The origin of a carved sandstone column on Dallas Road beach last summer is being questioned after a local artist said he carved the sandstone rock in 2017.
Ray Boudreau posted a picture of a similar carving on the Times Colonist’s Facebook page, saying it was the carving and thought it had been stolen.
Last week, the Royal Museum of British Columbia announced the discovery of a native artifact that was used in rituals by First Nations Songhees and Esquimalt.
The museum said the 100-kilogram oblong column with a carved face on its edge was examined by an archaeologist. After consulting with local communities and looking at anthropological records, the curator concluded that the artifact appeared to be associated with events such as the first salmon feast, used in the south. -puberty or ritual-related rituals involving the feeding of the dead.
The source of the column is now being reviewed, said museum spokesman Wesley McInnis.
“The museum is reviewing the issue with the Songhees and Esquimalt First Nations, and together we are reaching out to arrange a meeting with sculptor Ray Boudreau,” he said. .
The column was discovered on July 12, 2020, by Victorian resident Bernhard Spalteholz as he walked down the beach below Beacon Hill Park at low tide.
The mast is a large slab of sandstone, a type of rock not found in this area, and was apparently not carved by steel tools. The museum believed that it was once near an edge beyond the rock until a major landslide brought it down and it eventually moved close to where it was recently.
This column was landed from a high tide using a log rail. There, it was loaded on a lantern and on wheels over plywood planks to the staircase at the bottom of Cook Street.
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