With forty years’ experience as archaeology curator at the Royal B.C. Museum, Grant Keddie combines an extensive knowledge of the archaeology collection with his interest in human history and natural history. His studies look at human behavior in the past by examining the changes in the archaeological record and the differences and similarities with the ethnographic record.
A popular speaker and demonstrator, Grant speaks to all age groups, with an emphasis on promoting understanding of the value and importance of the history of Indigenous cultures. He has carried out archaeological survey and excavation work in many parts of the province, and has lectured and published on a wide range of topics, including his popular ethnohistory, Songhees Pictorial: A History of the Songhees People As Seen by Outsiders, 1790-1912.
Education
Bachelor of arts with major in anthropology/archaeology from Simon Fraser University, 1972. As curator of Archaeology at the Royal British Columbia Museum since 1972 I have not stopped being in study mode.
Areas of Interest
Artifact Technology—the making and use of stone, bone and antler artifacts
Ethnohistory—cultural influences of early European traders and settlers
Japanese ship wrecks and 19th-century and early 20th-century material culture of Chinese in British Columbia
Late ice-age megafauna
Specialty:
the archaeology of British Columbia
