Brandon University (BU) and the Manitoba Archaeological Society (MAS) are collaborating on an archaeological project in hopes of revealing the lives of pre-contact Indigenous farmers.
The joint research project should be able to provide more information about the way Indigenous people lived in southwestern Manitoba before the arrival of Europeans.
BU Department of Anthropology Professor Dr. Mary Malainey said the project stems from a find made from Eric Olson, a fourth-year University of Manitoba student.
“In the summer of 2018, he found a bison scapulae, which is a modified bone tool. It would look like a hoe which is used for gardening,” she said on Tuesday.
“These bison scapula hoes are the best archaeological evidence of Indigenous maize, or corn, cultivation prior to European contact ever found in southwestern Manitoba,” she added.
Malainey and the MAS received the funds from the Manitoba Heritage Grant funding to support the archaeological program at the Olson site, south of Melita.
“This is the second pre-contact farming site that we found in Manitoba and the high-level of preservation makes this project very important,” said Malainey.
“The fact that those materials were found in the creek bed means that it is being eroded. When we excavate it, we can learn a lot from it so, we would like to investigate it as much as we can before it is disturbed.”
Initial testing of the site began in 2019, and a two-week research and public archaeology program will begin starting July 15. Excavation will be conducted around a workshop for making bone tools.
Malainey said that the public is able to visit the site on July 18, 19, 25 and 26 at 10 a.m. and noon.
“We have invited people from First Nation communities as well as students from Brandon University to come and join us,” she said.
“We will point out different areas of the site where activities are occurring. We will also show some artifacts that are dug up. If you are more adventurous, you can walk down the slope and even help us with our excavation.”
[caption id="attachment_528881" align="alignnone" width="944"] A deer scapula hoe.
Mary Malainey/Brandon University[/caption]
Eric Olsen, who is majoring in argro-ecology, was hiking with his friend when he found the bison scapulae along a creek bay.
“I was going to show him an archaeological site in the area and because it was so hot, the creek beds were all dried up,” he said.
“On our way back, we decided to look for artifacts and turns out we found an important one.”
Olsen said he did not realize that the materials he found were of importance in the beginning.
“There were a few that was just on the surface. We found a big bison skull and a scraper as well. I didn’t actually know what it was, but I brought it back and looked it up,” he said.
“I didn’t think it was that important at first because from what I have read, it is suspected that there was Indigenous agriculture in the area. In my crop production course, there was a section about First Nation farming, so I thought it confirmed that there was nothing in the area.”
Even though Olsen was unsure about the artifacts, he decided to send an email to Malainey who then confirmed that what he found was of importance.
— Nicole Wong covers northern and Indigenous issues for the Winnipeg Sun under the Local Journalism Initiative, a federally funded program that supports the creation of original civic journalism.
