CARD fuzzes location data for public visitors to the database. Accessing CARD's full capabilities requires an account available only to researchers at accredited institutions.
Lab number
S-490
Material dated
bone collagen; collagène osseux
Locality
Dunfermline Sand Hills, about 23 km west and 10 km north of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Map sheet
73 B/03
Submitter
I. Dyck
Date submitted
July 11, 0096
Measured Age
3360 ± 120
Normalized Age
3440 ± 120
δ13C (per mil)
-20.0
Significance
Archaic, Oxbow; Archaïque
Context
cultural layer in paleosol in dune depression, unit 0n/0w
Associated taxa
see S-3453
Additional information
S-490 was misprinted as 1560 +/- 60 BP in the date list (Rutherford et al., 1973: 204).
Comments
FbNs-1, Harder: This is a single component Oxbow site that yielded 25 complete and 48 broken Oxbow points and two radiocarbon dates as a result of Dyck's excavation. The radiocarbon samples were selected from excavation units that contained the greatest concentration of points as well as evidence of a dwelling floor and two hearth disposal areas (Dyck 1977: Figs. 13, 27). The bones were prepared by insoluble collagen extractions and yielded an average age of 3395 +/- 80 BP. These dates played a key role in the perception that the Oxbow complex persisted longer on the northern Plains than elsewhere (Gibson 1981). A re-analysis of the Harder site fauna led to three more dates on bison bone. Two of them are significantly older than the age found by Dyck (average 4250 +/- 75 BP), but the third can be averaged with Dyck's original dates (3400 +/- 70 BP). Dyck (1970, 1977) presents good evidence that the Harder site contains a single Oxbow component for which only one of the averages should represent the correct age. A full discussion of this problem is presented elsewhere (Morlan, 1994). Harder is one of seven sites included in Leyden's (2004) study of southern Saskatchewan bison palaeoecology, and he acquired an AMS date that agrees closely with the older of the two averages calculated previously.

References