If this occupation was mundane in nature, it means that the site was used simultaneously in mundane and ritual manners. Alternatively, the burned orange deposits may have been related in some fashion to ritual activities, such as the practice of the feeding the dead. In this case, the intensive summer occupation may be related to custodial or caretaker duties. Aerial photo of the confluence of the Harrison and Fraser Rivers. BP, was a year-round occupation.
Archaeobotanical evidence indicates early spring through late fall occupation.
Archaeological evidence, in turn, demonstrates permanent house remains and therefore likely winter occupation of the site. Village residents probably re-grouped on site in the fall to settle in for the winter. Evidence for the year-round occupation of structure 3 is notable since most ethnographers have characterized the Upper Fraser Valley as a place of transience and low population density. However, the extensive archaeological remains throughout the area, in addition to this new evidence for year-round seasonality, seem to counter this idea. As such, there seems little reason why, given the abundance and predictability of resources, and providing a stable sociopolitical environment, local communities on the Fraser River would not maintain year-round residence.