Prepared fo r:

TIPI RINGS IN SOUTHERN AL BE RTA: THE LAZY DOG TIPI RING SITE (FbOr-57)

By J . Michael Quigg

Archaeological Survey of Alberta Occasiona l Pape r No.8

September, 1978

Publi shed by:

Archaeolog i cal Survey of Al berta

Albert a Cul ture His torica l Resou rces Div i s ion

OCCASIONAL PAPERS

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or for t he four branches of the Historical Resources Division of Alberta

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sub -series may obtain publ ication lists from the appropriate branches,

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Objec t ives

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These Occas i onal Papers are designed to permit the rapid dissemination

of i nfo rmation result i ng fr om Histo ri cal Resources' programmes. They

are intended pri marily for interested specialists, rather than as popular

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have been abbreviated.

ABSTRACT

The Lazy Dog Tipi Ring site is a small tipi rin9 campsite on the

northern fringe of the Northwestern Plains Cultural area, in central Alberta. Two of nine tip; rings~ plus areas between the rings, were excavated in 1976 by members of the Archaeological Survey of Alberta. A to tal of 1,550 lithic specimens were retrieved, which, combined with other cultural material, suggested that the site had been oc­cupied for the main purpose of working lithics gathered f rom near-by sources. Cultural affiliation was determined from a Prairie Side­Notched projectile point and a radiocarbon date of A.D. 1475 ± 50, as the Old Women' s Phase of the Late Prehistoric Period.

i i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank the people who helped make this project poss­ible. Special thanks to my crew of Don Barr, Dennis Buchko, Wayne Gi bbs and Rod Heitzmann who did an admirable job in retrieving the primary data.

Mr. Mike Benedict from Gooseberry Provincial Park was most helpful and friendly in accommodating us in the Park. Mr. Bob Cornel sen of the Consort Flying Club deserves a special thanks for volunteering his time and expertise in flying, so I could view the site from the air and take photos. Mr. Charles Fawcett of Consort is thanked for his assistance throughout the summer.

I would like to thank Don Barr and Dave Porter for many hours of analysis on the lithics which took tedious concentration. Leon Galenza did the drafting of the figures, the photography of the artifacts, and the cover design.

I thank Gladys Hysuick for her typing of the various drafts, and final manuscript. The editorial comments and advice of my wife Pam, and staff archaeologist Jim Wood, were greatly app reciated.

The research here presented was undertaken in 1976 under Archaeolo­gist Research Permit 77-25, and supported wholly by Alberta Culture through the Archaeological Survey of Alberta.

iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

Abstract .. .. ..... .. ...... .... ... .. .. ... ..... ...... ... .. ....... .. . ii

Acknowledgements .............................. .... . .. .. ... .. .. . .. iii

Tab 1 e of Contents . . . .. ... .. ................. . .................. .. i v

Lis t 0 f Fig u re s ............... .... . .. .... ... ..... .... . .. ......... v

List of Tables.... .... ............. .. ............ .... . .. . . ... .. .. v

Append ices . .. ... ..... ...... . .. ................... .. ............ .. 40

Introducti on .... .. ..... .. ..... .. . ...... . . .... . ... ..... .. ........ .

Location and Environmental Setting .. . .... ......... ...... ...... 3

Site Description ...... . .... ................................... 6

Site Strategy and Methodology . .. .. .......... .. ... .... . .... . . . . 7

Mapping and Excavating Techniques .... .. ....... . '" . .. . .... .... 10

Re t rieved Data I.... ...... ...... .... .............................. 14

The Surficial Features. .. ....... .. . .... ..... ..... ... . . .. ... .. . 14

Arti facts ......... .. ... .. ....... ... ... . ..... .. . .. ............. 14

Lithology ....... .. .. ...... ...... ... .. ......................... 15

Lithic Technology......... .... ........................... ..... 19

Fi re Broken Rock ...................... .... ... .... ... .. . . ..... . 27

Fa una 1 Rema i ns ....... .... . .. ... .. . ........... .... . .... ........ 28

Datable Samples and Ma t e ria l ... .. .. ......... .................. 28

Observations and Interpretations. ... .. ....... . .. .. ... .. .......... 30

Summa ti on .................... .... . .... ... .... . .... . . .... . ... .. ... 33

Bi bliography.......... .. .................................... .. ... 37

;v

1.

2.

3.

4. 5.

6.

7.

8.

LI ST OF FI GU RES

Locat ion of the Lazy Dog Tip i Rin g Si te .. . . ... .. . . . .... . .... . Aer ia l view of FbOr-57 and vic in i ty .. ......... .. . ...... . .... . FbOr-57 located in saddle along the ri dge ........ .. ......... . Base of excavat ion il lu st rati ng soil cracki ng ...... ........ .. Si te plan and contours of the Lazy Dog Tipi Ring site .. ... .. . Profil e an d plan of Tipi Ri ng No.2 .. ....... .. ..... .... ... .. . Profil e and plan of Ti pi Ring No. 4 ........... .. ............ .

FbOr-57 fo ll owing excavations

2

4

4

5

8

11

12

13

9. Artifacts from the Lazy Dog Ti pi Ring site....... . . .. ........ 16 10. Cobble choppers and anvils. ... .. ...... .. .. .. ...... .. ........ . 17 11. Spli t pebble groups

l.

2.

3.

4.

LIST OF TABLES

Li th i c Types an d Distri bution within FbOr- 57 Frequency of occurrence of selected attributes per group in percent age s ....................................... . ..... . . Fire Broken Rock St ati stics .............. . ................. . . Summar i zed Tipi Rin g Rock Data . .... . . ... .................... .

AP PE ND ICES

22

20

24

28

31

1. Artifact Descr; pt i ons ..... .. ... .... . .. .. ... .... ..... ..... .... 40

v

INTRODUCTION

Upon compl etion of a stratified transect survey conducted during t he

early summer months of 1976 in east-central Alberta by the Archaeo l og ical

Survey of Alberta , (Quigg 1977a:54-73 ), an excavation program at a se­

l ected tipi ring site was initiated. Aims of this research were directed t owards the acquisition of both general and specific data concerni ng tipi r ing sites as an archaeological phenomenon and cultural manifestati ons,

and t owards the furthering of our knowledge of this specific geographica l

area.

The selection of a tipi ring site for excavation was a response t o past observations, presented both in the literature and verbally, sur­

rounding these particular sites. During a symposium on "Tip; Ring s" Jack ~loonaw stated (1960:9) "Perhaps when many of these 'tipi rings' have been excavated by archaeologists, enough material may be found to prove their

ages and more definite clues may be di scovered to explain what they reall y

were and why the ' Ring Makers' made them". It was my belief that si nce

1960 archaeological research into ring sites throughout the Pla i ns ha d

been given only minimal attention, wit h few actual excavations being con­

ducted, due to some of the early comments on their produc t ivity. W. Mulloy's statement (1960:1) at the same symposium, "These have not re ­

ceived the attention they deserve and they will be difficult to invest i­gate because of the paucity of artifacts associated with them" , po ints out that little research had been conducted on this particul ar site type up to that time, however, in the same breath discouraged others from carrying on with excavations. Kehoe (1960:446) stated, "Because bo th archaeologists and reputable collectors have reported that occupat ional remains are rarely found in excavations of rings, it was decided that the excavations would be a relatively minor aid in the solution of the problem of the origin and use of tipi rings". The amount of research

was in partial response to these types of statements, although t hey were

generally unsupported. The investigations by Frison (1967:27 ) revealed

encouraging information on these site types giving him cause to sta te

tha t,relatively speaking, some rings were rich in artifacts, indi cat i ng

that at least some ring sites contain useful information.

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- 2 -

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My se lection of a ring site was not random or unbiased , but chosen

careful ly in order to an swer a number of quest i ons I beli eved to be re­levant. The factors prefe rred and se l ect ed were: limited geographi cal

bounda r ies, defi ni tion of individual f eatures, pre servati on of the fea­

tu res, soil devel opment around the features, assoc ia ted surf icial arti­

fa ctual mater ia l and different sizes of features wi t hin the si t e .

FbO r-57, now kn own as the Lazy Dog Tipi Rin g Site, evidenced the opti­

mum conditions desired and wa s selected for excava tion . The s i t e was confined geog raphically to a small saddle of an east-wes t ri dge in the

cen t ral port ion of the Neutral Hills; it cons i sted of severa l well ­

def ined ri ngs of two different sizes and four cairns. Disturbance of the

s ite was l imi ted to two or three shallow cow paths running acros s t he

su r face, and soi l deposition allowed the probable pres ervat ion of inte r­

nal site settleme nt structure. Finall y, many l ithic artifac ts were en­

countere d in as sociation with the tipi rings durin g pri mary su r face col l ection of t he site .

LOC AT ION AND ENV IRONMENTAL SETTING

Geograph i cal ly situated in t he east-centra l portion of Alberta, the

Lazy Dog Ti pi Ri ng Site lay ea st of Ri bstone Creek in t he Neutral Hi l ls ,

17. 6 km north of t he Town of Consort (Figure 1).

This region has been physiographically defined as a po r t i on of the

cen t ral Alberta Plain s - a relative ly flat prairi e bisected by numerous

creek s and ri vers, wi th an occasional rise in relief in the form of hi lls often sprinkled with many small l akes and sloug hs in the low- ly ing areas (Bayrock 1967). The advances and re t reats of the cont inental glaciers

of the Late Wisconsin of Pl ei st ocene times produced the t opograph ical

features of today's l and scape , except for an area just north of the

Neutral Hi l l s , where Ple istocene sand and si l t domina t e, kame formations

and out wa sh sands and grave ls filled t he frequen t glacia l spill way chan nel s.

Si tuated in the central port ion of the Neutra l Hi l ls , just eas t of

a large me l twater channel, FbOr-S7 lies in a small saddl e of an east-

west r idge (Figures 2 and 3). Rising some 120 m (400 feet ) above the

surroundin g prairie, the Neutral Hills are composed of glaci ally-contorted

- 4 -

Fi gu re 2. Aeria l vi ew of FbOr-57 and vicinity.

Rings

Figure 3. FbOr- 57 l ocat ed in saddl e al ong ri dge.

- 5 -

bedrock forming a seri es of eas t -west discon tinuous and acute subparallel

r idges transected in places by me ltwater channel s (Bayrock 1967 ) .

A thin co veri ng of brown to dark brown chernozem ic so il s capped the

glaci al deposits across the ge neral region. The particular nat ura l soil

profi l e at the Lazy Dog Ti pi Ring site was examined wi th the use of a

small coring dev ice to a dep th of 30 cm . In the speci fic area of the

sadd l e in whi ch the si te l i es, an Ah soi l hor i zon of dark brown chernozem

(10 YR 3/2; pH-6.0) exis ted t o 15 cm be l ow surface. A l i ght grey B hori­

zon, of sl i ghtly bl ocky structure, extended from 15 cm to at lea st 30 cm

be low surface. Due to the na tura l process of dryin g and crack in g of the

soil (Figure 4), polygonal de s igns appea red i n the uni ts f rom j ust below

the grass roots to at least 12 cm below the surfa ce. This soil stra t i­

graphy was not, howeve r , conti nuous across t he si te. Towards the southern

Figure 4. Base of excavation i ll ustrat in g na t ura l soil cra cking.

edge of the saddle, in the vici ni ty of Ring 4, basal gra vel s in the form

of hundreds of small (6 cm diameter or less ) stones lay just beneath a mi nimal deposition of soil. Numerous large (20 - 30 cm di ame t er) half­

buried glacia l cobbles were entren ched i n the s l ope of t he nor th hil l,

and one large (3 x 4 m) gla ci al erra t ic had been de posited at the north­

east corner of the site.

- 6 -

Lying within the cool temperate climat ic zone, annual temperature s

at the site ranged from 18.SoC mean daily temperature in summer, to SoC

in fa l l , to -15.SoC in winter, and back t o 3.50 C in spring. The greatest

amount (40%) of annual precipitation fell as rain during the summer months,

al t hough 76.2 - 101.6 cm of snow was precipitated annually during the

winter. Strongest winds prevailed during the spring and the winter mon th s

(Longley 1972).

The natura l resources of the area included various water sources, and

vegetal and faunal species. The main river in the region was the Ba t t l e

River, 128 km (80 miles) northwest of FbOr-57, coursing in a general west­east direction. Sounding Lake, 8 km (5 miles) east of FbOr-57, was t he

maj or water body in the vicinity. Numerou s large sloughs and one la ke

(Gooseberry ) lay within an 3 km (2 mile) radius of the site.

Vegetation cover of the area consisted mainly of grasses: Blue grama,

Western porcupine, and Wheatgrass. A variety of shrubs clus t ered acr oss

t he open and level ground. Around larger lakes and draws located in t he

hil ls, various species of trees (poplar, cottonwood, and diamond wi l l ow)

and patches of berry bus hes (gooseberry, chokecherry, raspberry and

saskatoon) proliferated. While both areas of low ground leadin g away

from FbOr-57 were brush and tree covered, the site area and surrou ndi ng

terrain were covered i n grasses .

Fa unal resources of the region were varied and extensive. Deer,

antelope, beaver, rabbits, skunks , fox, grouse, sage hens, and ma ny

other species were available. While most of these ani mals and birds were undoubtedly present in the region in prehistoric times, the area

was, at that t ime, probably dominated pri marily by the plain s bison an d

large herds of antelope.

SI TE DESCRIPTION

The actual site area, 50 x 65 metres, was bounded on three s ides by

ridges, wi t h low ground to the north and a small opening on t he saddle

t o t he south. Though enclosed by a three-metre ridge to the sout hwest

and a f ive to six-metre ridge on the west and east sides, a comma ndi ng

view of a vast expanse of surrounding prairie was achieved from the centre

of the ring site towards the north and the south. From the top of the

eastern ridge one had an al most uni nterrupted view of the entire

- 7 -

count ryside. Sounding and Gooseberry Lakes were vis ible from th is van t age

poi nt on thi s sou t hern ridge of the Neutral Hi ll s .

The Lazy Dog Tip i Ri ng si te (Figure 5) consisted of four distinct and

we ll-defined ti pi rings, f ive indistinct circu lar rock al ignments, be­

li eved to be t ip i rings, and four rock cairns. The rings in the low

saddl e area ranged in size from 3.5 metres to 5 me t res i n ou t side dia­meter , 3. 0 t o 4. 7 met res i n inside diameter; wi t h forty- f ive to seventy­

f ive rocks per ring. Ring 2 contained a well-def ined central hearth, but

no other cultura l feature s were discerned across the low saddl e. A num­

ber of chert and quartz i te pebbles littered t he ex posed surfaces of the

s i t e.

The four rock cairns were located along the south and we st ridges

bo rder ing the rings (Figu re 5). The largest of t he cairns (1.5 m dia­

me ter to 30 cm hi gh) wa s l ocated on the hi ghest topographical point west

of the rings, and consisted of lichen-covered gl acial cobbles (15 to 25

cm in dia me ter ) . Di st urbed in i t s center, wi t h hal f of its st ones scat­

t ered abou t , nume rous fragmen ts of small chert pebbles were found in and

around th i s ca irn . Pl aced along the low r idge to the south of the rings,

the other three rock cairns were of smaller size (4 t o 15 cobbles ) and

di ameter (50 t o 80 cm). Li chen also encrusted the indiv idual cobb les,

and cher t pebbles were aga in scattered over the ridge .

SI TE ST RATE GY AND METHO DOLOGY

Or iginal sel ection of t hi s part i cu la r, relatively small (in area and

i n number of features) s ite encouraged the belief t ha t t he entire site coul d be excavated. Th is was a prime objective prior t o the in it ial in­

vesti gations, due to the fact that the majority of excavation s of t ip i

r i ng features in t he past (Husted 1969, Frison 1967, Mulloy and Steege

1967 , Mull oy 1965 , Kehoe 1960) were li mited t o the r emoval of the soil

from the in terio r portion of the r ing features, and j ust enough outside

the rin gs to expose t he rocks incorporati ng the ring. Exceptions t o thi s

technique were Flayharty and Morris (1 974 ) and Schneider and Trea t (1974 ),

where po rtions be tween the rings were al so excavated, but with mi xed success .

Upon enumeration of t he specifi c aims regarding the archaeological

in vest igation of thi s type of site, however, t he author was soon persuaded

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- 9 -

tha t the four week t ime allotment for the research at t hi s one site would be i nsuff i ci ent for a total area excava t ion of FbOr-S7. Site st ra tegy and met hods employed were an in tegration of t ime-saving and ti me -serving t echni ques whi ch hopefull y would allow for the maxi mum retrieva l of cul­tural mat eria l and informa tion in a short period of time. Upon reali za­tion t ha t onl y a small portion of the site could be examined in the t ime allowed, a disc ussion on what, and where, t o excava te was made. It was decided t hat subsurface excavations at FbOr-57 would be l imited to the explorat ion of two rings , their surrounding area and, hopefully , the area adjoi nin g the t wo feature s. The various techni ques utili zed in retri eving the informati on were: shovel-shaving the soil accumulati on, recording all .i.!!. situ mater ia l three .. di mensiona lly , mechanical screening of exca vated soil , sampl ing specif i c areas for poll en and charcoal , and st rati graphic and horizontal plotting of .i.!!. situ material.

These techni ques were designed to answer t he more general aims put for th in conjunction with a numbe r of spec i fic ai ms rega rding t ipi r ing phenomenon.

Ques t ions concerni ng the t i pi ring si t es in general i ncl uded:

1. Was t he excava t ion of onl y the interior portion of t he r ing, as a cur­ren t method of excavation , a valid st rategy, or would t he areas out­side, and peripheral to, t he rings conta i n cu ltural i nformation as wel l ?

2. Did t i pi rin g s i t es on ly represen t short-term encampments of nomadic popu lati ons , or co ul d they also contain recoverable informat ion to indica t e a specia l site util ization?

3. Were tip; ring rocks sel ected preferen t ia l ly in any way tha t we could di scern archaeologically (size, wei gh t, etc.) ?

The spec i fic questions rela ti ng to t he Lazy Dog Tipi Ring Si te i ncluded:

4. Were t he l i th ics encounte red i n excava t ions of t i pi rings t ruly in as soci at ion with t hese circu lar rock fe at ure s?

5. Wa s the lithi c materi al di stri buted in any recognizable pattern (act i vity loci )?

- 10 -

6. Did the two different sizes of tipi ri ng s at FbOr-57 re~resent two distinct and separate periods of occupation at this site, or merely a difference in deposition or soil condition?

MAPP IHG AN D EXCAVATION TECHNIQUES

Initial work at the Lazy Dog Tipi Ring site began with the whi te­washing of all exposed surfaces of all t he rocks within the low saddl e and along the surrounding ridges, using a lime and water solution ap plied by mop. This was achieved with the intention that less obvious surfic i al features (partial rings, etc.) would thus become more visible t o ground observations and aerial viewing (Figure 2). Painting of the rocks and rock features was followed by the complet e topographic mapping of the site, and identification of all cultural features such as rings, cairns and hearths.

Following the mapping, a universal gri d system of two metre square

units was laid over the area selected for excavation. These uni ts served as the princ ipal excavation unit. Initial excavations were carried ou t in a single arbitrary l evel (8 to 11 cm deep) t o approxi mately 3 or 4 cm bel ow the stones in the feature. Five units across the middle of Rin g 2 were selected for the excavation of a second arbi t rary leve l of 4 t o 7 cm, to evaluate the technique we were employing and to exami ne t he soil below for further informat ion. A five member crew, utilizing a shovel­shaving technique, recovered a high percentage (nearly 45% ) of cu ltura l material ~ situ (Figures 6 and 7), while facili t ating rapid soi l removal. Subsequent t o the removal of the soil, it was passed through a ~ inch mesh screen powered by a gasoline engine. A wide vari ety of fi el d forms were utilized throughout the entire investigations to forma lize and speed up t he recording time.

When an excavation unit contained areas both interior and exterior to a ring, each portion was excavated and screened separately. The rings were excavated to a depth of 3 or 4 cm below the bases of the ring rocks. Assuming that the rocks were original ly placed on the ground surface when

the structure was erected, the bases of the ring rocks were beli eved t o establish t he base of t hat pa rticular occupation. A single arbitrary datum above t he ground surface was established for t he enti re site. Artifacts and rocks were recorded in s itu t o facilitate ver t ical con t rol

11

Figure 6. PROFILE a PLAN OF TIPI RING No.2 FbOr-57

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PROFILE a PLAN OF TIPI RING No,4 FbOr-57

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- 13 -

acros s the area . For plotti ng of the pl ane dist ri bution of mater ial, a ho r i zontal map was emp l oyed conti nuo usly t hroughout t he excava t ions.

Followin g this complete subsurface probe, each rin g rock wa s red rawn to

indi cate t hat porti on wh i ch was bur ied and measured for lengt h, wid t h, and th ickness; t hen each was wei ghed. A cross sect i on of the feat ure wa s

taken through the center of the ring. The cul t ural material f ound in

each of the units along the cross sect i on was then plotted to show verti­

cal association with the r i ng rocks. Soi l, po l l en, and charcoal samples

were ta ken where poss i ble, and screened t hro ugh a f i ne wi re mesh i n the

attempt to recover mi nu te seeds, par t i cl es of cha rcoal, etc. Speci al at­

tent ion was pl aced upon the recovery of datable remai ns from the excavated

r i ngs. If only in a rel ative sense, ti me of depositi on and site usage

were deemed important to our in ves t i gat i on.

In response to the l i mited t i me allocat ed to excavations at th i s time

(four weekS), and in tes tin g t he assumpti on regardin g s i ze of a r ing de­

termining time of occupation, it was dec i ded that the la r ges t (5.5 m dia­

meter) and best-defined ring with the central hearth (R i ng 2), and the

smallest (3. 5 m diameter) complete ring (Ri ng 4) at the s ite woul d be t ot­

all y excavated. Actual di ggi ng ext ended at l east t wo metres beyond the

perimeters of each ring . Aft er a deta iled map was drawn of the stones

compr i sing each r ing, excavati on s, reco rding of data, and spec i f ic sampl i ng

procedures commenced. Two compl ete t i pi ri ngs (numbered 2 and 4), and a

12 square metre area between t hese two r ings , were excavated t o a depth of

approximately 12 cm below the surf ace, ut i li zin g a total of 37 two by two

metre uni ts (Fi gures 5 and 8).

Figure 8. FbOr - 57 fo l lowi ng excavati on s.

- 14 -

RETRIEV ED DATA

Subsurface inves t igations of the two se lected tipi ring configurat i ons

revealed significant results. The extent and dimensions of the rings

themselves, the features therein, the li t hic and faunal cultural remains, and the samples taken during excavation, merit description and di scussion.

THE SURFICIAL FEATURES

The glacial cobbl es which formed the circular rock alignments (termed

tipi rings) were one-half to three-quarters buried beneath the present ground surface . Lichen covered approximately 50% to 100% of t he exposed rock surfaces. Close observation of Rin gs 2 and 4 showed that the stones of the smaller tipi ring (4) were more deeply embedded than those of the

larger ring (2), and these were also more lichen encrusted. Availa ble in

Table 4, the actual weights, depths and di mensions of the ring rocks are listed for each of the two excavated rings. Average rock depth below the

arbitrarily established site datum was 27. 58 cm b.d. in the smaller ring (4 ) , and 23.47 cm b.d. in the larger ring (2) . Total weight of the stones composing the two rin gs was also recorded: t he average rock weight of Ring 4 was 8.91 kg (19.6 lbs. ) , that of Ring 2 was 10.94 kg (24 l bs. ).

Ring 4 incorporated 43 cobbl es whi le Rin g 2 contained 67 cobbles.

In exploration of the Lazy Dog Ti pi Rin g site, only one other def inable surficial feature, in addition to the compl ete and partial tipi rings and cairns, was discovered. This feature, identified as a circular rock hearth, was located centrally inside Tipi Rin g 2. This circular alignmen t of eight tightly spaced cobbles measured 68 cm in outside diameter, and 38 cm i nside. The heart h was slightly basin-shaped, with its rocks buried approxi mately

8 cm in t he soil . The base of the hearth rocks was located at 23.5 cm below

datum. Totalling 32.85 kg (73 lbs. ) in weight, the indi vidual hea rth roc ks

wei ghed an average 4 kg (9 lbs. ). Duri ng excavation, samples for the

purpose of carbon dating and pollen anal ysis were collected. Al t hough no particular concentration of charcoal was de fined, carbon lined t he hear th interior, and was spread between and beneath the i nd ivi dual cobbl es ex­

tending 5 cm outside the rock ali gnment.

ARTI FACTS

A t ota l of 1, 550 pieces of stone flaka ge (ranging from 11 to 21 5 pieces

- 15 -

per unit, with an average of 42.5 pieces per unit) were retrieved in the

course of our excavations. The location and lithic types are presented

in Table 1. Finished tools composed only 1.5% of the total artifact

assemblage (Figures 9 and 10), represented by twenty-four recognizable

tools: one projectile point, five bifaces, f i ve end scrapers, three uni ­

f acial knives, five marginally re t ouched f lakes , three cobble choppers,

and two anvil stones. Detailed metric and non-metric descriptions are

given in Appendix I.

The vast majority (83%) of the flakag e encountered at FbOr-57 occurred

outs i de (Table 1) the actual tip; ring fea tures. Those lithics recovered

~ situ (nearly 45%) inside and outside the rings (Figures 6 and 7) did

not reveal any specific activity area, with the exception of an apparent

knapping or work area on the south side of the internal hearth in Ring 2

(Fi gure 6). Generally speaking, the material was more prolific t owards

the projected center of the s ite indica t ed by the middle excavation unit

bet ween the rings (Figure 5), which yielded t he greatest amount (215)

of stone flakage per unit. The internal area of the features and the

immediate area surrounding these features con tained very little debris.

LITHOLOGY

The re t rieved lithic materials were categorized by vi sual ob servation

into tvw basic categories. Cryptocrysta ll ine and microcrystalline rocky

types served as the two major divi s ional groups, subcat egories were t hen

iden tified. Attributes such as col or, t exture, and lustre sorted the

artifacts into seven lithic groups (Table 1). The followin g sect i on des­

cr i bes the type and quantity of ea ch li t hi c group identified. and then sugges t s probab l e quarry source.

Crypt ocrystallines (N=1290)

Categorized as a densely s i lic iou s rock type, t he cryptocrystalline

group included t hose si l icas of extremel y fi ne grain (crys t alline struc­

t ure cannot be seen under most ordin ary micros copes). Chert s , chalcedonies,

pebbl e cherts, and opalized wood were gro uped in t o t his category. Obs idian

was also placed i nto th is section.

Chert (N=11 4): Generall y opaque and composed of a high percenta ge of

granu lar silicas, which facilit ated f laki ng, the recovered che rt s vari ed

2 3 4 5 6

~ ........ ". ~

9

7 8

11 12 13 14

15 16 17 18

o em 5

19

20

Fi gure 9. Arti facts from the Lazy Dog Tip; Ring Site.

- 17 -

2

4

3

o em

Figure 10. Cobble Choppers (1 ,3 an d 4) and Anvils (2 and 4).

- 18 -

greatly in color f rom white (N=66) through yel low (N=5), red (N= 3) ,

brown (N=12) , green (N=2 ) , to grey (N=23 ) and blac k (N=3) . While ac­

tua l quarry sources remain unknown at this time , it is beli eved tha t

these cherts were located in small nodule or pebble form, throu gho ut

the glacial gravel s and tills prevalent throu ghout t he region.

Chalcedony (N =2): A fibrous cryptocrystalline s il ica, of higher, more

waxy lustre tha n chert. the chalcedonies recovered at this si te were of

a light brown translucent variety with small i nclu sion s . Th ese specimens

were probably deri ved from local glacial gravels, although they may have

originated from the Kni fe Ri ver Flint quarries in No rth Dakota (Wedel

1961 :160, Clayton. Bickley and Stone 1970).

Pebble Cherts (N=1153): Generally dense cherts with good f l aki ng

quality, the major i ty of these pebbles ranged towards the lower end of

t he defined geological pebble size (minimum cross-sectional diame t er

greater than 4 mm and less than 64 mm). A full range of color varieti es

were observed - reds, greens, yellows, purples , and mul ti-colo red spe­

cimens, although black and grey varieti es predominated in the co llec­

ti on (Table 1). The source of the small pebbles were several thin beds

of pebbles found in the Bearpaw Formation, which i s the bedroc k sub­s t rate of both t he Neutra l Hills and Misty Hills fu r t he r sout h (R. Green,

1977 perso na l communication). Glacial act ion over the hills has spread

these pe bble s th rou ghout the ground moraine of the region.

~l i zed Wood (N=20) : This material was bl ocky in appearance with ma ny fractu re lines , preserving the or i ginal woody struc t ure in s i l ica.

Ho r i zontal beddi ng planes followed the growth rings of t he original wood, and a number of pi eces showed a white co r tical area resembli ng a very old weathered surface . Color of the speci mens vari ed f rom a red­

di sh-brown to ye l l owis h-brown. It occurred in th e t il ls and gravels

of the surrounding area.

Obsid i an (N=l ) : A gla ssy black vitreous vo lcanic rock . The one

piece of obs i dian probabl y originated in Yellowstone Park in northwes­

te rn Wy om ing (Dav i s 1972 ) .

Mic rocrystal lines (N= 260)

General ly more coa rse in s t ructure than the cryptocrystallines, micro-

- 19 -

crystalline materials included argillites, basalts, and quartzites.

Quartzite (N=145): Unfoliated metamorphic quartz-rich sandstone, quartzite fractured through the sand grains that composed it, rather than around them. These shield materials were graded from medium to coarse­grained specimens, and ranged in color from the pure white quartzite to

impure varieties of off-white, dull red, and brown. These rocks were available in tills and gravels throughout most of the region. However,

localized quartzite cobble exposures/collecting localities were recorded

in the Battle River Valley (Quigg 1976 :29-30, 1977b:15), northwest of FbOr-57.

Quartzite Pebbles (N=115): Similar in surficia l appearance to the pebble

cherts, the quartzite pebbles were much coarser-grained internally, and

of course were composed of quartzite. Red, brown, and white specimens were recovered. Pebble size was designated as similar to the pebble cherts, and both types were probably derived from the same sources (see pebble cherts) .

The lithic assemb lage was dominated by the presence of small pebbl es , both chert and quartzite; these made up 81.6% of the recovered lithics. The quantity and predominance of this particular lithic resource indicated t he close proximity of local quarrying or gathering locales to FbOr-57. Ga t hering localities for the small pebble cherts and quartzites were re­corded as quarries during the course of the 1976 survey of the Neutral Hills (Qui gg 1977a:57). These areas were most frequent in the Neutral Hills proper, where extensive erosion of the Bearpaw Formation had exposed large quantities of these pebbles. The Bearpaw Formation also outcrops extens i vely along Sounding Creek from south of Sedalia downstream to near Esther (R. Green 1977 personal communicati on), and could be utilized as a source area.

LI THIC TECHNOLOGY

An unprecedented high frequency of pebbles , ranging from whole pebbles to various shapes and sizes of parts of the pebble , in an archaeological context provided an opportunity to investigate this phenomenon.

Upon initial observations, it was believed that these pebbles were the result of a distinctive knapping technology which was recognized as

- 20 -

TABL E 1. LITHIC TYPES AND DISTRIBUTI ON WITH IN FbOr-57

Location Ring 2 Ring 4 Between Total Percent-2 & 4 age

<lJ <lJ

" <lJ " <lJ or- " or- " Vl or- Vl or-+-' Vl +-' Vl L ithics :::s c:::: :::s c:::: 0 ...... 0 ......

Quartzite pebbles 50 11 26 5 23 115 7. 4 Quartzite 50 21 30 8 36 145 9.4 Opa1ized wood 6 4 2 1 7 20 1.3 Pebble cherts:

Red 7 1 4 0 2 14 .7 Blue 2 0 2 2 3 9 .6 Brown 22 5 13 4 9 53 3.4 Black 174 46 128 30 133 511 33.0 Grey 117 46 128 21 88 400 25. 8 Yellow 3 3 4 1 12 23 1.5 Green 40 15 30 6 33 124 8.0 White 4 1 0 0 2 7 .5 Purpl e 4 0 0 0 8 12 .8

Chalcedonies 0 0 0 0 2 2 • 1 Cherts :

White 23 10 20 4 9 66 4. 3 Red 1 1 0 0 1 3 .2 Brown 5 1 4 1 1 12 .8 Grey 7 2 10 3 1 23 1.5 Black 0 2 1 0 0 3 .2 Green 1 0 1 0 0 2 .2 Yell ow 1 0 2 1 1 5 .3

Obsidian 0 0 0 1 0 1 . 1

TOTALS 517 169 402 87 372 1548 100 .3%

- 21 -

a bipolar stone working method.

Honea (1965), Binford and Quimby (1963), McPherson (1967), Gagliano (1967) and others have recognized this flint-knapping technique and con­ducted subsequent studies, generally classifying the recovered debris into categories and explaining the method of working the stone. Although this technology was believed to be used in the plains area, there are a number of categories i n the bipolar assemblage which resembl e artifacts in the literature labelled "pieces esquillees" and "wedges II , which are

confusing a number of researchers. It was my intent to examine these artifacts as a discrete technological phenomenon and hopefully, reveal

that many of the "pieces esquillees" in the literature may well be rem­

nants of the bipolar knapping technique.

Prior to artifact analysis certain basic assumptions were made:

1. the small pebbles reflected one specific technology

2. the quantity of material displaying that technology revealed a useful

and recognizable aspect (unit) of prehistoric culture

3. the recovered material was either waste, or materia l no longer useful

for tool manufacture.

Initial analysis involved familiarization by hand l ing and pr imary visual observation of the li t hics. This was followed by many attempts at selection and di stribution of specimens into categories according to attribute s of va rious nature. Because all the artifacts were ori ginally described as worked pebbles, less than five cm in l ength, oblong, usuall y wider than th ick, with varied amounts of original cortex, the me t ri c attributes were not deemed a satisfactory basis for grouping. Eventually , i t was decided t hat sorting of the 1268 specimens would be accomp l ished by allocating t he pieces according to portions of the ori gi nal whole pebbl e . The resultant eight cat egories (Figure 11) were fo rmed: pieces belonging to the main body (groups 1 and 2) , the faces (g rou p 6) , the

lateral edges (groups 4 and 5), broken portions of t hese pa r t s (groups 3

and 7) , and the smal l re sharpening and/ or shatter f l akes (group 8) . Whi le

no further work was done with the resharpening flakes, the other seven groups (total l i ng 1097 pi eces of material ) were subj ected t o further vis­ual observation and examination of basic at t ri butes. The cha racteri sti cs

- 22 -

2 3 4 5

9 7

6

10 13 11 12

14 15

16 17

em

Figure 11. Split pebb l e group s : Group 1 (14 & 15) , Group 2 (16 & 17), Group 3 (1 0 & 11), Gr oup 4 (12 & 13) , Group 5 (8 & 9), Group 6 (6 & 7), Gr oup 7 (1 & 2), Grou p 8 (3, 4 & 5).

- 23 -

selected fo r the basis of fur t her work did ena ble t he author to discern

evi dence f or specifi c processes of a parti cular tec hn ol ogy.

The attri butes chosen incl uded: number of po les present , number of

fl ake sca rs per f ace , f l ake scars per la tera l edge, number of platforms

present, number of f l ake scars , di stance of f la ke scars, percentage of

rema ining cortex, and visual qual i ty of ma t eri al . The resultant groups

were non-d iscrete and without precise bo undarie s. They we re merely work i ng

uni ts which could be changed or ada pted to other cri teria, if necessary,

at a la t er date.

Descripti on, number of artifacts involved, and percen t age of the total

assembl age were en umerat ed in the f ol lowin g sect ion. For a tabular re­

presen t ation of th is data re fe r to Table 2, where more detailed attributes

were itemi zed.

Pebb le Groups

Gro up 1 (N=17 5:13 . 9%): Th i s group included those spec imens on whic h

the ma j or portion of pebb l e cortex remained. A mini mal number of flake

scars, and few battering ma rks we re presen t (Figures 11 : 14 and 15).

Group 2 (N=68 :5. 4%): Si milar to group 1, wi th the maj or port i on of cortex remai ning, group 2 pebb l es di splayed su ff i cient ly more flake scars

and batter i ng of the platform areas to mer it se parate grouping (Figures 11: 16 and 17).

Group 3 (N=64 : 5.l %): The items conta i ned i n t his group were tho se cortica l sections from the main port i ons of the pebb le which were broken

pe r pendi cula r to t he longitudinal axis. With the fracture on a horizon­

tal plane to t he platform , t hese port ions varied i n size (50% - 5% of parent pe bbl e : Fi gures 10 and 11) .

Group 4 (N=190:15 . l %) : Later al edges bro ken from the original pebble,

the pieces sorted i nto group 4 ran ged i n s i ze f rom one-half, to one­

quarter, of t he parent stone (Fig ures 11:12 and 13).

Group 5 (N=1 29:10. 2%) : Simil ar to those secti on s s tru ck along the

l ong itudi na l axi s in grou p 4, group 5 consi s ted of those sect i ons of the

lateral decorticati on f l akes smal l er than one -q uar t er of the or ig inal pebble (Fi gures 11:8 and 9) .

