2004 Field Archaeology

Manitoba
Saskatchewan
Alberta

Manitoba 2004 Field Archaeology

Glacial Lake Hind Basin

Archaeological and geoarchaeological field investigations during the summer of 2004 took place at the Atkinson, Crepeele and the Sarah Sites located in the Lauder Sand Hills of the Glacial Lake Hind Basin Research area. Ongoing research in the Lauder Sand Hills has outlined the basic parameters of the ecology and geomorphology of the Glacial lake Hind Basin (GLHB), including a generalized environmental context.

Atkinson Site – a 6,000 Year Old Mummy Cave Occupation near Lauder, Manitoba
The Atkinson site has been dated to 6,225 calibrated years in age, based on a charcoal sample collected from a hearth. The 2004 excavations at the Atkinson site, supervised by Ms. Tomasin Playford, have increased our knowledge of the Gowen occupation there and contributed towards an understanding of its relationship to the overall Mummy Cave complex, first defined on the high plains in Wyoming (Frison 1991: 79-111). The Gowen variant was first described by Walker (1992) from two sites near Saskatoon, that are located close to the Saskatchewan River channel. Our inventory of stone tools has been increased with the addition of two projectile points and four bifaces ranging from a hafted specimen to a large asymmetric specimen, together with two fragments from other biface types. The faunal sample has been increased and Tomasin Playford has analyzed the 2003 recoveries that were funded by the Manitoba Heritage Grants Advisory Council (MHGAC). This analysis has given tentative support to the idea that the Atkinson site is a warm weather occupation.

Crepeele Site
A probable second Gowen occupation has been identified, based on projectile point morphology, at the Crepeele site six km south of the Atkinson site. This site is located in the northern lee of a small sand dune outlier and, based on similarly located sites in the area, it is likely a winter occupation. A sample of ungulate bone has been submitted for radiocarbon analysis but results are not expected before January 2005. It is anticipated that if the Crepeele site Gowen occupation is confirmed by a C14 between 7,000 and 5,000 years ago, that this will provide a unique opportunity to study seasonality and subsistence strategies for these people some 6,000 years ago.

Sarah Site
The Brandon University Archaeological Field School, under the direction of Denise Ens, was conducted at the Sarah site. The upper bone bed, dated to 1500 BP (calibrated) produced an abundance of butchered bone, several large prairie/plains side-notched points and other lithic tools and debitage, Ceramics were absent. The lower occupation, dated to 3500 BP (calibrated), had sparsely distributed butchered bone and a scatter of lithic debitage. No diagnostics were recovered. These materials are currently being catalogued into the Archwizard data manager.

References Cited

Frison, George C.
1991	Prehistoric hunters of the High Plains. Academic Press, San Diego.
Walker, Ernest G.
1992	The Gowen Sites: Cultural responses to Climatic Warming on the Northern Plains (7500-5000BP). Mercury Series, paper number 145. Canadian Museum of Civilization, Ottawa.

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Saskatchewan 2004 Field Archaeology

Intake Site
In 2004, the SCAPE archaeological field work in Saskatchewan was carried out at the Intake site (FhNj-15), July 5-24. This site is located on the banks of the North Saskatchewan River, some nine km east of the city of Prince Albert. Excavations were first conducted at this site in 1980 and 1981 when 18 full and 11 partial m2 were opened.

Because of ongoing bank erosion, almost all of this previous excavation area had been washed away by 2004: however, portions of three previously excavated units were relocated and excavated to a greater depth, while excavations were undertaken at an additional five m2.

There are two occupation levels at this site, the upper is in the contemporary A horizon while the deeper is buried at 60-80 cm below the surface. The upper occupation is of an unknown archaeological culture which is characterized by net-impressed pottery and small side-notched arrow points. It has been dated to 1205±80 rcybp (S-2185). The lower occupation has not been dated, but in 1981 a side-notched projectile point was recovered which appears to be of a Mummy Cave period style. Therefore, this lower occupation can be expected to date to about 6,000 B.P.

