1987 Field Report
(Part 7)
by
Jean-Luc Pilon
NOGAP Archaeologist
Canadian Museum of Civilization

Structure No.4

In 1986, fire-cracked rocks and adze-cut stumps had been noted at the southwest end of the point. Elsewhere on this same feature, clusters of adze-cut stumps coincided with the locations of semi-subterranean features. Indeed, this coincidence led to the discovery of Structure No.2. However, the absence of a semi-subterranean feature in the southwest portion of the point was taken, at the time, to indicate that the presence of such tree stumps did not imply the presence of pit features. Although this statement is certainly still valid, we did discover a fourth semi-subterranean feature on this point which occurred within the problematic cluster of adze-cut stumps. The difficulty in locating the feature, in spite of determined efforts, is attributable to the fact that it was concealed by willow bushes and an old fallen tree.

The semi-subterranean structure is located 10-15 m from the edge of the bench and its internal dimensions are approximately 2.5 m x 1.5 m x 0.3 m. Distinct ridges are clearly visible along either side of the depression.

Edge Test Unit

Following the discovery in 1986 of some lithic artifacts in the area of our fire-pit and the presence of fire-cracked rocks a few meters away from this area, it was decided that a formal test excavation in the vicinity of our 1986 dining tent should be undertaken in order to assess the nature of the archaeological remains along the edge of the bench.

The choice of the area to actually test was based as much on practicalities as on any particular research strategy. Approximately 3 m away from the location of our 1986 dining tent there was a clearing in the dense willow and dwarf birch thicket. Near the edge of the bench in this area there was also a small cluster of fire-cracked rocks visible from the surface along with more recent, historic remains.

A 2 m x 2 m unit was positioned so as to include half of the fire-cracked rock cluster. Following the discovery of a significant quantity of lithic debitage it was decided to expand the test unit in order to encompass the apparent cluster which we had discovered in the initial unit. As a result, a total of 13 square metres were excavated which contained two apparent centres of combustion and associated lithic scatters.

The lithic debitage, which constituted the majority of the collection from the test area, was found either at the base of the fairly thin sod/humus (3-5cm) or in the top few centimetres of the underlying basal sand. The latter was usually composed of a top layer of orange sand (2-3 cm) which graded into a yellow sand of unknown depth.

In two areas, fire-reddened sands formed small lenses at the top of the basal sand. Some calcined bone fragments were found in and around these features and suggest that they represent the remains of hearths. Non-calcined faunal remains were also found elsewhere in the sod/humus and likely derive from the historic occupation. This most recent use of the locality is attested to by an ash and charcoal lens in the sod and a plastic 12 ga. shotgun casing.

The lithic collection consists of a number of quite distinct raw materials. These include the ubiquitous fine-grained black cherts, some banded, some not. also present are coarse-grained raw materials which were flaked perhaps with the objective of producing large usable flakes.

The stone tool collection includes a number of marginally used/retouched flakes (7), two of which can be designated as scrapers, while one appears to be a graver. Two cobble spall scraper fragments were found whose manufacture may have taken place at this locality, given the abundance of coarse-grained debitage of a similar type. The chert debitage consists for the most part of the biproducts resulting from the thinning and trimming of fairly large bifaces. In fact, the recovery of a biface fragment and more importantly the base of a lanceolate projectile point illustrate the kinds of implements manufactured and/or curated at this site.

Radiometric dating has not yet been carried out on material found in this limited test excavation, but if the point base is any indication, the occupation attested to by these remains is much older than most which have been found to date in the southwest Anderson, with the exception, perhaps, of the microblade component at Whirl Lake (Gordon and Savage 1973).

Additional excavations were conducted in this area in 1991.