Tag Archives: Wild Archaeology

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Wild Archaeology visits Head-Smashed-In

This week our intrepid explorers from Wild Archaeology headed to Head-Smashed-In, the oldest known buffalo jump—it goes back at least 6,000 years—located in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in Alberta. This particular site has been widely studied due to the deep connection between those communities in the plains and the buffalo.

Upon arrival on site we met Dr. Reg Crowshoe, a Piikani Elder, who described the story of Head-Smashed-In:

“Way back when Creator gave us the buffalo, Creator said, ‘You ask the buffalo to feed you.’ They couldn’t find the buffalo. They looked all over. Then one woman went to get water and she heard this song. So when she heard this song she seen it. It was a buffalo stone. She heard this buffalo stone singing. She took it and gave it to the elders and other sacred people. The sacred people said that buffalo stone is going to find us buffalo to eat. So there was a ceremony. That song was part of that ceremony.”

Dr. Crowshoe then summarized: “That story told us ‘You ask the buffalo for the rights to hunt buffalo.’ So when they went through the ceremony, that song that woman heard, that song was like a hunting permit in the white man world.”

Next, archaeologist Jack Brink described the science of how the plains people managed to drive a herd of buffalo through this narrow drive lane, taking advantage of their poor eyesight, and the optical illusion that the downhill run naturally creates. It was here at the end of a stampede, encouraged by the hunters, the buffalo would meet their demise, spilling over the ledge and falling to their deaths. These communal buffalo hunts necessitated the cooperation of hundreds of people, skinning, butchering, cooking and preserving the products the buffalo provided.

Jack then demonstrated how the lines of cairns, or what he calls traffic markers, were used to steer the herd through the final drive lane leading the buffalo to the jump. To illustrate how these markers worked, Jacob and Jenifer each constructed one from rocks and brush found from the vicinity. The object was to create a large peripheral mass using brush secured by rocks the buffalo would naturally avoid as they stampeded through what appeared to be a valley.

This episode, although no artifacts were found, was such a fascinating story to learn about. I am truly sad there are only three more episodes to cover this season. Each week I look forward to all that I learn, and I am still telling people, “you have to watch this show!”

Wild Archaeology airs Tuesdays at 7:30 p.m. ET on APTN.

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Featured, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Wild Archaeology — Heiltsuk Nuyems

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First, I apologize for a lost week as I was attending a conference in New England. But I am ready to jump back in with a summary of Jenifer and Jacob’s adventures on Wild Archaeology as we explored the central coast of British Columbia.

The thrust of this episode focused on the Kelp Highway Hypothesis, which builds on the Pacific Coast Migration Model. This theory is based on the abundance of food contained within the kelp forests, including shellfish, marine mammals, seabirds and seaweed. By tracking these forests along the Pacific Rim, located along the coastal perimeters of Beringia (which we explored in Episodes 1 and 2), it would suggest a migratory route for populations in this region. Jenifer gets to explore with the sea otters that are indicative of a kelp forest.

Jacob goes diving again to explore the various kinds of kelp that populate a kelp forest and gets a first-hand look at the other creatures that populate this underwater ecosystem.

Then we moved inland to check out the remains of an old and remote Heiltsuk potlatch house once used by the communities that lived in this region at the time when potlatch was outlawed by the Canadian government. Like the one seen in this episode, these potlatch houses were located in an area that could be accessed quickly but still hidden deep within the coastal forests.

Finally, we visited Namu, an abandoned salmon cannery town that also housed one of the largest archaeological sites in existence. Microblades that carbon date back to 8250 BCE have been found in this region of coastal B.C. We also find some stone carvings deep in the inner tributaries in these territories.

A really picturesque episode exploring the B.C. coast. Can’t wait to see where we visit next week!

Wild Archaeology airs Tuesdays at 7:30 p.m. ET on APTN.

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Wild Archaeology — Meet the family

Last week on Wild Archaeology, Jenifer missed out on all of the diving fun because she’d returned home to prepare for her community’s PowWow. This week, Dr. Rudy and Jacob met up with Jenifer in Serpent River First Nation, and we got to tag along.

