Late Pleistocene Faunal Assemblages from Karst Cave Settings on Northern Vancouver Island, Canada

ABSTRACT

We present the results of our investigations in karst caves on northern Vancouver Island. This work focuses on late Pleistocene faunal remains and potential archaeological deposits. Our analyses of faunal remains from these caves reveal that a variety of animals have inhabited the region since the Last Glacial Maximum. Pleistocene taxa recovered include black-tailed deer (Odocoileus hemionus), black bear (Ursus americanus), mountain goat (Oreamnos americanus), Vancouver Island marmot (Marmota vancouverensis), wolf/dog (Canis spp.), weasel (Mustela), and frog (Anura). We also report on a previously undescribed diminutive red fox (Vulpes vulpes) which no longer inhabits Vancouver Island. We present the results of sedaDNA analysis of cave sediments which demonstrates promise in supporting the morphological identification of animal remains. The results of this study, combined with previous research, help to constrain the timing of the Last Glacial Maximum and when land became viable to support land mammals on northern Vancouver Island.

KEYWORDS:

• Terminal Pleistocene
• faunal communities
• Vancouver Island
• paleontology
• archaeology

Acknowledgements

Many people helped with various aspects of this project. The authors of this report are grateful to them all. Eric Peterson and Christina Munck of the Tula Foundation and Hakai Institute are thanked for funding this research. The authors also thank Harry Alfred, Spruce Rufus, Leroy Wadhams, Harry Brown, Geza Vamos, Brian Svanvik, Don Svanvik, and Rachel Dalton from the ‘Namgis First Nation; Mark Hunt, Mark Wallas, Tyrone Wallas, Isaac Williams, Sonny Wallas, James Redford, and Charles Sheard, from the Quatsino First Nation; archaeologists Jim Stafford, Alisha Gauvreau, John White, John Maxwell, Daryl Fedje, Quentin Mackie, Angela Dyck, Chris Hebda, Bryn Letham, Callum Abbott, Duncan McLaren, Kennedy Richard, Michael Richards, and Jude Isabella; botanist Richard Hebda; LiDAR specialists Derek Heathfield and the Hakai Geospatial Technology Team, SedaDNA Analysts Mikkel Pedersen, Eske Willerslev, Evan Morien, Chris Hebda, Alisha Gauvreau, and Matt Lemay; ancient mtDNA analysts Dongya Yang, Hua Zhang and the Ancient DNA facility at Simon Fraser University, and Linda Rutledge and Mac Barrera at the Hakai Ancient DNA lab on Quadra Island; radiocarbon analysts John Southon and The W.M. Keck Carbon Cycle Accelerator Mass Spectrometer Facility; speleologists David Wall and Peter Curtis; karstologists Paul Griffiths and Carol Ramsey; faunal analysts Becky Wigen and Pacific Identifications; and Cathy Rzeplinkski, Jindra Belanger, Ute Muller, Chris Darimont, and April Nowell of the University of Victoria. Eske Willerslev thanks St. John’s College, Cambridge, for providing a stimulating environment of discussion and learning.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Ages presented in this paper are calendar years ago (before AD 1950). Ranges and medians derived from ¹⁴C ages are designated “cal yr BP”. Approximate ages (e.g., estimates or from literature) are designated “years ago” or “years old”. Lab numbers for radiocarbon dates are provided in Table 1.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Tula Foundation [grant number Arch 2023-2028]. The Lundbeck Foundation GeoGenetics Centre is supported by grants from the Lundbeck Foundation (R302-2018-2155, R155-2013-16338), the Novo Nordisk Foundation (NNF18SA0035006), the Welcome Trust (214300), Carlsberg Foundation (CF18-0024), the Danish National Research Foundation (DNRF94), the University of Copenhagen (KU2016 programme), and Ferring Pharmaceuticals A/S, to E.W. The Centre for Ancient Environmental Genomics (CAEG) is supported by a grant from the Danish National Research Foundation (DNRF174).

Notes on contributors

Duncan McLaren

Duncan McLaren earned his PhD at the University of Victoria in 2008. His research interests include the archaeology and paleoecology of far western Canada.

Rebecca Wigen

Rebecca Wigen earned her MA at the University of Victoria in 1980. Her research interests include zooarchaeology.

Daryl Fedje

Daryl Fedje earned his MA from the University of Calgary in 1993. Research interests include coastal archaeology and paleoecology.

Angela Dyck

Angela Dyck earned her BA in 2015 at the University of Victoria. Her research interests include lithic analysis and delving into the many facets of palaeoarchaeology.

Christopher F.G. Hebda

Christopher F. G. Hebda earned his MA at the University of Victoria in 2019 and he currently works as an archaeologist/palaeoecologist at the Hakai Institute in Victoria, Canada. His research interests include describing late Quaternary ecosystems in coastal BC using techniques like palynology and aDNA analysis, and using this context to search for/understand late Pleistocene archaeology in the region.

Evan Morien

Evan Morien is a bioinformatics scientist at the Hakai Institute. He earned his MSc at the University of British Columbia in 2012. His research interests include microbial and host-associated ecology, and environmental DNA monitoring.

Mikkel Winther Pedersen

Mikkel Winther Pedersen earned his PhD at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. He is a specialist in Ancient DNA and genomics analysis from geological and archaeological sedimentary deposits for paleo-environmental reconstruction.

Eske Willerslev

Prof. Eske Willerslev is an evolutionary geneticist and researcher in the fields of ancient DNA, DNA degradation, and environmental DNA. He holds a professorship at the University of Copenhagen, where he is the Director of the Lundbeck Foundation GeoGenetics Centre and the Centre for Ancient Envoironmental Genomics (CAEG), as well as the Prince Philip Professorship at the Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge.

Linda Y. Rutledge

Linda Rutledge earned her PhD in Environmental and Life Sciences at Trent University in 2010. She is broadly interested in using contemporary and ancient genomics to answer questions about the ecology and evolution of wildlife.

McIntyre A. Barrera

McIntyre Barrera earned his BSc in Biology at Vancouver Island University. His research interests include molecular systematics, island biogeography, and host–parasite coevolution.

Jim Stafford

Jim Stafford earned his BA at Simon Fraser University in 1997. His research interests include landscape archaeology, peopling of the Americas, and field methods.

David Wall

David Wall is the President of the British Columbia Speleological Federation. He works for 43K Wilderness Solutions and is an expert in remote work and safety.

Bryn Letham

Bryn Letham earned his PhD at the University of British Columbia in 2017. His research interests include combining coastal geoarchaeology and paleoenvironmental reconstruction to interpret transforming landscapes in western North America from the late Pleistocene to the present day.