Research: Publications: Aboriginal History
> The Aboriginal Rock Paintings of the Churchill River
> Archaeological Resource Management in Saskatchewan: An Overview
> The Archaeology and History of Fort Pelly 1: 1824 – 1856
> Bison and Man
> First Nations Gallery Guide
> Francois' House: An Early Fur Trade Post of the Saskatchewan River
> George Ceepeekous: The Man Who Could Not Stop Dancing (Fact Sheet #6)
> Indian Boulder Effigies
> Indian Rock Art
> The Long Creek Site
> The Mortlach Site
> The Parkhill Site: An Agate Basin Surface Collection in South Central Saskatchewan
> The Pottery of P.G. Downes
> Volunteers as Archaeological Field Curators: The Prospects
The Aboriginal Rock Paintings of the Churchill River
Anthropological Series No. 4
Some 60 to 70 aboriginal rock painting sites are known in Saskatchewan north of the 55th parallel, and perhaps two dozen more occur in northern Manitoba. The Churchill River, a major historic waterway, spans this northern area and possesses an important series of rock art sites. Rock art is a special kind of archaeological remain which was left intentionally as an interpretation of some aspects of prehistoric and early historic life by persons who lived it. Although many of the paintings have survived, much of their meaning has been lost. In this book, Tim Jones examines the Churchill River paintings and finds some answers and some reasonable guesses to the questions: Who painted them? Why? How long ago?
Author: Tim E. H. Jones
Date: 1981
Pages: 144
Price: $5.00 (limited number of copies)
A second printing of this publication is available through the Saskatchewan Archaeological Society.
Archaeological Resource Management in Saskatchewan: An Overview
Past Log Series No. 1
The report examined legislation and policy concerning heritage property in Saskatchewan and made recommendations concerning its management. The recommendations included: developing a long-term archaeological resource management program; creating an agency responsible for the inventory and designation of archaeological resources; developing policy and regulation concerning the mitigation of development projects; implementing an archaeological permit system; ensuring some means of enforcing heritage legislation; and implementing educational programs. The report also recommended that the following principles become entrenched in legislation: that the Crown is the ultimate owner and guardian of archaeological resources; and that private gain should not take precedence over public interest.
Author: Tim E. H. Jones
Date: 1978
Pages: 409
Price: not available for sale
The Archaeology and History of Fort Pelly 1: 1824 - 1856
Past Log Series No. 5
Fort Pelly 1 was a Hudson's Bay Company post which operated in eastern central Saskatchewan from 1824 to 1856. The site was excavated by the Royal Saskatchewan Museum (formerly known as the Saskatchewan Museum of Natural History, Department of Natural Resources). Gil Watson supervised the field excavations, conducted in 1971, 1972 and 1974. Fifteen features, the palisades, and a large sample of artifacts were found. The report focuses on the archaeology and history of Fort Pelly 1. Emphasis is on the description and analysis of structural and artifactual data as they reflect the social and cultural aspects of the post's historic occupation. The historical, structural and artifactual analyses demonstrate Fort Pelly's importance and influence in the fur trade in the 19th century. They also reveal various social activities occurring at the Fort, the centres of these activities, the acquisition of goods from outside suppliers, and the degree of luxury enjoyed at the site.
Author: Olga Klimko
Date: 1983
Pages: 273
Price: not available for sale
Popular Series No. 16
This report describes the background and behaviour of bison, the relationship between bison and First Nations, and comments of the extirpation and conservation of bison.
Author: Kathleen Stokes
Date: 1973
Pages: 26
Price: $1.00
This contains the text of the First Nations Gallery, and photographs and illustrations of some of the artifacts and dioramas. The Gallery is organized into five thematic sections: Welcome; Community; Making a Living in Saskatchewan (Seasonal Round); Technology; and History. Available in English, French, Cree and Dene.
Date: 1993
Pages: 76
Price: $5.00
Francois' House: An Early Fur Trade Post of the Saskatchewan River
Past Log Series No. 2
François le Blanc, an independent trader, and James Finlay, Sr., also an independent trader, built neighbouring trading posts on the Saskatchewan River, just west of Nipawin, in 1768. The posts went through three stages of development, from a single cabin, to two cabins and a courtyard enclosed in a stockade, to four cabins and a narrow court surrounded by a stockade. The establishment was burned after it was abandoned in 1773. This report describes the excavations undertaken by the Royal Saskatchewan Museum in 1963-64 and the several thousand artifacts of both European and First Nations manufacture that were recovered.