~ (rJ=175) (N=6 8) (N=G4) (N =1 90) (N= 129 ) (~= 427) (N= 77 ) Group Group Group Group Group Group Group

Observat ions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

No. of po l es 0 0.6 ---- 3. 1 1. 6 17. 1 23. 2 70. 5 1 48 .0 10 . 3 23.5 2.6 59.0 44 . 7 25. 0 2 51. 4 89.7 73. 4 95.8 24.1 32. 1 4.5

No. of faces 0 4.0 4.4 40 .6 18. 4 14 .7 8 .9 45.5 k: 4. 0 11. 8 ---- 1.1 16.3 42. 6 29 . 5 2

1 49.7 11. 8 32.8 44 .2 48.1 47. 3 15.9 2 42.3 72 .1 26. 6 36.3 20. 9 0.7 9. 1

No. of la teral edges 0 74. 9 39.7 18.8 3.2 7. 0 76. 1 90 . 9 ~ 0.5 4.4 ---- 0. 5 20 .2 9. 4 2.3 1 22.9 44. 1 68. 8 85.8 53. 5 13. 8 6.8 2 1. 7 11.8 12. 5 10.5 19.4 0.7 ----

No. of platforms present 0 1.1 1. 5 7. 8 3.7 17.8 34. 0 86.4 1 62 .3 44.1 89 . 1 88. 4 64.5 59.3 13. 6 2 34.9 45.5 3. 1 7.4 6.2 6.3 ----3 1.1 7.4 ---- 0.5 1. 6 0.5 ----4 ---- 1 . 5 ---- --- - ---- ---- -- --

No. of fl ake scars o Pro ximal 0. 6 23. 4 3.2 1.6 25 .3 77 .3 1 40. 5 16. 2 29. 7 16.'1 18. 6 19.4 n. 8 2 44.0 42.7 20.3 42.6 48.2 26. 0 11 . 4 3 13.7 30. 8 23 . 4 33.7 25.6 21. 1 2. 3 4 .6 10.3 3. 2 3.7 4.7 6. 1 2.3 5 .6 ---- ---- ---- 0.8 2. 1 ----

-

TA BLE 2. Frequency of occurrence of selected attributes per group in percent ages .

Tota 1 Ave ra ge

14. 9 35. 3 49.7

13.8 21.7 42.6 21. 9

50.4 6.7

36. 8 6. 0

20. 7 65 . 3 13. 0 1. 0 0.2

15.6 22. 0 36. 3 22.4 4. 5 1.0

I

I

N +>0

~ (N=175) (N= G8 ) (N=04 ) Group Grou p Group .

Observat ions 1 ') 3 L

Di s ta 1 0 53.7 26.5 64.1 1 35 . 5 26.4 26.6 2 10.3 29 .4 9.4 3 .6 11 . f3 --- -4 ---- 5.9 ----5 ---- - --- -- --

Lateral 0 99.4 75.0 90 .6 1 - --- 26.2 6. 3 2 .6 8. 8 1.6 3 --- - --- - 1 .6 4 ---- - --- ----5 ---- ---- ----

uistance of fl ake scars Proximal 67.0 65 , 0 82.0 Di s ta 1 45.0 50.0 42 .0 Late ra l 60.0 62 . 0 74 .0

Percentage of Cortex o - 10 .6 11 .8 ----

11 - 20 3.4 20.6 1. 6 21 - 30 6. 3 23.5 1.6 31 - 40 12. 6 1 9. 1 12.5 41 - 50 25. 1 16. 2 25. 0 5:1 - 60 26. 9 7.4 18. 8 61 - 70 13. 1 1. 5 12. 5 71 - 80 9. 7 ---- 12.5 81 - 90 2. 3 --- - 15.6 91 - 1 n i~' ---- ---- ----

Mate ri al rat ing Poor 61. 7 17 .6 26. 6 Good 38.3 70.6 7l. 9 Excell ent ---- 11. 8 1. 6

TABLE 2. (Cont i nued)

(N=190) (N=129) (N=42 7) Group Group Group

4 5 6

46.3 45.0 48.7 36.3 48 . 1 24 . 4 15.3 5.5 18. 5 2 . 1 1.6 6.8

---- ---- 1.4 -- -- --- - 0. 2 93 .7 71 . 3 92.7 4.7 21 .7 2. 1 1.1 6. 2 1. 6 0.5 0.8 1. 9

---- ---- 1. 2 ---- - --- 0.5

78. 0 81 . 0 71. 0 41. 0 55. 0 52 .0 81. 0 68. 0 46.0

---- 12. 4 4 . 2 3.2 14. 7 12. 9 6. 8 14 .0 20. 8

18.9 22 . 5 47.5 25.8 14.7 10. 8 30 . 0 14. 0 3. 7 12 . 6 3.9 - -- -2. 6 3. 1 ----

- --- 0.8 -- ------ ---- - ---

6. 3 14. 7 22 . 0 86.8 83 .. 0 77 .3 6.8 2. 3 0. 7

(N= 77 ) Group

7

79. 5 2.3

13.6 4.5

----

----100.0 --------------------

67. 0 68.0 ----

29 . 5 22. 7 15. 9 27 .3 2.3 2 . 3

----- -----------

25.0 68 .2 6. 8

.-

Tota 1 ,ll. verage

49. 7 30. 1 15.1 4.2 0.9 0.1

90 .6 5.5 2.3 1.0 0.5 0.2

71 . 0 51. 0 62.0

5. 3 10.2 14.2 29. 6 16 .8 14.0 5.5 3. 1 1. 4 0

25.2 72.1 2.8

I I

N (J1

- 26 -

Group 6 (N=427:33.9%): The artifacts in th i s group included those parts (faces) of the pebble derived from the dorsal and vent ral surface s

of the st one. Portions ranged in dimension from one- half , t o one-quart er,

of the original pebble (Figures 11:6 and 7) .

Group 7 (N=44:3.5%): Amorphous bl ocky fragments of the main pe bbl e

bo dy comprised group 7. These chunks usually displayed two or mo re

broken edges (Figures 11:1 and 2) .

Group 8 (N=164:l2.9% ) : Group 8 consisted of those smal l stone flakes

referred to as resharpening, thinning, tri mming, shatter, or secondary.

Most of these specimens were of small size (6 - 12 mm) and many of the

pieces i n the collection were broken and incomp lete (F i gures 11 :3, 4 and

5) .

Upon conclusion of the observati on and descript i on of categor ies , we

returned to our in i tial aims in this study to test the success of our methods. We fou nd that we were, indeed, now able to define the t echno ­

logical proces s ing of the small pebble cherts and quartz i t es retrieved at FbOr-57. We al so realized our obj ective of demarcating th i s ar tifac t

type as a viab l e, and discrete, part of the cultural assembl age.

The fol lowing si x conclus i ons lead the author t o his infe rences re­garding this prehistoric technologica l manifestation:

1. Due t o anyone or a combination of factors-abunda nce of raw stone

pebbles , deart h of other lithic ma t erial suitabl e for tool processin g,

qua li ty of pebbles which enhanced fracturing and f l aking - the prehi s t oric inhabitants of FbOr-57 definitely, and preferen t i al ly,

selected pebbl e cherts and quartzi tes as the prime l it hic source for

too l manufacture (Table 1) at the Lazy Dog Ti pi Ring site.

2. Grou p 1 material, which was comprised of those pebb les wi t h t he leas t

amount of cortex removed, were the pebbles of poores t qua li ty (Tabl e

2, material ratin g) which did not merit further process i ng. Time

and effort was devoted onl y towards the manipulation of higher quality

stones (Group 2).

3. The ut ilization of the sma l l stone pebbles either genera ted or i n­

cur red the use of the bipolar t echnique because the raw l i th i c chosen

was t oo smal l to work freehan d. This t echnique invo l ved t he ho ldin g

- 27 -

of t he pebb le on a stone platform, then the strikin g of t he pebble

wi th a forceful blow on the proximal end with a hard hamme r. Indeed,

some large r pi eces of quartzi t e recovered in our excavat i ons did ex­hib it smal l crushed pitted areas, which could be expla in ed as abraded

areas produced during use as anv i l stones (Figures 10 :2 and 4). Crushing

of both proximal and distal ends of the stone pebbles indicated that a

bi pol ar strik ing t ec hno l ogy wa s employed in t he sp li t tin g and f l aking

of t he pebbles (Table 2) . The remnants of this tec hnique, cor t i cal

spalls an d pr i mary decortication flakes, made up the vast maj ori ty of

the recovered lith i c materia l from the site.

4. Observation of the number of po les presen t on stones in grou ps 1 and

2 (Tabl e 2), revealed that if a pebble wa s wo rked more than once or t wice, nearly 90% of the time, fl akes we re remove d f rom both end s of

the pebble . Because the striking forc e oft en re bounded throug h the

anvil, the bi polar tec hn iq ue allowed the removal of two or mo re flakes

from oppos ing ends of the pebbl e , upon the striking of a sing l e bl ow.

5. Gro up 2 specimens provided information wh ich reveal ed that before a

pebbl e of good l ithic quali ty was discarded, both fac es and one lateral

edge, at leas t, had been removed. A minimum of two or more f l ake sca rs,

usually on the proximal end, somet imes fr om t he di stal , and rare ly from

the la teral s i des, were present. Usually on ly 10 - 30 percent of the

ori ginal cor tex remained.

6. Nume rous specimen s i n group 2 are si mi l ar i n overall form and charac te r ­

is tic s to many items in t he literature whi ch were t ermed "p iece esquil1ees" or IIwedges".

FIRE BROKEN ROCK

The cultura l ma t erial identifi ed as fire broken rock at the Lazy Dog

Tip i Rin g site was ne ither nume rous nor remarkable. Defi ned as stones

modified thro ugh heat fracturing, these rock f ragments were beli eved to

be prod uced primar i ly as a by- produc t of the prehi sto r ic cooki ng process.

It has been assumed that the complete rocks were heated in t he fire,

the n transferred into skin bags contain in g wa t er , subseq uentl y boil ing the liquid and crackin g the ro cks .

Though not co l l ected and retained, the fire broken rock (fb r ) was

- 28 -

wei ghed and measured irr situ at the site. Table 3 was construc ted to particularize the amount, size range, and frequency of fire broken rocks

l oca t ed in an d around the t wo excavated ti pi rings. In three size groups,

the da ta revealed that the sma llest fbr represented 53% of the total f br

recovered (22% of t otal we ight ). The medium-sized fbr made up 39% of the

to tal r ocks recovered (46% of total weight) . The largest category of

f br composed 7% of the total number (31 % of total weight).

No recogni zable features of this debris were disclosed after the

mapping and plotti ng of the rocks within the site. Dis t ributi on of fire

broken r oc k across the site (F igures 6 and 7) revealed that the assumed

cooking ac ti vities associated with these stones were conducted towards

the center area of the site, generally outside the tipi rings themselves.

TABLE 3. FIRE BROKEN ROCK STATISTICS

SI ZE FREQUENCY WEIGHT (kg )

Ri ng 2 small « 5 cm) 91 3. 5

medium (5-9 cm) 35 6.5

large (> 9 cm) 11 12.5

Ring 4 small « 5 cm) 50 7.4 medium (5-9 cm) 70 16.3

large (> 9 cm) 8 3.0

TOTALS 265 rocks 49.2 kg

FA UNAL REMAINS

The fauna l remains retri eved at FbOr-57 consisted of onl y three sma l l bu tc hered an d we at hered bone fragments from an unidentifi able animal, located outsi de the rin g configurations. No further information was re­

vea led about t he fauna exploited by the site's prehistoric inha bi tan ts.

DATABL E SAMPL ES AND MAT ER IAL

Establishmen t of the age of any prehistoric occupation is of major

importance . The dating of a tipi ring site, however. was deemed by this

au t hor t o be of even more s ign ificance. A poorly inve stigated cultural

phenomenon, t he few rings which had been selected for subsurface investi­

ga t ion did not produce so i l , pollen , or datable charcoal rema i ns, and

rare ly were databl e artifacts found in association.

- 29 -

If only in a relative sense, detection of the da te of site construct i on an d occ upa tion at FbO r-57 wa s con sidered a pri me objective of excava t i on.

In t he event t hat no datable artifacts were recovered f r om the si te, other

methods of sampling for temporal placement were employed (soil and carbon sampli ng ) .

Fortunate ly , in addition to the data received from our soil and cha r ­

coal samp ing procedures, two ar t ifacts - an obsidian f lake , and a proj ec t i le

poi nt - were recovered and subjected to dating tec hni ques . The resultant

in formati on was compared and interpreted, t o reveal the particular all oca­

t i on of FbOr-57 to its pl ace i n the prehistoric cont inuum.

Util iz i ng Do rmaar' s (1976) relative aging technique for ~ situ l oca­

ti on of tip; ring stones, the soi l beneath the rocks of Rin gs 2 and 4 wa s

sampl ed and studied. Due to a lack of carbonates in the upper soil pro­

f ile , however, it was impossible to accurately measure the amo unt of

lea ching beneat h t he stones of the rings. Thus, this test of si mple re­

l at i ve da t ing was unsuccessful.

Carbon samples procurred from the central hearth of Ring 2 were sub­

jected to C14 dat ing techni ques. A radi ocarbon date of 475 ± 50 years B. P. :A.D. 1475 (5-1 238 ) was obtained. This was cons i dered a pl au si ble da t e for t he occup ation .

Recove red from Ring 4, a single obsidian flake was submi t ted to

Dr. L. B. Davi s for obsidian hydration analysis. The subsequent da ta re­

ce ived f rom Davis (December 1976 personal communication ) indica t ed t hat by use of a hydration rate of 6.50 microns per 1000 years on the spec imen

wi t h a 1.98 mi cron hydration ri m, a da t e of A.D. 1373 resul t ed . Wh i le

Dr. Dav is di d gi ve ot he r dates us ing vari ous hydration rates, he i ndicated tha t t here was exce l lent evidence for the initial 1000 years of hydra t i on be in g si gni fi cant ly faster than later hydration , thus t he emp loyed rate of 6.50 micron s.

A si ngle proj ectile point was retrieved from the Lazy Dog Tip i Ring site. Found immedi ately north of the confines of Ri ng 2, this spec imen

(F igure 9:3 ) was i dentified as a Prairie Side-Notched po i nt. Thi s parti­

cul ar poin t belonged to the Ol d Women' s Ph ase of the Late Preh istori c Pe ri od (Reeves 1969) , datin g from ca. A.D. 700 t o A.D. 1800.

- 30 -

In summary, although not overwhel mi ng. three combined sources of

tempo ra l information di d di sclose a time of site construct i on and occu­

pa t ion. The radi ocarbon, obsidian hydra t ion, and ar t ifact typo l ogy dates

revealed t hat FbOr -57 was inhabited nearl y 500 years ago.

OBSERVATIONS AN D INTERPRETATIONS

The preceding facets of the archaeological inves tigation s at the Lazy

Dog Tipi Ring site combined to disclose at least partial answers to the

original six questions defined in the ~ec t ion of Site Strat egy an d Methodology. Prio r to stating these discl osures, we sha ll re peat our

ques t ions of both general and specific natures. The reader should be re­

mi nded t hat these repl i es are fi r st observations, and t hen interpreta tions.

General Questi on s :

1. Was the excavation of only the interior portions of the ring, as a

current method of excavation, a valid st rategy, or woul d the area

outside and peripheral to the rin gs conta in cu l tural i nfo rmation as

well?

The defin i te response to this que stion wa s that the practice of ex­cava ting on ly t he inter ior of ti pi rings wa s an i ll -advised and inval id

strategy. As evidenced at FbOr-57, numerous art i f acts and fir e broken

rocks were located outside the two excavated rin gs. In actua lity, t he vast majority (83%) of the li thic remains at this site were encounte red

i n the area outside, and surrounding, the rings (Figures 6 and 7).

This evidence suggested that many activities at a t i pi rin g encampment

di d take place outside the tipi . Therefore, in future tipi ring excava­tions, at least equa l atten t ion should be centered upon the areas both

interior and exterior to the ring configurations.

2. Did ti pi rin g sites only represent short-term encampments of nomadi c

popu l ations or could they also contai n recoverable informa ti on to

i ndica t e a special s i te utilizati on?

Although ma ny tipi ring sites proba bly func t ioned as on ly short-term camp ing loca l es, FbOr-57 evidenced the ope rati on of a partic ul ar activ i ty.

The large amoun t (1268 pi eces ) of a spec ific lithic de tri t us - pebble

cherts and quartzi tes - testif ied to the use of thi s s i te as a chi pping

- 31 -

or stone-wor kin g station.

The re pl y t o th i s quest ion was t hus somewhat amb ivalent in nat ure.

Ti pi r ing s i t es can be shor t- t erm in termedi ate encampments. and they al so

can be s ites at which speci f ic activ i t ie s t ook place .

3. Were t i pi ri ng rock s selec t ed preferentia ll y in any way t hat we co ul d

discern archaeol ogica l ly (si ze. weight. et c . )?

Ri ng rock data recorded f rom FbOr- 57 was tes t ed for standard deviation

(Tabl e 4).

ROCK

depth b. s .

1 ength

width

thickness

weigh t

TABLE 4. SUMMA RIZE D TIPI RING ROCK DATA

Ring 2 Rin g 4 MEAN 5.0.* MEAN S. D. *

23.99 cm 7.66 em 27 . 57 cm 1. 59 cm

26. 93 ern 6.57 ern 24. 67 cm 5. 96 em

19 .58 cm 6.64 cm 17. 72 cm 4.37 em

10. 96 cm 3.44 em 12.26 cm 4. 13 ern

47. 14 g 35 .. 65 g 43. 65 g 24. 13 g

* Figures at one standard dev i at i on or 68% probab il i ty occurrence.

Although the range indic ated by the standard deviat i ons ove r l apped

from r ing to r i ng. the mean sugges t ed t hat the rocks i n Ri ng 4 were

rounder and li ght er i n we i ght than t ho se in Ri ng 2. Th e wide ran ge of

rock depths in Ri ng 2 was probabl y due t o ori ginal pla cement of t he r ing

rocks on uneven ground . The sample f rom FbO r-57 was tru ly too smal l to

enco ura ge concre t e or def in i tive st atement s concernin g sign i f icant meas ure­men t s on the i r variations .

Tip i rin g rocks may indeed be selec t ed preferent ia l ly. We were. un ­fortuna t ely. una bl e to determine the cri t eri a for sel ect i on. Da ta f rom

a greater sample of tip i ri ngs wo uld pe r haps reveal t his i nformat ion.

Quest ions Specific to our Site:

4. Were t he li thic s encoun t ered i n excavat ion of t i pi ri ngs truly i n

associ at ion wi t h these circul ar rock features?

In the par ti cu l ar case of FbOr - 57. t he lith ic art i fa cts, ret ri eved in

- 32 -

t he course of our excavations of the two rings and their surrounding

area, were decidedly in association with those rings . Vertical plotting of all the cultural material established within all rea l ms of reasonable doub t that all artifacts, bone fragments, fire broken rocks, and ring rocks lay within a single, definable cultural occupation. The variation and range of depth of the specific artifacts can be accounted for by

minimal internal disturbance caused by various weathering processes (wind deflation, soil cracking) and ani mal disturbances.

5. Was the l ithic material distributed in any recognizable pattern (activity lac;)?

Those l i thics recovered ~ situ (45%) ins ide and outside the t ip; rings were distributed in a non-recognizable pattern, with the exception of an apparently l ight concentration of artifacts located on the south side of the internal central hearth in Ring 2 (Figure 6).

Generall y more prolific towards the middle of the site, fire broken

rocks and chipped stone detritus indicated that both cooking and stone working activities were conducted outside the ti pis in the central camp area . No actual clusters or true loci of activity were defined.

6. Did the two different sizes of tipi rings at FbOr-57 represent two distinct and separate periods of occupation at this site, or merel y a difference ;n soil conditions or deposition?

The evidence was somewhat conflicting and contradictory . Informa t ion indicating that the two sizes of rings did represent two different en­campments included:

a) the rocks in the sma l ler tipi ring (4) were located, on the average, at lower depths (Table 4) below surface than those rocks of the l arge ring (2), thus indicating that the smaller stone circle may have been ~ situ longer .

b) the ring rocks from the smaller ring (4) were more encrusted with lichen, as compared with the rocks of the larger ring (2), denoting that the smaller ring may have been in place for a longer period of ti me.

c) the obsidian hydration date obtained from a piece of obsidian faunal inside the smaller tipi ring (4) was approximately 100 years earlier than the radiocarbon date gleaned from the larger ring (2).

- 33 -

The ma terial assemblage - lithi c types . utilization, and technol og i cal

process i ng and distribution of these - however , di d not vary hori zont all y

or vert i ca lly across the site, suggesting that both rings were part of

t he same t empora l occupation.

Thi s author did i nterpret the data to conclude that at this parti cular

t ipi ring site, the two different s izes of rings did not indicate a suffi­

cient ti me di fference to represent two different, and separa te , cultural

occupat i ons.

SUMMATION

This section of the paper was devoted to the var io us factual, inter­

pret ive and speculati ve statements that this author would l ike t o "conc lude" about Fb r- 57, the Lazy Dog Tipi Ring site . Two approaches

where t aken i n this discussion - first ly, we examined the s i te as a

cu l tural mani fe station, and secondly, as an archaeo logical phenomenon.

FbOr- 57 as a Cul t ural Manifestation

Located within the northern portion of the prairie grass l and region of

east -cen tral Al be rta, FbOr-57 was situa ted in a low sa ddl e area of the

Neutral Hil ls. Presently i nvaded by fingerlin es of the Aspen Park land

vegetati on , for the past 10,000 years the locality was most probab ly a pa r t of t he nor thwes tern grasslands.

Ev iden ced by ci rcular alignments or patterns of glacial stone cobbles , t he site was identi f ied as a tipi ring encampment. The cultu ral debris

recovered in associ ation with these fe at ures revealing a si ng l e pre­hi sto ric component t estify to a probable use of the fe atures as the rem­na nts of habi t ational s tructures at t his si t e. The near ly t hi rteen hun­

dred pi eces of lithi c artifacts and detritus testified to the use of the local ity as a work shop for the produc t ion of usa bl e l it hics from smal l pebbl e cherts an d quartzites ab undant in this area.

The occupa nt s of FbO r-57 were a part of th e nomadi c Pl ains cultural

group, consis t ing of an extended family unit. At least one indi vidual

i n the un it wa s an accomplished flint-knapper. In arc haeolog ica1 t erms,

the material cul t ure of the si t e's i nhabi t an t s be l onged to the Old Women' s Pha se of t he Late Prehistori c Peri od in t he Northwestern Plai ns cul t ural area.

- 34 -

The noticeable lack of ceramic and faunal material , together wi th the

dear th of ot her features (cooking hearths and pits) sugges t ed that this

s ite was occupi ed for a relatively short period of time (a couple of weeks at maximum). This assumed that a more varied assemblage and grea t er variety of features would have implied an extended period of settlemen t . Al though occupied during a season as yet undetermi nable, the construction and utilization of FbOr-57 occurred during t he f ifteenth (15th ) century A. D.

Four factors were undoubtedly considered in selection of this parti­cular locality by its prehistoric inhabitants. These f actors i ncl uded: proxi mity to lithic resources explo i ted as raw material for t ool and blank production, abundance of glacial cobbles upon or near ground su r­fa ce suitable for use in tip; ring formation, avai l ability of natural resources (water, woo~ berries, game ) in t he i mmediate vi cinity, and topo­graphy (height of ridges ) of the site area wh i ch provi ded a vantage point for viewing the surrounding countryside. These factors combined to en­

courage usage of this low saddle area as a sett lement site.

FbOr-57 as an Archaeological Phenomenon

Discussi on of the Lazy Dog Tip; Rin g site as an example of a spec i fic archaeological phenomenon concentrated upon several tract s of inquiry. We examined the ring data particula r to our encampment site, our de­tected pebbl e tec hnology and its ramifications. and the investi gation and comparison of tip; rings as phenomena.

The research directed at FbOr-57 indeed, did advance our understand i ng of these surf ici al features . We demonstrated that some tipi ri ng sites are produc t ive in terms of recoverable artifacts and cul t ura l data. Through our investigations, the author was able to assert that it is pre­ferable for subsurface excavations to extend to t he areas between ri ng s, as well as within the features. It was possible to discover lithic association of artifacts with the ring configurations, however, ac t iv ity

areas within the ring site were not detected. The s i te did not revea l

information abo ut the actual tipi structures. How i t wa s assembled, how many poles were used, exact utility of t he rock cobbles, presence of pos s i ble doorway entrances: all these areas of interest were not sa t is­factorily evidenced . Looking at t he actual ring cobb les, we were un abl e

- 35 -

to discern preferential selectton and collection pattern s. No insi ght

into the actual positioning of the rings was gai ned from our excavati ons,

although ring loca t ions (Figure 5) could be interpreted in a number of

ways. This author suggested two separate grouping s of rin gs - those on the south edge i ncludin g Ring 4 and t hree part i al rings, and those on t he

northern portions of the site containing Ring 2 an d several comp lete and

some scattered ind i st inct ali gnments. These two groupi ngs, if real,

perhaps r epresented two different family units utilizing the site con­

currently, or may have disclosed social differences of its inhabi tants

according to wealth, or status, of individual s.

The lithic technology identified at our site did not represent an en­

tirely new phenomenon in Pl ains re search. Si mi l ar l ithic de t ritus was

recovered at the Stony Plain Quarry site (Losey 1971:138-154 ) j ust west of Edmonton, Alberta, comprising bipol ar1y- struck quartz i t e peb bl es not

unlike our materia l from FbOr-57 . Similar speci me ns have been located and shuffled into categori es en ti t led piece esquill ees , wedges, decorti cation

f lakage , etc. The recognition of t hi s bi polar pebbl e t echnology as an

archaeological entity hopefull y will alleviate some of the probl ems in­

volved wi th t he identifica t ion of specific artifacts fou nd in numerous

sites across the Northwe stern Pl a in s. Identified as a dist inct part of

the cultural assemb lage, the ma t erial detritu s produced from th i s knapp in g

activity was designated herein as the Neutral Hi l ls Pebb le Ind us t ry

(Qu i gg 1977:66). This was not t o imply t hat occurrence of th i s debris wa s restricted to th is area, but to descri be i ts ve ry high freque ncy of occurr ­

ence in t he Neutral Hi l ls re gion. Recognition, i nitial descript i on, and

appellation of th i s technologi cal phenomenon , made up the scope of our re­search in th is subject to da t e. Future detailed anal ys is should reveal proper use and characteristics of bipol ar pe bb l e tool and blank manufacture .

Comparisons of invest i gati ons at FbO r-57 to other tipi ri ng excavat ion s

were drawn using re ports of Adams (1 978), Cal der et ~. (1977 ), Pool e (1976),

Calder (1976), Qu i gg and Reeves (1975 ), Mc Inty r e (1975 ), Qu i gg (1 974) ,

F1ayharty and Morris (1974 ), Frison (1967), and Ke hoe (1 960 ) . An excellent t reatment of t ipi ring da t a acc umulated and summarized in Adams ' work

(1978: 100-103, 113 ) was se l ected as a refer ence for da t a comparison. Thi s author drew the f ol l owing f ive compa risons between FbOr-57 and other tipi

ring sites:

- 36 -

1. FbOr-57 was the f irst t i pi ring site excavated in a locali ty othe r

than a river terrace or on the prairie level. Although sheltered some­what by surrounding r idges, the locale was situated on high gro und affording a good view.

2. The di ameter size ranges of 3.5 m to 5 m of the circul ar rock rings

at FbOr-57 fell in to the general range (2.7 m to 8.5 m) of rin gs

excavated in Alberta.

3. Half of the eighty-ei ght (88) rings excavated to date. revealed the

presence of central hearths . Seventeen (17) of these hearths were outlined in rock cobbl es like the interior hearth recorded i n Rin g 2

at FbOr-57 .

4. Our percentage of various tool types in relation to overall lithic

assemblage was considerably different from Adams I calculations.

Three cho ppers were recovered at FbOr-57. while only five of twenty

previousl y excavated sites produced choppers. Total percentage of

f i ni shed tools (1% ) retrieved at FbOr- 57 was considerably below Adams I

fi gures. He calculated an average of at least 10 percent fini shed tools recovered at all excavated tipi ring sites.

5. FbOr-57 produced a Prairie Side-Notched point. the third ring s i te

t hus excavated to do so (Adams 1978: 58, EfOp-53. levell, and EfOp-324).

The point recovered at EfOp-324 was located in a datable component, t he occu pat i on of which occurred around A.D. 1675 1-9856:275+ (Adams March 1977 , personal communication ). The obsid i an hydration and

carbon 14 dates at FbOr-57 combined to indicate the existence of the Prairi e Side-Notch Point variety a bit earlier in the cultural con ­t inuum than previously demonstrated.

- 37 -

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Adams, Gary 1978 Tipi ring s in sou t hern Alberta: the Alkali Creek Sites, Lower

Red Deer River. Archaeol og ical Survey of Alberta, Occasional Paper No.9, vi + 121 p., Edmonton.

Bayrock, L. A. 1967 Surficial Geology of the Wainwright Area (East Half ) Alberta.

Bi nford, 1963

Calder. 1977

Cal der, 1976

Cl ayton, 1970

Resea rch Council of Alberta, Report No. 67-4, Edmonton.

L. R. and G.F. Quimby Indian sites and chipped stone materi als in t he northern Lake Michi gan area. In "An archaeological perspective", by L.R. Binford, Seminar Press , New York.

E.M., T. Sm ith and B. Reeves Archaeo lo gica l Sa l vage Investi gat ions: Al berta Hi ghways and Tra ns port at ion Construction Projec t s: Crowsnest Pass Map le Leaf/ Bellevue Area. In "Arc haeology in Alberta 1976 " , com­pil ed by J . Michael Qu i gg . Arc haeological Survey of Alberta , Occasional Paper No. 4:88-93, Edmonton.

James ~1. Arc haeol ogi cal salvage investi ga tions , Albert a Hig hways and Transport const ruction projects. Hwy . 36 : Chi n Coul ee. Man uscri pt on f ile at Archaeologica l Survey of Alberta, Alberta Culture, Edmonton.

Les, W.B. Bickley , Jr., and W.J. Stone Kni fe River Flint. Plains Anthropologist, Vo l. 15, No. 50, pp. 282-290, Li ncol n.

Dav is , Les l ie B. 1972 The Pre historic Use of Obsidian i n the Northwes t ern Plains.

Ph . D. Di ssertation, Department of Archaeology, The Universi ty of Ca lga ry, Calgary.

Do rmaar , J . F. 1976 Effect of boul derflow on soil transformat ion under tip; rings .

Plains An thropologis t , Vol. 21, No. 72. pp. 115-118, Lincoln.

Flayharty, R.A. and E.A. Morris 1974 T-W Diamond, a stone ring site in northern Col orado . Plains

Anthro po logist, Vol. 19, No. 65, pp. 161-1 72 . Lincoln.

Frison, George C. 1967 The Pi ney Creek sites . Un i versi ty of Wyoming Pub lica t i ons,

Vo l. XXXI II , No.1, Laramie.

Gagli ano, S.M. 1967 Occupation Seq uence at Avery Island . Loui siana State University

Press, Coas tal Studies, Series 22.

- 38 -

Husted, Wilfred M. 1969 Bighorn Canyon Archaeology, Sl-RBS Publica t ions in Salvage

Archaeology Number 12. River Basin Surveys an d Smithsonian Institution, Lincoln.

Honea, Kenneth 1965 The Bipolar Flaking Technique in Texas and New Mexico.

Bulletin of the Texas Archaeological Society, Vol. 36, pp . 259-67, Austin.

Kehoe, Thomas F. 1960 Stone tipi rings in north-central Montana and the ad j acent

portion of Alberta, Canada: the i r historical, ethnological and archaeological aspects. Smithsonian Ins t itution, Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 173. Anthropology Pa pers No. 62.

Longley, Richard W. 1972 The Cl imate of the Pra i rie Provinces. Env i ronment Canada,

Cl imatolotical Studies. Number 13. Toronto.

Losey , Timothy C. 1971 The Stony Plain Quarry Site. Plains Anthropologist. Vol . 16 ,

No. 52, pp . 138-154 , L i nco 1 n .

McIntyre , ~~i ke 1978 Studies in Archaeology, Hi ghway lA, Coal Creek Alberta.

McPherson , A.

Archaeological Survey of Al berta, Occation Paper No. 7, Edmonton.

1967 The Jun t unen Site and the Late I~oodland Prehistory of t he Upper Great Lakes ARea . Anthropolgy Papers, Museum of Anthropology, University of Michi gan, No. 30.

Moonaw, Jack 1960 The "Ring Makers". Southwestern Lore, Vol. XX V, No . 4,

Boulder.

Mulloy, William T. 1960 Lat e Prehis t oric Stone Circ l es. Southwestern Lore. Vol . XXV,

No.4, Boulder.

1965 Archaeological Investigations Along the North Platt e River In Eastern vJyoming. Univers i ty of Wyomin g Publicat ions, Vol . XXXI , No.2. Laramie.

Mul l oy, William and Lou i s C. Steege 1967 Continued Archaeological Investigations Along t he Nort h Pl atte

River in Eastern Wyoming. University of vlyoming Publi cations, Vol . XXXII I, No.3, Laramie.

- 39 -

Poole, Colin 1976

Qui gg , J. 1974

1976

1977a

1977b

Quigg, J . 1975

Archaeological salvage project on SR922 near Longview. In "Archaeology in Alberta 1975 11

, compiled by J. Mi chael Qu i gg and W.J. Byrne. Archaeological Survey of Albert a , Occasi onal Pape r No. 1 :8-14, Edmon t on.

Michael The Belly River: prehistori c popula t ion dynami cs i n a Northwest ern Plains t ransitional zone . National Museum of Man Mercury Series, Archaeological Survey of Canada , Pa pe r No . 23, Ottawa.

Battle River Survey, 1975, In IIArchaeology in Alber ta 1975'1, compiled by J . Michael Qui gg and W.J. Byrne . Arc haeolog ica l Survey of Alberta, Occasional Paper No. 1:29-35, Edmonton.

1976 Field Investi gations in t he Neutral Hills Reg ion. In "Arc haeology in Alberta 1976 ", comp iled by J . Michael Qui gg . Archaeol ogical Survey of Alberta, Occasional Paper No. 4:54- 73, Edmonton.

Initial Archaeological Investigat ions of the Battl e River Valley. Manu scri pt on f i le , Al berta Cu lture, Edmonton.

Michae l and B. O.K. Reeves Archaeological Salvage Invest i gat ions Al berta Hi ghway and Transportat ion Cons t ruc t ion Proj ects Crowsnest Pa ss Hi ghways 3, 507, 922: Wes t of Lu ndbreck, West of Burmi s, Cons ul tan ts Report on f i l e , Albert a Culture, Edmonton .

Reeves, 1969

B. O. K. The Southern Alberta Paleo-cultural Paleo-environme nt al seq uence. In Post- Plei stocene Man and His Envi ronment on t he Nor thern Plains, edited by R.G. Forbi s et . al., pp. 6-46. University of Calgary Arc haeological Associa tion , Cal gary.

Schneider, Frederick E. and Pa tricia A. Trea t 1974 Archaeo l ogical Excavati ons at t he Spenger Ti p; Ring site ,

32SH205, Sheridan County, North Dakota: An Arc haeologi cal Salva ge Project i n t he Garrison Di versi on Un it. Report t o t he U.S. Nat i onal Park Serv ice, Mi dwest Archaeo logical Center, Lincoln, Nebraska.

Wedel, Waldo R. 1961 Preh i storic Man on t he Great Plains. Unive rs i t y of Okla homa

Press . Norman.

PROJECTI LE PO INTS

- 40 -

APPENDI X

1

ARTIFACT DESC RIPT ION

Desi gned for hafting on to shafts or foreshafts, these chipped stone artifac t s were utilized as projectile points on spears, atlat l shaft s, or

arrows. A s i ngl e identi f iable specimen, and one bifacially modifi ed un­identifiable midsecti on (Figure 9:2 ) , were recovered.

Speci men # 915 Figure 9:3

Form and Modifi cation. Body outline was asymmetricall y triangu lar, with ground body edges also triangular to excava t e. Both shoul de r s were obtuse leading into shallow but expanding

ground u-sha ped notches . With a straight base, basa l thinni ng , and heavy grinding, t he basal edge was rounded, but mi ssing one corner.

Met r ic s. Length - 17.5 mm Wi dth - 10 .9 mm Th ickness - 4. 2 rnn

Weight - .80 g Notch Dept h - 1. 4 mm Notch Wid t h - 4.7 mm

Lithic Ty pe. Li ght -beige to l ight-brown chert

Proveni ence. North side of tipi Ri ng 2 (outside)

Discussion. Typed as a Prairie Side-Notc hed arrow point. this parti­cul ar artifact exhibited grinding on all edges and small hin ge fractures along most edges , whi ch may have re­sul t ed from i ts us e as a hafted drill.

BIFACES

Used as cut t ing t ool s , bifaces exhibited flaking across the maj or

port i ons of both surfaces. All five recovered bifaces are de scribed in­div iduall y .

Specimen #560 Figure 9: 12

Form and Modi fication. A proximal half of an original ovate form, all

edges, even the broken edge, disclosed wear. Latera l edges were concave contracting to a sha l low concave base.

Metr i cs.

- 41 -

flake scars were relatively small. No cortex remained

on the artifact.

Length - 29.4 mm Width - 35.6 rmn

Thickness - 9.3 mm Weight - 13.39 g

Li t hic Type. Grey. fine-grained quartzite

Provenience. Southwest corner outside Ring 2

Discussi on. The wear along t he broken eages indicated that t his tool was used, or transported, for some time before it was

lost or discarded.

Specimen #870 Figure 9:1 0

Form.

14etr i cs.

A distal portion of an ovate form, the two broken areas extended towards the proximal end. All edges were nearly straight, contracting into a re latively du ll point. One side exhi bited a rough area si milar to t he weathered outer cortex.

