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Browsing by Author "Froese, Duane"

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    Late Pleistocene aeolian deposition and human occupation on the eastern edge of the deglacial corridor, northeastern Alberta, Canada
    (2022) Woywitka, Robin; Froese, Duane; Lamothe, Michel; Wolfe, Stephen
    The lower Athabasca River basin in northeastern Alberta contains one of the highest known concentrations of prehistoric archaeological sites in the boreal forests of western Canada. This is due to the combination of readily available sources of lithic raw material stone near a major travel corridor, and extensive archaeological survey conducted in advance of oil sands mining. Typological studies have proposed immediate post-glacial occupations that were contemporaneous with, or immediately followed, the catastrophic glacial Lake Agassiz flood through the area at the end of the Pleistocene. Here, we complement the typology age estimates by using stratigraphic relations and infrared stimulated luminescence (IRSL) dating of aeolian material to determine the age of initial human occupation, and reconstruct the environment encountered by early inhabitants of the region. We find that the first occupations in our study area took place near the Pleistocene-Holocene boundary (ca. 11.3 ± 0.8 ka BP), shortly after catastrophic flooding from Lake Agassiz. The post-flood environment was dominated by cold climatic conditions that supported permafrost, presumably during the late Pleistocene, and underwent significant aeolian deposition. Our results indicate that this area represents a portion of the eastern edge of the deglacial corridor into which plants, animals, and humans dispersed following retreat of the Laurentide Ice Sheet.
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    A process-depositional model for the evaluation of archaeological potential and survey methods in a boreal forest setting, Northeastern Alberta, Canada
    (2020) Woywitka, Robin; Froese, Duane
    More than 1,000 archaeological sites occur within the Clearwater-Athabasca Spillway, a relict channel that routed catastrophic drainage from glacial Lake Agassiz during deglaciation of northeastern Alberta. This high site density is rare in the region, and artifact assemblages are large due to the presence of abundant sources of lithic raw material. Unfortunately, sites are rarely preserved in stratified or deeply buried deposits. As is often the case in subarctic areas, this lack of depositional context coupled with a paucity of datable organic materials has hindered the establishment of cultural chronologies for the region. To address this issue, we develop a process-depositional model and digital terrain analysis to identify where thicker sediments may have accumulated, and assess whether survey strategies have adequately tested these areas. We find current survey strategies are biased to testing upland ridges with thin deposits, and that inconsistent methods of recording sediment thickness make it difficult to assess whether vertical profiles are being sampled to sterile deposits. We recommend that future survey strategies in boreal forest settings focus on a broader suite of landforms and landform elements, including those that act as sediment traps.