Archeology, McMillan's forte,
of ancient cultures using the
left behind usually in burial sites. This
work has led him to write one book, a
booklet, plus several articles for scien-
tific journals.

is the study
artifacts

McMillan's favourite subject is, of course,
the Native Indians of British Columbia.

"My most recent work was with the Nishga
Band in an area around the Nass River,"
McMillan says. "They had started a
housing development and discovered a
previously unknown burial site."

"| was called in by the National Museum
To act as the resident archeologist to

help recover the material for study and
then reburial."

Why Should Digs be Done?

And as an instructor of anthropology,
McMillan makes a determined effort to
help his students understand why these
digs should be done.

"Often, when a new development is built,
we lose our last opportunity to study
something. The goal of the anthropologist
is to protect some of these sites for
future generations and then learn the
maximum amount of information from the
rest."

Currently McMillan has established a
provincial museum display of B.C. Petro-
glyphs and Pictographs at the New
Westminster campus of Douglas College.

The exhibit, made up of replicas of
paintings and carvings made by many B.C.
Indian Bands from hundreds of years ago
shows the types of religious ideas our
predecessors had, plus how artistic they
were.

"I've also taken classes to the St. Mungo
site in Delta last year, where workers
were building the Annacis Bridge overtop
of an ancient Indian village."

 

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Some of the artifacts recovered were
duplicated and made into another exhibition
at Douglas College last year.

Last Opportunity to Grasp Past

"Archeologists are finding their work be-
coming salvage excavation - digging up and
recording sites before they are destroyed," §
McMillan says. "This type of work is
important because it saves our last oppor-
tunity to learn from parts of our past."

Study Tour to Central America

Another project he is working on is a study
tour to Central America where students from
Kwantlen and Douglas College will view the
remains of the ancient Aztec and Mayan
cultures.

"We're hoping to leave sometime around
Christmas, and it will undoubtedly make an
exciting trip,.even without the chance to
work on the actual digging," McMillan says.

"Another job of the anthropolist and arche-
ologist is to understand how cultures lived §
in the past, and why they change. It's a
lot like trying to learn from someone whose
not around anymore." ;

"But if a person enters the field hoping to
discover ancient lost cities, or buried
treasures, they'|I| probably end up very
disappointed," McMillan says. "The excite-
ment for me comes from the enjoyment of

the work."

"Even the excavations involve a lot of
record keeping, data collecting, map draw-
ing, and finally collating and publishing
your findings."

And that is what McMillan has in store for
himself, a new book, his second or third,
dealing with the variety and styles of
west coast B.C. Indian art.

- DOUGLAS COLLEGE NEWS SERVICES