Length - 24.6 mm Width - 22.1 mm

Th i ckness - 7. 0 mm Weight - 4. 74 9

Li t hic Type. White chert wi t h inclusions

Provenience. Nor t h s ide of Ring 2 (ou t side)

Specimen #977 Fi gure 9:9

Form and Modif icati on. A complete tool, this triangular artifact dis­pl ayed strai ght lateral edges and a convex basal edge. Al l but approximately 40% of one surface had been flaked. This area was covered with smal l ripple marks.

Met rics. Length - 21.3 mm Width - 18. 8 mm

Thickness - 5. 0 mm ~Jeight - 1.81 9

Lithic Type. Dark green pebble chert

Provenience. North side of hearth, inside Ring 2

Discussion. Size and shape of this tool was determi ned by the ori gin­al pebble characterist i cs .

- 42 -

Speci men #1259 Figure 9: 11

Form and Modifi cation. This lateral section of a bi face exhi bited portions of the two surfaces and a single edge. Slightly

concave with numerous small hinge fractures, the lateral cutting edges showed little wear prior t o breakage and disposal .

Metrics. Length - 33.8 mm

Wi dth - 21. 5 mm

Lithic Type. White chert with inclusions

Provenience. 20N 26W between Rings 2 and 4

Specimen #1336 Figure 9:13

Thickness - 12 .0 mm

~eight - 9.12 9

Form and Modifica t ion. A portion of a biface with both faces and one

lateral edge, this art i fact presented a section of origin­al platform with outer cortex. Flake scars appeared on

both surfaces. and numerous smal l hinge fractures were

located along the work i ng latera l edge. Wh i le the la­teral edge showed litt le wear, the edges of the broken

side were worn.

Metrics. Length - 40. 1 mm

Width - 33.7 mm

Lithic Type. Red quartzite

Provenience. 32N 26W between Rings 2 and 4

Thickness - 15. 3 mm

Weight - 18.37 9

Disc ussion. The wear along the broken side i ndica t ed that t his tool was utilized following breakage. rather than discarded.

END SCRAPERS

Un ifacially modified scraping tools, t he primary working edge of th is

artifact was located on one end of the form. A total of f ive end scrapers were retrieved.

Speci men #1 035 Figure 9:4

Form and Modification. Ovate in body f orm with unworked la teral edges,

t he dorsal surface of t his artifact was completely un­

worked cortex. The ventral surface was f l at, except where

- 43 -

mod i fied by platform flake scars at the proxi ma l end. The working surface or angle was the only area which received secondary retouch flaking. It displayed on ly

minimal wear.

Metrics. Length - 15.3 mm Width - 18.0 nw

Thickness - 4.7 mm

Lithic Type. Black split pebble

Weig ht - 1. 55 g Angle of Working Edge - 600

Length of Working Edge - 1B. 0 mm

Provenience. 46N 26W north side of Ring 2 (outside )

Discussion. A typ i cal split pebble form , t his common so r t of end

scraper required minimal manufacture.

Specimen #860 Figure 9:6

Form and Modification. An irregular body ou tl ine with rel atively straight , contrac ti ng l ateral edges, this arti fac t dis­played a sli gh tly concave ventral and convex dorsal sur­face. The di stal end wa s s-s haped by secondary fl aking. The working edge was onl y sli ghtly worn. While t he l eft l ateral edge showed prepara t i on prior t o use, both l ate r­al edges exhib i t ed wear. The dorsal surface was min i ma lly flaked.

Me t rics. Length - 22 .2 mm Width - 1B.2 mm Thickness - 6.4 mm

Lith i c Type . Opa1;zed wood

Wei ght - 2.65 g Angle of Working Edge - 900

Length of Working Edge - 2B . 2 mm

Provenience. 4BN 30W northwest si de of Ri ng 2 (outside )

Di scussion. Composed of excellent quali ty hi ghly s iliceous opal ized wood, this artifact displayed a smal l worn spur at the j unction of the ri ght l ateral edge and t he work ing distal end.

Speci men #658 Figure 9:5

Form and Modificati on. This artifac t was ovate in body outl ine wi th

s t rai ght contracting body edges. Co nvex-concave along

Metrics.

- 44 -

the ventral surface, the completely worked dorsal sur­face was convex. The distal end was worn to a dull state, although a spur was present on the left distal corner. Both lateral edges displayed retouch and wear with small flake scars.

Leng t h - 22.6 ITUl1

Width - 16.5 mm Thickness - 6.5 mm

Weight - 2.57 g Angle of Working Edge - 64° Length of Working Edge - 16.5 mm

Lithic Type. White chalcedony

Provenience. 42N 26W south side of Ring 2 (outside)

Di scussion. Of a non-local material source, no flakes of this lithic were recovered to indicate manufacture at this si te.

Specimen #1011

Form and Modification . Oval in body outline, this artifact was manu­factured on half of a sma l l pebble. The distal end was removed by a percussion blow from the right distal corner. Whil e no formal retouch was evident, the distal end di s­played small use flake scars and hinge fractures.

Metrics. Length - 19.0 mm Width - 28.9 mm Thickness - 8.3 ~l

Weight - 6.89 g Angle of Working Edge - 860

Length of Working Edge - 28.9 mm

Lithi c Type. Green and white mottled pebble chert

Proven i ence . 46N 28W north si de of Ring 2 (outside)

Discussion. A typical split pebble end scraper, followin g remova l of the distal end by a lateral blow, the artifac t was then used without any further edge angle preparation.

Speci men #1 10 Figure 9:7

Form and Modi fication. This artifact was irregularly oval in body outline with a flat vent ral surface and rounded, un­modified dorsal surface. Step retouch flaking occurred around all but the prox imal end edges. Numerous smal l step fractures indicated considerable usage.

- 45 -

Metrics. Weight - 14 .30 g Length - 36.6 mm Width - 31.5 mm Thickness - 9.9 mm

Angle of Working Edge - 760

Len gth of Working Edge - 43.2 mm

Lithic Type: Brown split pebble chert

Provenience. 26N 26W between Rings 2 and 4

Discussion. This was a typical example of a split pebble end scaper.

UN IFACIAL KN IVES

Unifacially modified cutting implements, the working edge of a unifacial knife was restricted to the surface parallel to the perpendicular axis of

t he flak e. Three unifacial knives were recovered.

Specimen #12 94 Figure 9:8

Form and Modification. Rectanguloid body outline. this form exhibited a battered and crushed platform, with positive bu lbar scars on the ven t ral surface at t he proxi ma l end. The ventral surface was relatively flat with a bi polar scar

at the dis tal end. The distal end of the dorsal surface remained unmodified pebble cortex. The left lateral edge was fl aked and retouched for use as a cutting edge.

Metr i cs. Length - 34.3 mm Weight - 8.38 9 Width - 24.2 mm Angle of Working Thickness - 7.5 mm Length of Working

Lithic Type. Multi-colored spl i t pebble chert

Provenience. 20N 26W between Rings 2 and 4

Edge - 53 0

Edge - 31. 5 mm

Disc uss ion. This tool was formed on a chert pebble, split by the bi­pola r percussion techni que. One l ateral edge was t hen retouched or sharpened for use.

Speci men #122 Fi gure 9:20

Form and Modification. This broken specimen had a convex edge showing

a number of flake scars on t he dorsal face. The ven­tra l surface was flat . Prepared prior to use, the tri­angular working edge sti l l exhibited a portion of the

- 46 -

original stri king platform.

Me t rics. Length - 78.4 mm Width - 29.3 mm

Lithi c Type. Brown quartzite

Thickness - 8.8 mm Weight - 34. 28 g

Provenience. 16N 24W north side of Ring 4 (outside)

Speci men # 270 Figure 9:14

Form and Modification. An irregular flake with one concave and one convex lateral edge, only the convex lateral s ide had been sli ghtly retouched. This flaked edge received suf­ficient amounts of use to become quite dul l.

Metrics. Length - 55.1 mm Width - 43.7 mm

Lithi c Type. Light brown quartz i te

Thickness - 16.8 mm We ight - 35 .12 g

Provenience. 12N 24W south side of Ri ng 4 (inside )

Discussi on. Although limi t ed in amo unt of flaking and pri or pre­paration, this art ifac t was heav i l y used.

MA RGINALLY RETO UC HED FLAKES

Characterized by uniform or patterned flake scars on one or more edges of the flake, the se spalls were purposefully altered for use in cutt ing. Five fl akes were found and descr i bed.

Speci men #978 Figure 9:18

Form and Modi f ication. An unequal-sided r homboid broken fla ke , thi s artifac t was retouched along one l ateral edge.

Metrics. Length - 24.9 mm Width - 16.0 mm Thickness - 4.8 mm

Li t hic Type. White chert

We ight - 1.85 g Angle of Work ing Edge - 51 0

Length of Working Edge - 24. 9 mm

Provenience. 46N 28W north side of Ring 2 (inside )

Speci mens #163, #342 Fi gure 9:15, #1252 Fi gure 9:16, #1522

Forms and Modifications. These fo ur f lakes ranged i n body outli ne

Metrics.

- 47 -

from rounded to irregular. Each was chipped from a portion of a split pebble. Anywhere from two to ten flake scars were evident along the single modified edge.

Length - 17.4 to 24.5 mm Width - 10.3 to 22.3 mm Thickness - 4.5 to 9.0 mm

Weight - #168 - .79 g

#342 - 5.29 g #1252 - 3.21 g #1522 - 2.40 g

Lithic Types. Brown, black, and green pebble cherts

Provenience. #168 at 16N 24W north of Ring 4 (outside) #342 at 12N 26W west of Ring 4 (outside) #1252 at 20N 25W between Rings 2 and 4 #1522 on the surface of the site prior to excavation

COBB LE CHOPPERS

Usually manufactured from glacial rock cobbles, these art i facts were modified by the removal of f lakes from one or two edges of the cobble. Utilized in the butchering process of large ungu lates , t hree cobble choppers were found at FbOr-57.

Specimen #113 Figure 10:3

Form and Modification. Only half of this tool showed numerous scars produced by flake remova l. The majority of the flakes had been removed from one face utilizing the cortex

Metrics.

edge as a platform. Ap proxi mately seventeen percussion blows had been struck along the platform edge. The rest of the cobbl e remained unaltered cobble cortex.

Length - 82.8 mm Width - 49.4 mm Thickness - 51.8 mm

Wei ght - 330.87 g Angle of Working Edge - 850 to 890

Lithic Type. Light brown quartzite

Provenience. 16N 24W north side of Ring 4 (outside)

Discussion. The large number of flakes removed from t his ar t ifact, and its relatively small size as a chopper, might have indicated that this tool was a core rather than a chopper. Some quartz i t e f lakes were found in our excavations.

- 48 -

Specimen #958 Figure 10:4

Form and Modification. Formed from a portion of a large glacial cob­ble, this chopper had three broken edges, two sides with remnant cortex, and one end which had received seconda ry reflaking. The flakes along this end had been removed th rough the utilization of the cortex as a striking pla t­form. Numerous small crushed areas were presen t across the flat area of the cortex. The lateral edges had been ground, then smoothed.

Metrics. Length - 107.9 mm Width - 85.5 mm Thickness - 44.5

Li thic Type. Brown quartz ite

Weight - 499.56 g Angle of Working Edge - 680 to 730

Proveni ence . 46N 30W northwest side of Ring 2 (outside)

Di scuss ion. The small crushed areas on the flat cortical surface of this chopper suggested that thi s tool also functioned as an anvil stone for the splitting of chert and quart­zite pebbles .

Speci men #465 Fi gure 10:3

Form and Modi f ica t ion. This irregularly shaped cobble had a flat ventra l surface and generally rounded dorsa l surface. A few large spalls had been removed from one edge of one surface, utilizing the flat cortical surface as the strik i ng platform.

Metrics. Length - 91.3 mm Width - 113.3 mm Thickness - 45.8 mm

Li thic Type . Grainy brown sandstone

Weight - 582 .98 g Angle of Working Edge - 550 to 680

Provenience. 40N 26W south side of Ring 2 (outside)

Discussion. A typical cobble chopper prevalen t throughout t he nort h­wes t ern plains area.

- 49 -

ANVIL STONES

Irregular in shape, form, or physical composition, these stones f unc­tioned as bases upon wh i ch t he distal ends of cores and pebbles were placed for flake removal. Crushing and pitting across pl anar surfaces indicated use of a stone as an anvil. Two anvils were located and re­corded.

Specimens #1375 Figure 10:2, #958 Figure 10:4

Form and Modifications. These two specimens were irregular in body ou t line, though both ar t ifacts displayed generall y flat parallel surfaces and rectangular cross sections. Flake scars were evi dent on both ends of bot h specimens. Number 958 also had functioned as a cobble chopper. Two areas of concentrated crushing and pitti ng were located on each flat surface of #1375, while speci men #958 was cru shed and pitted in two concentra t ed areas on a s ingle flat surface. These pitted areas occurred across the original rock cortex.

Met ri cs . Length - 63 & 107.9 rom Wid t h - 59.5 & 85.5 mm Th ickness - 31.2 & 44.5 mm Wei ght - 183.00 & 499.56 g

Crushed reg i ons -#1375 - 12.5 and 10. 1 mm #958 - 11.0 and 15. 2 mm

Li t hic Types. White and brown quartzites

Proven ience . #1375 at 32N 26W between Rings 2 and 4 #958 at 46N 30W northwest side of Ring 2 (outside)

Di scussi on. Ot her tools of th i s type were undoubtedl y broken during use, and not found or recorded.

Prepared for:

TIP I RINGS IN SOUTHERN ALBERTA: THE ALKALI CRE EK SITES

LOWER RED DEER RIVER

By Gary Adams

Archaeological Survey of Alberta Occasional Pa per No. 9

September, 1978

Pu blished by: Archaeo logical Survey of Alberta

Alberta Culture Historical Resources Di vision

OCCASIONAL PAP ERS

Papers for publication in th i s series of monogra phs are prod uced by or f or the four branches of t he Hi storical Resources Divi sion of Alberta Culture: The Provinc ia l Archi ves of Alberta, the Provincial Museum of

Alberta, the Historical Sites Serv ice and the Archaeological Survey of

Alberta. Those persons or i nstitutions interested in particular subjec t sub-series may obtain publica t ion lists from the appropriate branches and may purchase copies of the publications f rom t he following address:

Objecti ves

The Books hop Provincial Museum of Al ber ta 12845 - l 02nd Avenue Edmont on, Alberta T5N OM6 Phone (403) 452-2150

These Occas ional Papers are des igned to permit the ra pid dis seminat ion of information resul ting f rom Hi storical Resources' programmes. They are intended primarily for i nterested specialists . rather than as popular publications for general readers. In t he in t er ests of making i nformation available quickly to t hese spec i al i sts, normal product ion proced ures have been abbrevia t ed.

ABSTRACT

A second three-month proj ect on the l ower Red Deer Ri ve r was ini­

tia t ed to i ncrease the knowledge of the preh istoric potential of t hat

area . Through a contract of the Archaeolog ica l Survey of Al berta, a two­

part prog ram was established. The first part involved a sa t uration re­

survey of the area aro und the mouth of Alkali Creek. This su rvey in­

creased the s i te inventory from 32 to 321 recorded locations in 30.5 km2.

Us in g the se sites as a data base, the second pha se was concerned with

excava ti on or t es ting of a variety of sites to gain a greater perception

of the cul t ural economy of the area. To th is effect, 11 tipi rings, eight

ca i rns , one surfa ce site and a bison kill were all either excavated or tested.

The res ul ts of t he first phase suggested that t he hypotheses i ni­ti ated in the f irst season of survey were essentia l ly true fo r the area .

This me an t tha t the r iver valley and its surrounding environs su ppor t ed a

high-dens ity popul ation . However, th is population was no t evenl y dis­t ributed. Wi thi n any s i ngle , smal l area, differential pa tternin g coul d

be determined on t he basis of environment and on the bas is of s i te type.

It was fu r t her determined tha t s imila r vari ab les resul t ed i n s imil ar

patterns in t wo adj acent survey areas in which the re searc h was cond uc t ed independent ly.

The second phase resu l ted in some new and in teres t i ng data , par t icu­

l arly in rel at ion t o tipi ring s . New data on settl ement pat t erning , reso urce util i za tion , and i nt rasi te pa tternin g was all forthcoming. One site, EfOp-324, demonstrated how mul t iple use of a locat ion af fected ri ng

configura t ions wh i l e another, EfOp-53, had a buried ring component that

sugges t ed Oxbow phase affin i ties. All rin g s ites ind icated cons iderably

more data were ava ilable to the investigator than was previously t hought .

i i

TAB LE OF CONT ENTS

Page

Abstract ... ... . ... ............................. .... ............ .. i i

Table of Contents. .. .•. .. .......... ................ ....... .. ..... iii

List of Figures...... ... . ... .... . .. .. .. ...... . ... .. .. . .. ......... v

List of Plates vi

List of Tabl es vi

In t roducti on ......... .... ........ ...... ... .. ..... ......... . .. .. .. 1

Purpose .. . . .. .. ... .. ..... ..... .... ............... .... ......... 1

Pro jec t History............................................... 1

Report Format ............................... .. . ...... . .. ... . .. 2

Survey Re por t ..... . .... .........•.......... .... ................. ' . 3

Background .................................................... 3

Methodolo gy.................................... .. ..... .. ... . . . 6

Survey Res u1 ts ............................... . .... . ..... .. .... 6

Surface Si tes . .... ... .. .. . ...... . .... ... .. .................... 13

Cairns ..... ........ .. ......................................... 13

Tip i Rin gs .. .... ........................ .. .................... 14

Mis ce ll aneous Sites .... . .. .... ... ..... . ... ... ... . ... .... ...... 17

Excavati on Re por t ................................................ 17

Background .. .... ... .. ............ .. ..... .. ... .... ...... . ...... 17

EfOp-352 .. . ... .. ... .... . .... ... .... ........................... 22

EfOp-353 ...... ...................... .. ........................ 25

EfOp-324 32

EfOp-49 .. ..• ......... ... .... ... .... . .... ... .. ............... . . 48

EfOp-53 ....................................................... 51

Ca irns .......................................... .... ... .. ... .. 60

Bi son Dri ve Si te ... ... .. ... . . .. ... . .... . . . ... ... ..... . . .... ... 65

EfOp-18 .......... ..... .... . .... ... .. .........•................ 65

Art i fact Ana lys i s. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Projectile Po ints .. ... .. ... .... . . . .. ........ . . . .... . ........ .. 67

Formed Bi fac es ... ..• . ...... .... ... ... .. ... .... ... .. ............ 70

Bifacially Retouched Flakes ................... .... ............ 72

iii

Pa ge

Bifaci al Cobbl e Chop pe r s . .. . .... ... .. ....................... .. 72

Scra pers ...... .. ..... ...... . .. ... .. .... ... ............ . ..... .. 72

Un ; faces ........ .. .. . ......................................... 75

Unifac i al Co bbl e Choppers ................................. . . .. 76

Pecked Too l s ........ ... .... ........ .. .....................•... 77

Historic Ar t ifacts .. . .. ... . ..... .. .. ... ...... ... . ... .. .. . . .... 78

Artifact Ana lysis.... .. ..... .. .. .. ... .... ..... .. . .. .. ... .... .. 80

Lithi c Technol ogy 81

Li t hic Mat erials..... .... ...................... . .............. 82

Inte r pretati ons: Pre hi storic Economy .... . ... ............. . ..... .. 85

Introduc t i on ...... .. ........ . ...... .. ................. . ....... 85

Settl ement Patterns . ... ..... . . .... . ...... ..... .. .............. 86

Reso urce Ut ilizat i on ... .... . .. ... . . . ...... .. ..... ...... . ...... 92

Seasonali ty and Set t l ement Patterns .... .. . ...... . ......... .. .. 95

Cultura l Oynami cs . ............................................ 96

Ti pi Rings . ................. .. ... .... . ...... . . .... . ... ... .... .. .. 100

Previous Work............................. .. ..... . ............ 100

The Ti pi ... ... ........ ... .. ... .. ..... .. ... .. ... . . .. ........... 103

Interpre tati on of Tipi Ring Exca vat i ons .. . . . .... . ...... . ...... 105

Age of the Ti pi Ri ng s .. .......................... .. .. .. . ...... 109

Future Work ............................... .. ..... .. ........... 110

Bi bliography ... .. ..................... .. ..... .. ............ ...... 119

iv

l.

2.

3. 4.

5.

6. 7.

LIST OF FI GURES

Survey Area and location of Si tes . ....... .. ......•..•.•.... ..

Major Site Comp lexes ......... .. . . . .... . .. ............ .... . . . .

Distribution of Ri ngs per Site .. ................ .. . . ... .. ... .

Plan of Excavation at EfOp-352 .. ............................ .

EfOp-353: Topography and Setting .......... .. ......... .. ..... .

Plan of Excavation at EfOp-353 .. . . ...................... .. .. .

EfOp-324: Topography and Setting ..... ....................... .

Page 4

11

14

24

26

29 33

8. Plan of Excavation at EfOp-324 ... ............ .. .. ... ......... 38

9. Distribution of Surface Flakes at EfOp-324 ... .. ... . .......... 41 10. locati on of Various Concentrati ons by l ot in EfOp-324 . ....... 42

11 . Location of Various Concen t ration s by l ot in EfOp-324

12. Concentrations of Lith ic Mate rial s by lot in EfOp-324

43

46

13. EfOp-49 : Topography and Se tting ... .. ..... .. .... ............. . 50

14. EfOp-53: Topogra phy and Setting .. . ..... ...................... 53

15. Plan of Levell Excavati on at EfOp - 53 .... ............... .... . 56

16. Plan of Level 2 Excavation at EfOp -53 ..... . ... . . . .... ........ 57

17. EfOp-33l: Topography and Setting . .... . ...... ................. 63

18. Seasona li ty and Si te Concent ra tions .. .... ..... ........ ....... 97

v

l.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7 .

8.

9.

LI ST OF PLATES

Locati on of Selected Sites: Nor t h Hal f of Area

Location of Se l ec t ed Sites: South Half of Area

EfOp-352 as seen fr om the West . ............... . ... .. ....... . .

Excava t ed Ri ng at Ef Op-3S2 .. ..... , . .................... .. ... .

Excavation of Ring 1 at EfOp-353

Excava t ion of Ri ng 2 at EfOp- 353 ... .... . .... ................ .

Vi ew to the South from Ef Op-324 . . .... .. ... .. .. ..... ......... . Excavation of Ri ng 1 at EfOp-324 .. ............... .. .. ..... .. .

Excavation of Ring 2 at Ef Op -324 .. ..... .. ................... .

Page 18

19

23

23

28

28 35

35

36

10. Exca va tion of Rin g 3 at Ef Op-324 .. .. .. . . ....... .............. 36

11. Artifacts fr om EfOp-324 . , .... ...... . .. ... .... . ...... ......... 44

12. Exca vati on of Rin g 1 at EfOp -53 .. .. ............. .. .. ..... .. .. 54

13. Excavation of Ring 2 at EfO p- 53 .. .. .. .... ........... ..... .. .. 54

14. EfO p-53 Artifacts ......... .... ... ........... ............... .. 59

15 . EfOp -109 Artifacts ... .... ........ .... ... .. ... .. .............. 61

16 . EfOp- 18 Ar t ifacts 66

17. Pro ject i l e Poi nts from Vari ous Si tes . . . ............ . . . . . .. ... 68

l.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

LIST OF TAB LES

Linear Reg res si on of Directi ons of Shelter Li near Regres sion of Ring Sites on Low Terraces ............. .

l i near Regressi on of Ring Sites with Shelter . .... ... .. ...... .

Mean Difference between Largest and Smallest Rings within a Si t e .. . .. ................... .. . . . ............ .. ... . ....... .

Age of Ri ngs at EfOp-324 . .. ... .. ... .... . .... .......... .. . . . . .

Lin ear Regressi on of Too l s to Material Types ............ .. .. .

Landforms and Site Density in the Neutral Hills Survey ...... .

Site De scri ption Data .... . ...... .. ..... .......... .. ........ ..

Distri but ion of Artifac t s by Site . ......... .. . .. .. ... ....... .

vi

8

15

15

16

47

85

90

113

11 8

INTRODUCTION

PURPOSE

A second season of archaeological study on t he lower Red Deer River was spec i fically intended to expand the knowledge of cultural activity in the region obta i ned in t he 1975 season1s endeavours (Adams 1976). That report essentiall y dealt with three areas of archaeological investigation: site location, site type, and chronology. It established a possible set of criteria for si t e location, gave a detailed description of local site types , and re-affirmed the general Northwestern Plains cultural sequence for the region.

In 1976 we decided to return to the area to test some of the specula­ti ons made the previous year, to add information to the site type and chronology description, and to infer a sense of culture into the area.

PROJECT HISTORY

Financed and organi zed through the Archaeological Survey of Alberta, t he project wa s in i ti ated on May 1, 1976 . A crew of five, including the au t hor, Con nie Hall, Karie Hardie. Susan Glover and Dean Wetzel. l eft for t he fie ld on t he 1st of June. The first six field days were spent in a s l i ght ly expanded resurvey of an area just west of the lower port ion of Al kali Creek. This area was described in the prev i ous study as survey Un i ts 0-2 and A-2 (east end) . In that year an inventory of 32 sites wa s accumu lated. From mid-June to September 6. a program of testing and exca va t ion was conducted to gain specif i c informat i on on a variety of

sites . Researc h progressed under Archaeological Research Permit No. 76 -27 .

The winter months were spent in description and analysis by Karie Hardie and by myself with this report being the culmination of that effort.

I would like to take this space to thank the crew for their extremel y consciencious and efficient work. I would also like to express app recia­t ion to Dr. Bill Byrne and Mike Quigg of the I'Survei l for their assistance

and sup port; Ken Marsh and t he George Howe family for the privilege of working on their land; and the local people of the Buffalo district for t heir kindness, generosity and good times. Fina l ly, I would like to thank Leon Galenza for redrafting the maps and H. McDonald for the typing,

- 2 -

two j obs I find very di f ficult to manage myself.

REPORT FOR MAT

As this report incorporates data from survey and excavat ion as we l l as

from various outside sources, and as i t attempts to direct i tsel f to several questions, format became a considerable obstacle. It was f inal ly

resolved by literally dividing it into four separate, almost isola ted

sections. To assist the reader in utilizing this paper , brief des­

criptions of each section are included here.

The first section concerns itself with survey. It includes a problem statement and definition of area, supplemental notes on method and en­vironmental data, and a discussion on the findings. Wi thin t his sect ion,

we are dealing with two different descriptions. The f irst is a descrip­

tion of the location on a statistical basis and the second is a descrip­tion of the sites on the same basis.

The second section presents a series of individual si te re ports, one

for each site t hat was tested or excavated. Each repo r t con tain s al l the information gleaned from that site except for the art i fact analys i s. Some intrasite i nterpretation and phase determi nati on ha s als o been attempted for several of the components.

The t hird section is an artifact catalogue and descripti on. Ar t i fac t s are grouped into types and the types described. These types are then keyed into the first two sections. There are also some notes on materi als and flakin g practices within this portion of the report.

The last section, in two chapters , deals with in t erpre t at ions, compari­sons, and conclusions. Extensive archival and compara t ive data is pre­sented in this secti on to enhance its value and data is f reel y ta ken f rom the preceeding chapters wi thout reference. It;s sincerely hoped that

thi s por ti on of t he report holds together as a syn t hesis and exp l anation

of t he cu l tural information presented in the rest of the paper.

The reader wil l notice that there i s no secti on on background da ta , specifically historical and ethnographi c data, prehi sto ri c da t a, en­vi ronmen tal context or hi story of pre vious work in the area. Th is

ma t er i al was covered in the first year's report (Adams 1976). However

addi t ional informati on is included in the body of t he text.

- 3 -

SU RVEY RE PORT

BACKG RO UND

The basic aims of a second survey of the area were threefold . First,

i:t was to serve as a check on, and information supplement t o , the 1975 survey of the area. Second, it was to provide a site inventory for t he

excavation program . Third, it was hoped that some of the additi onal data

would provide new perspec t ives to t he i nterpreta ti ons of t he pre vious

program.

The borders of t he survey area were defined by both geographi c and

cultural features. The east edge was the middle of Al kali Creek and the

south edge was t he Red Deer River. The lower half of the wes t borde r

first followed a coulee channel and t hen a trai l up to t he hei ght of t he prairie, always between 2 km and 4 km west of the cree k. From there it

fo llowed a fenceline north-west to a trail 10 km north of the river. The nor t h border was provided by that same trail . In al l, the t ot al area was approxi mat ely 30.5 km2 (Figure 1) .

The entire survey area was composed of, and influenced by, three ma jor

topographic features and their constituent parts. To the south wa s the

Red Deer River, a l arge, permanent waterway. Its elevation was 606.6 m and i t infl uenced t he land forms up to 3. 5 km no rth. Alon g this section , the rise to the prairie leve l at 71 9.7 m was i n the fo rm of a se ries of

terraces, cut by major north-sou th oriented cou lee s. The fir st fl ood plain level was onl y about 4 m above the river and wa s covered primarily by a Bo utel oua - Ag ropyron - Ar t emes ia association compos ed of 50% Artemes ia. Adjacent to t he river were stand s of mi xed trees and tall bushes , mostly Populus tremuloides, Ame lanchier alnifolia, and various species of Sal ix.

The second level, about 4 m higher, was a terrace spa rs ely vegeta ted

by a Bouteloua - Ag ropyron ~ Opunt ia as soc iation. Scrub brush suc h as

Ro sa Sp. , Amela nchier alnifoli a and Astemesia f r i gida were abundant i n

the i ntersecting co ulee channel s.

From this level to the pra i rie wa s a series of te rraces and shall ow

slopes to the west with Bouteloua - St ipa - Opun ti a - Arteme si a associa t ion s

, \~

\ , \

-- ,/ \ \ , ,

-4 -

SITE LOCATIONS

"

Figure 1, Survey area an d l ocat i on of si t es.

2 km O~LEL~rH~133~HCEI3~========~1

.-, ,',

" "

"

- 5 -

of various proportions. To the east, the river bluffs became very steep r

with practica l ly no vegetation and no intermediate terracing.

The second major feature was Alkali Creek. Th is creek, while not

permanently flowing at this ti me, was fed by a series of springs that

created pools of water along its course. It also had several large sloughs about 20 km north, now dammed. that may have kept it permanently

flowing in certa i n perhistoric periods. This creek meandered widely and , for the most part. had a large, impressive valley within 15 km of the river.

Withi n 3 km of the creek mouth. t here was a large curve bordered by

high. straight bluffs that comp letely obscured t he leng th of the creek. This area had virtuall y no flood plain but did have a few, small, very low t erraces. The coulee bo t tom, along thi s length, was covered in var­

ious scrub as sociations mixed with Populus and small meadows of Bouteloua and Agropyron. The coulee walls were steep and bare of all but cl ump s of the hardy Artemes ia and Opun t ia mixed with certain wi l d flowers. The

wal l s also had outcroppi ng s of sandstone in various loca t ions and a f ew choice spots for possible rock shelters (apparently unused ) .

The remainder of the creek had a 0. 3 to 2 km wide f lood pl ain from the we st bank t hat sl oped grad ual ly t o the base of the bluffs. In some places, th is s lope dropped 40 m in elevation from the creekside to t he base of the bl uffs. This f l ood pl ain was cut also by a series of large terraces and pl ateaus at various l eve l s that gave t he valley a canyon-like appear­ance. The steep bluffs avera ged about 40 m in height and were intersected by a serie s of short drainage channels. Thi s created a series of deep pockets at the base of the bluffs . broken by lon g, gradually sloping spurs.

The vegetat ion th roughout thi s area was essentially the same series as found near the river with a Boutel oua - Agropyron association gradually

being replaced by a Bouteloua - St ipa gro up. Artemesia was l ess common but Opun t ia could compr i se up to 50% of the cover in exposed areas. Scrub

brush appeared in the creek bed and coulee channels but the copses were smal l and stunted.

The t hi rd topogra phi c fea t ure was the prairie l evel. The prairie west of Alkal i Creek had knob and ket t l e to pography. It was composed of

small knoll s of 5 to 35 m in height, interspaced with shallow, temporary

- 6 -

sloughs. The vegetation was primarily a Boute10ua - Stipa association with moderate amounts of Artemesia and Opuntia in some areas.

The fauna of the survey area consisted of both plains and woodland species. The prairie level was predominately grazed by Antilocapra americana with Bison bison in prehistoric times, supplemented by various burrowing rodents, Taxidea taxus and a species of Mustela. The valleys contained Odocoileus hemionus, Castor canadiensis, Canis 1atrans and a

variety of rodents. It also provided a winter range for the plains species.

METHODOLOGY

The survey was conducted over a six day working period. Each person was given a specific area to survey daily, an air photo of the traverse line and appropriate survey forms. We used both the Archaeological Survey·s Site Inventory Data form and a supplemental form for added en­vironmental and site feature notes. Traverses were seldom more than 100 m apart in most areas. However, steep slopes and impas sable brush were usually avoided.

All survey information centred around the "recorded site" . This was defined as an unique cultural identity, separated from all other cultural identities by at least , 100 m or by a recognizable break in t opography. In other words , two cairns situated 80 m apart were regarded as a single site unless there was a co ulee or some other change in land between them. Each "recorded site" was individually catalogued as a distinct unit and given a Borden number.

A sketch map was drawn at each site to show the relative positions of the various surface features to each other and to the local topography. A surface sample of flakes was collected when warranted and ring or cairn diameters were often recorded. Finally, each si te was plotted on the air photo and on a 1:50,000 N.T.S. topographic map.

SURVEY RESULTS

After six days, a total of 321 recorded si tes were li sted within the survey area. These sites included 42 surface or buried camps, 69 cairn sites. 197 tipi ring sites, 9 cairn alignments, 7 cairn configurations. 1 drive-lane complex and 2 stone quarries. A total of over 1200 rin gs

- 7 -

and 550 cairns were recorded.

For the purpose of analysis, only the surface, cairn and r ing sites were considered. Each of these categories had suf f i cien t numbers to

provide a stat i st ical sampl e . Together, t hey comprised a base of 308 units for ana lysis. Using data from both t he Site Inventory Data forms

and t he supplemental forms, t hi s tota l was statisticall y analysed for

environmenta l context, resource availab ili ty and site compos it ion. Then

each category was examined in an identical manner t o determine any va ria­

tion between si te types. Finally, the ring sites were subdivi ded by

number per si te to test for any differences that mi ght arise. The re­

sults of these investigations are included in Tabl es 8 and 9 and are

summarized below.

The first li ne of investigation was t o examine the loca t i onal da ta .

Of t he 308 s ite s in the i nventory , 3. 3% were situated on flood pl ai ns ,

62.0% on the prair i e an d 34. 7% on te rraces. Of the la t t er t wo categor ies,

hilltops and no rmal prairie were abou t evenly sp l it, as were high and low

terraces . However, low pr ai rie sites, s ites i n dep ressi ons, had an ab­

normal ly low index of 0.3%. A to tal of 97 . 1% of these sites occurred in

typ i cal grassland associations whi le the remaini ng 10 sites were l ocated

in the hi ll side-steppe associations or scrub brush associat i on s. The

sites were no more than 0.5 km away f rom an alternate landform and the

mea n di stance wa s 0.04 km. The nearest alte rnate l and form was a coul ee

or dra inage channel in 50. 5% of al l t he cases whi le 31.2% had some al ­

t ernate form of prRirie, 10. 4% were adj acent to a te r race and 8.1 % were near a f lood plain . The neares t alterna te l andform often provided a dif­ferent form of vegetation si mul t aneo usl y , so t hat 55 . 5% bordered on a steppe as socia t ion. The gradient of the land wa s le ss than 50 at 86. 4% of the sites and less than 150 i n all cases.

Determining exposure and view was somewhat di ff i cult, but at each s ite

the recorder l ooked i n each cardinal di rec t i on and determined if t he lay

of the land was impeded by a t opographic feature (she l t er ) or opened to

provide a view beyond what would be expected on normal prai rie f rom an

el evation of 2 m above i t . It was fou nd tha t only 3.6% of the sites

could be cons idered as having normal prairi e situations wh il e 55 .2% had

some form of she lter and 82 .5% had a view. In de t ail , 44. 8% of the s i tes

- 8 -

had no shelter, 34.4% had shelter in one direction, 16.9% had it in two directions, 2.6% in three directions and 1.6% in al l di rect ions. The linear regressi on of these f igures had a coefficient of correl ation of -974 and an in te rcept of -11.75 giving real and antic i pated percen tages as fall ows:

TABLE 1. LI NEAR REGRESSION OF DIRECTI ONS OF SH ELT ER

NO. OF DIRECTI ONS o

2

3

4

% EXPECTED 43.5 31.8

20.0 8.2

- 3.5 (0)

% REAL NO . REAL 44.5 137 34.4 106 16.9 52

2.6 8

1.6 5

The actual direction of shelter favoured the west, with 35. 0% of the she l tered si t es having that direction sheltered. This was fo l l owed, in t urn, by north, east and south, the latter being she l tered i n only 16. 5% of the cases. Together, the nor th and west sides, the direction of t he prevail i ng winter wi nds , were screened at 64 .5% of the si tes. The south and west sides, t he directi on of the prevailing summer winds, were sheltered at 51.9% of the sites.

The pa ttern of view was considerably different from that of shelter. Only 10.4% had no view, 26.3% had a view t o one direction , 36. 4% had a view to two di rections, 22. 1% had a view to 3 directions and 4. 2% had a vi ew to al l fou r directi ons. Th i s produced a curve effect with the op t imum at a t wo di rec tional view.

