CARD

Lab number: S-45
Material dated: charred bison bone; os de bison carbonisé
Taxa dated: Bison sp. (id. by B. McCorquodale)

Locality: about 5 km east of the town of Avonlea, Moose Jaw valley, Qu'Appelle drainage, Saskatchewan
Map sheet: 72 I/03

Submitter: R.W. Nero
Date submitted: July 11, 0096

Measured Age: 1500 ± 100
Normalized Age: 1580 ± 100
δ¹³C (per mil): -20.0

Significance: Woodland, Avonlea; Sylvicole
Context: cultural layer 20-40 cm depth, overlain by aeolian fine sand
Associated taxa: Mammalia: Bison sp

Additional information: Sample pre-treatment by hydrolyzation, a difficult method with little yield. Normalized age is a minimum age.
Comments: EaNg-1, Avonlea: The original radiocarbon sample (S-45) was taken from a concentration of burned bone fragments associated with Avonlea points that occurred 20-40 cm below the surface, overlain by eolian fine sand with no levels of occupation occurring above or below the dated material. This sample is described as a charcoal sample by Kehoe and McCorquodale (1961a: 139, 1961b: 186) and elsewhere is said to have come from a "pit with steep sides, filled with ash and charcoal (which was radiocarbon dated)" (Kehoe, et al. 1988: 14). In 1984, the Kehoes returned to Avonlea with B.A. McCorquodale but could not precisely locate the original excavation units because the site had been plowed during the intervening years. "By 1984, plowing had removed 20 cm of soil leaving only a remnant of the post-Avonlea soil ... in place... The yellow-brown layer ... often appeared immediately at the base of the plow zone" (Kehoe, et al. 1988: 14). Bone fragments were recovered from a hearth in unit 6, 10-15 cm below the plow zone and gave a surprisingly early date (S-2777). Truncation of the site by plowing might have accounted for this result. Also in 1984, Olga Klimko conducted an excavation designed to mitigate the impact of a new highway alignment approximately 280 m south of the Kehoe and McCorquodale excavation (Klimko 1985a; Klimko and Hanna 1988). Two samples were submitted for radiocarbon dating. S-2628 consisted of "carbon" scraped from the exterior of potsherds, and it "proved to contain a very small amount of carbon" (Klimko and Hanna 1988: 30); therefore the sample material is not properly identified. S-2623 is bone that was associated with Avonlea points. Assuming that Kehoe and Klimko have sampled the same site, the best estimate for its age is provided by an average of S-45 and S-2623.

Canada / SK / EaNg-1 (Avonlea) / S-45

References