Occasional Paper: Prehistoric Survey of the Lower Red Deer River, 1975
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PREHISTORIC SURVEY OF THE LOWER RED DEER RIVER 197 5 by Gary Adams Archaeol oai cal Survey of A1 berta Occasional Paper No. 3 1976 Prepared for: Pub1 i shed by: Archaeological Survey A1 berta Culture of A1 berta Historical Resources Division OCCASIONAL PAPERS Papers for publication in this series of monographs are produced by or for the four branches of the Historical Resources Division of A1 berta Cul ture: the Provincial Archives of A1 berta, the Provincial Museum of Alberta, the Historic Sites Service and the Archaeological Survey of Al berta. Those persons or institutions interested in particular subject sub-series may obtain publ ication l ists from the appropriate branches, and may purchase copies of the publications from the following address: The Bookshop Provincial Museum of A1 berta 12845 - 102 Avenue Edmon ton, A1 berta T5N OM6 Phone (403) 452-21 50 Objectives These Occasional Papers are designed to permit the rapid dissemination of information resulting from Historical Resources ' programmes. They are intended primarily for interested specialists, rather than as popular publ ications for general readers. In the interests of making information available quickly to these special ists, normal production procedures have been abbreviated. ABSTRACT During the summer of 1975, a three-month survey was conducted on the lower Red Deer River through a contract issued by the Archaeological Survey of Alberta. The project's intent was to trace a section of the river, to inventory sites, and to attempt to outline the prehistoric character of the region. A total of 693 sites were registered, many of which were more than one site in close association. It was found that the river area was inhabited to at least the Early Middle Prehistoric Period. Furthermore, definite patterning of sites was observed, and to a limited extent, identified. The evidence sug- gested that the river bluff area was heavily used and that there was a preference for moderate to sharp changes in relief. It was also noted that certain site types concentrated in specific areas: tipi rings on bluffs; cairns on open prairie, bluffs and hilltops; cairns with flakes on hills and terraces; flake sites on floodplains, terraces and low altitude bluffs and bison drive lanes near coulee systems. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Abstract ..................... ii Tableof Contents ................ iii List of Figures ................. v List of Plates .................. vi List of Appendices ................ vii Introduction ................... 1 Purpose ................... 1 Location .................. 1 Project Location .............. 1 Methodology ................... 3 Field Methods ................ 3 Analysis .................. 4 Environment ................... 5 Glaciation ................. 5 Topography ................. 5 Climate ................... 6 Vegetation ................. 7 Fauna .................... 8 Ecological Characterization ......... 9 Regional Prehistory ............... 12 General ................... 12 Early Prehistoric Period .......... 13 Middle Prehistoric Period .......... 15 Late Prehistoric Period ........... 18 Protohistoric-Historic Period ........ 19 Collections ................... 25 Site Descriptions .............. 25 Analysis .................. 28 Description of Sites ............... 31 Unit Type A ................. 31 Unit Type B ................. 46 Unit Type C ................. 51 Unit Type D ................. 54 Page Unit Type E ................. 63 UnitTypeF ................. 64 UnitTypeG ................. 66 UnitTypeH ................. 67 UnitTypeJ ................ 68 Unit Type K ................. 70 Unit Type L ................. 74 Artifact Analysis ................ 77 Projectile Points .............. 77 Formed Bifaces ............... 80 Unclassified Bifacially Formed Artifacts . 82 Bifacially Retouched Flakes ......... 83 Scrapers .................. 86 Uni faces .................. 87 Unifacial Cobble Choppers .......... 87 Bipolar Flakes ............... 88 Ceramics .................. 89 BoneTools ................. 89 Site Analysis .................. 90 General ................... 90 Description of Terms ............ 92 Overall Character of Site Locations ..... 93 Cairn Sites ..........94 Surface and Buried Occupation Sites ..... 96 Stone Rings ................. 97 Special Activity Areas ........... 98 Alignments and Configurations ........100 Comparisons ................... 102 Conclusions ...................105 Temporal and Cultural Sequence ....... 105 Settlement Patterns .............107 Bibliography ...................112 Plates ...................... 116 Appendices ....................130 LIST OF FIGURES Page Location Map .......................................... 