There was a much higher absolute numbe r of di rections of view than of shel ter, but there seemed to be little selection for direction . The direction l east chosen was we st with 17.3% of the total, whil e eas t was the greatest wi t h 30. 1% of the total. The sli ghtly preferential skew for

east and sou th probably ref lected the fact that these were usua l ly the

direct i ons of the two major val l eys .

The water resources ca lculation s were based on dis tance and resource type . The va rious classes of water resources were determined as: no water, i ntermi ttent fl owing, temporary standing, semi-permanen t flowin g and perman ent fl owi ng. In rea l terms , intermi ttent flowin g referred t o

- 9 -

drainage channels and coulees where spring snows would take longer to melt and where heavy rains might leave small catch poo l s. Temporary st anding water was found in sma ll potholes, almost exclusively associated with knob and kettle topography. Semi-permanent f lowing water was in Alkali Creek and permanent f lowing water was in t he river. Measurements were ta ken and the be st available water source recorded at in tervals of 0.5 km. 1 1m. 2 km. and 5 km .

At 0.5 km only 4.9% of the sites had no water source but 11.4% were dependant upon the extreme ly li miting intermittent flowing supplies. Another 50. 7% could utilize the temporary standing water and 33.1 % had one of the two ma jor sources within t hat distance. At 1 km. the dependency on intermittent flowing water had decreased to 4.9% of the sites, while 42 .9% could have used the temporary flowing supply. The remaining 52.2% had access to a major water source. At 2 km only 7.5% were dependant upon the temporary sources, and at 5 km all sites could have used either t he creek or the river. All si t es were with i n 10. 3 km of the river and had a mean distance of 5.3 km. All si tes were within 3.7 km of the creek and the mean distance from the creek was 1.2 km.

Distances to, and avai l ability of , several other resources were also meas ured. Ba sed upon the Lands Directorate map for ungulate capacity , the region was broken into two maj or range types. The f i rst river-based range was a winter range with no grazin g li mitations and restricted only by cl imate. This was a preferred deer ran ge and contained 36.4% of t he s i t es. The second prairie-oriented range was a summer grazing area with slight li mitati ons due to exposure and lack of soil mois t ure and was re­stricted by cli mate. Th is was an antelope (and historic bison) preferred area which contained 63.6% of the sites.

The availabili ty of cobbles for rings and ca i rns indicated that only 12.0% of the sites lacked on-site cobbles for construct ion material. To measure the di stance to the nearest wood resources, t he closest exis tent stand of scrub brush was taken. It was found that all s i tes were within 1.7 km of some brush and that t he mean di stance was 0.37 km. A better measure of wood resources may have been f rom t he site to the river bank t ree groves but this was the equival ent of the distance to the river.

Fi nall y , all sites were be t ween 0. 1 and 0.8 km from another habitation

- 10 -

with a mean distance of about 0.15 km.

One diff icul ty that emer ged with the method of si t e designat ion we

ut i lized was that in several areas a group of sites barely met the requ i red

criteria for separate distinction. Therefore, even thoug h each site was

i nventoried as an unique unit, there were eleven gro upi ngs or site com­

plexes where individual site borders were hazy and assessments were some­

what arbitrary . Each of these site complexes cou l d have been one large

site or, mo re likel y, several smal l , overlapping si tes that ind i cated

choice locati onal foci (Figure 2). Therefore, to round out the overal l

character of the survey area, additional descr ip tions were made of thes e complexes.

Site compl ex 1 was located along the lowest terrace of t he r i ver. It

included 8 recorded sites, predominated by flakes obse rved on the so uthern

edges of seve ral t errace segments. All but one recorded site had fl akin g

deb itage in evidence, fo ur had rings, th ree had fire broken roc k, and one

ha d cai r ns . In total, there were lB rin gs and 3 cai rn s. A single Hanna

point was recovered i n 1975 from EfOp-1B.

Site comp l ex 2 was situated on the pra i ri e leve l, borderi ng a seri es

of high bluffs outl in i ng the river, t he mouth of the creek and a large

co ul ee j ust west of the creek.

dominated by f lakin g deb i tage.

It contained 6 recorded sites, aga in pre­

It also i ncluded 4 rin gs from two sites

and 4 cairns, each from a di fferent si te .

Site complex 3 was listed as 20 recorded sites, characterized by a t otal of 219 ti p; rings from seventeen of the units. Four t een of t he s i t es had flakes in evidence, but t he concentrat ions were usua lly small.

Only seven locations had fire broken rock and a total of 26 cairns we re

reco rded f rom ei ght positions. There were s ix side-notched points re ­

covered from various sites, all of them Old Women's phase, and an

his toric component from EfOp-324.

Site compl ex 4 had 9 units in the open knob and kettle area abou t 4 km

north of the river. The area was characterized by two l ar ge hi l l s an d

a dee p, poss i bl y sp ring-fed pothole to the nor th. Ti pi rings we re the

dominant featur e with a to tal of 15B f rom ei ght sites. Two of these

sites, EfOp -376 and EfOp-383, had 119 of t hose r ing s. There were 13

.,.~

~r ~ .' ~ ~

0 f:i <v~

I~ "

SITE

, , \

-' ,

, , (

--./ \ ,

CONCENTRATION AREAS

Fig u V'e 2. Major site complexes.

11

\

.' 2 I

"'

'/ }

r \

I - ~

"--.j

RIVER

,.,J \ \

I

) ,

\

(' J

' '

2 km °C! :l;A:L!H3:J!!33CEe::::s:='LE3::

1 =-===-=-=-===

. _:: I

c'

, . , . \

- 12 -

cairns from four sites , 10 of those coming from EfOp-376. Six sites had small flake samples and only one had fire broken rock on the surface.

Site complexes 5 and 6 were located on low terraces near a bend in Alkali Creek. Complex 5 had 52 rings from three sites along the west edge of a plateau. Only one of these sites had surface flakes. Complex 6 had 19 ring s , almost evenly divided among five sites very close to Alkali Creek.

Site complex 7 was located on the open prairie 7.5 km north of the river. This location, like the other prairie complex, was characterized by a large hill with a good view. Here the dominating archaeological fea­ture was cairns. There were 23 cairns in the 5 sites. It also had 23 ri ngs but 11 of those were located in one grouping at EfOp-284.

Site complexes 8 and 9 were again confined to terrace developments at a bend in the creek upstream from concentrations 5 and 6. Site complex 8 was situated on a series of high terraces of an isolated pla teau wi th an excellent view. It had 5 recorded sites with a total of 45 rings . There were al so 2 cairns, two sites with flakes and one with fire broken rock. Site comp l ex 9 was located along the banks of Alkali Creek, amon g a series of quite low terraces and flood plain l evels. The significant feature of these 6 s ites was most probably tipi rings though site types were more diversified here than in other concentrations. One site had 2 cairns, one had flaking debitage and the remaining four had a total of 45 rings. Two of these sites also had some flakage .

Site complex 10 was situated on a series of terraces at the north edge of the survey area, again at a bend in t he river. Though the recorded sites here were widespread in comparison to the other groupings, two factors suggested that t hey should be grouped. First, the recorded site areas indicated ring concentrations but closer examination revealed scattered, single rings throughout the complex area. Second, these sites were uni ­formly characterized by the presence of very large (8 to 10 m) ti pi rings. This site complex of 8 recorded sites had a min~ mum of 161 r ings and onl y 4 cairns. Flakes were di scovered at six of the sites and fire broken rock at two.

Site complex 11 was a series of 11 sites stret ching east to west across

- 13 -

the prairie at the north end of the survey area. Each site included a cairn ali gnmen t that wa s probably associated with EfOp-248, a bison jump.

They also included 19 rings. 23 una l i gned cairns, and f laking ev i dence in

five of the recorded sites.

One all the analysi s was completed on the to ta l recorded site inventory,

separate analys i s was conducted on the various site types.

SURFAC E SITE S

The 42 surface sites vari ed mos t consistently from the 'norm es ta blished by the overa l l character. In the locational da t a, it was discovered that

none of the sites were si t uated on prairie hilltops and only 28.6% were on the prairi e at all . This was less than half the norm. This defici ency

was compensated for by a high (45.2) percentage on t he low terraces. Thi s

skew to low terraces affected other factors such as a relatively high

rati o (14 .3% ) of sites located in scrub brush, a relatively high propor­ti on of sites located near f l ood plains and coulees, and low numbers (2.4 %) near the pra i r ie.

Exposure values also had interesting difference s . There wa s a re l a­tively high percentage of sites with shelter but no view (16 .7%) , and of

the total number of s ites wi t h shelter (83.3%). This shelter was pre­

dom inatel y from the north (46.6%), and often from that directi on alone. A total of 70.7% of the sites had shelter from the north and/ or west, bloc ki ng the prevailing winter winds.

The su r f ace s ites also appeared t o be clo ser to good wa t er sources .

At 0.5 km, a comparatively high 11. 0% had no water and a low 19. 1% had access to temporary standing water but 52.5% could use semi- permanent or permanent f lowin g wate r. At 1 km , 76.2% of t he sites had access to one of the major water sources and at 2 km 100% had t hat access . The sites varied between 0 and 9.62 km from the r i ver with a mean distance and standard deviation of 2.6 ± 2.4 km, an unusua lly l ow figure.

The resource avail ability also differed from the overal l assessment. There was a hi gh (33.3%) incidence of insufficient rock resources and a low mean distance to wood resources of 0.13 ± 0.19 km .

CA IRNS

The 69 cairn s ites were loc ated i n precisely the opposite situation of

- 14 -

the surface sites. A total of 56.5% were located on hilltops for an

accumulated 87.0% on all prairie levels. This contrasted with none on the flood plain and only 13. 0% on the terraces. The nearest alternate land­

form was usuall y another prairie level at 53.6%, or a coulee at 39.1% .

They were never loca t ed next to the f l ood plain. A total of 56. 5% had a view but no shelter and 59.49% had no shelter at all, which also con­trasted with t he surface sites. Cairn si tes also had the hi ghest incidence of a view to th ree and four directions (37.7%). Finally, cairn sites

were consistently far from water. At 0.5 km 72.5% had access to temporary

standing water available and throughout the 1, 2 and 5 km categories,

the access to the river was consistently low .

TIPI RINGS

As an overall category, tipi rings comprised 64% of the t otal site inventory an d, therefore, conform well to t he norm i n distribution. However, for purpos es of this analys is, t he rings were broken down in t o f ive groups, sorted on the basis of t he number of rings / sites and following the natural div i s ion t hat oc curred when meas ured in that way .

60

Cl)50 ILl l-

e;; 40

~ 0 30 a: L4.I

~ 20 ~ z

10

0 10

FIGURE 3. DISTRIBUT ION OF RINGS/ SITES

50

NUMBER OF RINGS

60 70 80 90

The five gro ups were single rings, 2 - 3 rings, 4 - 6 rings, 7 - 11

r ings and more than 11 rings. The last ca t egory probably should have

been split again but i t was retained as a single uni t for statistical re­l i abil i ty. By dividing the ring sites in this manner, dispari t ies an d

trends between groups could be noted. Linear regress ion ana lysis was con­ducted between the gro up s on each descripti ve attribute; t hose with a

- 15 -

coeff i cient of correlation of 0.8 or better were considered as significant

and were treated in this report.

In t he l andform analysis only group 5 (12 - 82 ri ngs) deviated signif i­cantly. It was found that 39. 1% of these sites were located on high ter­

races and a total of 69.6% were s i tuated on both t errace levels . Th is was

over twice the norm . However, use of the low terraces had a correlation

coefficient of 0.881 (slope intercept of 5.1) which provided the followin g ratio:

TABL E 2. LINEAR REGRESSION OF RING SI TES ON LOW TERRAC ES

NO. OF RINGS ACTUAL NUMBE R EX PECTED %

1

2-3

4-6 7- 11

12 +

4

10

4

4

7

7

12

17 22

27

It should be noted also, that the correlation of plain increased with a 0.932 coeff i cient for the

sites

f i rst there were no sites from either of t he la st two groups.

ACTUAL %

7

16

10

21

30

found on the flood

th ree groups , but

In the exposure analysis, it was found t hat the two extreme group s

again afforded some deviation. Group 1 had a l ow ratio (9.3% ) of sites

with a view but no shelter and group 5 had a high ratio (13. 0%) of sites

with shelter but no view. There was a notab l e regress i on of the number of sites with shelte r , the coeffici ent of correlati on bei ng 0. 973.

TABL E 3:

NO. OF RINGS

2-3

4-6 7-11

12 +

LI IJEAR REGRE SSION OF RI NG SITES WITH

ACTUAL NUMBER EXPE CT ED %

23 44

33 51

22 58

13 65

16 72

SH EL TER

ACTUAL %

43

53

56

68

70

The only discrepancies with the she l ter and view were tha t grou p 4 had a

hi gh percentage of sites with shel t er in one direction (52.6%), and group

3 had an abnormally high percentage of s i t es shel t ered from the ea st (30.3%).

- 16 -

Grou p 5 had a hig h number of sites with a view to the south (41.0%).

There was little of note in the water resources data except tha t

group 1, t he single ring si tes , had a higher than average mean distance

to the river of 6.3 ± 2.6 km. There was littl e devi ation from t he general

data on availabili ty of other resources.

The various mult i pl e ring sites we re arranged in three basic pa tterns.

They appeared to have dis t ributions that were essentially lineal, centric

or randomly clustered. On ly six s i t es (7.7%) were centricall y organi zed ,

while 44 s ites (56.4%) were lineal and the res t clustered. There were

high co rrela tions of coefficients bet ween the size of the site and the

spatial distribution, wi th increasin g values of clustered distribution

and corres pondi ng decreases of lineal arrangements in successivel y larger

site groups.

As would be expected. the size range of the individual rings within a

site also changed with the size of the site. The mean diame te r of t he

la rges t ring in t he s in gl e ring sites was 5.0 m and increased to 6.7 m

in the largest s i t e group. Conversely , the smal lest mean ring di ameter

decreased from 4.95 m to 3.63 m. The subsequent linear regres sion of

mean size difference between the l argest and smallest rings within a s ite

had a coeffi ci ent of correlati on of 0. 976 and regressive va lues as

fol lows :

TABLE 4. MEAN DIF FE RENCE BETWEEN LARGEST AND SMAL LEST RINGS WI TH IN A SITE

SIZ E OF SI TE

1 ri ng

2-3 rings

4-6 ri ngs

7-1 1 r i ngs

12 -87 r ings

MEAN DIFF ERE NCE

0.96 m

0.97 m

2.25 m

3. 05 m

EX PECT ED DIFFERENCE

1. 00 m

1.69 m

2.38 m

3.06 m

The number of r ing sites with cairns was 52. 3% and va ried littl e from

group to group. Howe ver, t he pattern was one of decreasin g percentages

wi th increa s i ng number of rings, except for t he l argest group . This

mean number of cairns di d increase by s ize group with a high correlation

factor , 1.9 to 3.9 cairns per site. There were f lakes found at 49.8%

of the sites and fi re broken rock at 14. 4%. Though there was no

- 17 -

correlati on of flaking associ at i ons by group. the occurrence of fire broken

rock increased regularly.

MISC ELLANEOUS SITES

Asi de from the three majo r site categori es, a few diffe rent s ite types

we re al so recorded. EfOp-248 was a bi son drive site with drive- lane

fra gmen t s t hat cut t hrough several other site locations out i nto t he

prairie. There were eight other cairn or roc k alignments, scattered

thro ug hout t he survey area and seven roc k configuration s in a si milar,

apparently random di stribution . Finall~ EfOp-26l and EfOp-6 bo t h showed

strong indications of having the exposed t i l l cobbles quarried for sui t abl e

raw materials.

EXCAVATION REPO RT

BACKGRO UND

Over t he course of the sunmer, some form of detailed study was conducted

at ni ne sites within the study area. A to t al of 5 ti pi ring sites (11

rings ), 3 cairn sites (8 ca i rn s ) one buri ed site and a bison dr ive were

excavated or tested (Plates 1 and 2) . Our crew devoted 237 man-days to excavati on. uncover i ng 835 m2 of pre histor i c occupation for a mean 3. 52 m2/

man-day. The fas t est rate was 6. 25 m2/ma n-day at the ring site EfOp-353

and the s lowes t was at the cairn site EfOp-200 where we excavated 0.4 m2/ man -day.

The purpose behind these exca vat i ons, as already stat ed . was t o tes t or excavate a var i ety of sites wi thin a l imited area, thereby expanding t he 1975 survey. Eac h site was careful ly cho sen to en ha nce the cu ltural

record of t his reg ion. A preambl e to t he excavat ion repor t was, t herefore, deemed necessa ry to explain the particu l ars of site se l ect ion , meth odo­logy and theore ti cal considerat i on.

The most si gnificant regi onal s i te ty pe was t he tip ; ring site , and a

considerab l e emp hasis wa s placed upon i t. We decided to t est both the

i nter io r and exteri or of at least one r ln g from a m i n i ~um of f i ve si t es.

The s i tes we re chosen on the following cr i t eria. First. t here had t o be

one site from severa l size ranges. These ra nges were to be: a s i ngle rin g

s i t e , 2 - 4 r ings , 5 - 10 rings , 11 - 30 r ing s and more than 30 r i ngs.

- 18 -

Pl ate 1. Location of se lected sites north half of area.

- 19 -

Plate 2. Locati on of se l ected s i tes: south hal f of area.

- 20 -

When all the su rveyed sites were thus divided, each was examined for easy

accessabil i ty, evidence of surface flakes, sma ll internal cl us t ers of r ings to concentrate excavation areas and limiting landforms to decrease

the potential spread of the site. Finally, the three or four possible

si tes remain i ng in each category were tested for the above requirements

and to provide as much variety as possible in site situations.

Even tually. four of the categories were filled. Site EfOp- 352 was an excellent s ingle ring site. on the creek flood plain, isol ated on t hree sides by drainage channel s. EfOp-353 provided a 3-ring si t e on a smal l

mid- level terrace of the creek bluffs. iso l ated and sheltered from the we st . EfOp-342 was an 8- ring site on a pra i rie level . cut on t hree sides

by deep couiees and providing an excel l ent vi ew. EfOp-53 was an enormo us

site with 63 rings on a low level terrace, slightly sheltered. and another

unknown number of rings scattered across a slightl y hi gher t errace. Onl y

the 11 - 30 r ange site provided some difficulty as closer examination

of the potential locations always found them either lacking one of t he

criteria or being larger than 30 rings when closely examined. Eventuall y

EfOp-49 was compromised upon. It was a prairie l evel s i te of 34 rings .

The next problem was one of method. We antic i pated t hat any good sampl e

would require an extensive excavation program. To accomplish this we

selected smal l groupings of rings within each site where the separati ng distance between rings would be less t han 5 m. Thi s provided max imum

re t ri eva l of interi or and exterior artifacts wi th mini mum excava tion. We als o decided that small. regular sized pits would be extreme ly time con­suming so larger i r regula r ly-sized pits were lai d out to be as strategi­cally placed as poss ib le. The order of excavation was then sel ected.

starting wi t h the pit most likely to provide ma xi mum ar tifact recove ry.

This meant t hat excavat ion could be terminated as soon as we had a good

prel iminary as ses smen t of t he site.

Once th i s was est abli shed for each site, work be ga n in t he mos t rap id

ma nner poss ibl e. Thi s usually meant shovel-shavi ng t he l evel. f lagg i ng

any cultural materia l we spo tted, then power-screenin g t he ove rbu rden.

The pa rticulars of exca vat i on evolved over the summer, so more det ail ed

notes are presented with each subsequent site report. One as pect tha t was overlooked vlhi ch became a major setback was the type of ove rburden.

- 21 -

Glacial till (EfOp- 49) and th i ck roo t cl umps (EfO p-53, EfOp-342) si gn if i­

cantly lowered excavat i on rates and retrieval percentages.

Finally, to enhance the retrieval inf orma t ion, cert ai n theoretical

assumpt ions had to be made. Fj r st, we decided t hat t he cobbl es t hat de­lineat ed t he rings were to be the ba s i s of excavation. From t hi s, we

further assumed t hat they had been placed on t he surface at t he t ime of

occupation. Together this suggested t hat the bottom of the rocks indicated

the approximate occupation floor. Second , we assumed tha t t he rate of

accumulat i on was relative ly cons t ant wi t hin a s i te. This allowed us t o

use somewhat arbitrary l evels based upon ground contours, depth of t he

ring cobbl es and artifact or f eature concentra t ions. Thi rd , we presumed

that any artifacts stratigraphicall y rela t ed to the cobbles were also

cu l turally related unless specific evidence prov ed contrary to th i s.

The cairns were chosen less selectivel y. EfOp-19 had been excava t ed

in 1975, EfOp-200 was in danger of destruct ion from a gas pi peli ne, EfOp -353

was in association with a ri ng, and Ef Op-33l had a ce rtain un iq ue charac­

ter that warranted excavation. However, thogether t hey prov ided us with

a samp l e of eight ca irns or rock pi les in fo ur di ffe rent contex t s .

Excavation me thodology was essentia l l y the same for all cairns . A grid

was super impos ed over the cairn in square meters . The rocks were cleaned off , planned and photographed. They were t hen removed down to t he surface

or a few centimetres below, and the pit was aga i n cl eaned. This was t hen

followed by subsurface excava t ion by shove l or t rowel, when wa r ranted.

The other sites described in thi s section were onl y brief l y examined. The essenti al priority at each of these s i t es was to examine an d record t hem, gathering as much informa t ion as poss ible, without con suming more t ime than was absolutel y necessa ry. The refore, any conclus ions were onl y rough guesses at best and even some of the data could prove unreli abl e under stricter i nvest igation.

In each reprot throughout t his sect ion, art ifact anal ysis is om itted and

wi ll be treated later in the t ext. Ins t ead, on l y the ar t i fa ct st yles were

listed. These styles can be referenc ed t hrough t he Ar t i fac t Ana lysi s

sect ion. Also, mos t of the interpre t ation and compar ison of the vari ous

sites and their interrel at ions hp s has been relegated t o a l ater chapter .

- 22 -

EfOp-352

Descr i ption

EfOp-352 consisted of a single tipi ring and a possible cairn. It was l ocated on a low terrace level that sloped gently eastward toward Alkali Creek, 0.67 km distant. There were two shallow runoff channels which joined just below the si te, isolating it and providing an excellent camp­

site area (Plate 3). There was a large plateau 0.2 km north and coulee ri ms 0.5 km south and 1 km west. It was 4.8 km north of the river.

Vegetation was the typical Bouteloua-Stipa association of the region with a 35% cover of Opuntia polycantha. The drainage channels contained some Rosa, Artemesia and other scrub species. There was a thin layer of

aeolian silt topsoil overlaying a light brown gravelly soil that varied between 3 and 10 cm in thickness. Below this was a hard, leached clay pan that acted as a base to the excavation.

The ring itself had outside measurements of 5.8 m eas t -wes t by 4.35 m north-south. The average stone size was 30 - 40 cm long and over half buried. They were loosely spaced (over 30 cm between rocks ) and 75 -100% l ichen covered (Plate 4). The possible cairn was 2.7m northeast of

the ring and appeared as a pile of cobbles about 2 m in diameter and two or three cobbles thick.

Excavati on Results

A 5 by 5 m pit was f irst grided-out over the centre of the rin g and di vided eas t -west into t wo pits. The topsoil was then shovel -shaved and t he occupati on level exposed with shovel and trowel. All overburden was screened . Then, a 2 by 5 m pit was added to the east and a 2 by 7 m pit to the nort h. Both of these were exposed in a simil ar way. P1anviews were drawn and photographs taken. There were no profiles drawn, as t he

component was confined to the surface layer. The cairn was poorly defined and left in t act .

Features: When f ul ly exposed, the ring was poorly delineated but the

circular out line, comb in~d with the stra t ification of the cobbles, pre­sented an oval ring comp rising 27 rocks with at least 5 associated cobbles in the in ter i or (F i gure 4).

There was no direc t evidence of internal features, but there were several

- 23 -

Pl ate 3. EfOp -352 as seen from t he west.

Plate 4. Excavated r ing at EfOp-352.

-24-

till:- '" z >- cr. u <t X ... t-

t- i II) a: 0 >- <t '" 0

z u w

C\J a:: t) 0 t-

o ";:) J: a: ~

lO z .... z u U :::; w 0

r0 ~ UJ a

'" '" i= a: 0 II)

UJ a:: ~ 0 a: ~ w '" w w

0.. ); t- <: " w ~ Z U <t 0

0 Z (j ..J a: t- t-Z "- ;;: If> '" ....... < ::> f1 -I a • w CL. ~ LI <l •

Figure 4. Plan of excavation at UO p-352.

e ..... t- M

- E ~~

e e No/') -Ill t- M

t- " - E - E ~~ ~~

("' ~' OI l) ~ .lI Nn

E

(\J ...

o

- 25 -

indications of a hearth. The concentration of fire broken rock, the charcoal and the existence of a few associated cobbles in the centre of the ring all suggested that a hearth did exist. The lack of charcoal concentrations or diagnostic red staining of the burned area, suggested that the hearth was flat and little used and t hat it had likely been ex­

posed to the elements for some time.

Artifacts; Of the 124 f lakes recovered, approximately 95% were from t he inside rin g and mos t of these were from the east hal f . Materials were 52% (74) quartzite, 31 % (34 ) chert, 5% (6 ) jasper, 8% (9) pet ri f ied wood and 4% (4) miscellaneous. All specimens were of local origin. There was evidence of bipolar percussion on a few of the flakes. There were

four cores, a Style 1 uniface, th ree Style 4 unifaces, a bifacial chopper and a pecked cobble in the tool inventory.

The seven bone fra gments were all less than 5 em long and appeared t o be rib or long bone fragments of Bison bison. Practically all flakes and retouched flakes were fo und within the ring, concentrated in the sout h­eas t corner. These included the four cores and unifaces. The only arti­fact from outs ide the ring was the pecked cobble found near the nort hwest rim. Ten smal l pieces of fire broken roc k were found in the screen. All but three came from the northeast corner of the excavation, outside the r i ng. Scattered charcoa l f lecks were observed throug hout the ring, with some concentration among the rocks marking the we stern edge of the ring . The bone came from the east exterior of the ring .

EfOp -353

Description

EfOp-353 was situated on a sloping spur of land between two coulee sys tems, halfway between the ri m of the Alkali Cree k bluffs and the base of the same. Two of t he rings were i n a little hollow of the spur wh i le the t hird was on a small terrace l ower than, and to the north of, the

f i rs t two. They were in as sociation wi th one large cairn and three smal ler rock pi l es (Fi gu re 5) .

The l and graded to the west wi th a peak at the coulee r i m, 0. 2 km

dis t ant. The spur had a medi um cover of Boute10ua-Sti pa-Opun t i a associ a­tion with some wild fl owers and Man ill ari a vivi para . The gradual de scent

- 26 -

--___ 069

____ 169

.. '" 0:: ...: z a:: 0

ILl ;: ~ ..

> ILl ...: ~ u )( w ~ ..J => ! <[

I'() )( > ...: a::

10 ~ ILl ... ~ 0 0,. I'() to 0 Z ~ z '" cr z a. ~ z ::I ::; a:: II. '!: :> :> l,. ...: n: ~ ....

0 0:: ;: .. ...: :> 0 ILl ... u 0 0 ~ ..J [ Il ~ \ z <[ .1./

W .'. • 0 0 U

• f l -------=::::: . ..,. • U (f) .. '

F i gu re 5. EfOp - 353: topography and setting .

- 27 -

of the spur was broken by occasional small flat terraces, many with

slight crests on the exposed, eastward side. The coulees were wide with gradual slopes offering little area for scrub growth except against the base of the bluffs or in the small drainage channels that wound down the

flood plain to the creek itself . The creek was 1.9 km east of the si te

while the river was 4.9 km south .

The soil was un i form throughout the excavation. The aeolian-colluvial silts and sands were unsorted and unstratified within the excavation. The first few centimeters were slightly darker from root build-up. Colluvial movement provided a ready source of pebbles and cobbles but not

an overabundance of either.

The three rings differed from each other in appearance. Ring 1, to

the west, had outside diameters of 4.8 m and 3.9 m and inside di mensions

of 3.4 m and 3 m, with the long axis oriented north-south. It was 4.3 m

west of Ring 2 and had two possible doorways in the form of a 1.0 m ga p

to the east and a 1.25 m gap to the southeast. The outline cobbles were one-third buried and 50 - 75% lichen-covered. There were 38 stones in

the circle, of which 63% were 10 - 20 cm long, 24% were 20 - 30 cm long

and 13% were 30 - 40 cm l ong. Except for a t ight group i ng in the north­

west quarter , most of the stones were loosely spaced (Pla t e 5).

Ring 2 had an outs ide diameter of 5. 9 m and an inside di ameter of 4.6 m, in an almost perfect circle. The stones were one-third buried and 50 -75% lichen-covered with no observable doorway gap. The 123 outline cobbles were tightly spaced and 40% were 10 - 20 cm l ong, 35% were 20 - 30 em lon g and 25% we re 30 - 40 cm l ong. Ring 2 also had a second arc (2A) from the no rtheast corner that comprised about 900 of an approximately 4.5 m diameter ring (P late 6).

Ring 3, located on the lower terrace, was 60 m due north and 9 m lower than Ring 2. It measured 5.1 m by 4.7 m inside and 5.5 m by 5.5 m out­

s ide with the east-west axis being the longer. The co bbl es were two­

thi rds buried and 75 - 100% lichen-covered. The 46 outline rocks were

4% 0 - 10 cm long. 52% 10 - 20 em long, and 44% 20 - 30 em l ong. They were t i 1htly to moderatel y spaced.

Only the rock pile northeast of Ring 2 qua1if ied as a cairn. It was

3.5 m by 1.5 m with the long axis running northeast- sou thwest. It was

- 28 -

Plate 5. Excavation of Ring 1 at EfOp-35 3.

Plate 6. Excava t i on of Rin g 2 at EfOp-35 3.

-2 9-

0

. / / 'D'O o 0

a \)0

0,00 V ~ 1/ w :;: z

I « --1 ! CL ..

u

I

: :

r0

I ~

LO 0

" " r0 " . u ; ~

I 0 a.

I k .

0 oco ...... w 0 _J L __

Figure 6. Plan of excavation at EfOp-353

- 30 -

about half buried and contained all sizes of stones from smal l boulders

to pebbles.

Excavation Results

At this site, we decided to excavate two of the rings in large units .

A 10 m by 30 m excavation area was laid out over Rings 1 and 2. It was

then divided into ten unequal parts that were intended to section the

rings into quadrants . All but the two farthest west units were excavated by a shovel-shaving technique that eventually took off the overburden r ig ht

to the base of the r i ngs. Each un it containing a feature was further sub­

divided into lots. In taht way, insides of rings were removed separately

from the outsides and cairns or rock groupings were excavated as individ­

ual lots. Anything that scraped aga i nst a shovel was examined and marked .

However, the paucity of cultural material permi tted the speedy excavation of 250 m2. All overburden was power-screened.

The site area was plane-table mapped and the excavat ion area was plan­

viewed upon completion. Photographs were taken but, agai n, no profiles

were considered necessary. A 2 x 2 m square was gridded out over the

cairn and a port i on of it was excavated with shovel and trowel .

Finally , following a procedure outl ined by J.F. Dormaar (1976) for re­

lative dating of t i pi rings based on l eaching levels, we did a test on Rings 1 and 2 with a 3% He l solution. In both tests , the normal Ah level was 2.5 cm below the surface. The results of the ring tests were as follows:

TEST #1 TEST #2

Normal Soi l 2.5 cm 2. 5 cm Ring 6.7 cm 4.5 to 5 cm

Ring 2 3.7 cm 4.5 to 5 cm Ri ng 2A 3. 7 cm 3 cm

The results of t hese tests were i nconcl us ive at best. By our readings,

t es t one suggested that Ring 1 wa s older t han t he contemporaneous Rings

2 and 2A, whil e tes t t wo ind icated that Rings 1 and 2 were of s imi lar

ages whil e Ring 2A was younger. We decided that the measur i ng scale was

t oo fine in t his site to be concl usive.

There were 18 bone fragments found in the excavated uni ts . Th ese were

- 31 -

analysed (G. Prager, personal communication) to include 6 Lepus townsendii bones, 3 Citellus richardsoni; (1) and 3 large mammal bones of which two were foetal. Though the large-mammal bones were no t iden -tified, they were probably ungulate.

Features: The two complete rings were we l l defined by the excavation

but the exact nature of Ring 2A remained enigmatic. Neither ring re­vealed any good evidence of a doorway. Both complete rings had internal hearths (Figure 6). Cairns 2 and 3 appeared to be nothing more than small rock piles.

The onl y interior features found within the rings were the hearths. In both cases they consisted of thin red stains from surface fires, partially eroded and void of charcoal. There were no fire broken rocks or artifacts retrieved from either hearth. In both cases t he remains were flat, less than 0. 5 m thick, irregularly shaped and centrally lo­cated within the ring. Small charcoal fragments were found under the cobbles in the rings· rims.

Artifacts: There were 21 flakes and tools, one piece of fire broken rock and 18 bone fragments recovered from this site. The lithics included 11 of quartzite. six of chert, one of jasper. and three of petrified

wood. Most of these were under 4 cm in length. One of the lithic speci­mens was a large quartzite core recovered from Ring 3, one wa s a small chert core from Ring 1 and there was a Lat e Prehistoric side-notched projectile point from inside Ring 2.

Though artifact recovery was scarce and 90% was from t he screen, certain trends were evident. Of the 21 flakes and lithic tools, 5 were recovered from the interior west half of Ring # 1 and three of these were of petrified wood. A core was found outside the north half of the same ring . A flake and a projectile point were found in the north half of Ring 2. There were also 15 small animal bones found in the southwest quarter of the same ring. There was a flake and a core ins ide Cairn and a half dozen flakes between t he cairn and Ring 2A. There was a single piece of fire broken rock inside Ring 2 and scat t ered charcoal in and around both rings.

Int rasite Interpreta t ions

Though there was no radiocarbon sample taken. the presence of the

- 32 -

s ide-notched projectile point and absence of any historic indications suggest ed that the site belonged to the Old Women's phase, dating be­tween A. D. 750 and A.D. 1800.

Other interpretations were rudi mentary and somewhat unsubstantiated. The site probably had at least two components, both used for short dura­tion . The first component would have contained Ring 2A which was sub­sequently demoli shed to construc t Ring 2. The associations of the re­maining . rings and cairns were indeterminate.

Seasona lity, as indicated by the topographic location, lack of stone tools and existence of small internal hearths, argued for a short term occupation during a cold period. This might suggest late fall or winter. The large-mammal foetal bones substantiated a winter camp situation.

EfOp-324

Descript i on

EfOp-324 was located on a narrow bl uff ridge overlooking the steep­walled valley of the lower Alkali Creek. It was an eight ring s i t e on sloping land that dropped dramatically to a panoramic view to t he south and east (Plate 7). It was crosscut to the east and wes t by deep drain­age channels and sloped down into the Alkali Creek valley to the north. The only prair i e level corridor out from the site was a narrow stri p of l and t o the northwest (Figure 7).

The vegetation was primar i ly a light cover of Bouteloua-Sti pa-Opun t i a association. The vegetat ion was even lighter. approachin g a steppe assoc ia tion on t he sloping land to the west, south and southeast. A small rise of 8 m to the south afforded some shelter from tha t direction, while the view from the top of the same rise was spectacular. Al so. the denuded gravel at the crest of the rise provided a ready source of lithic tools. There was an ample source of larger cobbles farther down the slopes for ti pi ring construction. The coulee bottoms had a heavy growth of scrub. sage and saskatoon bushes.

The soil was uniform throughout the excavation area . The firs t layer was a light brown aeolian silt and sand mixture. slightly darkened in the top several cent imeters. Th is soil. mixed with the occasional cobble,cont inued below the bottom of the excavatio~giving way to a hard.

- 33 -

)

v >-C\J r ro "-

~ g h .. a. a: ; i o g t

, - "- I t} ~ w i" I

Figu re 7. EfOp -32 4: topography an d set ti ng.

- 34 -

leached pan at about 15 cm.

Ring l~ an almost perfect circle 6 m in diameter, had an inside dia­meter of 5.4 m. The granite and sandstone cobbles were less than a quarter buried and between 20 and 30 cm long. The stones had a 25% lichen cover and were loosely spaced. The ring had two potential doorway gaps, one to the north and one to the southeast. Excavation of this ring

also uncovered a central hearth (Plate 8) .

Ring 2 had outside measurements of 5.2 and 4.5 m and inside measure­ments of 4.6 and 3.7 m with the long axis oriented north-south. The rocks were about a third buried and were moderately spaced, 20 - 30 cm long and between 25% and 50% lichen covered. There was no observable doorway and the r ing abutted directly to Ring 1. Excavation uncovered a central hearth in this ring (Plate 9).

Ring 3 was a double ring with an outside diameter of 5.6 m and inside measurements of 3.7 and 4.5 m with the long axis to the east-west. Like Ring 2, it was composed of 20 - 30 cm, moderately-spaced cobbles, 25% to

50% li chen-covered but less than one-quarter buried. However, the inner circle was made of smaller, more loosely.spaced cobbles about one-half buried. There was a potential door gap to the southeast of the larger ring and a second, less likely, gap to the north. There was also a si milar door to the southeast of the inner ring. The double ring was two-thirds excavated and a double, central hearth was uncovered (Plate 10) .

Ring 4 had an outside diameter of 4.3 m and an inside dia me ter of 3. 9 m. It was composed primarily of 20 - 30 cm granite cobbles, loosely spaced and about 25% lichen covered. They were less than one-quarter buried. There were two possible doorways, one to the northwest and one to t he east . There was also a central hearth.

