B.A. Nicholson

Ecological islands and Vickers Focus adaptive transitions in the pre-contact plains of southwestern Manitoba

Archaeological reconnaissance in southwestern Manitoba has revealed a small zone of intensive late Plains Woodland (Vickers Focus) occupation in the northeastern extreme of the Plains region. In light of significant environmental changes over the past 120 years, site interpretation is heavily dependent upon landscape reconstruction using archival records, intersite mapping, and site modeling using Geographic Information Systems. Vickers Focus occupation is strongly correlated with isolated forested wetlands within the mixed grass prairie, and indicates a seasonally scheduled economy that alternated between warm season foraging and cold season bison procurement. It is proposed that these sites represent a transition from intensive woodland foraging to bison hunting as these Plains Woodland groups migrated westward into the northern Plains.

Interactive Dynamics of Intrusive Horticultural Groups Coalescing in South-Central Manitoba during the Late Prehistoric Period—The Vickers Focus

Recent fieldwork has demonstrated the presence of several intrusive horticultural complexes in southern Manitoba during Late Prehistoric times. These groups probably first began entering the area circa 1000 B.P. and disappeared from the archaeological record some 600 years later—about 150 years prior to the entry of Europeans. An examination of the ceramics indicates that no single migration theory or simple diffusion of technology can account for these assemblages. The diversity of the wares, derived from identifiable antecedents elsewhere, indicates a complex mingling and syncretism of cultural elements drawn from widely separated sources resulting in some form of hybrid ethnicity. Subsequent work has indicated a localized dispersal of these unusual assemblages during the terminal Late Prehistoric period. The material assemblage of one such composite society is evident at the Lowton site which has provided the ceramic type collection for an initial definition of the Vickers Focus within the larger context of the Scattered Village Complex. The sheer abundance of cultural materials in the Lowton assemblage, when compared with other sites containing these ceramics, indicates that the Lowton site was the most important of the known sites for people belonging to this segment of the Scattered Village Complex and may have been a regional center for a coalescing polyethnic society.

The Function of Ice-gliders and Their Distribution in Time and Space Across the Northern Plains and Parklands

Abstract Based upon early ethnographic accounts, the ice-glider was a recreational artifact, with limited distribution in time and space, first appearing in the early historic period and confined to the Missouri River drainage. Recent research has shown a more broad distribution across both time and space, extending its use into the precontact period and extending its distribution northward into the Northern Plains and the adjacent Parklands of Canada. Its earliest dated occurrence is in the parklands of southern Manitoba and the southern plains of Saskatchewan circa 1440 A.D. lee-gliders provide a glimpse of non-subsistence activities of First Nations people prior to the advent of Europeans in the region. They also provide a useful indicator of site seasonality. Elaborate decoration on some specimens suggests to the authors that the ice-glider may have had non-secular applications as well.

The Atkinson Site-A 6,400Year Old Gowen (Mummy Cave) Occupation Near Lauder, Manitoba

Abstract The Atkinson site is in the north bank of the Souris River, north of Lauder, Manitoba. The upper occupations are sparse, however, a small but rich Gowen deposit, including a hearth and a small bone bed, was encountered in overbank deposits 150 em below surface. A number of lithic·tools and debitage were also present. Radiocarbon dates indicate that the occupation dates to between 5280+/ -50 B.P or 4225 cal B.C. and 5580+/-120 B.P. or 4445 cal B.C. This is the first Gowen occupation to be excavated in Manitoba and extends the range of Gowen occupations south and east from the type sites in central Saskatchewan. The faunal analyses indicate a late winter or early spring occupation and a diversity of faunal material, dominated by bison. The bone deposits indicate that animals were killed elsewhere and that the meat-rich and marrow-rich bone elements were transported to the site for further processing. The lithic materials are primarily local cherts and quartzites with a small amount of Knife River Flint.

Climatic challenges and changes : A little ice age period response to adversity-the vickers focus forager/horticulturalists move on

Abstract Vickers focus people are believed to have practiced a lifeway based upon foraging and gardening in the Tiger Hills, a glacial-moraine uplanet in southwestern Manitoba. It has also been argued that Vickers focus society was more socially complex than earlier hunter-gatherer groups in the region relying almost exclusively on bison hunting. There is evidence to suggest limited stratification in Vickers focus culture and clear evidence of a widespread exchange network that brought a variety of exotic materials and finely made ceramic vessels into the Lowton site. Other smaller seasonal sites have been identified nearby. These have been interpreted as satellites of the Lawton site. These people appeared as immigrants in the area circa A.D. 1400. Sometime around A.D. 1450 they left the Tiger Hills and have been identified further west in the Lauder Sandhills around 100 years later, following an intensive foraging lifeway. There is evidence they had begun to exploit bison more intensively and this trend isfurther intensified in the Sanderson site in southeastern Saskatchewan, where a full-fledged bison hunting economy was followed. The cause for their relocation and altered subsistence strategy is believed to have resulted from a sudden, drastic cold spike during the Little Ice-Age.

