First Nations clam gardens at least 3,500 years old, B.C. study finds

First Nations built and maintained shellfish gardens on Quadra Island beginning at least 3,500 years ago, according to a newly published study.
The age and sophistication of this technology for shellfish cultivation is evidence of Indigenous management systems that long predate contact with Europeans, said SFU archeologist Dana Lepofsky, a co-author.
The gardens improve the productivity of natural clam beaches and in many places create shellfish habitat where none had existed.
“This firmly