2 Typical Landforms of Lower Red Deer River ............. 10 Early Prehistoric Finds ............................... 14 Middle and Late Prehistoric Sites ..................... 17 Collection Localities ................................. 26 Location of Unit Types ............................... 32 Stone Features ....................................... 33 Medicine Wheels ...................................... 34 Site Locations - Projectile Points and Excavations .... 35 Site Locations .Drive Lanes and Medicine Wheels ...... 36 Map of Unit L-2 ....................................... 37 Location of Surveyed Areas ............................ 103 LIST OF PLATES Page View to south. showing floodplain and terraces of the Red Deer River Valley ............................. View to east. showing plateaus and terraces of Alkali Coulee ......................................... Looking south into Red Deer River Valley near Buffalo . Open prairie north of Buffalo ......................... Portion of drive lane complex at EgOm-3 ............... Elongated cairn at EfOq-67 ............................ View to east of EfOm-37 ............................... View of EfOp-18 from the north........................ Unexcavated cairn at EfOp-109 ......................... View to west. showing terrace containing EfOr-5 ....... Excavation at EfOn-18 as seen from the north.......... Projectile points..................................... Formed bifaces ........................................ Formed bifaces. bifacially worked artifacts and bifacially retouched flakes ........................... End scrapers .......................................... Side scrapers ......................................... Unifaces .............................................. Bipolar flakes and pecked pebble tools ................ Ceramics .............................................. LIST OF APPENDICES Page 1 . Faunal Species List ................................... 130 2 . Local Collections and Lithic Materials ................ 133 3 . Site Description Data ................................. 134 4 . Artifact Data ......................................... 138 INTRODUCTION PURPOSE The Red Deer River Survey had a two-fold purpose. First, as a sur- vey, as many sites as possible were to be located along the Red Deer River from the Saskatchewan border to an arbitrary point, later estab- lished as the mouth of Blood Indian Cree. Second, this data, incor- porated wi th addi tional information sources, provided a prehistoric construct of the region. The first purpose was completed with the compilation of 693 Site Inventory forms, now located at the offices of the Archaeological Survey of Alberta. The result of the second part is contained within this report. LOCAT ION The surveyed area was loosely defined as an approximate 60 mile length of the Red Deer River from Empress on the Saskatchewan border, west to the mouth of Blood Indian Creek on the north side and a few miles short of that on the south (Figure 1). The survey was intended to examine only river oriented areas which included the flood plains, river terraces, river bluffs and related coulee systems. PROJECT HISTORY The project commenced in May, 1975 through a contract from the Archaeological Survey of A1 berta. A crew left for the field on the first of June and worked through to the first of September. A1 though the project was established for a four-person crew, during one month, only three persons were working. The crew comprised, at various times, Dean Wetzel , David Elphinstone, Kelti Paul and Karie Hardie. Laboratory work continued from September to February with assistance from Lynn Thompson, Shirly Nalbach and Dean Wetzel. Maps were drawn by Leon Galenza. The appreciation of the author is extended towards all these per- sons and to the Archaeological Survey of Alberta for its time, guidance and moral support. LOCATION MAP Maple Creek CYPRESS HILLS PROVINCIAL PARK Shaunavon METHODOLOGY FIELD METHODS As the prime concern was to locate sites, the largest portion of available time was allotted to that purpose. Though a member short for roughly one month, the crew spent a total of 210 man-days in the field. Of these; 142 (67%) were spent in field survey, 48 (23%) involved excavation and 20 (10%) were made up of miscellaneous chores and rainy days. Weekends were not included as one day a week was re- served for shopping and business and a second for camp chores and re1 axation. The first two weeks of June were spent conducting an intensive survey of a small area west of Empress and south of the Red Deer River. This procedure identified certain physiographic areas as highly pro- ductive and others as virtually devoid of sites. Bluffs and terraces provided intensive habitation potential while floodplains and open prairies had a moderate to poor site density. Identifiable