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Revisiting Besant and Sonota era bone uprights in Alberta

Description

This article summarizes archaeological features called bone uprights that appear at sites in Alberta and across the northern plains. Bone uprights are vertical animal bones (usually bison) that... More ≫

Description

This article summarizes archaeological features called bone uprights that appear at sites in Alberta and across the northern plains. Bone uprights are vertical animal bones (usually bison) that were embedded in the ground and served several purposes for pre-contact people.

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Identifying Knife River Flint in Alberta : a silicified lignite toolstone from North Dakota

Description

This article is the fourth in a series intended to assist the identification of raw materials used for precontact stone tools in Alberta. Each article focuses on one raw material; the current... More ≫

Description

This article is the fourth in a series intended to assist the identification of raw materials used for precontact stone tools in Alberta. Each article focuses on one raw material; the current article discusses a silicified lignite called Knife River Flint (KRF) that originates in North Dakota and appears in archaeological sites across Alberta. Local materials, including chalcedony, silicified peat/petrified wood, and translucent chert, can be mistaken for KRF: macroscopic and microscope qualities of these materials are described with an accompanying photograph library to assist identification. Several methods were tested to assess their feasibility for distinguishing KRF from local materials. KRF so closely resembles other materials in terms of macroscopics, microscopics, and geochemistry that conclusively demonstrating provenance remains problematic.

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Contributions to Plains prehistory : the 1984 Victoria symposium

Description

In 1984 a Plains prehistory symposium was organized for the 17th annual Canadian Archaeological Association meeting in Victoria, British Columbia. The session papers, covering a broad range of... More ≫

Description

In 1984 a Plains prehistory symposium was organized for the 17th annual Canadian Archaeological Association meeting in Victoria, British Columbia. The session papers, covering a broad range of topics, have been edited for publication and are presented in this report.

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Culture change in the northern plains, 1000 B.C.-A.D. 1000

Description

This thesis investigates prehistoric cultures of the Northern Great Plains during the period from 1000 BC to 1000 AD, viewing them within a taxonomic framework of archaeological units—the phase... More ≫

Description

This thesis investigates prehistoric cultures of the Northern Great Plains during the period from 1000 BC to 1000 AD, viewing them within a taxonomic framework of archaeological units—the phase and cultural tradition. In this thesis 200 archaeological components and 155 radiocarbon dates are utilized to develop 11 phases, eight subphases, and six cultural traditions. The phases and subphases are described in terms of their artifact, settlement, subsistence, and burial systems. The relationship of these various phases and cultural traditions are examined to determine if they represent either indigenous populations who became acculturated to new cultural patterns or intrusive populations into the northern half of the Great Plains.

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