Musqueam People
Wayne Point (Smokey)
Wayne Point (Smokey) at c̓əsnaʔəm, 2012. Photo courtesy of Musqueam Indian Band Archives
My name is Wayne Point and I am a Musqueam band member. My friends and family call me Smokey. I have been collecting rocks my whole life, probably since I was eight years old. This collection began when I was a child and would walk around in the fields at Musqueam with my mother, Norma Rose Point. During these walks we would sometimes come across unique rocks, or even old tools. These walks, and the materials we found, inspired me to learn more. I am now an archaeologist and a traditional tool maker.
Originally, I thought of archaeologists as people who collect rocks. However, I learned that they also collect important historical belongings and put together a story about historical cultures. I volunteered on my first archaeological dig at Musqueam when I was 13. My first job was to screen - the process of sifting through the dirt in hopes of separating out a piece of material culture. It sounds tedious, but I actually liked screening! I learned to look for different types of objects: things that were made by a person; things that looked like they were changed due to human contact; or things that people might have left behind—for example, bones from a hunting expedition or shells from a great seafood dinner.
Wayne Point (Smokey) at c̓əsnaʔəm vigil, 2012. Photo courtesy of Sharon Stogan.
In 2006, while working at the UBC Laboratory of Archaeology, I started to think about the process of tool making. I began to learn and teach myself how to make traditional tools, something I have been working at for about nine years.The first tool I made was a cobble chopper, a really simple pebble tool.
They are the easiest to make, partially because the material required, quartzite, is really easy to find. Cobble choppers are made from large, worn, beach pebbles.
By trying to make tools like my ancestors did thousands of years ago, I have really gained a better understanding of the tools that are unearthed during archeological digs. I’m still learning the precise process of making such tools. Even after nine years of hard work, I’m probably only halfway to the level of expertise of my ancestors. They really had to have a lot of patience and knowledge to make these old tools. Like a maul, for instance, I don’t know how long it would take to make one or even where to begin. For me, it might take as long as a year to make something like a maul.
I look at some of the tools we find in ancient villages and I am amazed by how intricate they are. It’s incredible what my ancestors could make 4,000 to 5,000 years ago. I continue to learn about the making of these tools, because I have learned so much from the process about my ancestors’ ingenuity and patience.
The archaeological team at səw̓q̓ʷeqsən, 2012. Photo courtesy of Wayne Point (Smokey).