Archaeology - Saskatchewan River Forks Region


The Saskatchewan portion of the SCAPE project is focused on sites close to an area known as The Forks: the confluence of the North and South Saskatchewan Rivers. Dr. David Meyer has been directing excavations at four archaeological sites: the Below Forks Site, Intake, Harper Valley and Fenton Ferry Sites.

St. Louis Bridge Site

An unexpected happening during the summer of 2002 was the discovery of a deeply buried (about 2.2 m) Paleo-Indian occupation with a possible date of 8,000 B.C.E.) Butch Amundson, a consulting archaeologist, discovered a the site during the excavation of the St. Louis Bridge Site.

The site is significant not only for its age, but its location on the northern border of the Great Plains and the numerous artifacts recovered. As well as lithic materials there are a variety of faunal species, including extinct bison bone at the site.

This site is located about 1.5 km north of the village of that name, on a terrace within the valley of the South Saskatchewan River. A bridge is to be constructed which has necessitated an investigation into the possible impact of this project on archaeological resources. Amundson’s reconnaissance and assessment of this location has been funded by Saskatchewan Highways and Transportation.

Mr. Amundson invited Dr. Meyer to collaborate with him regarding work at this site, which will contribute significant information about the lifeways and environment of ancient peoples on the northern plains. Dr. Meyer will direct SCAPE funded research to excavate significant features and record data for the SCAPE project.


Harper Valley Field Work 500 B.P., 1500 B.P. and 2000 B.P.

A small crew worked at this site for much of summer 2002. This consisted of crew chief Patrick Young, with Jon Hall, Meaghan Porter and Nicole Walters in June. In July, Perry Blomquist from the Meadow Lake Band joined the crew.

This site is located in the valley of the South Saskatchewan River upstream from the Forks, about 3 km to the west of the former Birch Hills Ferry and 20 km north of the town of Birch Hills. Here, the river flows in a broad valley within which there are at least four well defined terraces. Cultural materials assigned to the Harper Valley site occur on the lowest terrace (flood plain), next to the river bank, and on the next higher terrace. The uppermost occupation is identified as a Selkirk composite component, on the basis of potsherds which were recovered here in 1980; however, the cultural identity of the lower two occupations remains illusive.

While the occupations on this flood plain are light, they reflect repeated visitation of this land form. However, these occupations seem to be randomly scattered across the surface for all of the occupations. Presumably, this is because the flood plain covers many acres, and there are no terrain constraints on just where camps might be set up. These occupations appear to have been by small, perhaps multi family groups. The seasonality of the occupations is not yet known, although analysis of the recovered faunal remains should provide some information in this regard. The presence of fish remains in a middle occupation and a fragment of a barbed bone harpoon point in the Selkirk occupation suggest that these were open water season occupations during which a certain amount of fishing was carried out.

 

Fenton Ferry Site approx. 9,500 B.P

Since the Fenton Ferry site has been disturbed by cultivation, field work is not planned for it; rather, surface collected paleo-Indian materials will be studied. As well, ongoing river erosion has removed most of the Intake site (approx. 1,200 B.P. ) so only limited field work will be conducted there in 2003.

Below Forks Site 6,000 B.P.,

Excavations have taken place at the Below Forks site in the summers of 2000, 2001 and 2002. Also, in 2002 lines of test holes were excavated at the Harper Valley site in order to evaluate its cultural deposits. This led to a small block excavation at the latter site in the 2002 field season.

The 2002 summer field crew consisted of Dr. David Meyer with Wade Dargin (U. of S. archaeology graduate student) and Rebecca Robertson (U. of S. undergraduate archaeology student), while in August Meaghan Porter and Perry Blomquist (U. of S. archaeology graduate students) joined the crew. Frank Constant, a resident of nearby James Smith Reserve, worked part time through July and August.

The Below Forks site, which is located on the north bank of the Saskatchewan River, downstream from the confluence of the North and South Saskatchewan Rivers, was excavated during the summer 2002. This was the fifth time since 1980 that excavations had been conducted at the site. This site is located on a high cutbank, the upper three metres of which contain a complex stratigraphic deposit with many paleosols (organic layers). One of the deeper paleosols, at 2.4- 2.5 m below the surface, contains a rich occupation level which is evidenced on parts of the cutbank face as a nearly continuous layer of flakes, core fragments, fire-cracked rock and bits of bone. Bone from this deep occupation level at has been dated to 5,845 B.P., while charcoal from a paleosol a few cm higher dated at 5,740 B.P. These dates place this occupation in the Early Side-notched period, a time which is not well known on the Canadian plains. A fragment of bone from this deepest occupation was dated at 6,100 B.P.+/-140 (TO-9354) by AMS radiocarbon dating.

