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Findings from an ancient salmon DNA research project in collaboration with the University of Northern B.C. and the Lake Babine Nation are shedding light on salmon fishery practices on Smokehouse Island a thousand years ago.

In 2016, archaeology professor Dongya Yang was approached by Dr. Farid Rahemtulla (Director of the Babine Archaeology Project) at UNBC to visit the island, at which time Yang developed an appreciation for the area and the importance of salmon fishery to the Lake Babine Nation.

“One potential project that we felt my DNA lab could work on with Dr. Rahemtulla was ancient DNA analysis of salmon remains from the site,” Yang explains.

Yang’s lab later received a shipment of thousands of salmon vertebrae excavated from the site. Of those, 87 samples were randomly selected to do the first ancient DNA project ever conducted in the region.

With SPARK Grant funding, master’s student Ellery Procter, a graduate student with previous experience in both genetics and archaeology, was brought on board.

“We used some of the materials for training other members of the lab and from there I was able to proceed with all of the sampling on my own,” Procter recalls.

This research has become the basis for her master’s thesis, which she presented in the SFU’s finals after placing second in her faculty heat.

From its conception, the project’s main objective was to provide the Lake Babine Nation with insight into their ancestral history, and the findings may do just that.

After analysing the samples to identify their species and sex, researchers were able to learn about seasonal patterns and possible male-selective fishing practices.

“Our results have actually changed a little bit since [the 3MT presentation] as we have continued to test the samples,” Procter says, “but it looks like there was some selection on the basis of sex. We saw some areas of the site were male dominated, while other areas were female dominated. While a possible explanation for this could be egg harvest, we did not see any direct evidence of this occurring.”

Procter goes on to explain that by identifying the species of the remains, they can also figure out seasonal fishery practices, as different species of salmon return for spawning at different times.

“The most prominent species of salmon we saw in the data was sockeye salmon, and we know they return around mid-August,” she explains. “So, we’re assuming if they’re in the area around that time, they would be harvested during that time. Then, chinook, based on modern data, are returning at the start of fall. So, because we’re seeing chinook, we’re assuming that fishery was occurring into the fall.”

In addition to her thesis, Procter is co-authoring an academic paper on the study and presented the research at the International Conference for Archaeozoology in 2024.

On April 26^th, 2025, she also went to Denver to present at the Society for American Archaeology’s 90^th Annual meeting as part of the Global Perspectives on Biomolecular Approaches to Human-Animal Interactions symposium.

“I thought the research from Smokehouse Island was well suited for that, because we see direct human-salmon interaction there. Humans are harvesting salmon in a way that allows the salmon to thrive; should a stock of salmon be decimated, people will also suffer—so it’s really showing a back and forth between the human and salmon populations.”

The research team hopes the results from the project will give the Lake Babine Nation more information and evidence of stewardship and resource management on their ancestral land.

It also opens the door to more collaboration and engagement with the community, as findings continue to yield opportunities to expand on the research.

“Our research can provide a deep historical view of regional salmon ecology, which could have implications about conservation,” Procter says. “This research is really providing more questions that can be asked and hopefully investigated.”