This archaeological site could prove humans lived in northern Sask. earlier than we thought

On a river bend in the boreal forest of northern Saskatchewan, archeaologist Andrea Freeman is chipping away hardened soils thousands of years old. She places a small piece of charcoal in a test tube, to be taken back to a lab and radiocarbon-dated. 

"Once we analyze the samples, we can get a sense of what plants and animals were available on the landscape for these people," she said.

Freeman is part of a team of archaeologists studying a site near Prince Albert, Sask., which researchers believe could prove Indigenous people lived in the region potentially about 1,000 years earlier than current historical evidence shows. The first humans are believed to have moved into the area some time after the receding of glaciers about 10,000 years ago, although there is currently no precise timeline on when they arrived.

Archaeologists from the University of Calgary and the University of Saskatchewan are now searching for evidence into what vegetation existed in the area, which they hope could prove when the climate became habitable and allowed people to move by the North Saskatchewan River.

At an exposed slope of layers of sediment, they're taking samples of soils, seeds, pollen and charcoal to be taken to a lab for analysis.

They expect to receive preliminary results on the age of the samples within the next few months.

Freeman, an associate geography professor at the University of Calgary, said the site is one of the oldest and best preserved on the western Prairies, and along with another nearby site, is the earliest evidence of post-glacial human occupation in central Saskatchewan.

"The glaciers retreated from here only about 10 or 10 and a half thousand years ago. So when we look at a site that's potentially 9,200 years old, they're coming in really quickly after that landscape is de-glaciated," she said.

The researchers are working closely with nearby First Nations and Métis communities as they embark on the project, hoping to combine their findings with traditional cultural knowledge about the area.

Before the search began, people gathered at the site for a pipe ceremony and other protocols.

Willie Ermine, an elder from Sturgeon Lake First Nation, helped lead the ceremony. He said the location on the river was an important site for migratory animals, like bison, making it an ideal place to camp.

"āsowahētān is the Cree word for this area, and it was a crossing for the buffalo to the south, to the great prairie," he said. "When we say we lived with the buffalo thousands and thousands of years, well, this site will prove that."

Ermine said Cree narratives help explain the past, and he hopes scientific research and traditional storytelling can co-exist. One of those stories tells how bison grew smaller over the years as their diets changed, a piece of history he expects bones at the site will confirm.

"We can perhaps infuse some knowledge into the Western science, but we also value what they can discover," he said. "It'll prove different things, probably beyond imagination, as well. We don't know what the discoveries will be as they dig those different layers."