Extrapolating to a More Ancient Past: Ethnohistoric Images of Northeastern Plains Vegetation and Bison Ecology

Abstract Over the past 200 years the northeastern Plains has changed profoundly from an ecological and cultural perspective due to the massive immigration of non-aboriginal populations with new economies and settlement systems. Historical documents are important in exploring these comparatively recent changes and appropriately modeling our expectations about a more ancient past. These records document pre-nineteenth century northeastern Plains ecological dynamism and bison seasonal migration behavior and are used to critically evaluate the utility of current ecological interpretations. Such interpretations must take care to temporally contextualize the historic sources and acknowledge their inherentflaws.

LATE PREHISTORIC CEREMONIAL TREATMENT OF A BISON SKULL IN SOUTHWESTERN MANITOBA

Abstract During the 2004 field season, a bison skull was excavated at the Crepeele site in southwestern Manitoba. The skull was in a supine position oriented along a proximal southwest to northeast axis. The bone was badly degraded and was transported back to the lab for careful exposure. It was found that only the horn cores, premaxilla, and the frontals were still intact. The most durable elements of the skull, the petrous bones, teeth and the occipital condyles had been removed, creating an open bowl defined by the remaining bone. As the soil was removed from the interior of the skull, a number of fired clay fragments were encountered and set aside. Upon examination it appeared that a shallow bowl of raw clay had been fired from within, at sufficient heat to bond with the surrounding sand matrix. The surrounding site matrix, and the material within the skull, were aeolian sands. It appears the clay had been introduced deliberately. The interior of the bowl was decorated with red ochre pigment using clusters of dots and other indeterminate shapes. While similar bison skull alignments have been noted elsewhere in the region, the fired and decorated clay bowl is unique.

Vickers Focus Subsistence: Continuity through the Seasons

Abstract The Vickers focus is an archaeological group found in south-central and southwestern Manitoba. After a brief occupation of the Tiger Hills region where these people were believed to have practiced horticulture, they moved west into the Lauder Sandhills of Manitoba and became intensive bison hunters. The faunal assemblages from two Vickers focus occupations in the Lauder Sandhills are examined to determine activity areas and the subsistence strategies of each site. The Jackson site contains a small bison kill and associated processing area while the nearby Vera site was mainly used for processing. Seasonality of each site is also inferred from faunal remains with Jackson being occupied during the colder months and Vera inhabited during a warmer season. One assumes that seasonality would be a significant factor in subsistence strategies as indicated by the ethnographic record. The predominance of bison exploitation with only a limited use of secondary food sources at the Vera and Jackson sites suggest that seasonality was not a deciding factor of their subsistence strategies.

Two Cultures?One Environment: Vickers Focus Adaptations Contrasted with Blackduck Adaptations in the Tiger Hills

Abstract The historical roots and attendant technologies of two woodland-based cultures are examined in the context of the Tiger Hills upland in southwestern Manitoba. High levels of ecological complexity, relative to the surrounding prairies, characterize the Tiger Hills where the mosaic of glacial moraine deposits, wetlands and otholes, outwash silt-plain and meadowland, has created a complex of microhabitats. These range from cattail marsh to open grassland to willow thickets and closed forest canopy. Such areas of local biodiversity provide a wide range of possibilities for hunter-gatherer and forager-horticulturist societies. Two groups, Vickers focus and Blackduck, are contrasted on the basis of settlement patterns and subsistence strategies. Two sites in particular, Lowton and Hokanson, separated by less than a kilometer in space and approximately 500 years in time, are examined in the larger settlement context of these groups and their subsistence strategies. The markedly different lifeways of these people who opera ted within the same environmental parameters can be attributed to their historical backgrounds and their willingness to adopt/discover the new and necessary technologies and cultural lore required to maximize their success in exploiting new opportunities in the Tiger Hills.

Aboriginal seasonal subsistence and land use on the northeastern plains : Insight from ethnohistoric sources

Abstract Over the past 2,000 years aboriginal land use in the northeastern Plains reflects Plains cultural influences, plus those deriving from the Subarctic and Eastern Woodlands culture areas. This suggests the diffusion of ideas and technology as well as population mobility. While postcontact aboriginal societies were profoundly affected by the European colonial experience, records of their diverse land use strategies have utility in modeling the equally complex precontact situation. In this article there is an emphasis on exploring seasonal shifts in bison exploitation by people of diverse ethno-linguistic affiliation and economic orientations, and how such bison predation affected habitat selection. By extension, these observations will aid in modeling expectations of precontact archaeological site distribution and function.