Browsing by Author "Amundsen-Meyer, Lindsay"

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    Braiding Western Science and Blackfoot Worldviews: An Investigation into Manifestations of Food Stress from 1790-1890
    (2023-12-19) Lazette, Larissa Denice; Amundsen-Meyer, Lindsay; Paris, Elizabeth; Colpitts, George; Walls, Matt
    During the Protocontact (1730-1830) and Contact (1830-Present) Periods, the traditional diets of Indigenous peoples on the Plains were greatly altered. Bison populations began to decline sharply during this time, as a result of over exploitation by the commercial hide trade. By the late 19th century, the bison populations were in sharp decline, and Indigenous peoples on the Plains were relocated onto newly established reserves where they were forced to rely on government administered rations. Both factors greatly impacted food availability for Indigenous peoples. This research examines manifestations of food stress among the Blackfoot people using multiple lines of evidence. These lines of evidence include archaeological faunal assemblages from two stone circles at the Antelope Hill Tipi Ring Site (EbPi-75), ethnographic accounts, Blackfoot winter counts, and Blackfoot oral traditions. The goal of this research is to combine Western scientific approaches in the form of archaeological analyses and the examination of ethnographic and ethnohistoric documents with Blackfoot oral traditions. This results in a more holistic understanding of the changes occurring to traditional diets during the Protocontact and Contact Periods. The assemblage in Stone Circle 1 and 4 is highly fragmented. Explanations for this and other patterns in the assemblage include grease rendering activities, meat butchering and marrow extraction or tipi cleaning behaviours, all of which may have been occurring simultaneously. Ultimately, it was found that evidence of food stress is limited in Stone Circle 1 and 4 and in Blackfoot oral traditions, while the ethnographic and historic accounts contain strong evidence for food stress, demonstrating a difference in perspective from the ethnographer to the perspective in Blackfoot oral tradition.
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    Identity Crisis: Archaeological Pespectives on Social Identity
    (The University of Calgary, 2011) Amundsen-Meyer, Lindsay; Engel, Nicole; Pickering, Sean
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    Nested Landscapes: Ecological and Spiritual Use of Plains Landscape During the Late Prehistoric Period
    (2014-06-25) Amundsen-Meyer, Lindsay; Oetelaar, Gerald
    This study evaluates competing models of settlement patterning on the Northwestern Plains using a sample of sites located along the Old North Trail, an ancient pathway within the traditional homeland of the Blackfoot people. More specifically, the sites are located in the Foothills of southern Alberta, the wintering grounds of the Blackfoot. Ecological models suggest that wood, water, bison and shelter are the key influences on human settlement patterns at this time of year. The location of bison herds changes yearly, and any instance of a resource can be used. Consequently, this model expects a random distribution of archaeological sites, though sites should be located where there is access to wood and water. Phenomenological models, by contrast, posit that human groups travel along established paths and stop at the same culturally important places each year. Given such patterned use of the landscape, clusters of archaeological sites at culturally significant landmarks, including glacial erratics, named places, springs and cottonwood groves, are expected. Since human groups return each year, these sites should show evidence of reuse. These suggestions are tested through a series of spatial statistics and descriptive spatial tools which identify spatial patterns and relate site clusters to landscape variables of ecological and cultural significance. This analysis shows that ecological variables influence the selection of the study area as an appropriate wintering ground but do not account for the placement of settlements within the Foothills region. Instead, cultural variables appear to exert a greater influence on human settlement choices, with views of and proximity to named places and glacial erratics important considerations and proximity to cottonwood groves and springs of secondary importance. Consequently, I propose a series of nested landscapes for this portion of the Northwestern Plains in which ecology conditions settlement choices at a large scale and phenomenology at small scale. These insights provide a greater understanding of human use of the Northwestern Plains landscape and contribute to a larger dialogue regarding cultural landscapes, senses of place and ultimately cultural identity.
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    Southwestern Blackduck: Political Boundaries Versus Archaeological Reality
    (2023-09-14) Carr, Jackson S.; Freeman, Andrea; Amundsen-Meyer, Lindsay; Hamilton, Scott
    Late Woodland Blackduck ceramics are a highly recognizable and well-documented phenomenon in the archaeological record of Minnesota, Ontario, and Manitoba. The presently acknowledged southwestern boundary for Blackduck ceramics, is the Red River of the North in Minnesota and the southern border of Manitoba. This rather strict, classically held boundary fails to recognize western Blackduck cultural adaptation within the current understanding of this archaeological culture, in addition to promoting erroneous classifications of Woodland-affiliated ceramics in North Dakota. The research herein details the presence of Blackduck in the western margins of Minnesota and the prairies of North Dakota by examining 19 sites believed to contain Blackduck ceramics. This thesis expands knowledge of the Late Woodland Period throughout the Northeastern Plains by delineating the southwestern boundary for Blackduck through basic ceramics analysis. A summarization and reconstruction of the Late Woodland Period in North Dakota is supported by the presentation of a new ceramic ware for the state. Previous models for the movement and interaction of Blackduck makers will also be examined and re-contextualized within theoretical paradigms that seek to unify people and their environment into one entity.