Rings 5 and 8 were unexcavated. Ring 5 had ou t side measuremen t s of 4.8 and 3.6 m and inside measurements of 4.0 and 3.2 m. It was almost triangular in shape with the long axis oriented north-south. It was made of moderately spaced, 20 - 30 em cobbles less than one-quarter buried and 25% to 50% lichen.covered. Ring 6 was diffuse with maxi mum outs ide measureme nts of 5.4 m and 4.0 m, oriented east-west. It was made of loosely-spaced cobbles, less than one-quarter buried and les s than 25%

- 35 -

Pl ate 7. Vi ew to south from EfOp -324.

Plate 8. Ex cavati on of Ring 1 at EfOp-324.

- 36 -

Pl ate 9. Excava t ion of Ring 2 at EfOp-324.

Plate 10. Excavat ion of Ring 3 at EfOp-324.

- 37 -

lichen-covered. Ring 7 was a partial ring, 5 m in length and curved to the south. It was made of tightly-spaced cobbles, 35% to 50% lichen­covered and sat on the surface. Ring 8 was a small circle measuring 2.7 m in diameter on the outside and 2.4 m on the in side. It was com­posed of loosely-spaced cobble less than one-quarter buried and less than 25% lichen covered. It had a possible doorway to the north-we st .

Excavation Results

As in other sites, a maxi mum excavation grid of nine 5 by 10 m sites and three 5 by 5 m pits was laid out. Each area was surface-collected and all flakes were n~asured in. A total of 3.5 large units and a small unit were shovel-shaved and screened to expose four rings. The hearth areas were excavated by trowel and the ins ides of the rings were taken down an extra 2 cm by the same method. All ..i.!!. situ artifacts \'/ere measured. A plane-table topographic map of the site was drawn, plan­views made and photographs taken (Figure 8).

Two new recording techniques were introduced at thi s s i te. The first was a method of measuring tipi rings by radial measurement fror~ t he centre of the ring (Smith 1974) . We found that a ring could be a~u r­

ately measured and diagrammed in abou t 20 minutes by this method. The second method was the use of the plane table for ar t ifact measurin g. A single datum point was established and then the al i dade was used for angles and eleva t ions and a tape for distances. We found t hi s to have both disadvantages and advantages. The extreme 40 to 50 m leng t hs of tape meant that distortion in length measures increased wi th distanci from the alidade. Also, measuring required at leas t a three·man team. However, all artifacts could be plotted and a reasona bly accurate plan­view drawn, as the excavation proceeded. This meant that fragile or obstructive artifacts could be immediately removed. The method was also fast and efficient. Finally, i t avoided the necessity of several datum points, multipl e measurement and a long level line in large pits. Both of these methods were adopted at la t er excava t ions.

The leach i ng test for relative age was again attempted on the ex­cavated rings with the following results :

co (V)

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0,,' · 0 r-:J 0' v, 4' I ",1' ' .• .,. .. ~-""'- -Jr4 . . ',"' , , . / " - --- , . '. I \ .... '''"'', "';' > . • ~ u _ _ -.t". " ~I I \ '. .I.~", ,otff' / ----t- ."_~ ,: • \ • . "'\1 '" "'.. .. '- - 1-'" ' ". " ,'- ,

I ,

• • / - ::.-.=--..,. ;'" .. :-i.-..J, . -',.. - . - , . .-' L

~- - " I • ". I . , V .. " • - - -- - • ' . . • • \ • I I . l..., I co' I .. .. . .. ,,.. ,,,sn" r---::./ ,··r: ,,0· ., ~ ',,' v,,' .. I I • I.. . .. J,,~ / r"v "' . " I • \ V 1,0. / \,,1' '''' \ "~,ll ., no:) -o ".. I / . y¢ J ..~ .... .. ~ I

V

v

v

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" " " v V

:1

V

V

" V

J'o-- l"'] " ~"l:fj '"1 ]''' V

V V vv .., v ~~

Vv VV

NOlln8 1 ~l SIO l:JV-"ll~V 8 SllNn NOI1 VII '1JX3

~ "

~

" " " . " V

" V

V

v

PZ£ dOl ]

<:::t N (V)

I 0.. o 4-W

+J ro c: o +J ro > ro u X Q)

4-o c: ro

0..

co Q) s... ~

en LL

- 39 -

ACID RING NO . OUTSIDE DEPTH INSIDE DEPTH DIFFERENCE

TEST 1 2.5 3.7 1.2

2 6.2 7.0 0.8

3A 3. 7 4.5 0.8

4 1.5 3.9 2.4

Features: Aside from the rings, a number of features were uncovered by excavation (Figure 7) . In the approximate centre of Ring 1, there was a roughly circular flat hearth. It was 0.8 by 0.9 m, oriented east-west and about 3 cm below the surface. It was composed of small ash lenses in a brown silty soil with an 8 cm deep, basin-shaped red stain to the soil below . It contained scattered flecks of charcoal, several historic artifacts and some small bone chip~ both burnt and unburnt. About 45 cm south was a 15 cm diameter, basin-shaped depression. It was ei ther man ­made or a rodent disturbance. It also had bone and charcoal fragments within it. This second depression was only 5 cm deep.

The hearth from Ring 2 was flat, irregularly-shaped, and 84 cm by 68 cm with the long axis oriented east-west. It contained re l atively large charcoal concentrations, several f lakes and retouch f lakes. There was no bone content in the hearth. There were two small depressions along the east side of the hearth, each irregular in shape, 7.5 cm deep and filled with charcoal . There were al so two peg ho l es near the hearth.

o The peg to the north was at a 15 angle to the sou t hwest and was 9 cm deep. The peg to the immediate east was straight and only 3 cm deep. The red staining of the soil extended 14 em below the hearth.

The hearth in the centre of Ri ng 3 was actually a double hearth. To the southeast was an oval section 65 em by 45 cm and oriented northwest­southeast. The section to the northeast was circular and measured 30 em in diameter. Both were flat. The larger section contained charcoa l , ash, burnt and unburnt bone, retouch flakes and seed beads. The smaller section contained some charcoal and burnt bone. The red stain below the larger section was 16 cm deep while the one below the smaller section was 10 cm deep.

The Ring 4 hearth was circular, measuring 67 cm in diameter. It was f lat and contained some charcoal, several burn t bone f ragments and a couple of seed beads. The red stain below the ri ng had a maxi mum de pt h

- 40 -

of 10 cm.

There were al so t wo hearths discovered outside t he r ings. Between Rin gs 2 and 3 was a flat, oviform hearth (Heart h 5) with a maxi mum north­

south measurement of 51 cm. It contained flakes, charcoal and some smal l

pieces of unburnt bone. There was a sma ll irregular de pression i n the

south half of the hearth and a possible peg hole to the immedia t e north.

Between Rin gs 3 and 4 was a very shallow (0.4 cm) red stain wi t h a

maxi mum l ength of 27 cm, oriented east-west (Hearth 6) . It conta i ned no charcoal but did have several pieces of bone and fire cracked rock in

close proximity .

Art i facts : There were 1049 f l akes recovered at EfOp-324, which were

58.7% quart zite, 11.9% chert, 22. 3% jasper, 0.3% chalcedony, 4. 0% pe t ­

r i fi ed wood, 1.9% quartz and 0.9% other materials. Of these, ei ght

chert and a couple of chalcedony pieces (about 1%) may have been imported

while the rema inder were available from regiona l river gravels, surface

t ill deposits and exposed gravel bed s .

The di str ibution of these flakes on both the surface and the ex­cavated floor level was meaningful. A tota l of 518 flakes (49.6% of the

t ota l) were remo ved f rom 29 surface units aro und the four excava ted rings.

Of these, onl y 10 (1. 92%) were inside t he rings. The remainder had very def in i te distribution patterns . Seventeen units t o the eas t and west of the rings had 0 to 6 f l akes in them. Nine units, to the sout h and between the rin gs had 10 to 17 fl akes each. Finally , two units, immediatel y

south of Ri ng s 1 and 2, had 68 and 276 flakes. Althou gh thi s did no t re­present a total f lake i nventory , it did indicate areas of concen t ration

and ac t ivity (F i gure 9).

Within the excavated units, the various artifact categories eac h had

specif i c distribution patterns. Al l the historic artifacts were foun d

wi th in Tipi Rings 1, 3, and 4 usual ly close to, or with i n, the heart h

(F i gure l OB). Lith i c tools were recovered princi pally from the open

area between r ings (Fi gure 10C). Bone f ragments were ra ndoml y di s­

trib uted by l ot except for a scarci t y eas t of Ring 3 (F igure 11B). Fire

broken rock was concen t rated ins i de Rings 1 and 2 and in t he area between Ring 3 and Ri ng 4 (Fig ure l lC ). Fla kes were concentrated i n the area be­

t ween t he ring s and ins id e Ring 2 (F i gure l l A).

z o ~ ::::> III a::: ~ (j)

a I.&J :::.:: <t ...J U.

I.&J U

~ a::: ::::> (j)

~ C\J r0 a. o

o

(II

(II

,: :::'; "

:~':.".:. : "/(: ' .. . . ' :::.::

'+- 0

W

- 41 -

o

E 0

Non ..... 0

~ (II

Figure 9. Distrib ut ion of su rfa ce fl akes at EfOp -324.

II)

L&J :00: C( ...J 14. 14. 0 ., z

<D

e 0 on ..... II)

L&J :00: C( ...J ....

E 0 on ..... ,..;

I! o

..

o

E 0 on ..... II)

L&J :00: C( ...J .... 2 , 0

0

E e 0 0 on on ..... ..... II) II) L&J L&J :00: :00: C(

C( ...J 14. ..J

"-0 ~ + 2 0

N

0 :: . [;ill

I

BI' 8-4

FIGURE 10-A

•

FIGURE 10- B

B-6

G -,

G - 3

G -5

G- ?

•

II UN I FAC!S 2 POINTS

2 SCRAPERS

2 BIFACES

II UNIFACES

FIGURE 10-C

- 4i -

H -I

H - 4

C -I

C-3

~ .. - .. -

EfOp 324 EXCAVATION LOTS

LOCATION OF HEARTHS a HISTORIC ART I FACTS

UNIFACE

2 POUNDERS

LOCAT ION OF LITHIC TOOLS BY LOT

Figure 10. Location of variou s concentration s by lot ln EfOp- 32 4.

- 43 -

105 7

.... - " -

171 45

FIGURE II-A FLAKE CONCENTRATIONS BY LOT

22 6

,.' - .....

12 9 o

FIGURE II-B BONE CONCENTRATIONS BY LOT

22

... - - - -

8 2

FIGURE 11- C F IRE BROKEN ROCK CONCENTRATIONS BY LOT

Figure 11. Lo ca tion of vario us concentrations by lot in EfOp-324.

- 44 -

a b c d e

9 h

k

... l.e 0 n p q

m

s

eM

P l ~ te 11. Artifacts from EfOp - 324.

- 45 -

On closer examination, certain categor i es had even more confined pat­

t erns of distribution. Bone, for ins t ance, was f ound pri maril y along the rock border of Rings 2, 3 and 4 and south of the hearth in Ring 1, around Hearth 6 and throughout Ring 2. Finally, t here was some sel ec­

tivity of material types. The l arge surface concentrat i on to the south

of the rings was 94.6% fine-grained white quartzite. In the excavated

pits, the area east of Ring 3 had an inordinately hi gh ratio of jasper

while the area just north had a predominance of cher t (Figure 12 ).

The stone tool assembly from Ef Op -324 was qui te ext en sive. The re

were two complete projectile points and a point ba se. There were al so two Style 4 bifaces, a bifacia l ly-retouched f lake, a Style 3 end scraper,

two Style 5 end scrapers, four Style 1 unifaces, a Style 2 un iface , eighteen Style 3 unifaces , fi ve Style 4 uni face s and one pebble pounder.

This assortment showed a strong preva l ence of unifac i al tools (P late 11).

The historic artifacts i ncluded two large beads, 28 seed beads, an 1866 Henry cartridge, a musket ball, a smal l piece of brass, a shotgun

case. a brass tack head, a brass ring, a metal f ragmen t an d seve ral

pi eces of melted glass from a med i cine bottl e (Plate 11 ).

Intrasite Interpretat ions

Two carbon samples were t aken from hearths in th is s ite but t hey were undated at the time of writing. The hi s t oric art i facts set the date for one occupation as post-1866 and probably post-1880. The associated

side-notched projectile points ~Ie re ass igned to t he Old Women' s phase which dated between A.D. 750 and A.D. 1800.

It was stated earlier i n t he t ex t tha t unless ev idence proved the contrary, the occupation level would be considered as a s in gle component. In this site, however, such evidence did exist. The first cl ues that there might be more than one occupa t i on were the exis t en ce of t wo hearths

wi th different depths of stain in side the double ring and t he specific

distribution of t he historic art i fac ts . It wa s t hen discovered that the

historic ar t ifact s were assoc ia ted with the shall ow sta ined hearths while

lithic artifacts were found with t he deeper sta ined hearths . These dis­

coveries led to a complete collec t ion of all poss ibl e re lative dat ing data and a subsequent cros s-comparison (Tabl e 5). The results of this

(see page 48)

FIGURE 12-A

FIGURE 12-8

FIGURE 12-C

- 46 -

o 0- 20% OF TOTA L FLAKES

o 21-40% OF TOTAL FLAKES

[) 41-50%OF TOTAL FLAKES

[] 51- 80 % OF TOTAL FLAKES ........ - ..

,"

PERCENTAGE OF QUARTZITE

, ... - .. _--",'

PERCENTAGE OF CHERT

PERCENTAGE OF JASPER

Figure 12. Concentra tio ns of lithic materials by lot in EfOp- 324.

- 47 -

TABLE 5: COMPARISONS OF TIPI RI NG CHARACTER ISTICS*

<.!) Ll-Z o 0::: w z:

0::: ....... w o LI- I-<

W 0::: w :> ....... 0 0 <::( co (!J 0 (/) W (/) f-;a: u. <::( U f-O::: f- Uf- l.L (/) :::::J 0 f- :::::JW <::( ........ u 0 Z zz O f- ....... 0::: <::( I

I WW W U 0 LI- I f--(!J f-- U I Z ;a: c..9 Of-- ........ f-- 0::: Z a... 0::: U <::( <::( 2 (/) (/) f- a... <::( ....... W w ....... w .............. (/) ........ 0::: WW 0::: Cl a... .....J ::E:OO::: <::(I<::( o I

1 >25 0-25 6.0 x 8 cm

2 30 25- 50 4.8 16 cm

3A >25 25-50 5.6 x? 10 cm?

38 30 25- 50 4.3 16 cm?

4 >25 0-25 4.4 x 10 cm

5 >25 25-50 4.2

6 >25 0-25 4.7

7 >25 25-50

8 >2 5 0-25 2.7

*Given the fol l owing characteris t ics of t he recen t sites :

-less than 25% buried,

-0-25% lichen cover,

-poss ibi l ity of larger r ing diamete r,

- presence of historic art i fa cts associ at ed with 8-10 cm

sta i ni ng by the hearth;

t he si tes ordered by decrea s i ng number of recent characteristics

would be:

1 & 4, 3A or 38, 6, 5, 8, 3A or 38 an d 2.

Assumin g that the larger of the do ubl e r i ngs is the more recent, a l ogi cal ordering in t o two compo nents wou ld be:

Older Component - (5) , 8, 38, 2;

Younger Comp onent - (5), 6, 3A, 4, and 1.

- 48 -

comparison suggested at least two components)with excavated Rings 2 and

3B associated with the earlier component and Rings 1, 3A and 4 belonging

to the l ater historic component.

A full examination of the data failed to reveal any strati graphic evidence of separation, so individual assignment of artifacts proved to

be impos sible. In the same way, the external hearths and activity areas could not be desi gnated as to component, so this line of research had to be abandoned. It also made further analysis of activity and season­ality difficult.

There was some indirect evidence of seasonality. The exposed location and obvious long use by both components suggested that this was a summer

camp. This was further supported by extensive flaking operations that were conducted at this site.

EfOp-49

Description

EfOp-49 was located on a protruding, prairiealevel bluff above Alkali Creek. It was 8.5 km from the river and 1 km west of the creek. The bluff protruded to a small ridge,then dropped in a series of terraces towards the creek plain. One third of the site area appeared to be be­low that crest.

The vegetation was primarily a sparse Bouteloua-Sti pa-Opuntia associa­tion. The nearest scrub brush was about 300 m south in a large coulee system. The soil was a thin layer of aeolian. grey-brown sands and silts that overl ai d 5 - 10 cm accumulation of gravel and cobbles. Below this was a grey, leached sandy till with a considerabl e amount of rock.

A total of 34 tipi rings were mapped at this site. They ranged be­tween 2.5 m and 7.7 m in diameter with a mean diameter of 4. 88 m and a

standard deviation of ± 1. 14 m. Fifteen of these rings were recorded in

detail, wi t h t he resu l t s indicating a surprising regularity. All 15

were constructed of granitic till cobbles averaging 20 - 30 cm in l ength

and abou t two-thirds buried. These cobbles were tightly spaced in only three rings and modera t ely spaced in the rest. All the rings were be­

tween 60% and 80% l ic hen-covered. The mean distance between rings was 4.5 m but the range was from 0.2 to 19.5 m. Only four rings had possi ble

- 49 -

doorways and all of these were somewhat speculative (Figure 13).

There were nine cairns wi t hin the site area, varying between 1.3 and 4 m in diameter and averagi ng 1.9 m in diameter. They had a mean se­

paration distance of 33.3 m, vary i ng between 11.8 and 53.5 m. Cairn 1

was a focal point of the site. It was s ituated on a small rise on the

south ri m of the site, a high point of the site area. It was 4 m in

diameter, almost a meter high and surrounded by an ext ensive coll ection

of flakes (Figure 13).

Excavation Results

Virtually the same methodology was followed here as was used at

EfOp-324. However, the first unit excavated, a 10 x 10 m square,

immediately indicated the fo ll y of our choice of sites. The abundance

of gravel and cobbles in the ti ll made shovel-shaving difficult and un­rewarding. Practically nothing was recovered ~ situ. Furthermore, the

screening operation was slowed considerably by the quantities of rock

that had to be picked over. The site therefore, was abandoned with t he

completion of the first unit.

Features: Only one ring was actually excavated. There was no sign

of an interior hearth, or any other features but t he gravels,andthe exposed location may have erased any indications long before we excavated it.

The ring itself had an outside diameter of 5.8 m and an inside di ameter

of 4.5 m. It was composed primarily of 20 - 30 cm long field cobbles,

mostly granitic in origin and tightly spaced. It was two-thirds bur ied and 50 - 75% lichen-covered. There was no doorway.

Artifacts: The art ifacts from EfOp-49 came from two areas. A total of 50 lithic fragments were removed from the considerable surface scatter around Cairn 1 while another 69 flakes were excavated from Rin g 5.

Together they were 58% quartz i te, 18.5% chert, 1. 7% j asper, 6.7% chal­

cedony, 0.8% petrified wood, 12.6% quartz and 1. 7% other materials. Of

these, all the chalcedony, j asper and petrified wood came from the ring

al ong with 77. 3% of the chert. App roxi mately three-quarters of the

quartz was gathered from the cairn.

There was very l ittle t ool recovery from t he si t e. The i nventory

included three Style 3 unifaces, a Style 4 uniface and a pebble pounder.

. ' . . . . . . . .. ..

- 50 -

f;·

-: ... . .... '.: ~

: , I .: . . ..•

. .. . 't. : ... . ', ... . :

.. : .....

Figure 13. EfOp-49: torography and setting.

r -- ' ;

r·. I \~Lj

- 51 -

EfOp-53

Description

EfOp-53 was an extremely large complex of rings located on a series of terraces at an elbow of Alkali Creek. It was 0.09 km from the creek at its closest spot and extended to a point about 0.4 km from the creek. It was 8.5 km north of the river.

The s ite was situated on a terrace, just north of the creek and about 6 m above it. It concentrated in a long~narrow hollow at the north edge of this terrace. This hollow had an 8 m high wall to the north of i t that established another terrace series, sloping upwards fo r about 300 m to a high, central plateau. All levels, up to and including the plateau, had ring concentrations, broken by culturally bare areas and connected by widely-scattered single rings. This study concentrated on the first terrace and the hollow which contained 63 rings>though the total compl ex included something over 161 rings.

The first terrace had a somewhat sparsely covered Bouteloua-Stipa association, broken by exposed and eroded gravel patches. The hollow had a similar association but was far more thickly vegetated. There was some scrub brush between the first terrace and the creek and in a narrow valley to the immediate west of the site. This scrub was composed of the usual species of Rosa, Artemesia, Eleagnus and Shepherdia. The creek appeared to have a permanent water supply in this area so t he pools were probably spring fed.

The soils were essentially aeolian sand and silts, grey-brown in colour. The topsoil was thin but had a buried organic horizon immediate ly below it in the hollow. The silty level below i t was hard packed and uniform for about 25 cm, at which level it became heavily leached. Exposed areas such as the ri ms or slopes of the terraces contained large concentrations of gravel and cobbles.

The 63 rings had a mean maximum di ameter of 6.14 m with a standard deviation of ± 1.01 m. The range in ma xi mum diameters varied between 4.5 and 9.1 m. Only eight rings had possibl e doorways, t hree to the nort heast, four to the north and one to the wes t . The rings were com­posed primarily of granitic cobbles, 20 - 35 cm long and glacial in' ori gin.

- 52 -

The degree of buria l and amount of lichen cover on the stones showed

considerable variation.

The distributional pattern of the rings was such that the 18 on the

first terrace were located in the southwest corner, clustered along the south rim of the terrace . The rings in the hollow extended i ts f ull length but were concentrated at the two ends. The upper t errace rings

were diffuse and randomly scattered with minor concentrations of up t o 5 rings in flat ri m areas. The rings on the plateau were cl ustered to

the north of a ridge at the east end of the plateau (Figure 14).

Excavation Results

Two rings and 160 m2 were fully excavated and measured by the same methods as were used at EfOp-324. However, it became apparent t hat

there was a buried ring below Ring 2 so an additional 80 m2 were t aken down another 4 - 8 cm, mostly by trowel, to expose the l ower occupation level. Artifact recovery was particularly high so the plane t ab le measuring system was used only on worked flakes. The remai nder of the

flakes were sketch plotted by the square metre.

Features : Levell - Ring 1 had outside diameters of 7.0 and 5.2 m and insi de diameters of 6.0 and 5.2 m with the long axis oriented north­south. The rocks were primarily 20 to 30 cm long, two-thirds buried and 25 to 50% lichen-covered. They were not evenly spaced but occurred as clusters of three to ten rocks, which in turn were loosely spaced around the peri meter. There was no evidence of a doorway (Pl ate 12) .

The centrally located hearth in this ring was oval-shaped with a black stain around the northwest quadrant and a depression on t he west edge. It measured 44 cm north-south by 35 cm east-west and wa s fla t with a thin band of red stained soil below. It contained no ash or

carbon but did have a piece of fire broken rock, a few flakes and two bone chips. The depression was conical with a maxi mum diameter of 7 cm

and a depth of 3 em bel ow the hearth l evel.

There were also two small pits within the ring. To the southeast of

the hearth was a 47 em di ameter pit, 2 to 3 em deep. It was basin­shaped and filled wi t h a dark grey soil and a min ute amount of carbon. To the northwest was a second, s imilar feature with a 23 cm by 17 em

~:~ .'-<."': ' . . 0

' . ~.:

.. \;.;.

:.~.'.:

:'.~" '-;,;"

- 53 -

o "

Figure 14. EfO p-53 : t opography and setting.

>-r0 1E l() <l:

a: Q. C.!>

o ~ - 0 W I--

. 2

a .

- 54 -

Plate 12. Excavation of Ring 1 at E Op-5 3.

Plate 13. Excavati on of Ring 2 at EfOp -53.

- 55 -

oval shape and a depth of 3 cm. It was al so f illed wi t h a dark grey soil.

Ring 2 had outside di ameters of 5.3 and 4. 5 m and inside diame t ers

of 4.7 and 4. 0 m with the long axis to the east-wes t. In mos t re spects

it was the same as Rin g 1, except that it was more deeply bur i ed and

the cobble clusters were more wi del y spaced (Plate 13).

It had a central feature which consisted of a small oval depres sion covered with cobbles and pieces of fire broken rock. It was basin- sha ped,

measuring 27.5 cm in diameter and 5 cm deep. It conta ined four f l ake s and a bone f r agmen t but no charcoa l. Like t he depre ssions i n the other

ring, it was filled with a dark gr ey soil . This feature wa s located as a hearth would be, but lacked the cha racteristic red sta in in the soil

be low (Figure 15 ).

Features: Level 2 - The only feature in Level 2 was the ring i t self .

This ring wa s completely buried and onl y about one-thi rd exposed when

the ring above it was comp l etely excavat ed. The excavated port ion wa s 4.1 m in diameter and composed of smal l cobb les in wi dely spaced clu sters.

Art ifacts: Surface - A collecti on of flakes and ar t ifacts was made

from t he en tire surface of the s i t e with associa ti on to the closest ti pi

ring being noted. A total of 114 f l akes and arti facts were recovered,

11.9% of the tota l site inventory. These were 60.5% qua rtzi te, 28 . 1% chert, 4. 4% j asper, 2.6% an uniden t i fi ed metamorp hic roc k, 1. 8% quar t z

and 0. 9% each of petrified wood, chalcedony and green argilli te. The di stribution of these fl akes was essentiall y uniform with a sl i ght ly hi gher den si ty of f lakes found around the rin gs on the outer t errace (Rings 46-63). Th is was al so a s ignificantly hig he r pro porti on of che r t in this area.

The art ifacts found in t hi s survey were all unifaces . There were

four Style 3 end scrapers, a Style 1 side scraper , four Styl e 1 uni faces, two Style 3 unifaces , and three Style 4 unifaces.

Art ifacts: Level l - A total of 194 flake s and too ls were recovered

from the Level l excavation: 20 . 2% of the t ota l site inventory. Mo st

were recovered in the screen . The mater ial breakdown i ncluded 41. 7%

quart zi te, 40.72% chert, 9.3% petrifi ed wood, 6. 7% j as per, 1.6% quar tz

and black metamor ph ic rock, an d 0.52% green argill i te. The dis tri but i ona l

- 56 -

Figure 15. Plan of Levell excavation at EfOp-53.

-' o o ... 0: o ... '" ... • z ;:. ~

• <l •

'" z ii:

" ... ii: " .. 2 0

:!: or ... ,. '" 0:

U U • 0 ~ ... 0: or

a • ,-----, """ 0 ' ,- . ,_ .. ~, .. "

• '"

o

- 57 -

F i gu re 16. P 1 an 0 f Level 2 ex c a vat ion at EfO p - 5 3 .

-' o :: 0: o

"' " '" ..J ...

• <I

; i o "' ii' ::>

'" ~ e:

g ~ ~

G t

- 58 -

patterns were somewhat skewed to an exterior preference. The inside of

Ring 1 had 17.5% of the total inventory while the exterior of that ring

had 27. 3%. Likewi se , the interior units yielded 32. 5%. Of greater significance was the fact that roughly 80% of the lithic yi el d of each

ring interior was within the south half of the ring.

There were very few tools recovered from thi s level . The inventory included a Prairie Side-Notched projectile point, two Style 3 end scrapers, two Sty l e 5 end scrapers, two Styl e 4 uni faces, a pebble pounder, three cobble pounders and a bipolar core (Plate 14 ) .

The bone recovery from this level was also scanty. There were a

ha lf dozen small f ragments located outside the rings. Al l of these were

too small to be identified. Along the southern edge of rocks in Ring 2 there were seven rib fragments and a molar of Bison bison. On the north ri m of the same ring was a Taxus taxidea skull with no cranium roof . More Bison bison fragmen t s were located along the south rim of Ring 1.

Artifacts : Level 2 - The 652 f l akes and tool s recovered f rom this

l evel composed 67.9% of the total inventory. The materials incl uded

41. 3% quartzite, 35.8% chert, 14. 7% quartz, 12.4% jasper, 2.8% chalcedony , 1.8% petrified wood and 1.3% unsorted material s. The high flake counts ,

espec i al ly of quartz,were accounted for by t he fact tha t some 50% of the tota l were retouc h flakes. The flakes outside the ring outnumbered those inside by al mos t four to one.

The tool s included one possible Oxbow projec t i le point, f ive projectil e point fragments, a Sty le 2 end scraper, four Style 3 end scrapers , a Style 2 uniface, a Style 3 uniface, t hree Styl e 4 unifaces and two pebble pounde rs. There was no bone recovery f rom thi s level aside f rom some very small f ragments (Plate 14 ) .

Int rasite In terpreta t ions

The i nter pretations for the excavations were not extensive. Level 1 was as si gned to the Old Women's phase based on the existence of a Prairie

Si de-No t ched project il e po i nt . Both rings were assumed to be synchronous.

It was deduced, on the ba sis of surface scatter, that they we re used over

a period of time that exceeded t he lifespan of EfOp -353 but was consider­

ably short er t han Ef Op -324. No seasonali ty was indicated by t he bone

- 59 -

a c

b

d f 9

e h

k

eM

Pl ate 14. EfOp-53 arti f ac ts .

- 60 -

remains but the sheltered l ocation, presence of hearths and restric t ed lithics may have i ndicated a winter site. The t wo depression s i ns i de Ri ng 1 were interpreted as culturall y derived but of unknown ori gi n.

The second level was tentatively assigned to the Oxbow phas e on the basis of the projectile point recovery. However, the point was a poor

specimen and mixed layering was not an impossi bility. Agai n, seasona li ty was inferred by ind i rect means . Excessive flakin g activity and to t al lack of hearth indicat ions suggested a summer util i zat i on, pro babl y for an extended time period.

CAIRNS

A total of six cairns were excavated i n the survey area over the t wo year period. A single cairn at EfOp-109 was un covered an d re por ted in 1975. In 1976 we dug three cairns at EfOp-200, one at EfOp-331 and one at EfOp-353. The following synthesi s deals with the results of those excavations by site.

EfO p-109

The cairn at EfOp- 109 was 1.4 m in diameter, two or three rocks thick

and previously disturbed. It was si tuated i n the centre of a hill and surrounded by surface scatter. Th is ca irn was part i ally excavated to reveal a basin-shaped subsurface depression sli ghtly sma ller than the cairn itself. This depression had a max imum de pth of 30 em and conta ined a large quantity of flakes , bone f ragmen ts and tools (Adams 1975: 58-60) (Plate 15 ).

EfOp-200

The f irst cairn was 1.3 by 1.1 m and 19 cm extended above t he surf ace. Its total depth to the base of the cairn was 28 cm. It was composed of

21 rocks, of wh ich ten were 10 - 20 cm, nine were 20 - 30 cm and 2 were greater than 30 cm. Like all the EfOp-200 ca irn s, it was l ocated on a high plateau. overlooking Alkali Creek. This cairn was on t he eastern ri m. It had no interior structure and no arti fa ct con tent.

The second ca irn wa s 1.5 m in diameter and 17 em above the surf ace. It extended 10 cm into the ground. This cairn contained over 150 cobb les.

many of which were scattered out fr om a central core and two-th i rds of which were buried. A 2 m2 pit revealed several chert and cha lcedony flakes

- 61 -

a b c d

e

eM

Plate 15. EfOp -109 artifacts.

- 62 -

and several pockets of pebble til l gravel below the cairn in what was

normall y a brown silt layer.

Ca i rn 3 was also 1. 5 m in diameter but was compact and built around

two boulders, each of which was 0.7 m long. It extended about 34 cm out

of the ground and was buried another 15 cm . It was composed princi pal ly

of small boulders with the intervening spaces cobble-filled. There were a few sma l l animal bones among the rocks but these were probably in­

trusive . This was t he only excavated cairn at the site with pos iti ve

evi dence of internal structure. Below the centra l portion of the cairn was a defini t e pit, 70 em long by 55 cm wide and rough ly rectangular in

shape. It was 33 em deep and completely filled with a gravel- sand

soil while the surrounding area had clay-sand bedding.

The presence of the gravel forced a re -examination of Cairn 2 which

had a less definable gravel pavement bel ow the rocks. This layer had no

disti nctive shape except that it was a form of a depression wi t h a maxi­mun depth of 15 em below the centre of the cairn. Spot testing around

the cairns failed to reveal any trace of gravel lenses.

EfOp-33l

Thi s si t e was a un i que cairn complex. I t was loca t ed on the pra i rie

l evel in t he knob and kettle topography, 11 km north of the river and 1. 8 km we st of Alka l i Creek. The site itself consisted of three randomly­shaped cl uster s of ca irns cover i ng three small hills. There were at l east 34 ca irn s on the central hill, 11 of which formed a rough ova l wi th a central cairn. The surface of this hill was picked comple t ely cl ean of rocks. There were seven cairns on the apex of the west hill and 16 more in a rough ali gnment along a low ridge between the two hills. There

were als o four rings north of this ridge. The south hill had at l east

65 cairns,of which 56 were mapped. This hill was virtually covered with ca i rns, but they were concent rated on the top, the south slope and a

row along t he no rth edge (F igure 17 ).

The 117 measured cairn s had a maxi mum mean diameter of 1.7 m wi t h a range of 0.5 m t o 6.3 m and a minimum mean diameter of 1.1 m in a r ange

of 0.4 m to 4. 6 m. Only 9 cairns were considered circular and the rest

were roughl y oval with 53 oriented east-west and 57 oriented north-south .

One pecul i arity was that only 4 of the cairns on the south hill were

Ef Op 331

TOPOGRAPHY

• A DATu .. POINT

'(HC( u N(

Figure 17. E fOp- 331:

63

topography and setting.

,.,

,.' ,., ,.,

,.'

,.' ,,'

",

- 64 -

or iented east-west while only 4 of the cairn s on the west hill were

oriented north-s outh. There was not one surface flake or bone ch ip

found i n the ent i re site area.

Only one cairn was excavated. This cairn was located on t he top of

the central hill and was part of the rough ri ng of ca irns . It was 2. 5 m

long, 1.5 m wide and extended 0.43 m above the surface. This eq uated

t o approxi mately one or two cobbles hi gh, six wide and 14 10nQ.

It was 50 to 75% lichen-covered . The surface rocks were l arger t han t he

base layer of cobbles, which were half buried. Many of the surface cobbl es

were standing on end to increase the hei gh t of the cairn. There was no

evidence of any internal structure or subsurface feature. The stones

themselves were divided into five catego ries wh i ch incl uded 0 - 10 cm (2 1),

10 - 20 cm (25 ) , 20 - 30 cm (17 ), 30 - 40 cm (8) and 40 - 50 cm (3).

EfOp-353

The large cai rn to the northeast of the excavated rings i n EfOp-353

was partial ly excavated. It was roughly 2 m i n diame t er and extended

31 cm above t he surface. It was composed of over 150 cobb l es, most of

which were un der 20 cm long. It was two to three rocks th ick, with a

gravel depre ss ion be l ow it that was 80 cm wide, of unkn own l eng th and at

lea st 40 em deep. There were a few bone fragments an d a co re recovered

from the cairn.

Compari sons

From the above descriptions it is evident that the cairn s were

s imi la r i n many ways . All six were in exposed posit i ons , fo ur had sub­surface hollows , four were built-up around t wo or t hree bou l ders, and

al l were es sen t ia l ly above the ground. However, there were some s ign i fi­

cant differe nces. Whil e th ree had su bsurface holl ows , only one had

art ifac t s in any quan ti t y. The other s ha d hollows fill ed with gravel.

Two cai rns had absolu t ely no sub su r fa ce fe atures. Only the cai r n at

EfOp- 353 showed cl ose assoc i ati on with t ip i rin gs. Two of the ca i r ns

showed ev i dence of del i berate pi l ing of rocks t o create a higher appea r­

ance whil e two othe rs appe ared to be very di ffuse and witho ut purpos e .

There was no at tempt to as sign a pa r ticul ar interpret ive use to any of t he ca i rns .

- 65 -

srSON DRIVE SITE (EfOp-248)

EfOp-248 was a bison drive site located on the east bank of Alkali Creek, about 9.7 km north of the Red Deer River. This drive utilized the

knob and kettle prairie west of the creek as a gathering basin. There

were four major drive lanes, composed of small cairns 5 - 10 m apart.

One line extended about a kilome~r northwest along a coulee channel.

The second led west; 2 km out into the prairie. The third paralleled the

second for a kilome~r. The last extended southwest, along the creek bluffs, then out into the prairie. All four funnelled right up to the

edge of the bluffs, over a small drainage channel , along a terrace which

rose to t he east, and finally , over t he terrace edge and down into a

meander of the creek (Plate 2).

At this terminus, the creek hugged the terrace wall, so it was assumed

t hat any bone bed would be in the creek or on t he flood plain to the

east. A total of 16 test pits in the creek bed, on both banks and on

the terrace above, failed to produce t he bone bed. A few bone fragment s ,

one or two flakes and some bone dust, indicated that there had been at

least t hree occupations in the tested area, all of which involved the utilization of bison bone, but there wa s no concentration of material.

From this evidence, it was hypothes i zed tha t the dr i ves were terminated right i n the creek bed so spring floods could wash the refuse away. It

was also hypothesized that very little butchering was done at thi s loca­tion. Rather, large sections of carcass were hauled either to site complex 10, 0.8 km to the southeast or t o another large ring complex 0. 2 km north, on the east side of the creek .

EfOp-1B

A test trench was dug into the buried site, EfOp-1B, in an attempt to

supplement the artifact retrieval of 1975 (Adams 1976 : 71-72 ). However,

a total excavation of 6 m2 and a surface su rvey failed to significantly

increase the art i fact count. It also failed to provide any indication of organic remains that could be dated. The refore , the only signifi-

cant artifact from this site was still a si ngl e Hanna phase projectile

point (Pla t e 16 ) .

a

e

eM

Plate 16. EfOp-18 artifacts.