Author: Alice B. Kehoe
Date: 1978
Pages: 162
Price: Not available for sale
George Ceepeekous: The Man Who Could Not Stop Dancing
Fact Sheet No. 6 (RSM Information Series)
For 76 years, George Ceepeekous was renowned as a Prairie Chicken Dancer who was always the first one up dancing and the last to leave the pow wow arbour. This Fact Sheet tells something of his life and the history of the Prairie Chicken Dance.
Date: 2005
Pages: 2
Price: Free Download
If the Fact Sheet does not open automatically, click on “Get Adobe Reader” to download a free version of this program.
Popular Series No. 12
Effigies were made by arranging stones on the ground in the outline of a figure. A number of effigies are illustrated and their history is discussed.
Author: Thomas F. Kehoe
Date: 1965
Pages: 16
Price: $1.00
Popular Series No. 4
Pictographs and petroglyphs--art expressions in painting or carving--are discussed and illustrated.
Author: Selwyn Dewdney
Date: 1963
Pages: 16
Price: $1.00
Anthropological Series No. 2
The Long Creek site is a deep, multi-occupation camp site representing some 5000 years of intermittent use of the site. Archaeological complexes represented at the site include: Mortlach; Avonlea; Besant (C-14 date of 1373 ± 325 BP); Pelican Lake (C-14 date of 1657 ± 100 BP); Hanna (C-14 date of 3363 ± 115BP); Oxbow (3 occupations, two of which have C-14 dates of 4613 ± 150 BP and 4643 ± 150 BP); and possibly Mummy Cave (C-14 date of 4993 ± 125 BP). It was excavated in 1957 prior to the construction of the Boundary Dam Reservoir in southeastern Saskatchewan. As such, it was the first publicly-funded impact assessment and mitigation project in Saskatchewan.
Authors: compiled by Boyd Wettlaufer and edited by William Mayer-Oakes
Date: 1960
Pages: 137
Price: $5.00 (limited number of copies)
Anthropological Series No. 1
The Mortlach Site, located in the Besant Valley of south central Saskatchewan, was the excavated in 1954, the first professional archaeological excavation in Saskatchewan. It is a campsite of 13 occupations representing approximately 3500 years of use. Archaeological complexes represented include: Mortlach; Moose Jaw; Caron; Besant (with a C-14 date of 1580 ± 325 BP); Sandy Creek, which is possibly a variant of Besant (with a C-14 date of 2400 ± 290 BP); Pelican Lake; and McKean/Duncan/Hanna (C-14 date of 3400 ± 200 BP). The pottery found in the Mortlach occupation was the type material for the definition of Mortlach check-stamped pottery.
Author: Boyd Wettlaufer
Date: 1955
Pages: 113
Price: not available for sale
The Parkhill Site: An Agate Basin Surface Collection in South Central Saskatchewan
Past Log Series No. 4
The Parkhill Site (EbNj-4) is an Agate Basin surface site located south of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. This study analyzes the manufacturing sequence and wear patterns of the artifacts. The results indicate that the points/bifaces may have functioned both as projectile tips and as knives, and that fragments were refurbished and reused, possibly several times. There is a south to north trend in the dates for Agate Basin, with dates in the south being as much as 4000 older than those in the north. Based on this finding, a date of 8000 to 8500 years before present is suggested for the Agate Basin occupation of the Parkhill Site. The northward movement of the Agate Basin complex appears to occur at the same rate as the northward recession of the Laurentide ice and the vegetational zones that followed it; both the ice and the complex may have disappeared simultaneously, with the latter giving rise to the Early Shield Archaic.
Author: S. Biron Ebell
Date: 1980
Pages: 141
Price: $13.95 (limited number of copies)
Fact Sheet No. 4 (RSM Information Series)
Date: May, 2003
Pages: 2
Price: Free Download
If the Fact Sheet does not open automatically, click on “Get Adobe Reader” to download a free version of this program.
Volunteers as Archaeological Field Curators: The Prospects
Past Log Series No. 3
This is a report of an investigation into the feasibility of a volunteer archaeological warden system for Saskatchewan by analyzing the costs, benefits, and problems of a similar system in British Columbia. The report contains comments from a numerous people representing a variety of concerns about the management of archaeological resources.
Author: compiled by Ian Dyck
Date: 1979
Pages: 101
Price: not available for sale
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