The Middle Fraser Canyon contains some of the most important archaeological sites in British Columbia, including the remains of ancient villages that supported hundreds, if not thousands, of people. How and why did these villages come into being? Why were they abandoned?

In search of answers to these questions, Anna Marie Prentiss and Ian Kuijt take readers on a voyage of discovery into the ancient history of the St’át’imc, or Upper Lillooet people. Drawing on evidence from archaeological surveys and excavations and from the knowledge of St’át’imc people, they find explanations in the evolution of food-gathering and -processing techniques, climate change, the development of social complexity, and the arrival of Europeans.

This wide-ranging vision of the ancient history of British Columbia is brought to vivid life through photographs, artist renderings and fictionalized accounts of life in the villages, a guide to the St’át’imc language, and sidebars on archaeological methods, theories, and debates.