- 66 -

b

d

- 67 -

ARTIFACT ANALYSIS

The artifacts have been categorized and analysed using a system

established in the report of the previous season's survey (Adams 1976) .

Therefore, much of the information of that report was repeated here.

Since the same categories were used, artifact styles that were not found in this year's data have been omitted, creating some blank styles in the

text. Finally, si nce some artifacts were found in this area in 1975 , they were i ncluded in this report for statistical purposes.

PROJECTILE POINTS

For the sake of convenience. the projectile points were categorized

within recognized Northwestern Plains phases.

Oxbow (Plate 14b)

Description.

Material.

Measurements .

Provenience.

A single broken projectile point had a deep concave (almost V-shaped) base and straight sides . It was

triangular in shape with the proximal third of the

point fractured off . Deep flakes had been removed on

the sides 5.9 mm from the base to create an impression of notching. The basal junctures were well-rounded but there was no evidence of grinding. It was most

similar to Oxbow points (Nero and McCorquodale 1958).

Quartz.

Width: 20 . 3 mm Thickness: 5.5 mm

EfOp-53 (Level 2).

Phase Assignment. Probably Oxbow Complex (3500 - 2500 B.C.).

Hanna (Plates 16a , l7a)

Description.

Material.

Two nearly complete points: each had obtuse shoulders,a sl ightly expanding stem and a concave base. Both

bases appeared to be lightly ground. Points re ­

sembled Hanna specimens (Wheeler 1954 ).

Quartzite.

- 68 -

a b c

d e

9

eM

Plate 17. Projectile points from various sites.

Measurements.

Provenience.

- 69 -

Length : 28.3 mm Width: 16 , 20 mm Thickness: 5, 7 mm

EfOp-18, EfOp-32.

Mean: 18 mm Mean: 6 mm

Phase Assignment. Hanna phase (2000 - 1000 B. C. ).

Prairie Side-Notched (Plates llb, 14a, 15a, d, 17e, f)

Description.

Materials.

Measurements.

Provenience.

This sample consisted of six side-notched points with U-shaped, generally wide and shallow notches. Bases were convex or straight and notches were angl ed slightly upward. The blades were convex and basal grinding wa s evident on four of the five. Though there was some

internal variety demonstrated, all specimens fell within the Prairie Side-Notched classification (Kehoe 1966) .

Quartzite (4 ), Chert (1) , Chalcedony (1) .

Length: 19. 7 mm (1) Width: 11.2 - 15.6 mm (6 ) Mean: 13.5 mm Thickness: 3.0 - 4.4 mm (6) Mean: 3.5 mm

EfOp-53 (Levell ) , EfOp-109 (2 speci me ns ) , EfO p-11 2, EfOp-324 (2 excavation), EfOp-369.

Phase Assignment. Old Women's Phase (A . D. 750 - A.D. 1800) .

Note. The two points f rom EfOp-109 were formerly cla ssed as Trail Type 14.

Plains Side-Notched (Plates 11a, c, 15b, c)

Descrip t i on .

hilterials.

Two comp lete points and two basal f ragments had shal­low U-shaped notches an gling slightly upward s. The bases were wide and the bl ades convex . There was no

basal grinding and the basal edges were con t racti ng. These specimens showed f i ner workmanshi p than the

Prairie Side-Notched poin ts. They resemb l ed Plains Side-Notched points (Kehoe 1966 ) .

Chert (37) , Chalcedony (1 ).

Measurements.

Proven ience.

- 70 -

Length : 24.2, 32. 7 mm (2)

Width: 13.2 - 15. 4 mm (4 )

Thickness : 2.5 - 4.6 mm (4)

Mean: 28.5 mm

Mean: 14.3 mm

Mean: 3.6 mm

EfOp-109 (2 from Level l), EfO p-324 (2 from excava­

t i on ) .

Phase Ass ignment. Ol d Women's phase (A.D. 750 - A.D. 1800).

Unc l assif i ed Projecti le Points (Plate l 7c, d, g)

Descr ipt ion .

Material s .

Measuremen ts .

Proveni ence .

Three speci mens did not quite coincide with either

t he Pl ains Side-Notched or t he Prairie Side-Not ched

categories, but had the same general charac t eristics

and could be cla ssed as either type. The bases were

convex with mi ni mal basal grinding. The notches are

U-s haped. One complete point had convex blade edges.

Jas pe r (2) , Chert (1) .

Length: 16.6 mm (1)

Width : 14.5 20.6 mm (2) Mean: 17. 5 mm

Thickness: 4. 0 - 4.4 mm (3 ) Mean: 4.5 mm

EfOp-32. EfOp -321, EfOp-353.

Pha se As si gnment. Old Women's phase (A. D. 750 - A. D. 1800).

An addi tional four proj ectil e point bl ade f ra gments were represent ed

from the surface of EfOp-32 (P late 17b). EfOp- 109. EfOp- 112 and EfOp-32l.

There were al so five blade f ragments found in t he excavat ions at Ef Op - 53 .

Level 2 (Plate l4c ). In to tal, there were four f ragmen ts of quartz ite,

one of j asper, two of che rt (one point) and one of cha l cedony.

FORMED BIFACES

The styles desc r i bed i n this category included al l bifacia l ly-mod i fied

tools where the fin al form of t he arti f act was a de l i berate cons i de ra tion.

The one except ion was proj ect i le points which were des cri bed separately .

The i nternal di vi sions (Sty l es) were ba sed on form and size . They were

not in tended as a typology bu t as a de scriptive con veni ence.

Sty 1 e 1 (P 1 ate 16c)

Descrip tion. Two compl ete,cobbl e-s i zed artifac t s and t wo fragments

Material.

Measurement s .

Proveni ence .

Style 2 (Pl ate 16d )

Descri pt ion.

Mate ri a 1

Meas urements.

Provenience.

- 71 -

of ovate-shaped tool s were bifaciall y worked around

the entire peri mete r. The l ateral edges were the primary work i ng ed ges , usual ly scall oped, and al l of them showing wear marks. None of the spec ime ns

appeared to be backed.

Qua rtz ite (4) .

Length: 67 , 80 mm (2 )

Width: 48, 60 mm (2) Th ickness : 13 - 20 mm (4) Mean: 16.5 mm

EfOp-ll, EfOp- 18, EfOp-306, EfOp- 360.

There were two asymme t r ical crescenti c, bifac i ally­worked, cobble- s ized tool s. Both t ools had fu ll

perimeter flaki ng though one wa s un i fa ci al ly worked

on one lateral side .

Quartzite (2 ).

Length : 75, 115rnm

Width: 54 , 76 rnm

Thicknes s: 12 , 19 mm

EfOp-18 (2)

Styl e 4 (Plate l ld, e)

Descrip tion.

Materi als.

Measurements .

Provenience.

One complete and t hree broken speci mens we re essenti ­

ally the same as Sty le 1 bu t were pebble- si zed. Non e of the specimens showed s i gns of bac ki ng but wear marks were pre sen t on the l ateral ed ges.

Quartzite (1), Cher t (1) , Ja sper (4).

Length: 17 - 42 rnrn (3) Mean: 28.3 mm

Wi dt h: 16 - 36 mm (3) Mean: 25 .8 mm

Thickness: 8 - 13 mm (4 ) Mean:9 . 5 mm

EfOp-33, EfOp- 34, EfOp-324 (2 )

- 72 -

BI FAC IALLY- RETOUCHED FLA KES

This was a si ngle category for those flakes which showed bi facia l work i ng alon g one or more edges but were not formed in to an iden t ifi abl e

shape .

Descri ption.

Material s.

Measuremen t s.

Proveni ence.

There were seven specimens, two retouched along the

proximal tip, two worked along the l eft lateral edge, one along the proximal edge and two compl etel y around the peri meter .

Quartz i te (3 ) , Chert (1 ), Jasper (3 ) .

Lengt h: 14 - 60 mm (7)

Width: 17 - 51 mm (7)

Thickness: 4 - 13 mm (7)

Mean: 29.6 mm Mean: 27.2 mm Mean: 8.9 mm

EfOp - l l, EfOp-34. Ef Op-98 . EfOp-269, EfOp=324. EfOp- 32 5, EfOp-360.

BIFACIAL COB BLE CHOPPERS

Bi fa cial cobble cho ppers was a category consis t ing of cobbl es wi t h

la rge f la kes removed from one end, bifacially. to produce a hea vy t ool

wi t h a ragged. po i nted bl ade .

De scr i pt ion.

Mate r i al.

Measuremen t s.

Proveni ence .

SC RAPERS

The single specimen had an irregular shape wi t h a working edge on the di stal end. Flakes had been re­mo ved by blows to both the proxi mal and di sta l ends . The di sta l end was scalloped.

Quartzite.

Length: 182 mm Wi dt h: 90 mm

Th ickness: 66 mm

EfOp-352.

The scra pe r category i ncluded unifacial ly worked artifacts , of t en

ret ouched around t he en tire peri met er. End scrapers had a primary

wo r king edge on the di st al end while side scrapers were used on the o 0 l at era l edges. They us ual ly had an edge bevel of 55 to 90 , greater

- 73 -

than more generalized unifacial tool categories.

End Scrapers, Style 1 (P late l5e, l6b)

Descrip t ion.

Materi als .

Measurements.

Provenience.

Four specimens were ovate to trian gul ar in shape wi th

unifacia l flaking on all edges. The scrapers were

made from fi ne grained material with l i ttle or no

cortex remaining. The pri mary use edge was on the

di stal end, dorsal side. Minimal ventral retouc h to

smooth that surface occurred on one speci men.

Quartzite (2), Chert (2) .

Length: 13 - 24 mm (4 ) Mean: 19. 7 mm Width : 18 - 26 mm (-) Mean: 22.5 mm

Th ickness : 6 - 10 mm (4) Mearn 8. 7 mm

EfOp-18, EfO p-33 (2), EfOp-109.

End Scrape rs , Style 2 (Plate 14d )

Des cription.

Materials.

Measurement s.

Proveni ence.

The two speci mens were essentially the same as Style

1, but wi t hout full peri met er flaki ng. While the

distal end was well worked , other edges had some

ma r gina l f laking or no modificat ion at all. One

specimen was a broken biface that had been r eworked

into an end scraper by retouching the fractured edge.

Chalcedony (1), Chert (1).

Length: 15 - 25 mm

Width : 12 - 20 mm Th ickness : 5 - 10 mm

EfOp-53, EfOp- 248.

End Scrapers , Style 3 (Plate llf, l4e, g)

Descr ip ti on. These four t een specimen s were all derived from split

pebbles with retouch along a porti on of the dorsa l

surface. Tho ugh clas sed as end scrapers due to si mil arities in shape and size , t he edge retouch

could be on the lateral edge of t he fl ake . Al so,

four of the specimens varied from the norm in that

Materials.

Measurements.

Provenience.

- 74 -

they were flat pebbles, broken transversely, t hen re­

touched along the newly exposed face.

Chert (13), Jasper (1).

Length: 8 - 45 mm (14)

Wi dth: 16 - 43 mm (14)

Thickness: 4 - 33 mm (14 )

Mean: 20.9 mm

Mean: 25 .0 mm

Mean: 10.6 mm

EfOp-18, EfOp-53 (10), EfOp-1 96, EfOp-324, EfOp -360.

End Scrapers, Style 5 (Plate llh)

Descripti on .

Materia l s.

Meas ureme nts.

Provenience .

Six very crude, irregula~ shaped f l akes, had uni faci­

al retouch on the dis t al end of the dorsal surf ace.

Three of these flakes had retouch t hat extended al ong

one l ateral surface and part of the proxi mal end.

Chert (3), Jasper (2) Quartz ite (1) .

Length: 24 - 45 mm Mean: 29. 1 mm

Wid th: 11 - 45 mm Mean: 28. 8 mm

Thi ckness: 5 - 17 mm Mean: 8. 0 mm

EfOp -43 (2), EfOp-26 7, EfOp-32l, Ef Op- 324 (2).

Side Scrapers, Style 1 (P late l4j )

Description .

Ma te rials.

Meas ure me nts .

Provenience.

Three complete specimens and two fragmented ar t i fac t s,

all of cobble s ized flakes, had full per imeter, un i­facial flakin g. They had steep, contract ing, late ra l si des. The t hree compl ete specimens were ovate i n

sha pe. One was a retouched core , t he others were on

the dorsal surface of large fla kes. The primary

working edge was on the lateral side. All three

speci mens have been broken along thei r l eng th.

Quartzite (5).

Len gth: 46 - 103 mm (5) Mean: 66.6 mm

Width: 28 - 82 mm (5) Mean: 45. 0 mm

Thickness : 10 - 20 mm (5) Mean: 17. 8 mm

EfOp-21, EfOp-33, EfOp-53, Ef Op- 196, EfOp-36l.

- 75 -

Side Scra pers, Style 2

Descript ion.

Materia 1 s.

Measureme nts.

Provenience.

UNI FACES

This style consis t ed of a single artifact on a pebb l e­

sized f la ke, unifaciall y worked on the dorsal sur­

face. There was l ateral retouch extend i ng al ong

one-third of both lateral edges.

Qua r t zite.

Length: 23 mm

Width: 18 mm

Thicknes s: 6 mm

EfOp-17.

Unifaces included the remai ni ng un ifacia11 y reto uched f la kes. Ma ny

of these flake s had nothin g mo re than a short, single row of edge re­

touch scars al ong one surface. The foll owi ng sty les were based on the

f laked edge and size of the ar t i fact.

Sty 1 e 1 ( P 1 ate 1 5 f)

Descri ption.

Materi als.

Measurements.

Proven ience.

Styl e 2 (P late 16c)

Descri pti on.

The re were 19 cobble-sized flakes wi th dorsal s , margina l retouc h. Most of the se were primary or

secondary deco rticati on f lakes.

Quart zite (17), Chert (2).

Length: 23 - 73 mm (19) Meam 53.8 mm Wi dth : 19 - 76 mm (19) Me an: 43.0 mm

Th icknes s: 9 - 36 mm (19 ) Mean: 17.0 mm

EfOp-ll (2), EfO p- 17 (2), EfOp-33 (2), EfOp- 53 (4» EfOp-1 09. EfOp-170, EfOp -321 (2), EfOp -324 (4), EfO p-352.

Eight cobble -s i zed spec i men~ mainl y of primary and

seconda ry decort icat ion fl ake s) had ven t ra l retouch .

They were essent i al ly ovate to lanceolate i n appearance.

Material s .

Measurement s.

Provenience.

- 76 -

Qua rtzi te.

Length: 31 - 98 mm (8) Mean: 66.2 mm

Wi dt h: 31 - 75 mm (8 ) Mean: 59 .1 mm

Thickness : 12 - 34 mm (8) Mean: 20.4 mm

EfOp -18, EfOp-32 , EfOp-33 (2 ), EfOp- 53, EfOp-270,

EfOp-324, EfOp-361.

Sty 1 e 3 (P 1 ate 14 k, 16 f )

Desc ript ion.

Materi al s.

Measuremen t s.

Provenience .

Style 4 (Plate 14h )

Desc r i ption.

Mate ri als .

Measurements.

Provenience.

Th i r ty-seven cobbl e-sized fl akes had marginal re­

touch on a l ateral edge.

Quartz i te (34 ), Chert (3) .

Length:

Wi dth:

1 6 - 1 94 mm ( 36 )

17 - 87 mm (36 )

Mean: 46.6 mm

Mean: 39.3 mm

Thickness: 5 - 33 mm (36 ) Mean: 14 . 7 mm

EfOp- 17, EfOp- 18, EfOp-33, EfOp-49 (3 ), EfOp-40,

Ef Op-53 (3), EfOp-10S (2) , EfOp-188, EfOp- 193,

EfO p- 31 4, EfOp-321, EfOp-324 (1 8) , EfOp -341,

EfOp-360 .

A to t al of 24 pebbl e-sized fl ake s had a wi de varie ty of shapes with marg inal re t ouch on one or more edges.

All ha ve been grouped toge t her for con ven ience.

Qua r t zite (9), Cher t (13), Chalcedony (1),

Petr if ied wood (1).

Length: 8 - 53 (24) Mean:28.7 mm

Wi dth : 1 - 30 (24 ) Mean: 21.5 mm

Thic kn ess: 3 - 19 (24) Mean: 10.1 mm

EfOp-18, EfOp-20 , EfOp -22 , EfOp-34, EfOp-49,

EfOp- 53 (8), EfOp-321 (2), EfOp-324 (5), EfOp-352

(3), EfOp-360.

UNIFACIAL COBBLE CHOPPERS

This category consisted of cobbles with large flake s removed f rom one

- 77 -

end, unifacia lly , to produce a rough, heavy t ool.

Descript i on.

Materials.

Meas urements.

Provenience.

PECKED TOOLS

One large spli t cobbl e had unifacia l re touch along the proximal end, ventral side. The work i ng edge

was steep and heavily worked.

Quartzite .

Length: 129.4 mm Wid t h: 91.5 mm

Th ickness: 37.3 mm

EfOp-357 .

Th i s category contained smooth surfaced, basical ly rounded stones wi th no del iberatel y removed cortex. Instead, sma l l pock-mar ks, the

result of percus sion, appeared in specifi c areas .

Pecked Pebbles (P la te ll g)

Desc ri ption.

Materi al s.

Measurements.

Provenience.

Pecked Cobbles

Description.

There were two f lat, circul ar pebbles, t wo es senti ­

al ly round pebbles and one long, ovate pebble with

pock- marks . The t wo round pebbles and t he ovat e speci men were scored on one end. The two flat

artifacts were worked around the per imeter edge .

Quartzite.

Length: 36 - 57 mm (4 ) Mean: 48.0 mm Width: 24 - 53 mm (5 ) Mean: 37.5 mm Thickness: 12 - 43 mm (5 ) Mean.: 22. 0 mm

Ef Op -49, EfOp- 53 (3), EfOp- 324.

There were f ive pock-marked cobbl es, all ovate in sha pe. Fo ur of these cobbles were bat t ered on bo th

ends wh i le one was worn on onl y one end. Two of

t he artifacts used on bo t h ends al so had a wear

area on one flat surface. One of the more t ubu lar

specimens had unifacia l flaking on the proxi mal end.

Materi als.

Measurements.

Proven i ence.

Hammerstone

Descri ption.

Materia 1 s.

Meas urements.

Provenience.

HISTORIC ARTIFACTS

- 78 -

Quartzite.

Length: 67 - 189 mm (5 ) Mean: 103. 2 mm

Width : 43 - 94 mm (5) Mean: 65. 4 mm Thickness: 31 - 71 mm (5) Mean: 43.6 mm

EfOp-53 (3), EfOp-22l, EfOp-352.

This pecked cobble was notable i n that it was de­

liberately shaped. It was a roughl y ovate cobbl e

with a shallow ring pecked away all around the

central circumference. One end had battering marks

and a large flake missing.

Granite.

Length: 182 rrun

Width: 100 mm

Thickness: 91 mm

EfO p-242.

This category individually described and ident i f ied var ious his tor ic

artifacts (artifacts of European manufacture) found at EfOp-324, the on ly si t e examined with a positive historic or proto-his toric componen t.

Rifle Cartridge (Plate 11k , 1)

A single spent cartridge and an accompanying bu l le t were t urned over

to the R.C.M. P. ballistics laboratory in Edmonton for ana lysis. They iden t i fie d the cartridge as a .44 Henry, 1866 model. The . 44 Henry wa s

f irst ma nufactured by the Henry Company in 1860 but wa s revi sed i n 1866

as the .44 Henry Fla t. This cart ridge was 1.34 i nches l ong and ha d a

bullet .445 in. i n diameter (11.3 mm ). The bul l et was 200 gra i ns,

cyl indrical and t he cartridge had 26 grains of bl ack powder. It was a

ri m-fire cartridge.

Thi s parti cul ar spec imen had three firing-p in marks indi catin g two

misfires but the bull et has rifling marks , suggesting an eventual ly

successful f i r i ng. Both pieces were found wi th in one t i pi . The ri f l i ng

- 79 -

on the bullet indi cated "5 righ t" r if l i ng. Onl y a few thousand of these

rifles were manufactured before conversion to a "6 r i ght" rifling.

Shotgun Cas i ng

A single brass end fro m a paper 12 gauge shotgun she l l was 1. 06 inche s

(27. 1 mm) long and 0.91 inches (20.6 mm) in diameter. It was i nscri bed

wit h IMPERIAL 12 CANADA on the ba se and may have been an intrus ive element .

Musket Ball (Pl a t e llj )

The musket ball had a diameter of 0.585 i nches (14.9 mm ) for a .60

calibre musket. Muskets ra ng ing from .50 to .60 cal i bre we re common as

trade guns.

Brass Ring (Plate ll r)

A snJall rin g made of 1.4 mm di ame t e r bra s s wa s reco vered. Rings of

this type were common trade items .

Glass

Sixteen fragments of clear, green- tinted bottle glass were all from a

s i ngl e medi ci ne bottle . Thou gh t he fragillents "'Jere parti a lly melted , the

r ec tangu l ar base measured ap pr ox i ma t e ly 45 by 25 nUll. A fragment of 1 ip had

a l ip ring , and a smaller neck ri ng. A fragment from one of the narrow

body si des had portions of the letters U.

Br ass Tack (Plate IIp)

The he ad of a brass t ac k mea sured 10. 25 mm in diameter and was made

of 0 .3 mm th ic k bra ss . Tacks of th i s t ype were comrnon trade iteflls for the

decoration of gun s .

Iron Fra gmen t (Plate l ls)

A sma ll piece of sheet i ron 0.4 mm thick was clearly cut along one side,

very r oug h1 y cut a long a second side and broken on the two ends. It was

roughl y tr i ang ul ar in sha pe with the poi nt broken . It rJleasured 52.5 mm

lon g , had a ma xi mum wi dth of 16 111111 and a minil~lum width of 6.3 mm.

Bras s Gun Piece (P late llq )

A smal l piece of brass, distinc tively shaped and broken at one end,

appea r ed to be a fragille nt of a gun st ra p pivot.

- 80 -

Beads (P l ate 11 m, n)

There were two styles of beads represented at this site. Three large

fra gments of split beads were all ceramic. A half of a purple bead was 9.9 mm l ong, 8. 3 mm wide and had a 1.2 mm di ame ter central hole. It was par t ia ll y melted. Two blue beads had similar shapes but were mo re melted so meas urements were not precise.

There were also 28 seed beads from the site. Two of t he beads were

bl ue and the rema inder were white . Mea suremen ts have not been taken.

ARTIFACT ANALYSIS

The l imited sample of artifacts were typ ical of the basic l ithic too l

i nventory of prehistoric Northwestern Pla i ns Ind ians. They were most not­able for the absence of tool types t han f or the ir inclusion. There were no identifiable Earl y Prehistoric period artifac ts and no spec ia l ty t ool s such as awls, dril l s, gravers, hafted bifaces an d so on. There was al so no

cerami c repre sentation, no grindin g t ools, nor bone tool s.

The correl ation of artifact types with time periods was extremel y

tenuous. The statistical si ze of the sample an d the incomplete col l ect ions indicated large i nformation gaps that requ ire f urther study. However, a few co rrelati ons were noted and mentioned as a purel y comparative exercise. The sites wi th projectil e points were divided in to two groups: Early Middl e Prehistoric (Ha nna an d Oxbow phases) and Late Prehi st oric (O ld Women' s pha se ). Art ifacts associated exclusively wi th t he Early Middle Prehistoric wi thin this sample were Style 2 bifaces and Style 2 end scrapers. Arti­

facts found only i n Ea rly Middle Prehistoric sites and sites of unknown phas e determinati on were Sty le 1 bi faces and Styl e 1 end scrapers. Arti­facts found on ly in Late Prehistori c s ites or sites of unknown age i ncluded

Style 1 s ide scrapers, Style 1 unifaces and pecked cobbles. All other categor ies were f ound i n bo th phases or had unknown aff i nities .

Information on spa tial distribution was almost as poorl y defens ible, as

on ly 37 si t es had tools r epresented. They comp rised on ly 11. 5% of the t o­

ta l number of sites or 18. 4% of the sites with flake s . The onl y meaningful

fi gure was that 26 of the 37 sites (70. 3% ) had uni faces. Of more si gnifi­can ce was the difference amon g relative quantiti es of tool types. Of t he

169 analysed l i thi c tools, 12.4% were proj ectile points, 10% were bi fa ce s

- 81 -

or bi facially-retouched flakes, 19% were scrapers. 52% were unifaces,

1.2% were choppe rs, and 5.4% were pecked tools. Thi s seemed to show a

stron g inclination t o unifacially-worked lithics.

LITH IC TECH NO LOGY

There was little that could be done with the flakes in a col lection

such as t hi s. The incomplete samples and lack of phase-diagnostic arti­

fac ts made any detailed analys i s rudi mentary and inclusive . Therefore,

it wa s best to mention merely that there was a large sample of flakes

showing pe rcus s ion manufacture and some small , pressure-formed retouch

flak es from t he excavations. There was also a hint of heat-treating in

some of t he surface sites and at EfOp-324.

In the same way , core s were di f ficult t o assess. However, a simpl e sorting and anal ysis was undertaken. The cores were qrouoed into t wo

major cat ego ries: pebb le cores and cobble cores, ditinquis hed bv size

and fla kinG techni que .

Cobb l e Co res

Descrip t i on.

Mater ia l s .

There were 52 cobble cores with a wide varie ty of at t­

ributes and 1 ittle conformity . Onl y 10 of the cores

had evidence of platform preparation and none were heat

treated. Al l but six specimens appeared to be worked

from es sentially one side (called proximal ) . Of t he

49 prox imal cores, 22 were worked al ong one surfa ce

(ven tral ) and 13 were worked along both surfaces (ven­tral and dorsal). Another 10 had seconda ry fl aki ng from the distal end while the remainder had flak es re­moved randomly. Five of the specimens had batter- ma rks

on the distal end that indicated the poss i bili ty of bi­pol ar percussion. Onl y six cores had a truly conical

shape. Three or four hea vil y- f l aked cores seemed t o

indicate that once the firs t de corticati on f l akes were

r emoved , there was no tendency to make a good strik ing

platform. Rather, the core was rotated and flakes were

t aken f r om likely areas usin g previ ou s flake scars as pl at forms . All cores were percuss;on-f l ke d.

Quartzite.

Measurement s.

Provenience .

Pebb l e Cores

Descri pti on.

Mate ri a 1 s.

Mea surements.

Provenience.

LI TH IC MATERIALS

- 82 -

Length: 27 - 160 mm (52 ) Mean:81 .l mm

Wi dth: 17 - 130 mm (52) Mean: 54.3 mm

Thickness: 12 - 134 mm (52 ) Mean: 51.6 mm

EfOp-ll , EfOp-20, EfOp-33, EfOp-34, EfO p-49 (3),

Ef Op-53 (11 ) , EfO p- 108 (2 ), EfOp- 109 )6), EfOp-149 (2 ) ,

EfOp-177, EfOp -1 93. Ef Op-20l, EfOp-202, EfO p-277,

EfOp-32l, EfOp-324 (8 ) , EfOp-338, Ef Op - 352 (5), Ef Op-353 , EfO p-357.

Al l 22 pebble cores fe ll wi t hin the category local ly

known as "sp lit pebbles" . They were so termed be­

cause the f lakes were removed from the pebble by

res ting it on a so l id object an d hitting the opposite

end with a bipo l ar percussion techni que.

Chert (14), Jasper (6), Qua rtz ite (1), Petri f ied

wo od (1).

Len gth: 15 - 69 mm (22 ) Mean: 31. 4 mm

Width: 13 - 43 mm (22) Me an:20.5 mm

Thicknes s : 6 - 16 mm (22 ) Mea n: 9.5 mm

EfO p-15, EfOp- 20, EfOp-49, EfOp -53 (4), EfO p-1 09, EfOp- 117 , EfOp -1 99, EfOp- 324 (8), EfOp- 327, EfOp-352, EfOp-343, EfOp-360.

Overall, t he lithic materials found thro ugho ut the survey area were

uniform i n type and relat i ve distributi on. All the f lakes could be put

into one of s ix classes, the f irst two of which were subdi vi ded. The

clas ses were quart zi te, cryptocrystal l ine quartz, quartz , argillite,

metamorp hosed minera l and others.

The quart zi te wa s by far the mos t common ly used mate rial for l ithic

manufacture, compr i s in g 56.9% of the t otal f la ke inventory. For des ­

cripti ve purposes , t his sample wa s broken into t wo groups : coarse to

medium grain and f ine gr ain. Thi s wa s done because t he f ine grain qua r t­

zi te was us uall y ea sier t o wor k an d more sui table for pres sure-fl aking.

- 83 -

Of the total quartz ite col l ecti on, 55.1% was f ine grain (31. 3% of t he

total ). The quartz i te itself had a wide var i ety of crystal s izes and

every colour of the spectrum excep t blue .

The use of quartzite was bot h interes t ing and predictable . Since it

was the most acces s ible source material, 107 of t he 172 worked artifacts (62 . 2%) were of quartz i te. This included 93. 9% of all artifac ts in cate­

go r i es with a mean l ength grea t er than 30 mm but only 30% of the art i­

fac t s in categories with a mean l ength less than 30 mm. The over 30 mm

cat egories were pri marily large, crude ar t ifac ts such as bifaces, uni­

faces, choppers, pounders and s ide scrapers that requi red minimal

shaping.

The source of quartzi t e was l ocal. An inexhausti ble qua rry for qua rt­

zi te cobb l es ranging between 10 and 100 cm i n l ength l ay amon g t he

glac i al tills spread across the prairi e. Other sources co uld be ob served

i n cutbanks, river gravels and coulee grave ls.

The second majo r category of ma t er ia l s was the cryp tocrystalline

quartzes. In total, 34.8% of the f l akes and 37.3% of the t oo l s were

composed of cryptocrystal li ne minerals i n the form of chert, jasper,

chalcedony and petr if ied wood. Like the quartzite, the arti fact com­

position wa s distributed by size. While only 6.1% of the artifacts in

ca t egories with a mean length greater than 30 mm were made of these

mi ne rals, they are the sou rce materials for 65.5% of t he art ifacts in

the smal l er categorie s.

The mo st numerous cryptocrystall i ne was chert . This wa s the name given to all opaque spec i mens except th ose spec i fic al ly designated as

jasper. Chert compr is ed 17. 8% of the fla kes and 26.2% of the tools.

It usually was easil y worked and cou l d be qui te at tract i ve . Most che rt was of local origin, found in small nodule s in glac i al gravel s. It was

commonly black , grey , or brown in colour but co ul d have al most any hue.

A total of 16 speci me ns were di sti nctive eno ugh to be considered as im­

ported. Of these, one flake may have been fr om the Avon qua r ry i n

Montana (Quigg 1974:98 ) and a f ew others may be fr om the Helena qu arry

in the same state (Quigg , per sonal communication ) .

The tran s l ucent cryptocrystall ines were des i gnated as chal cedony.

- 84 -

This materi al compr i sed 2% of the f l akes and 2. 9% of the t ools. It wa s

usual ly whi t e or brown but other colour s were present. Twen ty- fi ve of the arti fac t s (30%) were brown chal cedony and most of them were Kni fe

River Fl i nt f rom North Dakota quarries (Clayton et al 1970 ). The re---

maining materia l was recovered wi t h t he l ocal chert .

Jas per wa s a speci al vari ety of chert. It was opaque, red to yel l ow in colour, br i ttle and usually crossc ut by small fracture lines . It was common in t he til l gravels and was often found in sl i ghtly larger cobbl es

than the chert and cha lcedony. It comprised 12% of the flak es but onl y 7.6% of t he arti facts, indicative of the considerable was tage t hat re­

sulted f rom the f r actu re lines.

Pe t r i fi ed wood was either opaque or translucent but was most re­

co gn i zabl e by the wood gra in tha t al so created natural fracture lines .

Pet rifi ed wood us ual ly had some f orm of brown colour. It flaked poorl y

so i t was us ual ly util i zed when marginal retouc h \~as t he onl y requi r ed mo dif i cation . Wh i l e 3% of the flake s were petrified wood, only 0.6% of

the tools were manufact ured from t his material. It wa s 10ca11y der i ved from t ill depos i ts .

Quar t z was the next l arges t material category. It comp r ised 6.3% of the flakes but only 0.6% of the tools. Li ke j asper, th i s di scre pancy was due partial ly to t he difficulty in determi ning whethe r or no t i n­tent i onal flak ing occurred on a specific artifact. Quartz was usually white but co uld be ye l low or pink . Similarly it was usual ly opaque t o t ranslucent but cou ld be t ransparent. It was locally de ri ved from gl ac i al t ills and was of the mas sive quartz variety.

The ne xt cate go ry actual ly may have been composed of more t han one

materia l. De scri ptively , t he material was metamorphosed crystal line.

It was black i n colour and had a crude conchoi dal f racture. However,

whether the mineral content was hornblende, di orite or some other mineral was unknown. It wa s found in gl aci al t ills and compr ised 1. 2% of t he fl ake in vent ory . It wa s not easi ly worked.

Argi l lite made up 0.4% of the fl akes. It was grey to green in colour

an d was fo und in t he foothi l ls or the Cypress Hills in Al berta. It was

very simila r t o f i ne gra i ned quartzite i n composition and i n f laking characteri stic s .

- 85 -

The remaining 0.3% consisted of a variety of rock s and minera l s in­

cl udi ng sha le. s la te. gr an i te. and basalt. It appeared t hat t hese were

l ocal l y avai la ble.

A li near regres sion analysis compiled on t he percentages of f l akes

compo sed of a certain material and compared to the percentage of tools

of the same material; showed high coeffici ent of corre l ation of 0.984

(intercept of 1.13). This rel ationship was expressed as fol l ows :

ABLE 6. LIN EAR RE GRESS ION OF TOOLS TO MATE RI AL TYPES

EXP ECTED MATE RIAL % OF FLAKES % OF TOOLS % OF TOOLS

quartzi te 56.9 62 .2 64.5 chert 17 .8 26 .2 20.2

jasper 12.0 7.6 13.6

quar tz 6.3 0.6 7. 1 petrified wood 3. 0 0.6 3.4

chalcedony 2. 0 2. 9 2.3 Metamorphosed

mater i a l 1.2 0. 0 1.4

argi 11 i te 0.4 0. 0 0.5

other 0. 3 0. 0 0.3

INT ERP RETATI ON S: PREH ISTORIC ECO NOM Y

INTRODUCTI ON

The primary concern of the preceding sections has been to consol i date

t he wealth of collected data and t o presen t it i n a consis tan t format. Though much of that information was presented i n an analysed form with

a min i mum of background i nformation. there was no attempt made t o draw concl us ions or make in ferences. The single exception to t his was the

intra si te interpreta tions that were formulated for t he t ip i rin g

excava ti ons .

The foll ow ing two sections attempt to dea l with th at data. The first

sect i on in te nds to draw conclusions and to make hypotheses regarding the

preh i st oric economy of the region as seen through the survey. the ex­

cavat ions an d t he resu l ts of two si milar surveys from southeastern Albert a.

- 86 -

The primary treatment centres on settlement patt erns, resource ut il iza ­

tion, seasonal adapta t ions to settlement patterns and cu l tu re change.

While mo st of the information is drawn freely from t he preceedin g sec ­

ti ons, compara tive data is added in context.

The second section deals exclusive ly with t ipi rin gs . This phenomenon

is of considerabl e s ignificance to the lower Red Deer River area so it

ha s been given special attention. A review of the archaeo log i cal litera­

t ure and an ethnogra phic description of a tipi are provided as a back­

ground, followed by a complete comparison of 26 archaeolog ica l components

t hat conta i n tipi rings. Though few conclus i ons are derived, a li st of

problem areas completes the analysis.

SETTLEMENT PATTE RNS

The f undamental objective of the 1976 survey was t o t est t he mi nimax observations devised in 1975 (Ada ms 1976:108). In that paper, sett lement

de Rsity was obser ved on three di fferen t le vels; the region as a whole ,

in t ernal di f ferences within the region and by s ite type. Some add i tional

da ta were recorded to re -evaluate all t hree of these l evel s.

In 1975, it wa s sugges t ed that the flu vi atile environment, as a whole,

was to be cons i dered as heav ily pop ula t ed compared to the remainder of

t he Canadian prairies. It was further suggested (Adams 1976:109) t hat

this high den s i t y mi ght be a resul t of l and form and no t of water access. The preliminary densi ty of the en t ire survey area was set at 2.3 si t es/ km2 with a den sity of 6.2 sites/km2 al ong the resu rveyed length of the r iver and 2.5 sites / km2 along Alkal i Coul ee. The more inten s ive su rvey in 1976 i ndicated tha t ,whil e the suppos ition was correct for th is area, t he densi ty figure s were wron g. The results of the resu rve~ extrapol ated

to the entire survey block, indicated that a more correct total density

would have been 10.5 si tes/km2. Furthermore , the second sur vey tally

indicated that,whi le the river valley had a density of 4.7 sites/km2, the

coulee val ley and ri m had 17.4 sites/ km2 , and t he knob and ket tl e area

to the west ha d 11. 9 sites/ km2.

The fact tha t the least densely settl ed area was the r iver te rra ces

may have been partiall y di ctated by t he greater deposition on those

landforms but it also helped to support the case t hat good, easily

- 87 -

accessible water was not the prime cr iterion for sett lement locat ion.

The second step i n augmenting the preliminary speculat i on s was to

make cursory anal yses of two other surveys from t he surroundi ng area.

