Just a short message re: opium pipes.  I have it on good authority (a
Ph.D in Archaeology who just happens to have ancestors from the last
100 years or so in Vancouver's Chinatown) that so-called opium pipes
were also commonly used for smoking plain tobacco.  So ... maybe some
residue analysis will tell?
 
Also:  a plug for our upcoming field school.  A consortium of
Vancouver, B.C. colleges will be offering a two-site field school in
archaeology this summer (May and June):  one area will be the first
urban archaeology of a portion of Vancouver's Chinatown (from ca
1880's, burnt 1887 and 1907) as well as continuing work at the
1839-1888 Hudson's Bay Company post at Fort Langley.  The latter site
will focus on pre-contact (ca 4000 BP) deposits containing what we
hope is an early house floor.
 
Interested students, colleagues, etc. contact me at Langara:
 
Stan Copp
Anthropology
Langara College
Vancouver, B.C.
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