CAWSTON — Orchardist Tony Celentano has dug up various parts of his property in the past, and has never unearthed human bones, until this past Monday.
Celentano hired contractors to level a piece of land so he could plant more apple trees. During the dig, excavators discovered human bones.
RCMP and the B.C. Coroners Service were notified and quickly determined the remains are ancient. That’s when police called the local band chief.
“Very much it was a shock, and I dropped everything and went straight out there to have a look because we all want to make sure everything is being dealt with in a delicate way and handled properly,” says Chief Keith Crow of the Lower Similkameen Indian Band.
Chief Crow says at least one set of human remains was found and the bones’ age is unclear.
He says there’s been other ancestral remains found near the area in the past.
“Where the burial is up on the knoll. That’s kind of the tradition is putting them away from where the camps were.”
Chief Crow says the band is now in the process of obtaining a permit to get an archaeological assessment.
This isn’t the first time ancestral remains were discovered in recent years in the region.
In April 2014, remains estimated to be more than 1,200 years old were discovered at Haynes Point in Osoyoos.