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Lab number
S-2765
Material dated
bone collagen; collagène osseux
Locality
just north of Saskatoon, 475 m asl, in the Opimihaw Creek valley, Wanuskewin Heritage Park, South Saskatchewan drainage, Saskatchewan
Map sheet
73 B/02
Submitter
E.G. Walker
Date submitted
July 11, 0096
Measured Age
2525 ± 210
Normalized Age
2605 ± 210
δ13C (per mil)
-20.0
Significance
culture?, anomalous, young; anormal, jeune
Stratigraphic component
Level 5
Context
Level 5, processing area, silty sand and gravel, 55-60 cm depth
Associated taxa
Mammalia: Bison bison 43, Canis sp 2; Aves: Passeriformes 1
Comments
FbNp-16, Newo Asiniak: Two main areas are distinguished by the excavator: a kill area in a former stream channel at the base of a 25 m embankment, and a processing area on an abandoned point bar. The kill area deposits were 40 cm thick, but there appeared to be no basis for subdividing the recovered materials into multiple components. Of four projectile points recovered, one is a well made Plains side-notched, and the other three are poorly made points that might be typed as Prairie side-notched. Adult bison mandibles representing individuals in a 5.5-9.5 yr age group suggest a fall season kill, whereas a fetal bison bone indicates a late winter or spring kill. This evidence, along with the great spread between the two radiocarbon dates, suggests that two or more components are contained in a compressed stratigraphic sequence. Therefore neither date is clearly associated with the recovered projectile points. S-2763 is from the uppermost part of the bone bed, whereas S-2528 is from a depth of 25 cm within the bone bed. Excavations in the processing area at Newo Asiniak revealed a deeper, more complex sequence of 16 stratigraphic layers containing seven cultural levels. This deposit comprises a series of fining-upward alluvial cycles that record the repeated meandering of Opimihaw Creek. Evidence of human occupation is preserved whenever the site is abandoned by the creek long enough to permit the development of a paleosol on the point bar surface. Seven radiocarbon dates were obtained. Level 1 yielded eight Prairie side-notched points and a date on bone (S-2529). Level 2 produced six Avonlea points and a dated bison humerus (S-2533; misprinted as S-2353 in Kelly, 1986 and Walker, et al. 1987, and as S-2335 in Walker 1988b: Table 2). Level 3 points are predominantly Besant (seven examples), but one Pelican Lake point was also found (S-2530). Level 4 yielded a projectile point that resembles points from the Un-named complex at the Sjovold site, the latter now included in the Besant complex (Dyck and Morlan 1995). The Level 4 date (S-2764) is one of four in a discordant sequence. Levels 5-7 produced cultural materials, but no diagnostic artifacts were found. Level 5 yielded a date (S-2765) that is younger than the Level 4 date but has a 400 year overlap at 2-sigma. Level 6 produced a date (S-2532) substantially older than Level 7 (S-2766). Several of these dates are problematical. For example, the date on Level 2 (S-2533) is later than most ages for the Avonlea complex in this area (Morlan 1988), and Kelly (1986) suggests that the component represents a transition between Avonlea and Prairie side-notched assemblages. This interpretation is supported by the associated ceramic types (Kelly 1986), but it is possible that Levels 1 and 2 could not be adequately separated during excavation, because there is no defined body of sediment between them. At least two dates from Levels 4-7 are inconsistent with the stratigraphic sequence. Kelly (1986) suggests that the dates on Levels 6 and 7 would be appropriate for the Oxbow complex. While this may be true, the most parsimonious explanation for the out-of-sequence dates is redeposition of materials from older contexts, perhaps from up-valley. This interpretation identifies S-2764 on Level 4 and S-2532 on Level 6 as probably containing redeposited bone fragments that have rendered the dates too old.

References