Laboratory Work


The cataloguing of the previous field seasons recoveries is nearly completed. Mr. Patrick Young, manages the laboratory work and Margaret Greene, an experienced archaeological technician is cataloguing artifacts. Chelsea Bull, Jon Hall, and Meaghan Porter are part time employees and volunteers. Graduate student Steve Kasstan is employing the debitage from the eastern excavation block at the Below Forks site as the basis for a study of lithic technology for his M.A. thesis.

Paleoenvironment

Candle Lake

Coring at Candle Lake, Saskatchewan, took place in March 2002. During this fieldwork, Dr. Alwynne B. Beaudoin was accompanied by Bob Dawe (Provincial Museum) and Jason Gillespie (Archaeology Department, University of Calgary) as field assistants. Fieldwork was difficult due to extreme cold temperatures (below -30ºC) and, at times, wind. Dr David Meyer, Patrick Young, Wade Dargin and Steve Kassten from the University of Saskatchewan visited the site.

Central Saskatchewan July 2002

Dr. Beaudoin was accompanied by David Keller and the on-site crew included David Meyer, David Harkness, Garry Running, and Karen Havholm. Probe crew comprised Laura Roskowski and two other students.

The main objectives of the work this year were to core the Lost River channel and to continue the surface pollen sampling program. Both objectives were achieved. The Lost River channel is an abandoned channel on a high terrace on the south side of the Saskatchewan River, tucked against the north-facing outer valley-side. Until recently drained for agriculture, this area was usually wet. We felt that this site might provide useful information relevant to the 9K time slice since it appeared to have good potential for preservation of biotic material.


Geoarchaeology



The “Greater Forks Locality”

Dr. G. Running and students conducted geoarchaeological research in Saskatchewan during the summer of 2002.

The existing North and South Saskatchewan Rivers are underfit streams that occupy deeply incised glacial meltwater spillways. The Below Forks site and archaeological sites nearby occur within: the North Saskatchewan Trench, the South Saskatchewan Trench, and the Saskatchewan Trench downstream from the confluence. The terrace sequences for each of the three reaches selected near the “Forks” area are unique and differ in a number of ways. However, significant progress has been made towards their interpretation. The nearby dune fields have been sampled and analysis and interpretation are in progress. The completion of this work will provide a physical and environmental context for the archaeological occupations at the Below Forks Site. Analysis of Geoprobe cores and cutbank exposures is ongoing.

A detailed geomorphic and pedologic investigation of the Below Forks is the subject of Laura Roskowski’s Master’s Thesis to be completed in the coming year.

The geomorphology of the Greater Forks Locality is more complex by orders of magnitude than previously recognized. None-the-less, considerable progress has been made. Investigation of the age and paleoenvironmental significance of dune fields in this locality has been completed. SCAPE researchers, Steve Wolfe (GSC), and Jeff Ollerhead (Mt. Allison) will prepare the results of this research for publication in the coming year.

Dr. Alec Aitken, Department of Geography, University of Saskatchewan and Dr. Karen Havholm (UWEC) have been collaborating on the project.

Geographical Information Systems


Forks Region, Saskatchewan

Dr. Dion Wiseman and Steve McMillan, Geography major from Brandon University, conducted GIS research in the Forks region of Saskatchewan and the Cypress Hills of Alberta.

Fieldwork in the Forks region focused primarily on the Harper Valley site located on the South Saskatchewan River. The main objectives were to identify and map physiographic features within and immediately adjacent to the spillway and assist with the extraction of cores and description of exposures along nearby cut banks. The overall objective is to correlate chronostratigraphic units and erosional terraces between sites along the North and South Saskatchewan Rivers in order to determine the age and relationship between late Pleistocene and Holocene landforms, contributing to the emerging paleoenvironmental reconstruction of the region.

Elder Consultation


Dr. Meyer continues to conduct interviews with Elders from the James Smith Reserve and tape record Cree place names.

Historical Research

Dale Russell continued to carry out archival research. This has involved completing his review of the extant journals from Ft. Carlton. He has also consulted pertinent journals and letters kept by Anglican missionaries in this region, particularly the Rev. Henry Budd. In mid summer, 2002, he began to study the field notebooks of David Mandelbaum relating to the latter’s work with the Plains Cree in 1934 and 1935. These notes will almost certainly allow us to produce a more detailed model of the nature of Plains Cree bands than that which Mandelbaum (1979) published in his 1940 monograph.


Community

Saskatchewan River Forks Region

Dr. Meyer gave interviews with local media and presentations at the Melford Museum. The St. Louis Bridge Site was well reported in the Globe and Mail, complete with photographs. The Discovery Channel also reported on this site.