Marpole Midden

Marpole Midden, near the mouth of the Fraser River in Vancouver, is an approximately four-thousand-year-old archaeological site marking c̓əsnaʔəm, an ancient Musqueam village and sacred burial ground inhabited by Coast Salish people for millennia until smallpox reached the Northwest Coast about two hundred years ago. Uncovered in 1884, it became a major excavation site for researchers including Charles Hill-Tout, Harlan Ingersoll Smith, and later Charles Edward Borden, who argued for clear links between the remains and the contemporary Musqueam people. After partial destruction, renewed excavations and Musqueam protests over development in 2011 and 2012 led to the land’s eventual return to the Musqueam First Nation in 2018.

British Columbia · Canada