Archaeological geology of sites in western and northwestern Canada

Abstract

Abstract The region of western and northwestern Canada encompasses the provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, and Yukon Territory, for a total of approximately 3,400,000 km2. Much of the region, especially in the boreal forest, is presently uninhabited and essentially undeveloped. Access to many areas is either limited or cost prohibitive. Difficulties of discovery and excavation of the archaeological sites exceeds normal research constraints, especially when dealing with such natural phenomena as intensive wind deflation and collapsed stratigraphy in the southern prairies, or frost heaving and frozen ground in permafrost conditions of the north. Despite these problems, however, study of the approximately 50,000 prehistoric and historic archaeological sites presently on record with various agencies in the region has permitted a geoarchaeological synthesis. Western and northwestern Canada is unique from a Quaternary geological perspective. Recurrent glaciations from Laurentide, Cordilleran, and Montane sources imprinted deposits and landforms upon an already complex topography encompassing fluvially dissected prairies and rugged mountainous peaks several thousand meters high. The erosive and depositional events that accompanied the various glacial and nonglacial episodes determined where prehistoric man could live, affected the state of preservation for such behavior, and continues to influence all research endeavors toward understanding this prehistoric past. We provide a review of the archaeological geology of western and northwestern Canada. Our discussion is summarized under five primary headings: (1) “Geological framework”; (2) “Archaeological geology of prairie and foothill sites”; (3) “Archaeological geology of boreal forest sites”; (4) “Archaeological geology of Yukon sites”; and (5) “Archaeological geology