Bark Shredders
The people of the West Coast used cedar trees for many purposes. The wood was made into planks for houses, platforms and storage boxes, as well as canoes and elaborately carved poles. The men of the community looked after cutting and producing items from the wood of the trees.

Women worked with the bark of the cedar trees. They produced a wide range of useful items from the bark such as canoe bailers, bowls and clothing.

Bark was pulled off living trees in long, wide strips, and the inner and outer bark were separated. The bark was then processed to make soft, pliable fibres. Shredding or pounding the bark of the tree was time consuming but it allowed the material to be used in a variety of ways.

Once the bark was shredded, the fibres were worked by hand into rolled lengths. While working the fibres fish oil was rubbed on the hands to make the fibres resist water. When the bark was woven by hand into clothing, capes, or rain hats, this waterproof feature was useful.

Various types of bark shredders were used along the West coast of British Columbia. They were made from stone, whalebone or wood. Most had an opening cut out of one side to form a handle. Some were carved with designs but many found in archaeological sites are of undecorated whalebone.

What other useful items do you think could be made from cedar bark? Make a list, then click on the picture showing the basket made from cedar bark, and see if your list matches the hidden list.

Some of these polished artifacts have notched sides at the top and bottom. Some have designs such as parallel lines carved lightly on one side.

How these items were used has been debated over the years. Some archaeologists call them mirrors because when the flat slate is wet it reflects. But they may have been used as fine abraders, tools that polished the surface of other tools. Or, they could have been used to grind material to make paint. It has also been suggested that spiritual leaders used them as mirrors for meditation and to foresee the outcome of battles.

George T. Emmons wrote in 1921 that the Tsimshian mirror "was the property of the women of higher class, and was worn suspended around the neck by a cord of hide or of twisted root…" Emmons had been a Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy and wrote of his experiences and observations in Alaska and British Columbia. It is not clear from his writings how he came to conclude that women of high rank used the mirror. Was it mere speculation or did he see them being used?

In southern British Columbia, J. A. Teit, a Scottish colonist who observed and wrote about the First Nations people of B.C., wrote to Emmons that he had only heard of dark stone being used for mirrors in the past. He noted that sheets of mica had been more commonly used as mirrors by the interior Salish people.

There are other examples of natural materials being used as mirrors in the past. Pyrite and slate mirrors and discs have been found in archaeological sites in Mexico. Mica, which has mirror-like qualities, is known to have spread, through trade, from the Ohio Valley area of the United States.

Very few examples of these slate artifacts have been found. Were they used for a short span of time? Were they only used by certain people who had special status within their communities? Why were they made?

Perhaps future archaeologists will discover the answers. It's a mystery. What do you think?

Archaeologists sometimes find an object that is no longer used and there is no written record to explain the object's function. In southern British Columbia, in the Gulf Islands area of the Strait of Georgia, archaeologists have found artifacts they call "whatzits."

Whatzits are small pieces of hard coal or stone that have been ground to a smooth surface. They have been made with care. They are small and some have holes drilled completely through them.

The whatzits do not all have the same shape, so perhaps they had different purposes. Why were they made and how were they used? They remain a puzzle to researchers.