The 2004 excavations proved to be on the fringe of the upper occupation habitation area, and only a few potsherds and pieces of debitage were recovered. Recoveries from the lower occupation were more numerous, including a good deal of debitage, some stone tools and a small amount of animal bone.

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Alberta 2004 Field Archaeology

Field Season At the Stampede Site in the Cypress Hills
The primary objective of the 2004 field season was to increase the depth of the pit by concentrating our efforts on the deepest part of the main excavation. At present, our pit measures nine metres north-south by eight metres east-west and extends some six metres below surface. Within this pit, we have exposed a minimum of thirty-one buried soils, eighteen of which contain evidence of human occupation extending back some 8,000 years. Unfortunately, inclement weather and a high water table prohibited the achievement of this goal. As a result, we spent most of the summer exposing and defining the coarse gravel layer uncovered during 2003 and preparing the south wall of the main excavation for the removal of a sediment peel. This sediment peel will be the centre piece in the exhibit room of the new visitor centre to be constructed in Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park.

The design for the new building is almost complete and the results of our archaeological excavations will be a significant component of the interpretive displays. Although most of the work was conducted by graduate and undergraduate students from the University of Calgary, our crew this summer also included four students from various universities in the United Kingdom. These students, who spent from four to six weeks working with us this summer, applied this practical experience toward their degree requirements.

This summer, we managed to expose more of the coarse gravel layer encountered during the 2003 field season and to determine that this stratum was the result of colluvial processes, not alluvial deposition. In fact, this stratum provides corroborative evidence for the models of head ward erosion in small streams scattered throughout the Cypress Hills. Elsewhere, our excavations have continued to expose a variety of fireplaces, most of which were located at essentially the same location in successive occupations. Thus, people seem to have returned to this site and set up camp at the same location as their ancestors despite the introduction of a thick layer of slump debris, the deposition of a volcanic ash, and the introduction of sediment through a sequence of substantial flood events. This remarkable continuity in the use of place was the topic of a paper presented at a conference in Lyon, France this past September.

Our archaeological investigations this summer yielded more than hearths. In an occupation level dating to approximately 7,300 BP, for example, we uncovered a series of post moulds arranged in a circle some 3 metres in diameter. The size and placement of the posts suggests the presence of a domestic structure. If correctly identified, these post moulds could represent one of the oldest structures identified in western Canada. In addition, our excavations have yielded some very interesting tools including several notched projectile points, a beautiful bone awl, and a bone needle. The latter artifact, an almost complete eyed needle, was discovered in an occupation layer dating to 8,000 BP.

Public Archaeology
Our Program for Public Archaeology continues to attract a large number of students from the local schools and summer camps. These children spend an average of 2 hours participating in a variety of activities which are designed to introduce the practice of archaeology. This summer, we were particularly pleased to have attracted students, teachers and Elders from the Peigan Institute, the only school on the Blackfeet Reserve in Montana where all instruction is conducted in the Blackfoot language.

We also continued to offer weekly lectures and guided tours of the site to individuals of all ages who come to the Cypress Hills as tourists or as regular visitors. Of particular interest this summer was a visit by students from Red Crow Community College on the Blood Reserve in southern Alberta. Together with the Miywasin Society of Alberta and the First Nations, Metis and Inuit Education Program, we helped host “History in the Hills”, a four-day extravaganza featuring past and present lifestyles of First Nations as well as the history of Euro-canadian exploration and settlement in the area. This year, some 1,100 students, teachers, and parents attended the event. Even though our excavation work is now complete, we hope to be able to continue these public programs for one more summer.

Funding
The majority of the 2004 fieldwork was funded through Heritage Awareness grants from the Alberta Historical Resources foundation ($16,000), a grant-in-aid of research from Alberta Community Development ($20,000), a Summer Temporary Employment Program grant through Advanced Education and Career Development, Alberta (STEP $3,750) and a Summer Career Placement Program grant through Human Resources Development Canada ($1,404.21).

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