The f irst of these surveys was in an almost i dentica l env ironment in t he Suf field Reserve, just south of the Red Deer River. The data acc umu­lated by John Brumley (1970) was used. and revi sed by collating it by

site density. All termi nology and environmental categorization was

taken directly from hi s report.

For this survey , the surveyed sections were counted and the data

grouped as sites per section, arb i trarily using the f i gures: 0.0 sites/

section, 1.0 - 2.4 sites/sect ion, 2.5 - 5. 4 sites / secti on, 5.5 - 10. 4

sites/section, 10.5 - 20.4 s i tes / section and more than 20 .5 s i tes/ section.

The number of sections with each of these ca tego ries was 11 7, 40, 42, 39,

39, and 11 respectively for a t otal of 228 sections. The fact that many

of the sections were partially surveyed meant tha t some fi gures were

extrapolated on the basis of the number of sites in the section mul t ipli ed

by t he percentage of the section that wa s surveyed. Dif ferential surv ey

techniques by the archaeologist s and par t ial cultiva t ion of some sections add ed to the skewedness of the sample. However , general trends were of

reasonable va l idity.

It was found fr om Brumley' s data, that 41% of the sections with no

sites were greater than 24 km fr om a permanen t water source and only 5%

were less than 3 km from water. The surf i cia l deposits of the sect ion s in this category were pr imarily hummo cky moraine (31 %), outwash sa nd and gravel (16%) , sand and s il t (16%) and aeoli an san d (10%). Mo st (87%) of

the topogra phy was in the 2 - 15% slo pe category (percent of the la nd

that was sl oped ) with usually two or th ree to pographi c catego ries in the section. The ungul ate produc t i ve ca pa bil i ty (from Lands Direct orate maps)

of these sect i ons was 75% "slightl y li mit ing" and 67% "predomina tely an t e­

l ope-oriented" .

The 1.0 to 2.4 si te category had two modal dis tances to permanent

water with 35% of the sections being 6 - 10 km away and t he same pe r­

centage being greater than 24 km away. The pri mary surf ic i al deposi ts

were hummocky maraine (32%) , and outwash sand and grave l (21% ). Like

- 88 -

the preceeding site category, 82% of the topogra phy had 2 - 15% slope and

wa s compsoed of two or three topographic categories. The productive un­

gulate capacity was 88% "slightl y lim i ting " and 72% "predominately ante ­lope-or i entated".

The 2.5 to 5.4 site/section grou p had a modal distance t o water of

6 - 10 km (21 %) , with 2.5% of the sections less than 3 km away f rom a permanent water source. The ma in surf icial deposits were hummocky mor­

aine (35%), and silt and clay (17% ). The topograp hy was 71% in t he

2 - 15% slope range and 79% of the secti ons had two or three slope class i­f i cations. The ungulate capacity was 89% "sli ghtly limiting" and 76% "predominately antelope-orientated".

At 5.5 to 10.4 sites/section, the modal distance to permanent wate r

was 11 - 14 km, but 17% of the sites were within 3 km of water . The

primary landforms were hummocky mo raine (57%), outwa sh sa nds and gravel,

and s il t and clay (12%) each. The 5 - 60% slope range incorporated 78%

of the sections and 75% of the sect ions ha d two or t hree topog raph ic

categories. The productive capability for ungulates was 89% "sli ght ly 1 i mi t i ng" and 71 % "predominately antelope-orientated".

The 10.5 to 20.4 sites/section category had a modal distance of 11-

14 km from water (23%) but 20% of the sites were within 3 km of permanen t

water. The pr edomi nating landforms were hummocky moraine (45%) and silt and clay (12%). The t opograp hy was 76% i n the 5 - 60% slope and 75% had two or three topographic categories. Approx imately 87% of the secti ons was "s 1 i ght ly 1 imit ing" ungul ate capacity with 76% "predomi na te ly ante-

1 ope-ori ented" .

In the f inal ca tegory , more than 20.5 sites / sect ion had two modal dis­

tribu t ions of di stances from perma nent water. There were 27% of the s ites

at both the 3 - 5 km and the 11 - 14 km distances, with another 18% less

than 3 km f rom permanent water. The overall topography wa s hummocky mor­

ai ne (6 9% ) and sil t and cl ay (13%). The 5 - 60% slo pe to pogra phy ha d 85%

of the sections and 81% were in the two or three topogra phic catego ry range .

The car ry i ng capacity was 92% "sl ig htl y 1 imitng" and 77% "predominately an­

telope-orientated".

From ttEse data , several trends were observed. Fi rstl y, it was ob­

served that wh i le the modal distance to a perma nent water source rema ined

- 89 -

high (a low priority), there was a slight trend towards greater density at the very close distances. Secondly, throughout the site density categories, hummocky moraine was the preferred location, becoming more

so wi th the denser sections . At the same time, there was a defin i te trend towards finer soils in more densely popu l ated sections and away from certain features such as ground moraine, kames, mixed soils, alluvial and eroded slopes. Thirdly, the higher percentage of slope a section had,

t he greater its density. This was even more dramatic in the 60 - 90% slope category which incorporated less than 1% of the sections with no

sites and progressed to 10% of the sections with 10.5 - 20.4 sites.

Fourthly, the best ungulate capability land in the area ("slightly l imiting") was preferred in over 75% of all categories , increas i ng re­

gul arly to 92% of the most dense sections. At the same time, there were t hree classes of land for ungulates: II predominate1y deer" (generally shel ­

tered and well watered), "predominatel y antelope ll (mixed shelter and open area) and "Totally antelope" (exposed, poorly watered). The "predomina t el y

antelope" category became increasingly more popular with the more den sely

populated sections. The results of the analysis of this survey strongl y supported the observations made on the Red Deer River.

The second survey was of the Neutral Hills conducted by Micha el Quigg about 160 km north, on the border of the parklands. Again, the s i tes were categorized by sites/section, and again all data were taken directly from his findings and maps.

In th i s case there were f our categories: 0 sites/section (41 %), 1 - 3 sites/ section (39%), 4 - 9 sites/section (12%), and 10 - 21 sites/ section (7% ). This time, the distance to water had little bearing. In this area

86% of the sites were less than 2 km from water and all sites were less than 5 km from a permanent water source.

The surficial geology was also different in character. The a category

was somewha t evenly distributed among the various forms with some tendency towards the hummocky maraine (20%) and the lucustrine sands , silts and

clays. The 1 - 3 sites/section group was predominately hummocky moraine

(21%), outwash sands (12%) and kame moraine (10%). The 4 - 9 site cate­gory was concentrated in hummocky moraine (31%), alluvial fans (18% ), erosional scarps (18%) and ground moraine (15%) . The heaviest density

- 90 -

sections were pri marily ground moraine (37% ) erosional scarps (26%) and

al luvi al f ans (22%). Of note here was the sharp break between the 1 - 3

and 4 - 9 si t e/s ectiun categories . At thi s juncture there were sharp i ncreases i n the ut i lizat i on of ground moraines , erosi ona l scarps and

all uvial fans and eq ually sharp decreases in the ut iliza t ion of lacustrine

sands, silts and clays and kame moraines.

Perha ps the most obvi ous trend in t~sedata was i n the l andfor~s.

Thi s was best summarized in the following table :

TAB LE 7. LANDFORMS AN D SIT E DENSITY IN THE NEUTRAL HILLS SURVEY

SITES/SECTION

a 1 - 3

4 - 9

10 - 21

UNDULATING

24%

28%

17%

18%

ROLLING

27%

23% 21%

29%

HILLY

16%

13% 50%

47%

OTHERS

33%

36% 12%

6%

This tabl e indi cat ed an i ncrea sing dependence upon hill y l and, stab le

use of rol li ng l and and a sharp decrease in other landforms. In this

comparison, t he l andform analysi s aga i n tended to support the original

specul at i on, th ough the remaining data were les s useful.

In summary, it appeared that even the initial survey fig ure of 2. 3

si tes/ km2 was high compared to Bruml ey 's (greater t han) 1.47 sites/ km2

or Quigg' s 0.69 sites/ km2. It was concluded fur t her that the prel imin­ary specu l ati ons on the reason for that density were consi s tent wi th

other surveys. The data from the Suffield survey showed tha t a prox i mi t y

to perma nent water was desirable but unnecessar~ whil e good ung ula te resources and roug h, variable terrain were preferentia l si te l ocations. The survey by Quigg seemed to indicate simi l ar requi remen ts i n t hat area.

The second l evel of settlement pattern anal ys is indicated that within

a smal l area, there were preferred l oca t ions. That t hi s was t r ue was

attest ed to, f irst, by the differential site/km2 densi t i es of t he r iver,

co ul ee and prairie features. It was further demonstrated by the brea k­

down in ut il izati on of var i ous landforms. These data coul d be summar i zed

by say i ng t hat preferent ial s ite locations were in the knob /kettl e topo­

grap hy (usual ly on t he hil l tops ) ; along the r i ms of t he coul ees, ri ve r

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valley, t erraces and plateaus; on small, sheltered t erraces ; and next to

the creek or river. These four choice l ocations yielded about 90% of

the sites in the survey area.

The Suff ield Survey provided an al most id en t ica l p-attern.

Maj or topographic features such as the South Saskatchewan Ri ver valley, Watching Hill and the larger glacial channels were very heav il y utilized .

Likewise, 38% of the sites found in t he Neutral Hill s were found in four

sections of the hills themse lves, representing less than 2% of the survey

area.

The third level of patterning was t hat specific site t ypes tended to

cluster into specific t opographic l ocati ons. This was demon strated alon g

Alkal i Creek by the statistical ana lysis. Th e surface sites concen t rated

on low terraces and the flood plain. Cairns were in exposed posi t ions,

usually on sma ll hilltops on the prairie level. Ring sites, except for

the larger groupings, concentrated on the rims of vari ous bl uffs and

out in the prairie, while the l arger ring sites tended t o be more numerous on terraces.

In conclusion , i t may be hypothes ized that prehistori c set tl ement in

this region was, at least partial ly , determined by a form of mini max

se lection. The priority seemed to be to achieve max imum res ource ut i l iza­

t ion wi thin mi ni mal distances . In the Northwestern Pla in s, maxi mum re­source utilization was high ly de pendent upon t opog ra phy . The more vari­

able the t opography, the greater the chances were that any particular re source requirement would be availab le locally. This meant that there was proba bly a genera l selectivity toward such features as river valleys, large coulee systems, glacial drainage channels, promi nent hil l fea t ures,

knob and kett l e topography and dune areas. Al l of these feature s were ca pable of having a variety of local resources .

On ce a general area was isola t ed, selec t ion of spec ifi c location s for

various types of sites was likely de t ermi ned by cultura l fac t ors. Con­

tinu i ng in the trend of a min imax selec t i on process, t opogra ph ica l com­

pacti on became a key. If one we re given a large expanse of suitable

topography (i. e . a river va l ley), which spo t in tha t t opograp hy woul d be

most suitable? The compac t ion hypothesis sugges ts that the greater the

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variety of landforms within a limited area (i.e. 4 km2), the greater the

potential for required resources within that area.

Of course, this compaction hypothesis is modified by specific needs and avoidance features. Though close proximity to permanent water did no t ap pear to be a high priority, water access was a necessity . It seems unlikely that much utilization of any area will be found wh er e water was non-existent (e.g . the Great Sand Hills during the summer and autumn). Al so, locations exposed to winter1s extremes or summer1s biting insects

were l ike ly avoided.

Finally, exact positioning of a particular site within the limited area may have been determined by specific requirements for that site. Examp les that occurred in this survey included: the shelter of the bluffs fo r surface sites; good view and accessibility of cobbles for ring s ites; exposed locations and cobble accessibility for cairn sites; a gathering

basin and dro p area for drive s ites; a very prominent location for medicine wheels ; and some shelter for very large ring sites.

RE SOURCE UTILI ZAT ION

The problem of determining resource utilization was complicated by the aspect of tangibles and and intangibles. The tan gibles included spec ific resources that could be posi t ively identified by archaeological testing. Excavation and know ledge of basic human needs dictat e that water and food were necessities. Likewise, i t is obvious that certain rock types were selected for tool manufacture, while a specific cobble size range was highly utilized for construction purposes. Fuel was re­quired for fires and orga nic r emains could indicate diet. These factors could all be isolated, i dentified and quantified as requirements for living.

On the other ha nd, t here was a whole spectrum of evidence of deba tabl e association. Ex posure, shelter, view , topographic location and so o~a ll

had statistical signi f icance but t he manner and extent of their use was

an unknown quantity. Therefore , the analys es dealt with both categories

as da ta were ret r i eved from the excavations and survey along Al kali Creek.

Wate r was a daily requirement for every inhab i tan t. In this area ,

the avail abili ty of water as a resource depended upon season and general

- 93 -

climate. Any winter or early spring site had immediate access to snow. During wet periods, the undulating to hilly character of the region pro­bably meant t hat standing water, though possibly brackish, was readily accessible. Also, certain permanent features provided a constant source of running water. In the survey area, this included the Red Deer River,

certain springs and,at various periods, Alkali Creek.

Food for the Northwestern Plains Indian was a meat-oriented diet. This region had a high productive capability for ungulates in both sum­mer and winter. I t also provided a natural environment for both plains and woodland oriented species. This made the Alkali Creek area a good location to obtain game. The choice of meats could be determi ned by the archaeology. Though bone remains from the various excavations were scanty. there was a definite predi lection for Bison bison. This was further supported by the existence of a drive site in close proxi mity to three of the major site concentrations and wi t hin a reasonable distance

of another five of the concentrations.

The basic meat diet was supplemented by various na t ural fruits and vegetables. Ethnographic accounts detailed such items as saskatoons, chokecherries, gooseberries, wild currents, strawberries, wi l d onions , and various roots and tubers. This area had a wide assortment of vegetal

nutrients but usually they were confined to specific areas such as coul ee bottoms or river edges. The only excavated evidence of vegetal remains were two chokecherry pits from EfOp-324 .

Fuel was a necessity for cooking and warmth. The evidence of hearths in EfOp-53. EfOp-352, EfOp-353 and EfOp-324 suggested that either cooking and/or heat fire s were commonly used. The mean distance to the nearest wood resources was something less than half a ki lometre indicating that this may have been a priority in settlement location. Usually these wood resources were l ittle more than scrub brush so the fuel was probab ly heavi ly supplemented by dried buffalo dung. However, only wood charcoal remains were found in the hearths.

Wood resources for other purposes were less accessi ble. Tall poles for tipis were probabl y imported but occasiona l emergency repl acements coul d have been cut from the cottonwoods along the ri ver. The rive r banks and deeper coulee bottoms could also have provided a good source of

- 94 -

smaller trees and bushes for arrow shafts and various wooden tool s and utens i ls around the camp. The mean distance to the river was less than

5 km, so this resource was within easy reach.

Cobbles suitable for cairns and tipi rings had a direct effect on the location of these particular sites. Only 10.6% of the ring sites and 2. 9% of the cairn sites were located away from exposed outcroppings

of these cobbles. Furthermore, in most cases, those sites which did

not have on-site cobbl e resources, were located at the base of a slope down which rocks could eas ily be rolled. On the other hand, 33.3% of

the surface s ites had no cobble resources. This perhaps ind i cated that choice camp locations were sacrified to the availability of this resource.

Lith ics for artifact manufacture were over 99% loca l ly deri ved. How­ever, there was no such thing as a material quarry in the region. Instead,

the proper materials were likel y collected in two ways . The firs t me -thod was probabl y random chance. A native, be ing ever awa re of the need for li thic ma terials , wou l d sel dom bypass a choice spec i men fo und dur i ng the course of a da i ly rou t ine. The second method woul d have been to visit known outcroppi ngs of gravel till or river gravels where a high

frequency of the desired mineral occurred. Then, by splitting severa l

cobbles on the site, a sma ll collection could be made and removed t o camp. Three such locati ons were i dentified in the survey .

The above were all t an gibles. These needs were ident i fi ed by ethno­graphi c or archaeological constructs or by a knowledge of human f unct i ons. Once the needs were identi fied,it was a si mp le task to isol ate t he resources and record data concerning them. The remaining req uirements were intangibles. The evidence of the i r nece ss ity was ci rcumstantial and the relationships often tenuous.

The need for shelter was evidenced in approxi mately 83% of t he surface

camps, 75% of t he l arger ring s i tes, 50% of the smal le r ring sites and onl y 40% of the cai rn sites . If this need\'1ererea l and not coinci den tal ,

the reason for the high correlation with surface camps became sel f­

evident. They evi den tl y used no man-made shel ter, so natural shelter became more valuable . The need for shelter i n the larger camps was more

speCUlative. If one assumed, however, that larger camps were of l onger

duration, the considerati on for she lter may have been a matter of comfo rt.

- 95 -

There may also have been a seasonal quality to the need for shelter in that much of the shelter was to the north and west. the predominant directions of the winter winds. The apparent lack of shelter among t he cairn sites may have been best explained as a need for exposure.

Exposure, in the sense of a view. was found in more than 85% of al l sites. Whether this exposure was desired for game watchi ng, defence, easy location of camps or cairns, or for access to summer breezes wa s unknown. However, all of these and other specul ations were pos sible.

Landform was also statistica l ly selected. Flood plains and low spots on t he prairie were essentially unoccupied. With the exception of the largest ring grouping. 29 - 44% of the various s ite types were situated on the open prairie. One quarter (25%) of the ring sites, 57% of t he cairns and none of the surface s i tes occurred on prairie hilltops. Though 64% of the surface si t es were situated on terraces , cairn sites were a rarity. Terraces were favoured locations for larger ring s ites as well. While only 26% of the single ri ng sites were si tua ted on te rr­

aces, 70% of the larges t ring sites occur red there. It was specula t ed that balanced requirements for bot h shelter and view were at least pa r t i­ally respons i ble for these topographic conformities.

SEASONALI TY AND SETTLEMENT PATTERNS

Selection for, and uti l ization of. various topogra phi c features prob­ably changed from season to season among the Northwestern Pla i ns Indi ans . Within the survey area, t here were at l east three di stinctive seasons, each of which had i t s own character and l i kel y required speci f ic adjus t ments.

The win t er season probab ly imposed t hree maj or requ irements in the l oca t ion of a camp. Initially, there had t o be some form of shelter, pri mari ly f rom the north and west. Second ly, t here had t o be good access t o fuel . Finall y , t here had to be ea sy access t o the l imi t ed winter

r ange for un gula tes al ong the river val ley. Rocks for ti pi r in gs may al so ha ve been another requiremen t.

Duri ng t he spring and earl y summe r, or t he entire summer in a wet period , the loca l inhab i tants likely required wate r, an exposed l oca t i on for vi ew and summer breezes, a source of fuel, access t o both prairi e and

- 96 -

woodl and game and proba bly rocks for ti pi ri ngs . In a dry summer or

au t umn they wou l d requ ire simil ar needs, but choi ce locations wou ld be more restricted by the water requirement.

By plotting th e loca t i ons of the various requ i rements on three di f ­

fere nt map s, then over lappi ng the bes t suited areas for eac h of t he

three sea son s, (Figure 18) , it was found t hat the choice winter locati ons

we re pr ima r il y on t he terraces and in the valleys with in 4 km of t he

ri ve r. The wes t summer s i t es were located vi rtuall y al l the open

pra irie and hig h terrac es within the survey area and th e dry summer

locat ions we re restric ted to certain areas of bluf f ri m, some choice

pl ateaus or terrac es and two locations wi thin the knob and kettle topo­

graphy. In other words , the dry summer l ocations was a perfect overlap

of a res t r i cted wet summer location whil e winter locations were i n com­

pl etely di ff erent settings.

Checking th i s with site concentrat ion s , it was f ound t hat site con­

centration s 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8 and 10 coincided with t he dry summer ranges .

Site concentrati on 1 wa s in t he area tha t could be uti l ized by all t hree

and onl y concentrations 6 and 9 were outside desirable areas. Other

regulariti es also became obvious. The most sparsel y populated spots in

the survey area were the l east suita bl e for any season. In add i tion,

two thi rds of the surface sites occurred in, or near, the winter pre­fer red areas and approxi mately t hree quarters of the ca i rn s i tes were i n the wet summer areas.

Whether or not these correlati ons are seasonably determined is still

a ma tter of conj ecture. I t is some thing that wil l ulti mately have to be tested by excavati on. However, i f these conclusions are val i d, i t cou l d

provide new materi al for t he seasonal determination of any particular

site.

CULTURAL DYNAM ICS

To avoid ini t ia ti ng an involved di scuss ion of t he pre historic se­

quence in the Red Deer Ri ver area , the wr i ter suggests that t his area

be a typical Northweste rn Plai ns sequence and that the survey area

was typologica l ly repre sent ed by t he Earl y Mi ddle Preh istor ic period

and the Old Women' s pha se of t he La t e Prehistoric per iod. In al l pro­

bab ili t y the Northwestern Pl ains tradition, based on big game hunting,

~·1 L:::;. ,.~~~:~:~ ~:~,:;~

I ... . ,

:~.~.!

1

\).

, I

(

\

- - ,I \

WET SUMMER AREA \

DRY SUMMER AREA

WINTER AREA

""\

, '-

12t1 DRY SUMMER/WINTER AREA

m SITE CONCENTRATION

- 97 -

I , \ - -..,

-, I I

'- '

" ,

RIVER

Fi gu re 18. Seas onality and si t e con centrati ons .

2 km ~~13~HBDHSC========~~~

- 98 -

a nomadic l i f estyle, seasonal change and band and tribal organi zat ion ,

was l ong established and con t inued th roughout the peri od s under dis­

cussion.

These two pre sumpt ions greatly facil itated any di scussio n of cul­

tu ral dynamics. If t hey were valid, the bas ic di scuss i on s and hypo the­

ses on settlement patte rn , sea sona l ity an d resource utilizati on wo ul d

be appl icable to any culture grou p in ei ther pe riod. The major changes

wou ld be solel y determi ned by t he in f us ion of new culture tra i ts, eith­

er by ind igenou s invention or by diffu sion. Some maj or t raits that ap­

peared over the course of preh i stor i c hab itat ion of the No rthwestern

Plains inc l uded the i nt roduc t ion of f i re , t he at l atl, the bow , the de­

velo pment of ca i rns, buffalo drives, and ti pis, the i nfu si on of pot­

tery, the horse, the gun and contact wi t h other cul t ure groups or wh ites.

Many of these tratis were i ntroduced dur i ng , or pr ior to, the Mi d­

dle Prehistoric period so they were not rel evant t o t his dis cu ss ion .

These would include f i re , t he at latl, cairns (Ca ld er 1975 : 200-210)

and the buff alo drive . Influence from t he ot her native areas wa s hard

t o trace unless accompanied by speci fic des ign moti fs. Ot her tra its

such as pottery and the introduction of the horse were not represented

i n the present archaeological excavations.

Thes e traits , taken together , led to:

l.

2.

3.

t he presence

the pr es ence

the presence

wh ites, and

or

or

or

absence of t i pi ri ngs,

absence of the bow,

absence of cul t ure trai ts introduced by

4. the de termi nat ion of cu ltural l y s i gnif i ca nt styli st chan ­

ges .

All four of these t ra i ts, where reco gn i za ble in archaeo logical record,

af f ected the con t inu ity of t he culture and we re po t ent ia l ly de t abl e .

Northwestern Pla ins archaeol og i st s ha ve establ ished t o the i r sat is­

f ac t ion that the bow was introduced in t o t he Northwestern Pla ins from

- 99 -

another area and that the Avonlea phase (A .D . 150 - A. D. 700) was the

first in this region to make use of thi s tra i t. The use of the bow was

archaeologically determined by the presence of small, fine, s ide-notc hed

and triangul ar projectile points. These points were used from approx i­

ma t ely A.D. 150 t o A.D. 1850 in the Saskatchewan Basi n. They were re­

presented in the excavations at EfOp-53 (upper leve l ), EfOp -1 09, EfOp-

324, and EfOp-353. They were also recovered among the surface remai ns

at EfOp-32, EfOp-112, EfOp-321 and EfO p-369. It was also possible t hat

other artifact styles were associated with them; particula r ly Styl e 1

side scrapers, Style 1 unifaces and pecked cobbles. However, thi s

association was very tenuous.

White influence was only directly evidenced in the artifact retrieva l from EfOp-324. This site was in no way different from other tipi ri ng

sites except for the presence of certain spec i f i c artifacts . These

particular artifacts included beads for decora t ion, several items associ ­

ated with guns and a bottle. It seemed apparent t hat wh i te influence

(i n th i s s i te), was only affecting certa i n cu l tural aspects while t he

overall cultural complex was relativel y unchanged.

Styli stic differences were noted in t hree ma j or aspects. The fi rst

and most obvious were t he proj ecti l e points. At least three phas es were

represented by different styles of projec t ile points includ ing t he Oxbow

phase (3500 - 2500 B.C.) , the Hanna phase (2000 - 1000 B.C.) and the Old

Women' s phase (A. D. 750 - A. D. 1800). The second stylisti c difference

was noted in the cairns. Whi l e rela t ivel y uniform i n geograph ic loca t ion

and basic composition, they varied widely in size , shape, subsurface features and associated feat ures. Many of t hese differences may have

been functionally s ignificant) but, to date, the sum to tal of knowled ge on the use of cairns is still negligible (Brumley 1972:97, Ad ams 1976 :94). As stated in the first year' s report (Adams 1976:95) , there seemed to be

four types of una l igned cairns. The first group of exposed, isolated

cairns on the rims of bluffs and prominent locations , were st ill t hou ght

t o be markers or ca ches. However, the ex i stence of cairn s on virtual ly

every hill top in the knob and ke t t l e area seemed t o decrease t he poten­

ti al value of the cairns as markers. The second group, large ca irns

with or without f l akes, were numerous on t he mo st promi nent hi l l s and

were eventually classifi ed as having some ceremoni al or esoteric

- 100 -

signi f icance. The small, inconspicuous cairns were rare but excavated

specimens at EfOp-353 suggested that these may have been nothing mo re

t han rock pi les that were cached or ut ilized in some way. The fourth

group, el ongated cairns, were very rare and of undetermined utilization.

Ca irns as sociated with rings were of grou ps one and three and were

probabl y markers or caches. Excavat i on s at EfOp-353, and Ef Op-200 sug­

gested subs urface features in the form of gravel-filled depressions wh ich

may arg ue for collapsed caches. It wa s also possible that some cairns

were merely rock storage pil es, perhaps from previous tipi rings or for

fu t ure rings. These cai rns were surfi cial wi t h no subsurface features and may have been useful in winter when snow buried most of the surface cobb l es us ed i n ring constructi on.

Final ly , there wa s the enigmatic si te, EfOp-33l. Th is site, though

awesome in ap pearance, was of undetermined purpose. Li t tle more can be

said wi thout ex tens i ve, detailed archaeological analysis.

TI PI RIN GS

PREVI OU S WORK

A detailed trea tment of tipi rings required some examinati on of pre­

vious wor k done on these features as the history of their archaeologica l st udy was both fascinat in g an d en l ightening.

The ex i st ence of stone rings on the Northwestern Plains has been known

s i nce t he ear l iest exp loration of the area, and they have been examined

by arc haeo logists as earl y as the 1940· s. However, the ear l iest inter­pretati ons of t hese rings were fi ll ed with speculations and do ubt s as to t he ir ori gin and purpose. Wedel (1948 ) was one of the f irst to disc uss

t he origin, significance and di stribution of tipi rings. This was followed

by a more detailed work by Mu l loy. Mulloy was one of the firs t t o cast

doubt upon t heir use with statements l ike IJ man i festations of unknown

sign i ficance ll and lIimp l ausable that they were used to secure the edges

of a skin lodge even t hough they are repeatedly referred t o as having

th i s func t ion (Mulloy 1952: 137) II. These statements were arr i ved at by

fo ur separate obse rvations includi ng the rare occurrence of heart hs in

the circles , the lack of packed floors, the expo sed si t uation of so many

of the si t es , and the fact that shapes often deviated from circular or

- 101 -

were intersected by other circles.

In 1953, Hoffman wrote several comments on the use and distribution of tipi rings. He described the rings as "acirc1 e of stones varying

from six to thirty feet (2 - 9 m) in diameter, with perhaps 20 to 60

stones in a r ing, each weighing on an average about 20 pounds (Hoffman 1953:2)", He also reviewed the various theori es on use and lis t ed them as : (1) the remains of occupational sites ei t her of the recent tip i type or of a crude hogan; (2 ) ceremonial or religious features for seeking

medicine; (3 ) a structure for us e in games; and (4) some form of a com­promise , He was personally non-commi t tal but argued against their use as a habitation site in the apparent lack of associated cultural remains. He also noted they they were located both on broad fl ats and on hill s or buttes often at a considerable distance from wood or water. Finally, he hypothesized that they were between 100 and 1000 years ol d.

In 1953 Ca rling Malouf (Kehoe 1960:423 ) believed t hat they had bo th domest ic and ceremonial functions but that they were never used for a very long pe ri od of time. He also noted that there was no direct ethno­graphic ev i dence that would support t he tipi ring hypothesis.

The first ex tensive examina t ion of tipi rings was probabl y conducted

by Thoma s Kehoe (1960) who took a deta i led look at historical , ethno­graph ic and archaeological evidence. From his study he firmly concluded that stone rings were, in fact, tip; ri ngs. he further offe red a point­by-point critique of Mulloy' s original skepticism. He countered the wide range in sizes (5 - 40 feet) by saying that this was "within t he range and near the average of lodges used as conical dwellings by historic tribes, and by the modern Blackfoot at their 1956 encampment (Kehoe 1960 : 457)". He stated that the high variability in numbers was acceptable and possibly seasonally determined. He had no comment on the intersection and variable forms of rings. He suggested that the lack of artifacts and

absence of packed floors was due to short-term use. He also maintained tha t central hearths was an erroneous interpretation but that the hearths

may also have been l ocated outside the ring. Kehoe had one other con­cern in that he wanted a strict clarificat ion of what a tip; ring was. To that end, he outlined a limiting definition to deter t he use of t he term as a catch-all phrase~

- 102 -

" .. t he use of the term "ti pi ring" should be l imited to an approxi mately regular stone c i rcl e , between 7 to about 30 feet i n diameter (the range ul t imate ly determined by the si ze range of tipis as this becomes known), aver­aging abou t 16 feet, the boulders of the ci rcle being of a size and wei ght suitabl e f or secur ing a l odge cover. Rock lined hearths may be present, but more common ly are not (Kehoe 1960: 463 ).

A sympos i um on t i pi r ings that same year resulted in f urther state­

men t s by three arc haeologists. Mul l oy re i tera t ed hi s knowl edge of all

t he historical, ethnographic and archaeological evi dence suggesting that

the stone circles were tipi rings, then rejected the theory for the bul k

of t he s ites. He wa s still concerned about the ex posed loca t ions away f rom water or wood, the s i ze variabl ility, the stone placement vari abil ­

ity, t he lack of breaks i n the st ones for an entrance, t he i rregul ar shap ing or overlapping of rings and the absence of packed floors, hear ths

and art i f ac t s. These were al l concerns that Kehoe was to addr ess t hat

same year. Mul l oy suggested that they were ceremonia l or igi n and not

to be confused with the habitation sites of log lodges with s t one fo unda­

t i ons such as those found at Thi rty Mi l e Mes a. He also suggested th at

they were more recent than t he Earl y Prehistoric pe r iod.

Car l i ng Malouf, on the bas is of some surveys, suggested that based on the sites he wa s fimi lar with, the r i ngs smal l er than 20 feet in diameter

were for domestic us e. He was impres sed by the f act that though they were in expo sed positions, t he r e were always spr ings and wood nearby. He had also found art i fac t s but no heart hs . Furthermore , he noted that

th e clus t ers were seldom regu lar, but tended to f ol low ridge s or crest s. To him, th i s indicated summe r use . Final l y , he suggested that many i nte r­nal fea tu res may have resul t ed f rom ceremoni al re-u se of dome s t ic struc­

tures and t hat they were associa ted wi th the Lat Prehis t oric period.

Jack Moonaw discl ai med thei r use as tip i r i ngs. He had examined se­

ve ra l histor ic pho tog raph s and had seen no evi dence of rocks. He was

al so concerned about t he lack of hea rths, the ex posed posit ions and the

fact that many were locat ed on sl opes. He was also concerned abou t the

number of ri ngs , as he bel ieved the ti p; to be a recen t i nventi on too

new to account for the mul t i tude of ri ng s.

- 103 -

The final word in the controversy seemed to come from Weldo Wedel . He stated that Kehoe's evidence wa s strong and not easily dismi ssed but that a carte blanche interpretation was probably an overs implification

(1961:264-5) .

From that point, interest in tip i rings declined and emphas is chan ged.

In 1965 Wormington and Forbis, synthesizing Alberta prehistory, commen ted

that the number of rings found in the undisturbed Hi11sprin g Reservoir suggested a possible total population of over 600, 000 rings on the Alberta Plains. They also noted that the existence of rings seemed to be de­

pendent upon the availability of stones; that the location was one of

observation and that they decreased in size of groupings near the mountains (Wormington and Forbi s 1965:143-144 ). This l ast st atemen t had

been noted previously by Ma louf (1961 :384 ).

Ranere (1969:42 ) , trying to date a ring site, suggested that ethno­

graphic evidence broke tipis into two s i zes. He determined from ethno ­graphic records that a pre-horse tipi had 6 or 7 skins and that a post­

horse tipi had 12 or more skins. This made a structural difference so that a pre-horse tipi ring woul d be less than 10 feet in di ameter and a

post-horse tipi rings wou l d be 15 fee t in diameter.

Tipi rings excavated at Piney Creek, Wyoming by George Frison (1 967 ) were described but he added no interpretive detail s on the rings themselves.

A few additional comments on tipi rings were made at the Northwestern Plains Symposium in 1966. Stuart Conner (1968:18 ) sugges t ed that the Late Prehistor ic period ushered in the use of conical skin t ipi s. Arthur (1968:57) noted the dramatic increase in the numbers of rin gs as he t ravelled down stream along the Yellowstone River. He also argued for a Late Prehistoric introduction of the t ipi (ibid:60).

Final ly, a recent revitalization of interest l ed to some de t ai l ed ex­

cavations and site reports. Of note are reports by Fl ayharty and Mo rris (1974), Calder (1976) and McIntyre (1975 ) .

THE TIPI

To fully understand the tipi ring, some consideration mus t be devot ed

t o the tipi i t self. This conica l skin lodge was a highly comp lex

- 104 -

habitation with specific featu res that cannot be ignored in any archaeo­

logi cal excavation. The writer contends that too often people have made

conclusions on ti pi rings without knowing anything about the structure it­

self. However, considerable ethnographic work i s easily accessible. In­

formation on ti pi construction, internal arrangement and tribal variation

i s extensive and muc h of i t i s covered by Wissler (191 0), Campbell (1915, 1927), Bushnell (1922 ) , La udin and Laudin (1957 ) and Kehoe (1960 ) . Addi­t ional no t es are found in a variety of ethnographies and historic journals.

The basic structure of the tipi was a series of poles, usually of some straight-trunked evergreen, cut to length, trimmed and stri pped of

bark. They were f rom 5 to 10 m long, about 10 to 20 cm in di ameter and usua ll y pointed at the butt.

The covering was ori ginally of buffa l o hide and later of canva s. It

was cut in a large semi- circular shape with protrud i ng smoke f laps near

the centre. When erec ted, an opening was left at the t op for a smoke ho l e and for the protruding poles. The smoke f l aps were held extended

by t wo ext eri or poles and could be sh i fted to catch winds or t o cl ose the

top i n a heavy rai n. The seam from smoke hole to doorway was pinned wi th 60 em lo ng wooden pins. The doorway was ei t her open to the ground or closed off abo ut 30 cm above the groun~ then pinned. A separate f lap was hu ng over the open i ng. Almost all ethnographic accounts stated that the tipi was pe gged to the ground and reta i ned by a sin gle. cen tra l, interior guyline. There were some earlier accounts mention i ng rock or sod us ed to hold the sk i ns but after 1850, al l tipis ap peared to use peg s .

There we re t wo basic methods of erec t ion . The three pole me thod was used by t he Cheyenne, Sioux and Ara paho among others. In this method,

three po les we re lashed together and erected with one pole situated by

the doorway. The remain i ng poles were laid over this wi t h the upper ends in t he crotch at the front of the tent and away from the back (top

of the smoke hole ) and often with more poles to the back of the tipi .

The last pole to be erected was in the centre of the back. The sk i n

was tied to this pole . It was then spread around the tent, pinned and pegged.

The four pol e method was used by the Blackfoot, Crow and Blood among others . Thou gh erection was es senti al ly the same, the basic structure

- 105 -

was a four-pole square. The remalnlng poles were then piled on from the sides parallel to the door, followed by the front (door side) and back .

These differences in construction caused some differences in appear­ance. The four pole method required a larger smoke hol e and conse­quently, short, wide smoke flaps that were set far apart. Three-pole

models had closely set, long narrow smoke flaps. Al l tipis were t ilted

cones but the slope was apparently more pronounced in the three pole

variety (Campbell 1927:20) . It may also have been that the three- pol e structures were more stable (ibid:29).

Later tipis all had interior linings that extended from a point abou t 1. 5 m above ground to the floor. This lining acted as a thermal unit,

preventing water than ran down the poles from dripping on t he occupant.

It al so insulated against drafts. Historic accounts made l ittle men t ion

of this l ining but partial l inings were recorded (Wis sler 191 0:106 ) . Kehoe (1 960:484, Plate 57a ) noted that while the outer shell of modern tip; wa s pegged, the interior lining wa s held in place by rocks.

