Seventy-two atlatl weights have been found in Saskatchewan, almost all from fields under cultivation in the grassland and aspen parkland. We have recognized six classes, including Class I, which is a “loaf-shaped” form that is present... more
Seventy-two atlatl weights have been found in Saskatchewan, almost all from fields under cultivation in the grassland and aspen parkland. We have recognized six classes, including Class I, which is a “loaf-shaped” form that is present throughout interior North America and dating to several millennia ago. Classes II, III, IV, and V are elongated shapes that occur on and around the Northern Plains. Of these, particularly distinctive is Class IV, a zoomorphic form with an animal head sculpted at one end. These elongated weights appear to be part of the material culture of the Besant Phase (ca. 2,100-1,500 BP) and the closely related Sonota Phase (ca. 2,000-1,350 BP) of the Dakotas and adjacent Canadian Plains. Class VI is a relatively large, bi-pointed form. There is also a group of miscellaneous weights that includes two birdstones as well as a weight composed of nephrite, a lithic from interior British Columbia. We present metric attributes and illustrations of the weights in each class in order to further the understanding of this little documented group of artifacts by making available representative specimens provenanced from within a defined geographical boundary.
The archaeological investigation of Fort Rivière Tremblante, a North West Company post that operated from 1791 to 1798 in what is now southeastern Saskatchewan, Canada, yielded 20,119 glass beads representing 63 varieties, as well as... more
The archaeological investigation of Fort Rivière Tremblante, a North West Company post that operated from 1791 to 1798 in what is now southeastern Saskatchewan, Canada, yielded 20,119 glass beads representing 63 varieties, as well as seven wampum. While the bulk of the collection is composed of drawn seed beads, it also contains an exceptional variety of fancy wound beads. A comparison with bead assemblages recovered from other contemporary fur trade sites in western Canada reveals that both the North West Company and the Hudson's Bay Company carried much the same bead inventory in the region around the turn of the 19th century, with slight variations to accommodate local tastes.
This is the first tool of this type to be discovered in northern Saskatchewan. Given our incomplete knowledge of the archaeology of northern Saskatchewan, we are unable to determine whether copper tools in this area are a rarity (although... more
This is the first tool of this type to be discovered in northern Saskatchewan. Given our incomplete knowledge of the archaeology of northern Saskatchewan, we are unable to determine whether copper tools in this area are a rarity (although this seems likely). The style of the McCallum point is similar to that of W.L. Wittry's type IF which is based on copper tools from the Great lakes region.
