Archeologists return to Westman dig site

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This article was published 10/07/2023 (1202 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

TWO BORDERS — Researchers from Brandon University and the Manitoba Archaeological Society arrived back at the Gainsborough Creek Valley dig site early last week, eager to work on a massive historical puzzle they began assembling five years ago.

This site, situated roughly 15 kilometres south of Melita, is one of only two locations that contain evidence of pre-contact Indigenous farming in Manitoba, which challenges the long-held belief that Indigenous people were strictly hunter-gatherers.

The whole operation kicked off in 2018 when nature enthusiast Eric Olson, who was visiting the area from Winnipeg, discovered farming hoes made of bison bone near Gainsborough Creek.

Since first investigating the site in 2019, BU anthropolgy professor Mary Malainey and her team have returned every July to expand the search for more historical artefacts, hoping to get a better idea of how these Indigenous groups lived off the land before the arrival of European settlers.

Malainey invited members of the public to view her team’s progress over the weekend, highlighting the two major dig areas that they’re currently excavating right next to the creek and on the grasslands just west of Highway 83.

During Saturday’s tour, Malainey, MAS president Alicia Gooden, University of Manitoba anthropology instructor Sara Halwas and several BU anthropology students told visitors that these two areas were used as a hearth or fire pit by the land’s inhabitants hundreds of years ago.

The hearth located uphill was most likely situated in a residential area, while the one located by the creek was primarily used as a space to butcher bison, given the sheer amount of animal bones they’ve discovered in the vicinity.

Even though the artefacts at these specific sites can be traced back to as far as the late 1400s or early 1500s, Malainey told the Sun that Westman residents have presented them with relics that suggest occupants dating back over a thousand years, which is why these kinds of archeological operations are so important.

“Essentially, we don’t know what we’re going to find … but every little bit of information we’re going to find makes the picture clearer,” the BU professor said.

“It’s like you have a puzzle that’s 10,000 pieces and those pieces are buried in the ground and you have to dig them up.”

Outside of this Melita-area site, the only other evidence of pre-contact Indigenous farming in Manitoba can be found in the small community of Lockport, situated along the Red River north of Winnipeg.

Using the scientific method of radiocarbon dating, archaeologists determined that farmers arrived to cultivate this land around 1250 and abandoned the area roughly two centuries later.

Compared to Lockport, Malainey believes that this dig site in the Pierson Wildlife Management Area holds even more potential for future findings, since the land remained largely untouched before they started digging.

“It’s never been cultivated because the land owner that originally got this as homestead land determined that it wasn’t suitable because of all the steep cliffs. So he donated it to the province,” she said.

“Everything else around here has been cultivated by Europeans, by settlers. But here it hasn’t been. It’s been preserved and because it’s been preserved we have the opportunity to learn things we can’t learn elsewhere.”

Aside from the research grants they’ve received from the province, Malainey revealed that surrounding residents have been tremendously supportive of this project over the past half decade, especially the local First Nations communities who gave them permission to excavate these ancestral Treaty 2 lands in the first place.

Knowledge keepers like Greg Chatkana, from nearby Canupawakpa Dakota Nation, have also been a pivotal part of the team by offering guidance on how to approach this project in a culturally respectful manner.

For example, the dig team called Chatkana last week when they uncovered a fragment of a ceremonial pipe and sought the proper protocols for handling such a sacred object.

“So we are learning, and what we learn we’re sharing back with them,” Malainey said.

Moving forward, Malainey is confident that archaeologists will be returning to the Gainsborough Creek Valley for many years to come.

Given the sheer number of relics they’ve already uncovered, she believes this small slice of rural Westman holds the key to discovering the full scope of pre-contact Indigenous life in southwestern Manitoba, including its precise population and migratory patterns.

For anyone who wants to see the excavation site in action, Malainey encourages the public to come out and view it for themselves during the second round of tours that are taking place July 22-23 (starting at 10 a.m. and 12 p.m.).

“Some people think we don’t have archeology in Manitoba because we don’t have pyramids and stuff like that,” she said.

“But … this is our province’s history and pre-history here and it’s unique to Manitoba. It’s not something that happened on the other side of the world. This is what happened here.”

» kdarbyson@brandonsun.com

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