A New Look at the Besant Phase in the Eastern Slopes of the Canadian Rocky Mountains

Abstract

The Besant phase is a Late Middle Precontact culture lasting from ca. 2,200 to 1,200 years ago, and found throughout the northern Plains region. Although sites attributed to the Besant phase have been recorded in the Eastern Slopes of the Rocky Mountains in Alberta since the 1960s, its presence there is not well understood. The conventional view of the Besant phase in Alberta is that it appears rarely in the Eastern Slopes, where it is confined to the foothills of the southern drainages. However, this model does not account for the growing number of sites found elsewhere in the Canadian Rocky Mountains over the last three decades. The present research uses a regional approach to document all known locations of Besant projectile points and sites recorded in the Eastern Slopes of the Canadian Rocky Mountains. Archaeological data indicating that people affiliated with the Besant phase used the Eastern Slopes from the foothills to the main ranges, and from the Waterton River drainage to the Smoky River drainage are presented and evaluated. The results expand our understanding of the Besant culture and its adaptation to mountain regions.