ARCHAEOLOGY AND INDIGENOUS HERITAGE: THE BLACKFOOT CULTURAL LANDSCAPE AT MOH-KINS-TSIS

Gerald A. Oetelaar, Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of WESTERN WORLDVIEW INDIGENOUS WORLDVIEW • nature distinct from culture • one world of sentient beings • domination and exploitation • reciprocity and trust • economic materialism – primacy • cultural idealism - primacy of of material needs spiritual and social • individualism – private and • communalism – sharing of public domains resources • technological solutions to • social/spiritual solutions to problems problems • climate change and population • dreams, visions, bundle increase transfers, rituals • objective, scientific, written • subjective, humanistic, oral PERCEPTIONS OF A LANDSCAPE LANDSCAPE AS HOME

Sky world

• community carries Wilderness => Garden of Eden message of world renewal Sky

• smoke carries message

Middle world Earth CALGARY AND AREA Moh kins tsis Spa cee

Mooks as sis CONFLUENCE? DEFENCE?

BLACKFOOT GEOGRAPHY!

Mooks as sis NAPI’S CREATIVE ACTS Big Rock - Okotok

http://brian-mountainman.blogspot.ca/2011/05/foothills-erratic-train.html TRAILS – FOOTSTEPS OF THE ANCESTORS

Swan’s bill

Crow’s nest

Chief Old Old North Trail

Breast

Bear’s tooth

Belt PLACES • result of creative acts but also reflections of • perception and experience - movement • transportation technology – dog and travois • valley margins and river crossings – access, ford, and egress • prominent landmarks – navigation aids • hazards – erratics and cairns • food, shelter, fuel and raw materials • names, narratives, songs and rituals • campsites, kill sites, pictographs, petroglyphs, vision quest structures, effigies, and burials SACRED GROVES Moh kins tsis • sacred and managed groves • bodies of dead relatives in branches • living community visits the ancestors and tells the story • ancestors = sense of continuity and spiritual attachment to place • movement from grove to grove is an excursion through history of the group • sense of history and attachment to place => lessons for management • spiritual and social leader’s => named after place (Old Swan = Swan’s bill) BLACKFOOT “PARKS” Police Point Park, Medicine Hat Sweetgrass Hills

Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park http://www.tourismroi.com/ContentImages/Hero1_33862.png

Mountain Parks Inew-teneks-is-dop • places along Old North Trail include the (aka Paskapoo Slopes) word ‘piskan’, bison kill site • aki piskan, nina piskan, staow-piskan • Bison jumps in Foothills STEWARDSHIP • proper treatment of non-human relatives • retention and transmission of narratives, songs, and rituals • management of winter pastures, drive lines, and processing area • Inew-teneks-is-dop is a special type of bison kill complex LIFE-LONG LEARNING • note tipi rings along east-west trail • reflection of need for privacy? WRONG! • reflection of my western bias • Blackfoot – belief in sharing • arrangement of tipis consistent with world of sentient beings • trails used by all members of the community – living and dead • placement of lodges - concern for well-being of household THANKS TO MY MENTORS!

Gerald (Gerry) T. Conaty • Blair First Rider, Deanna Starlight, Eldon Yellowhorn, Jack Gladstone, Andy Black Water, Cliff Crane Bear, Louise Cropped Ear Wolf, Shirlee Crowshoe • Bruce Starlight, Deborah Lloyd Photo credits Slide 3: Map prepared by Peter Fidler at Chesterfield House based on information provided largely by Old Swan (Ac Ko Mok Ki) during the winter of 1801. Hudson Bay Archives, Winnipeg. Slide 4: Aerial view of western landscape. Google maps. • Inset plan of the foursquare. Adapted from Wetherell, Donald G., and Irene R.A. Kmet 1991 Homes in : Building, Trends and Design. The University of Alberta Press, Alberta Culture and Multiculturalism and Alberta Municipal Affairs, Edmonton. Tipi framework from Nabokov, Peter Native 1989 Native American Architecture. Oxford University Press, Slide 5: Early map of Calgary showing the articulation of the rectangular urban grid within the nested squares of the Dominion Land Survey. Map prepared by Peter Fidler at Chesterfield House based on information provided largely by Ak Ko Wee aK) during the winter of 1801. Hudson Bay Archives, Winnipeg. Slide 6: Painting of the Calgary Landscape prepared by Amanda J. Dow. Painting of . Courtesy of . • Photograph of Fort Calgary. Courtesy of Glenbow Museum. Slide 7: Photograph of Okotoks erratic from Stalker, A. MacS. 1956 The Erratics Train Foothills of Alberta, Geological Survey of Bulletin 37. Queen’s Printer, Ottawa. Foothills erratics train map from http://brian-mountainman.blogspot.ca/2011/05/foothills-erratic-train.html Slide 8: Painting of Fort Calgary by Dr. R.B. Nevitt, 1876. Courtesy of Glenbow Archives, Calgary. Photographs of landmarks taken by D. Joy Oetelaar and Gerald A. Oetelaar. Slide 10: Photograph of Police Point Park ca 1910 (courtesy of Medicine Hat Museum and Art Gallery). Photograph of Police Point Park today (courtesy of Jim Marshall). • Inset of burials platforms, Glenbow Archives. Slide 11: Photograph of Police Point Park ca 1910 (courtesy of Medicine Hat Museum and Art Gallery). • Photograph of West Butte, Sweetgrass Hills (photograph by D. Joy Oetelaar). • Photograph of Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park (photograph by Gerald A. Oetelaar). • Internet photograph http://www.tourismroi.com/ContentImages/Hero1_33862.png Slide 14 : Photograph of Narcisse Blood distributed at the memorial service. • Photograph of Gerald T. Conaty (courtesy of Gwynn Langemann).