and its antechambers.

Lit by students' headlamps, the main chamber of Tse'K'wa comes to life.

The Northwest Antechamber - where water once rushed to help form Tse'K'wa during the melt of the Last Glacial Maximum.

Entrance to the Northeast Antechamber

The Northeast Antechamber

In modernity, class tours of Tse'K'wa and its surrounding area provide students with a glimpse into the important role of Tse'K'wa through time from the end of the Late Pleistocene through the Holocene to the present.