Old Man’s Playing Ground: Gaming and Trade on the Plains/Plateau Frontier

Table of Contents

vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface ...................................................................................................................... xvii Acknowledgements .......................................................................................... xviii Concepts and terms............................................................................................. xx First Nations................................................................................................. xx Culture areas................................................................................................ xxi Interior Plateau...................................................................................... xxi Northwest Plains ................................................................................... xxi Archaeological units and concepts................................................................ xxi Notes on interview transcriptions...................................................................... xxii Introduction ..................................................................................................................1 Study overview .....................................................................................................3 Chapter 1: Background: Stories of Place................................................................7 Peter Fidler’s journal..............................................................................................8 Stories about Old Man........................................................................................ 11 Old Man in Siksikaitsitapi oral tradition........................................................ 11 Old Man in Nakoda oral tradition ................................................................ 13 Old Man in Tsuut’ina oral tradition .............................................................. 13 Old Man in other oral traditions................................................................... 14 Oldman River as a calque ................................................................................... 15 Other accounts of the playing ground ................................................................. 17 Hugh Munro, ca. 1823.................................................................................. 17 George Dawson, 1883................................................................................... 19 Ethnographic sources .................................................................................... 20 Current knowledge of the playing ground .................................................... 21 Old Man’s Playing Ground as a lost place............................................................ 24 Smallpox epidemics of the 1700s................................................................... 24 Disparity in wealth and access to European goods......................................... 26 The reserve era: Cultural destruction and impact on traditional knowledge... 28 Chapter 2: Ethnohistory of the Hoop-and-Arrow Game................................... 35 Siksikaitsitapi accounts......................................................................................... 37 The game among other groups ........................................................................... 44 A Northwest Plains/Interior Plateau variant........................................................ 49 Reinventing the wheel game ........................................................................ 52 Discussion:Archaeological visibility of the hoop-and-arrow game ....................... 56 Antiquity of the hoop-and-pole game........................................................... 56 Gambling and trade....................................................................................... 57 viii Chapter 3: Landform Identification & Geomorphic Assessment ...................... 61 Historic descriptions of site location.................................................................... 62 Previous research in the Gap ............................................................................... 65 Modern stone features in the Gap ....................................................................... 74 The low terrace................................................................................................... 78 Hydrographic data............................................................................................... 83 Geomorphic assessment: Methods ....................................................................... 85 Geomorphic assessment: Results.......................................................................... 87 Discussion........................................................................................................... 90 Chapter 4: Archaeological Assessment of the Lower Landform ........................ 95 Archaeological assessment: Methods..................................................................... 96 Archaeological assessment: Results....................................................................... 98 Trench A....................................................................................................... 98 Trench B ...................................................................................................... 99 Trench C.................................................................................................... 100 Subsurface probing and shovel testing ......................................................... 101 Soil profiles and dating................................................................................ 104 Discussion......................................................................................................... 108 Chapter 5: Archaeological Assessment of DlPo-8.............................................. 111 Methods............................................................................................................ 111 Field ........................................................................................................... 111 Laboratory .................................................................................................. 113 Site Description ................................................................................................ 114 Shovel testing, surface finds, and excavation block selection......................... 115 Site size....................................................................................................... 119 Area A Overview .............................................................................................. 120 Stratigraphy & radiocarbon dates................................................................. 120 Features ...................................................................................................... 124 Feature 1 .............................................................................................. 124 Feature 2 .............................................................................................. 125 Feature 3 .............................................................................................. 126 Feature 4 .............................................................................................. 126 Feature 5 .............................................................................................. 126 Area B Overview .............................................................................................. 127 Stratigraphy & radiocarbon dates................................................................. 127 Features ...................................................................................................... 130 Feature 6 .............................................................................................. 130 Feature 7 .............................................................................................. 130 Feature 8 .............................................................................................. 130 Feature 9 .............................................................................................. 133 ix Slope correction................................................................................................ 133 Historic material analysis................................................................................... 135 Lithic analysis.................................................................................................... 136 Raw materials............................................................................................. 137 Lithic spatial distribution............................................................................. 142 Debitage ..................................................................................................... 149 Microblades and ridge flakes ................................................................. 151 Tools and cores ........................................................................................... 159 Projectile points.................................................................................... 161 Bifaces.................................................................................................. 168 Groundstone......................................................................................... 170 Scrapers................................................................................................ 172 Unifaces ............................................................................................... 174 Wedges................................................................................................. 175 Choppers.............................................................................................. 176 Edgeworn flakes ................................................................................... 177 Flake tools, bimarginal .......................................................................... 183 Flake tools, composite........................................................................... 184 Flake tools, unimarginal ........................................................................ 185 Net sinkers ........................................................................................... 188 Ochre/pigment .................................................................................... 189 Bipolar Cores ....................................................................................... 189 Core fragments..................................................................................... 191 Faunal analysis................................................................................................... 192 FBR analysis ..................................................................................................... 195 Summary .......................................................................................................... 196 Occupation 1a ............................................................................................ 197 Occupation 1b............................................................................................ 198 Occupation 1c............................................................................................ 199 Occupation 2.............................................................................................. 200 Discussion......................................................................................................... 201 Synthesis & Conclusions............................................................................................ 205 Old Man’s Playing Ground and DlPo-8............................................................. 205 Future research.................................................................................................. 207 Recommendations for long-term site management ........................................... 208 References Cited....................................................................................................... 211 Appendix A Interview Transcripts.................................................................................................. 233 Interview with Allan Pard.................................................................................. 233 x Interview with Henry Holloway ....................................................................... 245 Interview with Art Calling Last......................................................................... 259 Appendix B Hoop-and-Pole GameVariants................................................................................... 277 ...