Ti pis generally had a specific arrangement which i ncluded a central hearth . In modern t i pis, thi s hearth does nothing but fill up t he tent

with smoke unless the positioning of the smoke flaps is correct and un­less internal drafts are created by air coming in fro m under t he ring

t hen up around the top of the liner. In this style of ti pi, the shell

is actually pegged off the ground. There are even some stories of modern

Indian s running small trenches from the fire to the tip; wal l to ensure a draft (Laubin and Laubin 1957:116).

Most tribes had doorways facing east. according to ethnographic accounts. This may have been a ceremonial aspect but another explanation was plausable. The tip; was not a true cone, but a tilted cone with t he steep side to the back and into the prevailing wind. Since thi s wind was

usually from the west, an east-facing doorway would result.

INTE RPRETATION OF TIP! RING EXCAVATIONS

The stone rings excavated, with one exception, were single lines of field cobbles, less than 40 cm long, arranged in a circle varying ;n di a­met er from 4 to 7 m. That these rings were used as tipi rings could

never be proven absolutely but the ethnographic evidence provided by Kehoe

- 106 -

(1960:424-439 ) and s imi lar archaeological contexts descri bed by Kehoe

(1960:440-465 ), Frison (1 967), F1ayharty and Morris (1974 ) , Husted (1969) , Mc Int yre (1975 ) , Calder (1 976), and Quigg and Reeves (1975) al l sug­

gested that this interpretation was the most probable.

A total of seven components of this category were excavated fr om f ive sites on the Red Deer River and another 19 excavated compo nents were

examined from 17 sites in the l iterature. Though t hi s sampl e wa s mi ni­

scule i n relation to the number of rings on the Northwestern Pla i ns . t here was an unexpectedly high degree of comparability. The s i t es t hat

were used i n thi s compar i son included the five sites on t he Red Deer

Ri ver; the TW Di amo nd site on the Cache Poudre River in Co lorado

(F layharty and Morr i s 1974 ) , 48BH7 and t he Crooked Creek s ite in the Bi ghorn Canyon of Wyoming (Husted 1969); 24GL390, 24GL490 , 24GL584, and

24GL486 on t he Blackf oo t Reservation of Montana (Kehoe 1960), DhPj- 22 on

the Belly River , Alberta (Quigg 1974 ) ; Dj Pn-22. DjPn-29, DjPn-69 and Dj Pn -70 in the Crowsnest Pass areas of Alberta (Qui gg an d Reeves 1975), DjPb-2 and DjPb -3 in Ch in Cou l ee , Alberta (Calder 1975 ), EhPp-l at Coal Cree k,

Alberta (McInty re 1975 ) , the Monida Pass site in Idaho (Ranere et ~

1964 ) and 48J0311 at Piney Creek, Wyoming (Frison 1967).

The location of all of t hese sites was ident i cal i n that each was

located on a terrace or on the open prairie in a situati on t hat afforded a good view of a large val l ey. In most cases, th is valley cont ai ned a r iver or a creek, though one site overlooked a lake . Furt he rmore, many of the s i tes were in exposed locations, subject t o strong prair ie wi nds. In fac t , the i nhos pitable environments of some si tes were speci fi ca lly ment ioned in two reports (Flayharty and Morris 1974:163 and Hus t ed 1969 :

77) . None of the sites appeared to be more tha n a few ki l ome tres away

f rom at lea st a temporary water source.

The number of rings in a component varied between one an d 100 wi th a

mean number of 20, a standard deviation of 24 and a mode of 2. This demons t rated that the range in site sizes was ext remely diverse , pre­

senting a good cross-secti on. Eleven of t he s i tes were located bel ow

t he prai rie level and three of these were in the bottom of a va l l ey. No

menti on wa s made of any ring patterns in any re port, exce pt to say t hat

t hey were cl us tered or that they we re spread ou t al on g t he edge of a ri dge.

- 107 -

The excavated rings themselves varied between 2.7 and 8.5 m in dia ­

meter with a mean maximum diameter of 5.7 m. Of the 88 rings excavated,

onl y two had double walls (EfOp-324 and Monida Pass). Twelve st one ring s had one or more gaps that could be interpreted as doorways. Of

these, eleven gaps were to an easterly direction. two were to t he south

and two were to the northwest. The r ings were always made out of a

material available at the site, usuall y field cobbles between 10 and

60 cm long. Five of the rings in three componen t s were comple t el y buried.

The dominant internal feature was hearths. Of the 88 excavated rings,

44 had positive indications of a central hearth. Seven t een of these were outlined by rocks, U-sha ped with an opening to the wes t in four

cases (Kehoe 1960:449) . The remainder were isola t ed by concentra t ion s of f i r e broken rock or charcoal , or by the di agnos ti c red stains i n the

earth. The compo si tion of these hear ths varied considera bl y. All were

f lat and there was no evidence of pi t pre parat ion in any r i ngs exce pt

EfOp-53 and possibl y at EhPp-l , Occupati on 3. Every hea r th ha d either

charcoal or fire broken rock but onl y L4GL486 , EfO p-324, and 48SH 31 1 had bo th. Onl y 14 hearths had burnt bone, but several more had but chered

bone within the tipi. Bison was the predomi nant species re presen t ed in

the bone in every component bu t one.

One poi nt to note regardin g hearths wa s that, si milar t o the obser­

vations on the Red Deer River, Fl ayhar t y and Morris (1 974:163 ) , Hu sted

(1969:74-5, 79) , and Kehoe (1960:447 ) all noted charcoal f ragme nts under

the rocks on t he ri m of the ti pi . It was speculated by these authors

and t he wri t er that in many cases a hearth used over a short pe r i od wi th no rock border would literal ly bl ow away by the strong winds that occurred in the exposed positions of ti pi rin g s ites. Therefore, unless depo si ti on wa s rapid or the hearth stain deep, the only i ndication of t he ex istence

of the hearth would be i n the charcoal or bone fragments blown into, and

caught up under, the rocks of the tip i rin g. This phenomenon cou ld ex­

pl ain the apparent absence of hear t h rema in s in so many rings .

Other f eatures, besides hearths, were noted in various components but

none of these had any great regularity. He arths outside t he rin gs were

located at EfOp-324. the Crooked Creek Site (Hus t ed 1969: 79), Dj Pb-2

(Cal der 1975:13 ) , EhPp-1, Occupation 2 (Mc Intire 1975:50) and Monida Pass

- 108 -

(Ranere et~. 1969:40 ). A double interior hearth was fo und at EfOp-324.

Peg hol es were found in the centre of one ring at EfOp-324. Small

in terior pit depre ssions were located in rin gs at Ef Op-324 and EfOp-53.

Red s tain s were f ound in a ring at Dh Pj-22 (Quigg 1974:22) and fire

broken roc k piles we re f ound at EhPp-l, Occupa ti on 2 (~1clnt'yre 1975 :51).

Out side the rings, sma ll piles of f iel d cobbles were noted at EfOp- 353.

OjPb- 2, Occ upati on 3 and 48SH31l. Onl y Frison ve ntured an expla na t i on

for t hese pi l es. Under one of the rock pil es at 48SH31 1 he found the

shal low r emains of a post hole and concluded t hat the rock s indicated a

rack, possib ly fo r hide preparation or meat drying . He reasoned , qu i t e

logica ll y, that i t wo uld have been eas ier to pi le roc ks around a po l e

than to di ga ho le in wh ich to bury it (F r ison 1%7: 5-6).

The artifacts enco un te red at ring sites al so tended to ha ve a pattern.

Among the fl aked lit hic material . unifaces and unifac i al ly re touched

flakes were the most common occurren ce. They appeared in 13 components ,

the 176 specimens totalling 36 .8% of the l i th ic inventory. They ra nged

in occurrence from 5 to 41 speci lilen s per represented component wi t h a mean

distribu t i on of 6.8 per componei:t. The 96 pro j ecti l e po in t s we re t he next

large s t category, appear in g in 12 sites for 20.1 % of the total lith i cs.

There were one to 30 points in a component and averCf9i ng 3.7 po ints ~er

cOlliponent. End and side scrapers were fo und in 12 components, totalling

68 art ifa cts for 14 .2% of the t otal. They averaged 2.6 specill1ens per

cornponent. Gravers, perfo ra tor s and dri 11 s were found in f i ve cOlllponents.

The 47 specimens comprised 9. 8% of the total , due mostly to t he fa ct t hat

36 de scribed grave rs were recovered from EhPp-l , component 2. They

averaged 1.8 specimens per ompo nent. Large cho pper s were also found

in 5 site s making 8.6% of t he ay·ti fa cts. The 41 spec ime ns averaged 1. 8

artifacts per component but two sites, OjPb-2 and EhPp-l , compone nt 2,

had 38 of the 41 tools. Bi fa ces, kni ves and bifac ia lly re to uched too ls

tota lled 5. 2% , con s i sting of 25 speci mens from 8 components. They

averaged 1 specimen per component . Pounde r s and hammers t ones were fo und

in 10 component s but averaged on ly 0.6 per component . The 15 speci mens

rnade up 3. 1% of the total. The smal l e t cate gory included the 9 spoke­

shaves in 3 components for 1. 9%. They averaged 0.4 speci mens per com­

ponent. Eight components had no ar t ifact recovery at all. but all of

- 109 -

these were incompletely excavated rings.

Other tool categories were also represented in the components. Historic trade goods were found with the lithics at EfOp-324 and the Crooked Creek site while EhPp-l, component 3 had a completely historic invent ory. Ground stone t ools included a steatite pipe fragment from TW Diamond,

and abraders from 48BH7 and 48SH311. Two bone t ools were recovered from each of EhPp-l, component 2 and 48SH31 l . Ceramic fragments were found

at five sites including TW Diamond, 48BH7, Crooked Creek, Monida Pass and 48SH3ll.

The above comparisons strongly suggested a uniformity of cultural

patterns within ti pi ring sites. Whatever the size of t he site and

wherever i t was l ocated on the Northwestern Plains, certain characteris­t ics were repeated. Exposed location, standard s ize of rings , lack of ring patterning, s ize of rocks, presence of artifacts, predominance of uni fa cial tools, and poor bone recovery were common characterist i cs.

Hearths, fire broken rock. charcoal , some bone scraps, projecti l e po ints, unifaces, choppers and bifaces appeared in half, or more than half, of

t he s ite s . Living fl oors, internal features, bone tools, double rings, ground stone tools and pit hearths were rare, and ceramics , rock- bordered hearths, doorway gaps, externa l hearths and small rock piles showed a

small and consistent occurrence. These genera l iza t ions may have been premature due to the size of the sampl e, but are worth noting for future reference.

AGE OF TIPI RINGS

Tipi rings generally have been thought to have appeared in the La te Prehistoric period, but with the increase in excavated sites this may be proved to be a fallacy. Of the 26 componen ts examined, nine had proj ectile poin ts that could be generally classed as Plains Side-Notched or a regional equivalent. These included EfOp-353, EfOp -324, EfOp-53

(level 1), TW Diamond, Crooked Creek, DhPj-22, Pj Pn- 70, Monida Pass

and 48SH3ll. Triangular points that may also have been from the Late

Prehistoric period were found at DjPb-2 and EhPp-l (component 2) . This wa s by far the largest represented type .

Earl ie r La t e Prehistoric projectile points such as the Prairie Side­

Notched and Avonlea were not associ ated wi th any excavated si t es. However,

- 11 0 -

with in the confines of the Red Deer River Survey and the Suffield sur­

vey, Prairie Side- Notched poi nts were surface fi nds at f ive ring si tes

and Avonlea poi nts were su rface f i nds at three s ites.

The Mi ddle Prehistoric has been represented more poor ly, but mos t of

the phases ha ve been found in some form . Th ere we re five Besant po in ts

r ecove red from the bur ied occupat ion 2 at EhPp-l (McIntyre 1975) and on

the surface of t wo sites in the above survey areas. Pelican Lake po in ts

have been recovered on the surface of two r i ng sites i n the survey area

(Adams 1976: 106) an d at two excavated ri ng s ites in Alberta. The firs t

was rec overed f rom EdP n-8, a three ring si te with cen tra l hearths on the

Highwood Ri ver Valley rim in Alberta (Poole 1976: 82). The second came

from DjPo-46, a sing le bu r ied ring with a ce ntra l hearth, fire cracked

rock piles and butchered bone. It was located on a ridge above the

Crowsnest River in Alberta (Reeves 1977).

Earlier components have been less common. Two Oxbow points were

recovered from DjPb-2 and a probable Oxbow from EfOp-53, level 2. Fi­

nal ly, a circle of stones associa t ed with the Frederick component at the

Hell Gap Site, locality I, was very similar to other tipi rings (Irwin­

Williams et~. 1973: 45).

FUTURE WORK

It is anticipated that the recent discov er ies in tipi ring excavations

will lead to extensive work in this area. For this reason, sever al pro­

blems and points of notice follow for othe r researchers to take into con­

sideration:

1. Time depth. The present J ~sociations of Middle Prehistoric pro­

jectile points may indicate a much greater time span than was

first indicated. Future excavati ons should ray close attention

to stratigraphy to determine possible superimposition of cul­

tural components. There should also be an attempt to date as

many sites as possible.

2. Environmental setting. Tipi r ings were ignored for many years be­

cause of the inhospitable environment of so many sites. Careful

environmental data needs to be taken to determine why these lo­

cations were preferred. There appear to be some misconceptions

about desirability of site locat ions .

- 111 -

3. Unusuall y shaped rings . Non-circular, partial and double rings may

express culturall y-derived anomalies . The dou ble ri ng at EfOp-324 strongly suggests multi ple use and partia l rings at other sites may

indicate cannibalization of one ring for use in the construc tion of

a later one . Prac t ical experience l eads t he wr i t er to suggest that re-u se of a ring i s improbable. It is difficult to realign po les or the

central hearth in the same position.

One primary objective in each mul t iple ring site should be intras i te

relative dating. Though no single techni que so far devised, is acceptable, cross referencing of several tec hniques such as r i ng size ,

depth of deposition, lichen cover, aci d test i ng and characteristic

attributes may be applicable. This relative dat ing should gi ve

necessary evidence to intrasi te homogene i ty which woul d help deter­

mi ne re-use of specific locations.

4. Inside versus outside concentrati ons. Inside and outside di st ributi ons do not , as yet, appear to have much pattern . Re - use of a si t e area

may be a partial ca use of t his prob lem. Caref ul plot t in g i s a nece ss ­

i ty and rings should always be excavated beyond thei r perimeters.

5. Central hear th s . The excava t ed mat er i al indi cates t ha t central hearths are more numerous than prev iously thoug ht. Furthermo re, exposed site positions may have destroyed large numbers of these hearths. Carefu l

examination is warranted for circumstant ial evi dence, particularly charcoal around the ti pi ring.

6. Other features. Severa l fea t ures, other than hearths, have al ready been discovered. The rock-pile scaffold- sup po r t s and fire broken

rock piles for stone boiling are two good examples. Other fe atures are inti mated by the ethnography. A cent ra l peg hol e (such as at EfOp-324 ) would have been necessary for the internal guyline. Other

interna l peg holes for spits, back rests and racks may eve ntually

show up in excavations. As the tent poles were of t en sharpened,

ex t erna l post holes may be located under or near t he rim roc ks .

Shallow boi l ing pits, smudges and ash dump s may also be fou nd both

inside and outside the rings .

7. Doorways. Ethnog raphic evidence i nd icates that many tri bes us ed

- 112 -

el evated doors so no door gap in the rock ring was needed. Existing

gaps in r in gs , if proved to be doorways, coul d be a characteri stic

of an i ndividual tribe. Considerab l e advances in the pa ttern i ng of surface scatte r may hel p iden tify a gap as a doorway or a break in the ring.

SI TE DE SCRI PTl ON DATA NO. - LOCATION

TOTAL FLAKING 1 2-3 4-6 7-11 12-82 TOTAL ~ SITES SITES CAIRNA RINGS RINGS RINGS RINGS RINGS RINGS OJ 0- No . % No. % No. % No. DI No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % to ~

(p TOTAL SITES USED 308 42 69 54 62 39 19 23 197 co Sites Located on

Flood plain 10 3. 3 3 7.1 1 1.9 2 3.2 4 10.3 7 3.6 (J) Prairie Level (Normal ) 102 33.1 12 28.6 21 30.4 24 44.4 23 37.1 13 33.3 7 36.8 2 8.7 69 35.0 c-T Prairie Level (Depression) 1 .3 1 1.6 1 .5 (p Prairie Level (H illtop) 88 28 .6 39 56 . 5 15 27.8 13 21.0 10 25.6 6 31.6 5 21.7 49 24.9 a. Prairie Level (Total) 191 62.0 12 28.6 60 87.0 39 72.2 37 59.7 23 59.0 13 68.4 7 30.4 119 60.4 (p Terrace (High) 57 18.5 8 19.1 7 10. 1 10 18.5 13 21.0 8 20 .5 2 10.5 9 39.1 42 21.3 VI n Terrace (Low ) 50 16.2 19 45 . 2 2 2.9 4 7.4 10 16.1 4 10.3 4 21.1 7 30.4 29 14.7 ~

Terrace (Tota l ) 107 34.7 27 64.3 9 13.0 14 25.9 23 31. 1 12 30.8 6 31.6 16 69.6 71 36.0 ""0 Vegetation At Site c-T

0 Prairie Association 299 97.1 36 85.7 69 100 54 100 61 98 .4 37 94.9 19 100 23 100 194 98.5 :::::5 Steppe Association 2 .7 1 2.4 1 2.6 1 .5 a. Sc rub Association B 2.6 6 14.3 1.6 1 2.6 2 1. 0 OJ Nearest Alternate Landform c-T w OJ Floodpl ain 25 8 . 1 9 21.4 1 1.9 5 8.1 4 10.3 2 10.5 4 17.4 16 8.1

Coulees 155 50.3 27 64.3 27 39.1 30 55.6 34 54.8 18 46.2 9 47.4 10 43.5 101 51.3 Prairie Level (Normal ) 72 23.4 32 46.4 15 27.8 10 16.1 7 lB .O 5 26.3 3 13.0 40 20.3 Prairie Level (Hilltop) 24 7.8 1 2.4 5 7. 3 3 5.6 8 12.9 3 7.7 2 10.5 2 B. 7 18 9.1 Terrace (Hi gh) 11 3.6 2 4.B 2 2.9 3 5.6 2 3.2 1 5.3 1 4.4 7 3.6 Terrace (Low) 21 6.8 3 7.1 3 4.4 2 3.7 3 4.8 7 18 .0 3 13. a 15 7.6

Di stance to Nearest Alt. Land. (km) Range 0-.5 0-.5 0-.3 0- .4 0-.2 0-.3 0-.1 0-. 2 0- .4 Mea n .04 . 04 . 04 .04 .03 .05 .02 .03 .03 Standard Deviation .1 . 06 . 08 .05 .08 .04 .05 Standard Error .02 .01 .01 . 01 . 01 . 01 . 01 Mode 0 0 0 0 0 a 0 0 0

Vege tation at Nearest Al t. Land. Prairie Association 125 40 . 6 6 14.3 42 60.9 24 44.4 23 37.1 14 35.9 8 42 .1 B 34.8 77 39.1 St ep pe Association 171 55.5 29 69. 1 27 39.1 30 55.6 37 59 .7 25 64.1 10 52 .6 13 56.5 115 58 .4 Scru b Association 12 3.9 7 16. 7 2 3.2 1 5.3 2 8.7 5 2.5

SITE DESCRIPTION DATA NO . 2 - EXPOSURE -l OJ TOTAL FLAKING 1 2-3 4-6 7- 11 12-82 TOTAL a-

SITES SITES CAIRNS RINGS RINGS RINGS RINGS RI NGS RINGS ro No. DI No. % No. % No. % No. 1 No. % No. % No. % No. % /0

co TOTAL SITES USE D 308 42 69 54 62 39 19 23 197

Vl Slope

Less Than 50 266 86.4 40 95 . 2 54 78 .3 51 94 .4 51 82. 3 33 84.6 16 84.2 21 91. 3 17287.3 rt 50 or More 42 13.6 2 4.8 15 21.7 3 5.6 11 17.7 6 15.4 3 15.8 2 8.7 25 12.7 ro D-

Exposure r'D No Shelter, No View 11 3.6 2 2. 9 5 9.3 2 3.2 1 2.6 1 5.3 9 4.6 V> View, No Shelter 127 41.2 7 16.7 39 56.5 26 48.2 27 43.6 16 41.0 5 26 .3 7 30.4 81 41.1 n ~ Shelter, No Niew 21 6.8 7 16 . 7 3 4.4 3 5.6 3 4.8 1 2.6 1 5.3 3 13.0 11 5.6 u Shelter and View 149 48.4 28 66 . 7 25 36.2 20 37.0 30 48.4 21 53.9 12 63.1 13 56.5 96 48.7 rt Total Sites with Shelter 170 55.2 35 83.3 28 40.6 23 42.6 33 53.2 22 56.4 13 68 .4 16 69.6 107 54.3 0 Total Sites with View 254 82.5 35 83.3 64 92.8 46 95.2 57 91.9 37 94.9 17 89.5 20 87.0 177 89.9 ~

Shelter Data '---0- Shelter from 1 Direction 106 34.4 17 40.5 20 29.0 21 38.9 17 27.4 11 28.2 10 52.6 10 43.5 69 35.0 OJ

rt Shelter from 2 Directions 52 16.9 15 35.7 6 8 .7 4 7.4 9 14.5 9 23.1 4 21.1 5 21.7 31 15.7 ~

OJ Shelter from 3 Directions 8 2.6 1 2.4 1 1.5 4 6.5 2 8.7 6 3.1 Shelter from 4 Directions 5 1.6 2 4.8 2 3.2 1 2.6 3 1.5 Sites Sheltered from North 75 29.5 27 46.6 6 17.1 7 24.1 17 30.9 5 15.2 6 33.3 7 26.9 42 26.1 Si tes Sheltered from East 48 18.9 11 19.0 6 17.1 6 21.0 8 14.6 10 30.3 3 16.7 4 26.9 31 19.3 Sites Sheltered from South 42 16.5 6 10.3 6 17.1 5 17 .2 11 20 . 0 6 18.2 4 22.2 4 15.4 30 18.6 Si t es Sheltered from West 89 35.0 14 24. 1 17 48.4 11 37.9 19 34.6 12 36.4 5 27.8 11 42.3 58 36.0

View Data Vi ew to 1 Direction 81 26.3 13 15.5 11 15.9 13 24. 1 20 32 . 3 12 30.8 4 21.1 8 34.8 57 28.9 View to 2 Directions 112 36.4 13 15.5 28 40.6 22 40.7 22 35.5 14 35.9 7 36.8 6 26.1 71 36.0 View to 3 Directi ons 68 22.1 6 7. 1 23 33 .3 10 18.5 12 19.4 8 20.5 4 21.1 5 21.7 39 19.8 Vi ew to 4 Directions 13 4.2 2 2.4 3 4.4 1 1.9 2 3.2 3 7.7 1 5.3 1 4.4 8 4.1 Sites wi t h View to North 135 24. 0 7 10.8 44 27.7 24 26.1 24 22.2 21 27.6 8 23.5 7 18.0 84 24.1 Sites with View to East 169 30.1 21 32.3 41 27.7 28 30.4 34 31.5 23 30.3 10 29.4 12 30.8 107 30.7 Si tes with View to Sout h 161 28.7 22 33.9 41 27.7 24 26.1 30 27.8 20 26.3 8 23.5 16 41. 0 98 28.1 Sites with View to West 97 17. 3 15 23.1 22 14.9 16 17.4 20 18.5 12 15.8 8 23 .5 4 10 .3 60 17.2

SITE DESCRIPT ION DATA NO. 3 - RESOURCES -1 TOTAl FLAKI ItG 1 2-3 4-6 7-11 12-82 TOTAL OJ 0- SITES SITES CAIRNS RING RI~S RINGS RINGS RINGS RINGS ro No . % No. t ~. % No. % No. t No. % No. t No . t No. %

TOTAL SITES USED 308 42 69 54 62 39 19 23 197 OJ

Water Resources A+ .5 km No Water 15 4.9 5 11 .9 4 5.8 1 1. 9 3 4.8 1 2.6 5.3 6 3.1

Vl Temporary Stand i ng Water 156 50.7 8 19. 1 50 72.5 32 59.3 30 48.4 18 46.2 11 57.9 7 30.4 98 49.8 c-+ Intermi t tent Flowing Water 35 11.4 7 16.7 7 10.1 7 13.0 5 8. 1 5 12.8 2 10.5 2 8.7 21 10.7 ro Semi- Permanent Flowing Water 89 28.9 13 31.0 8 11 .6 14 25.9 21 33.9 15 38.5 4 21.1 14 60.9 68 34.5 0.. Pe rmanent Flowing Water 13 4.2 9 21.4 3 4.8 1 5.3 4 2.0 ro Water Resources at 1. 0 ~m Vl n Temporary Standing Water 132 42.9 5 11.9 51 73.9 23 42. 6 26 41. 9 14 35.9 9 37.4 4 17.4 76 38.6 } Intermi t tent Flowing Water 15 4.9 5 11.9 1 1.5 5 9. 3 2 3.2 2 5.1 9 4.6 -0 Semi - Permanent Flowing Water 139 45. 1 18 42. 9 16 23.2 26 48.2 29 46.8 22 56 .4 9 47.4 19 82.6 105 53.3 c-+ Pe rmanent Flowin g Wa t er 22 7.1 14 33.3 1 1. 5 5 8. 1 1 2.6 1 5.3 7 3.6 0 Water Resources at 2. 0 km ::l Temporary Standing Water 23 7.5 8 11. 6 7 13. 0 5 8.1 1 2.6 1 5. 3 4.4 15 7.6 0.. Semi -Permanent Fl owing Water 249 80. 8 20 47. 6 58 84. 1 45 83.3 49 79. 0 35 89.7 17 89.5 22 95.7 168 85.3 OJ c-+ Permanent Fl owing Water 39 12. 7 22 52.4 3 4.4 2 3.7 8 12.9 3 7.7 1 5.3 14 7.1 OJ Water Resources at 5. 0 km

Semi - Permanent Fl owin g Water 254 82 . 5 20 47.7 62 89 .9 49 90 . 7 49 79 .0 35 89 .7 17 89 .5 22 95 . 7 172 87.3 U'1

Pe rma nent Flowi ng Water 54 17. 5 22 52.4 7 10.1 5 9.3 13 20.9 4 10.5 2 10.5 1 4.4 25 12.7 Di stance to Ri ver (km)

Ra nge 0-10.3 0-9.6 .9-10 . 3 1.1-9. 6 . 5-9.7 .8-1 0- 0 .4-9. 8 .2 -9.8 .2-10.0 Mean 5.3 2.6 6.5 6. 3 5.4 5. 1 5.5 5. 5 5. 6 Standa rd Deviat i on 2.4 2.7 2.6 2.8 2.5 2.5 2.4 Standa rd Er ror . 39 .33 .35 .36 .41 .59 . 5

Dis t ance to Al kali Creek Ran ge 0-3.7 0- 3.7 .1 -2.9 .1-3. 2 0-2.6 0-3. 0 0-2.2 0-2. 2 0-3.2 Mean 1.2 1.3 1.8 1. 2 1. 1 1 .1 1. 2 . 7 1.1 Standard Dev iation . 96 3.4 .81 . 75 .81 .7 .72 Standard Error .15 .41 .11 . 1 .13 . 12 .1 5

Biotic Communi t y of Site (AR DA Map) Wi nt er Ra nge, No Limita t ions 11 2 36.4 32 46.4 23 54. 8 11 20.4 17 27 .4 16 41. 0 6 31.6 7 30 .4 57 28 .9 Summe r Range , Sl i gh t Li mi t ations 196 63.6 37 53.6 19 45. 2 43 79. 6 45 72.6 23 59.0 13 68.4 16 69.6 140 71. 1

On Si te Lithic Resou rces Suffic ient 271 88.0 28 66.7 67 97. 1 51 94.4 53 85.5 34 87.2 17 89.5 21 91.3 176 89. 3 In suff ic ient 37 12. 0 14 33. 3 2 2.9 3 5.6 9 14.5 5 12.8 2 10.5 2 8.7 21 10.7

Nea re st Wood Resources Range 0-1.7 0-.8 0-1. 4 0-1. 4 0-1. 7 0- .8 0- 1. 4 0-1 . 7 0-1 .7 Mean .37 .13 . 54 .39 .4 .27 .47 .45 .38 Standard Dev iat ion .1 9 .41 . 34 .4 . 22 .41 .45 Standard Er ro r .03 .05 .05 .05 .03 .1 . 1

-I OJ CT

ro

co

(/)

rt ro

0... ro VI n ---;

u r+

o ::I

0... OJ r+ OJ

TOTAL SITES Flakes

present Ca i rns

Present Number of Cairn s

Range Mean Standard Deviati on Standard Erro r

Fi re Broken Rock Present

Rings, Patterning Linea l Clustered Randomly Centric (U sual ly Arc Onl y)

Rings, Size (Largest in Metres) Number of Sites Used Range Mean Standard Devi ation Standard Error Mode

Ri ngs , Size (Smallest in Metres ) ~umbe r of Sites Used Range Mean Standard Dev i ation Standilrd Error Mode

Ri ngs , Si ze (Deffere nce in ~tres) Bet~en La rge and $mi l l ~a"s Bet ween Large and Sm~ll Ri ngs

Rings, Si ze of Cobbles SI!Ia 11 Cobbles Medium Cobbles La rge Cobbles to Sma 11 Bou 1 ders

Neares t ~i g"bour ( km) Range ~.n Standa rd Deviation StandArd Error /'!ode

TOTAL SITES No. % 30B

FLAKING SITES No. % 42

174 56.5 42 100

1.7255.8

34 11.0 6 14 .3

.1-.B .1- .6

. 2 . 2 .12 .02

.1 . 1

SITE DESCRIPTION DATA NO. 4 - SI TE COMPOSITION

CAIRNS No. % 69

1 RING No . % 54

2-3 RINGS No . % 62

4-6 RINGS No. % 39

7- 11 RINGS No. % 19

12-82 RINGS No. % 23

TOTAL RINGS No . % 197

34 49. 3 19 35 .2 34 54.8 18 46.2 5 26.3 22 45 . 7 9849 .B

69 100 32 59 .3 32 51.6 18 46.2 B 42. 1 13 56.5 103 52.3

.1-.8

. 2

. 14

.OB

.2

1-7 1-10 1-6 1.9 2.8 2.B 1.3 2. 1 1. 6 .23 .37 . 38

50 2-8 5.0 1.3 .19 5

50 2-B 5. 0 1.3 .19 5

o o

1.9 9 14.5 5 12 .8

26 72. 2 8 22.2 2 5.6

57 1-10 5. 1 1.6 .22 4 & 5

56 1-10 4. 2 1. 6 . 22 3

.B6 9

37 3-10 6. 3 1. 7 .28 5

36 1- 7 4. 3 1. 4 .23 4

1. 97 9

1 -17 4.B 5.5 1.94

5 26. 3

9 47.4 B 42. 1 2 10 .5

19 3-11 6.6 2.1 .47 5

19 2-7 4 .3 1.1 .27 4

2.25 10

1 -1 3 3.9 4.5 1. 24

8 34.B

9 39. 1 12 52 . 2 2 B. 7

22 4-10 6. 7 1. 8 .37 6

19 2-6 3.6 .B . 19 4

3.05 8

1-17 2.B

28 14.4

44 56.4 28 35.9 6 7.7

3 6.3 3 5.6 1 2.7 1 4.6 8 4.4 41 85.4 40 74. 1 29 78.4 1684.2 13 60 .0 139 72. 2 4 8.3 11 20. 4 7 18 .9 3 15.B 8 36.4 33 18 .3

.1-.5

.2

.11

. 04

. 2

. 1-.5

.2

.11

.02

.1

.1- .4

.2

.08

. 02

. 1

. 1- . 6

.2

. 12

.02

.1

.1 - .3

.1

.06

. 01

. 1

.1- .6

.2

. 1

0'1

SITE DESCRIPTION DATA NO. 5 - LINEAR REGRESSIONS

--l COEF. SLOPE 1 2-3 4-6 7-11 12-82 OJ 0- CORREL. INTERCE PT RING RINGS RINGS RINGS RINGS ~

ro CATEGORY PERCENT . PERCENT. PERCENT. PERCENT. PERCENT. OJ EXP REAL EXP REAL EXP REAL EXP REAL EXP REAL

Vl Landform, Prairie Level -. 721 -7.48 73 72 65 60 58 59 51 68 43 30

rt Landform, low Terrace Level .881 5.1 7 7 12 16 17 10 22 21 27 30

ro Landform, Terraces .737 8.18 23 26 31 37 39 31 47 32 55 70 Cl.. Nearest Alt. Land., Floodplain .773 2.58 3 2 6 8 8 10 11 11 13 17 (!) Nearest Alt. Land., Coulees -.924 -3 .16 56 56 53 55 50 46 46 47 43 44 ~ (') Nearest Alt. Land., Scrub Vegetation .831 1.94 0 0 2 3 3 0 5 5 7 9 -s

'-0 Exposure, No View No Shel ter -.735 -1.65 7 9 6 3 4 3 2 5 1 0

rt Exposure, View No Shel t er -.909 -5.29 48 48 43 44 38 41 33 27 27 30 0 Exposu re , View and Shelter .867 5.38 41 37 46 48 52 54 57 63 63 57 ::l Exposure, Total Shel t er .973 6.29 44 43 51 53 58 56 65 68 72 70 0- Exposure, No Shel ter -.94 -7.83 56 54 48 48 40 46 33 26 25 26 --' OJ rt Shelter, 2 Directions .848 3.52 11 7 14 15 18 23 21 21 25 22 '-I OJ

View, 2 Directions -.821 -2 .81 40 41 38 36 35 36 32 39 29 26 View , 3 Directions .992 .81 19 19 19 19 20 21 21 22 22 22 Water: 1 km, Intennittent Flowing -.885 -2.18 8 9 6 3 4 5 1 0 0 0 Water : 1 km, Semi-pennanent Flowing .721 6.95 42 48 49 47 56 56 63 47 70 83 Water: 2 km, Temporary Standing -.781 -2.0 11 13 9 8 7 3 5 5 3 4 Water: 2 km, Semi-permanent Flowing .865 3.5 80 83 84 79 87 90 90 90 95 96 Fire Broken Rock, Present .963 7.77 3 2 10 15 18 13 26 26 34 35 Ring Pattern i ng. Lineal -.96 -16.55 70 72 53 47 36 39 Ring Patterning, Clustered Randomly . 983 15.97 24 22 39 42 54 52 Size of Ring Cobbles, Large Cobbles .792 5.15 10 8 15 20 20 19 25 16 30 36

DISTANCE DISTANCE DISTANCE DISTANCE DISTANCE EXP REAL EXP REAL EX P REAL EXP REAL EXP REAL

Mean Distance to Alka l i Creek (km) -. 71 - . 12 1.3 1.2 1.2 1.1 1.1 1.1 .9 1.2 .8 .7 Mean Cairns Per Ring Site (Real He.) .853 .6 2 1. 9 2.6 2.8 3.2 2.8 3.8 4.8 4.4 3.9 Mean Size of Largest Ring/Site (m) .938 . 5 4.9 5.0 5.4 5.1 5.9 6.3 6.4 6.6 6.9 6.7 Mean Size of Smal l est Ring/Si te (m ) -.857 - .254 4.8 5.0 4.5 4.2 4.3 4.3 4. 0 4.3 3.8 3.6

- 11 8 -

(/) (/)

(/) cr: cr:

PROJ. BIFACE (/) cr: ENO-

w UNI FACE w

PECKED I.J.J w a.. a..

POI NTS ~ a.. SC RAPERS ~ a.. <x: a.. a TOOLS -l 0 U I u... I Vl U (/)

U f-:r w w U U w C -l <x: ::> -l ..... CC u... 0 CC (/) CC ..... f- cc 0 f-

Vl w 0 u w ~ - cr: u z: <x: z: Vl -l 0

~ i ! i -l -l ee f- u N <:t- ee 0:( N M U") N N M ..,. ... Vl .... ... .... U W I.J.J cr: 0:

W W W U U W W W W W W I.J.J W W W 0:( -l -l W 0 -l -l -l 0:( 0:( -l -l -l -l -l -l ....J -l ....J -l u... CC CC I f->- >- >- u... u... >- >- >- >- >- >- >- >- >- >- .... CC ell Vl

SITE NO. ~ ~ 5 L.I.. f- .... .... ... .... f- f- f- f- !0- f- f- f- f- f- z: 0 w .... VI VI VI cc ell Vl VI Vl VI Vl VI Vl VI VI (/) ::> u a.. :r :r

EfOp-ll 2 EfOp-17 2 EfOp-1B 2 EfOp-20 EfOp-21 EfOp-22 EfOp-32 1 EfOp-33 2 2 2 1 EfOp-34 EfOp-49 3 EfO p- 50 1 H Op- 53 ( 1 ) 6 2 1 4 2 5 3 1 EfOp-53 (2) 5 4 1 3 2 EfOp-98 EfOp-1 08 2 EfOp- l 09 4 EfOp- 1l2 H Op-1 70 EfOp- l 88 EfOp-193 EfOp- 196 EfOp-221 EfOp-242 EfOp- 248 EfOp-267 EfOp- 269 EfOp-270 EfOp-306 EfOp- 3l4 1 EfOp-321 1 1 2 1 2 EfO p-324 3 2 2 4 18 5 X EfOp-325 EfOp-34 l EfOp -352 EfO p-353

3

EfOp-357 EfOp- 360 Ef Op-361 EfOp-369

TOTAL 2 12 8 3 2 4 7 1 4 2 14 6 5 19 8 37 24 5 5

Table 9. Distribution of artifacts by site.

Adams, Gary F.

- 11 9 -

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