It was a meeting of two different kinds of evidence — material and oral — that together offered a more complete picture than either could provide alone.

Traditional knowledge does not always come in forms that map cleanly onto scientific hypotheses.

Oral traditions are not designed to answer the specific questions that scientific analysis poses.

They are designed to transmit knowledge and meaning in forms that are appropriate to the social and cultural contexts in which they are embedded.

Drawing the connections between what oral tradition preserves and what scientific analysis reveals requires care and interpretive skill from people who understand both frameworks.

The research team and the First Nations communities involved in the Kwäday Dän Ts’ìnchi project worked together to make these connections thoughtfully, acknowledging both the value and the limits of each kind of evidence.