First, they visited Chief Isadore Day, who spoke to the role Jenifer and the series are playing in the process of healing for Indigenous people living in Canada.

“I am really excited that you are doing things that for a lot of years our young people could only dream about. I really attribute these traditional gatherings as a way to bring healing to our people and to give our young people a sense of pride and give them the direction that they need… That begins to give a sense of liberation and freedom and that is the healing that the young people are grasping today,” Day said.

After spending some time enjoying the PowWow, and learning first-hand about the traditions from the elders and community leaders in Jenifer’s home, the series headed to a quartzite quarry in Sheguiandah, on Manitoulin Island. It is believed that a tool made at this quarry more than 10,000 years ago is the same tool found at the site of Jacob’s dive last week. This would indicate that materials were traded around the upper Great Lakes for more that 10,000 years. Jacob and Jenifer also received a quick lesson in flint knapping.

Tuesday’s episode departed from the format that had been established in previous ones; in it we learned more about the cultural aspects that characterize communities in Ontario. It was fantastic getting to hear Chief Day’s comments as they pertain to the healing young Indigenous people are undergoing thanks to the efforts of programs such as Wild Archaeology.

Artifact Tally

Jenifer: Quartzite Endscraper from 8-10,000 years ago
Jacob: nothing

Wild Archaeology airs Tuesdays at 7:30 p.m. ET on APTN.

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Wild Archaeology: Jacob goes on an underwater archaeological expedition!

This week on Wild Archaeology,  we visit an area I am very familiar with: Lake Huron and Georgian Bay. Dr. Rudy and Jacob are off for a scuba diving adventure below the Great Lakes to explore the landscape that revealed itself during times of low water. Jacob’s first dive reveals evidence of waterfalls, far below the lake’s surface near Tobermory, Ont.

Oral history in the region speaks of the Prehistoric Alpena Amberly Ridge which was at one time used by migrating Caribou. Jacob grabs the opportunity to dive in this area as well and sees first-hand the remains of drive lane complexes, proving credible what  oral history has spoken of for generations. During his dive, Jacob collects flake indicative of tool sharpening.

As Dr. Rudy and his team have moved across Turtle Island in this series, they are seeing a “clear pattern between researchers and Indigenous peoples that there is no dichotomy between prehistory and history. Really what we are looking at across this vast landscape is deep history. The lines of evidence that Indigenous people and scientists, archaeologists and many others can bring to the table are only going to add to that, allow us to better understand the past.”

More and more Geomythology (geological occurances documented in myth and legend) is linking oral history with archaeology, providing clues and context to artifacts found in scientific digs. This discipline is also bridging that academic gap between what academia deems as knowledge and what Indigenous peoples have always known is knowledge.

Another really strong episode this week. This is such a great instrument for social studies in classrooms across Canada. As a teacher, with each episode I watch, my head spins with possible lesson plans that would excite children to learn more about Canada’s rich history.

Wild Archaeology airs Tuesdays at 7:30 p.m. ET on APTN.

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Wild Archaeology takes a look at the Arctic in peril

This week on Wild Archaeology, we return to Richards Island, located in the Beaufort Sea.

If you recall, Dr. Max Friesen of the University of Toronto and his team are in a race against weather and climate change to gather information and artifacts from a traditional cruciform home, in their quest to gain greater understanding of the ancient Inuvialuit people.

We visit with Rosalie Scott, conservator of Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre, who explains how the found artifacts are to be stored, stabilized and the proper way to pack these items for shipment back to the lab.

Then it’s off to Tuktoyaktuk—where the descendants of Richards Island now live—to meet Boogie Pokiak, a traditional Inuvialuit hunter who explains some of the history of the land and gives Jacob and Jenifer an opportunity to taste local foods, including muktuk.

Finally, we go to Dr. Friesen’s lab at the University of Toronto to look at some of the better finds from this excavation.

This episode was a bit of a departure from the previous few. Very little excavation was to be had; instead, we focused on some of the cultural aspects that are so important for understanding the context of the finds on these digs.

This week’s tally? Jacob: closed end harpoon head. Jenifer: no finds. Jacob is still in the lead!

Wild Archaeology airs Tuesdays at 7:30 p.m. ET on APTN.

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