Some Problems of Prehistoric Land Use: the Black Lake Area, Saskatchewan

1. Enzo Sardellaro Some Problems of Prehistoric Land Use: the Black Lake Area, Saskatchewan At first, archaeologists were interested in the geophysical aspects of Black Lake, Saskatchewan, such as the structure and composition of the soil, vegetation and associated fauna, and some aspects of climate change scenarios. Later, an even more careful study came to a very interesting conclusion as a basis for understanding the development of human settlement and migration in this part of Black Lake. The research program involved a survey concentrated on about sixty sites around Black Lake which were said to be not essentially related to a permanent settlement in those parts of Black Lake, but as a system of land observation by temporary outposts. Archaeological data [arrow tips, pointed knives, etc.] have shown that indigenous peoples and different cultures overlapped each other in these sites, because the peoples who lived there practiced different lifestyles. So that the frequenters of these outposts were hunters, who followed migratory caribou herds throughout their dry-season migrations. From the early debates it emerged with some certainty that Paleo-Indians nomadic hunters frequented the Black Lake area, Saskatchewan, between the 7th Millennium BC and the fifth millennium BC. Other archaeological data, and additional lines of evidence refer to the second millennium BC, because hunting tools belonging to the Indians Cree were found, while, between the 3rd century BC and the 2nd century AD, Chipewyan Indians [pointed skins] frequented the Black Lake area in

2. spring and summer to hunt buffalo. Arctic Paleo-Eskimo groups of hunters visited this area between the ninth and sixth centuries BC. Some archaeologists, however, have pointed out for the areas of Black Lake in particular the discontinuity of Proto-Indian settlements, because, as archaeological remains show, the Proto-Indians hunters must have settled at distant periods from each other. However, the current state of our knowledge is probably due both to the lack of archaeological remains, and to the changes in climatic conditions of the Black Lake area, Saskatchewan. The question of who first settled the Black Lake, Saskatchewan, in prehistoric times has given rise to some interesting debates among scholars. The first archaeological excavations in the area of the Black Lake, Saskatchewan, were carried out by R.S. MacNeish in 1949 and in 1951. He conducted a survey on behalf of the National Museum of Canada to define the boundaries of different cultural traditions on the shore of Lake Athabasca. In the course of his research, he also did a quick survey in the Black Lake region. Other archaeological soundings were made under the direction of Arthur Moffat in 1955, starting from the Black Lake, and proceeding up Dubawnt-Thelon and Chipman rivers. Other studies were carried out between the 1960s and 1970s, and many of these finds are now displayed at the Royal Saskatchewan Museum (http://royalsaskmuseum.ca/exhibits/first-nations-gallery). However, among all these studies, only one had explicitly addressed the problem of prehistoric settlements in the Black Lake region. The Prehistoric Occupation of Black Lake Northern Saskatchewan, 1975, by Sheila J. Minni, was a milestone in the field, because she was able to give a very credible account of primitive prehistoric settlements in the Black Lake area. Her survey revealed that the first inhabitants of this region were Proto-Indians hunters arriving from the North and seeking new hunting grounds . Black Lake, Saskatchewan, is located at the eastern end

3. of the Mackenzie basin, whose age is probably Precambrian. Later, this area became a privileged place for the migration of caribou. It was the main reason for establishing temporary hunting settlements particularly in the area around Black Lake. Recommended further reading MacNeish, R. S. 1951. “An archaeological reconnaissance in the Northwest Territorie.”Annual Report of 1949-1950, National Museum of Canada - Bulletin 123, 24-41. On the tragic archaeological survey by Arthur Moffart, see: Harp, Elmer Jr. 1959. “The Moffatt Archaeological Collection from the Dubawnt Country, Canada.”American Antiquity. Vol. 24, No. 4. 412. “On July, 3, 1955, six men in three canoes showed into Black Lake, Saskatchewan, and began a long journey northward toward the great Barren grounds […] In shooting rapids above Marjorie Lake two of three canoes capsized […] and Moffat succumbed.” “This data suggests northward movement of late Paleo-Indian hunters from the plains through the boreal and transitional forests of the Canadian Shield. Gordon mentions the possibility of ‘northerly moving buffalo hunters shifting subsistence to the migratory barren-ground caribou in the wake of final deglaciation in the barren lands ...’ and references a number of sources who postulate that the caribou formed the subsistence base of these Paleo-Indian hunters. It is possible that this postulate of barren-ground caribou subsistence may also apply to the early hunters of northern Saskatchewan.” (From Minni, Sheila J. 1975. The

4. Prehistoric Occupation of Black Lake Northern Saskatchewan, A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements For the Degree of Master of Arts in the Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, 49).