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Bowstrings Banff

The farther back one draws history’s string, the truer one's future aim.

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Kiguli Pithouse Dwellings of Banff

The kiguli pithouses of Banff represent the most enduring type of fixed architecture in North America, although the dwellings are a mystery to most Canadians. The homes, called kiguli or ke’kuli in the Chinook trading jargon, were used as winter villages by the interior Salishan speaking peoples for four thousand years. The question of who used the dwellings in the Bow Valley is of considerable interest.

In 1913, Canada’s first Dominion Archaeologist, Harlan Smith, protected a cluster of fourteen pit dwellings, a winter village just downstream from the confluence of the Spray and Bow Rivers. Canada’s first protected archaeological site, it was later covered by the Banff golf course. There is a group of kigulis in the Red Deer River Valley near Skoki Lodge in Banff National Park. A remaining kiguli site near the Town of Banff is located next to the Juniper Hotel on the north side of the valley.

To celebrate built heritage in Banff, Bowstrings will begin a multi-year program of research and hopefully restoration of a pithouse. We invite you to contribute to this effort as a researcher, environmental historian, architect, builder or kiguli story-holder. Email us at [javascript protected email address] if you want to get involved in this project.

We’ve discovered there is living memory of these homes within many Shuswap families. Marge Eugene, a kiya’a or matriarch from Invermere, has agreed to share her family memories of pithouse dwellings with Bowstrings Banff. Watch for the video, soon to be posted here.

Illustration of small pit dwelling

Illustration Credit

Cross section of a small pit dwelling illustrative of those found in Banff. Adapted from Huck and Whiteway, 1998. Drawn by Melanie Froese.

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Banff has long been a place where early peoples came in peace to the foot of Sacred Buffalo Guardian Mountain by the Holy Springs. In the spirit of respect, reciprocity, and truth, we honour and acknowledge the deep and enduring memory of this valley held by Ktunaxa, Secwepemc, Métis, Dene & Tsuut’ina, Mountain Cree, Siksika & other Blackfoot, and Stoney Nakoda peoples. We acknowledge both the Treaty of 1877, Treaty Seven, and the Treaty of 1895 between the salmon and buffalo peoples. We are grateful to live here and live together with all our relations.

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