The Hatzic Rock, a huge glacial erratic on the Fraser River in British Columbia, marks one of the oldest archaeological finds in North America. It is a place of the Sto:lo people, the Coast Salish, who have lived for centuries in the Fraser River Valley. Their villages of huge long houses were mobile, moved with the seasons and assembled at traditional sites. The Hatzic Rock site is the origin of the tribe’s oral tradition, where four elders were turned to stone for defiantly attempting to create a written language.
The oral tradition is sacred to the Sto:lo people who conduct public education sessions by telling stories about the found objects. The building, which supports both archaeology and education, incorporates traditional technology that is expandable and movable. It was built by Sto:lo people on huge log skids resting on a gravel pad to allow relocation for continued archaeological exploration.