Southwestern Manitoba archeology dig gives public a glimpse into the past
Pottery and tools are among the artefacts unearthed in the Pierson Wildlife Management Area
You might get a glimpse at a 1,000-year-old artefact being unearthed, if you visit an archeological dig in southwestern Manitoba this month.
Archeologists discovered shards of an undated Indigenous artifact at the Pierson Wildlife Management Area on Saturday, during one of the site tours being offered in July. Artifacts found in the area include bones, stone tools, pottery, hearths and other items believed to have been left behind by Indigenous people for thousands of years.
Brandon University archeologist Mary Malainey, who led the tour, said the dig provides insights into how Indigenous people lived in the area before the arrival of European settlers. The site is on Treaty 2 lands, which are the traditional homelands of the Dakota, Anishanabek, Ojibway-Cree, Cree, Dene, and Métis peoples.
Malainey's been working at the site in a river valley and nearby fields, located south of Melita, about 350 kilometres southwest of Winnipeg, for five years.
"They had well-developed cultures," Malainey said of the people who lived there in the past. "They had well-developed rituals, they had belief systems and they lived on the land and they left traces and it's important for us to recognize that."
An area of discovery
The Pierson Wildlife Management Area has been a site of discovery for more than a 100 years. The earliest archeological work was conducted there in the 1900s. Multi-year studies have been taking place on and off ever since.
Archaeologists have been interested in the area because there's a concentration of burial mounds, Malainey said.
"There's so much to learn."
Recently they've discovered evidence of farming and horticulture.
"They could continue on … working in this area for probably another 20 years and still be learning new things because it's pristine," Malainey said of the site. "Everywhere we dig, it's like: 'Wow, this is really cool.'"
A bison scapula (shoulder blade) hoe found in 2018, provides evidence of horticultural activities in the area, Malainey said. The bison scapula was mounted on a shaft and used for gardening, "The same way you have a garden hoe."
At the top of the site is a horticultural area. Items found indicate farmers arrived there around the late 1400s to the early 1500s. They were there until the late 1700s to early 1800s.
"Based on the posits that we found in the valley. It's ... a continuous occupation," Malainey said.
There is also evidence of an earlier occupation that looks to be about 2,000 years old.
"It's residential areas, so people were living there. We think those were the farmers … growing corn and beans and squash, maize beans and squash in the valley," Malainey said.
A glimpse into the past
Gary Wowchuk, a site volunteer, demonstrated the art of knapping — shaping flint into stone tools — for people on the tour.
It's important to give people an idea of how people lived on the lands for thousands of years, he said.
"In this area, we know that people have been here for 12,000 years. That's just amazes me and to think that they left these things behind that we can find now and they're telling us ... a story about their life," Wowchuk said. "That's the way we connect and I think it just brings a richness to all of us."
Colleen Lamparski and her three children travelled from Killarney to visit the dig on Saturday.
It's the second year they've visited the site. They were inspired to return and learn more about archeology in their own "backyard" in Manitoba.
"I've always been interested in archeology, so it was just cool to see it actually happen," Lamparski said.
Malainey said outside of oral traditions, archeology is the only way to learn about the past.
Malainey said the Pierson Wildlife site is one of two in the province with really good evidence of pre-contact Indigenous gardening or farming. There is also an archeological site in Lockport, about 30 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg. However, it's been disturbed and eroded, making it tough for archeologists to glean information from what they've found there.
Archeologists from Brandon University and the Manitoba Archaeological Society work 10-day shifts on the Pierson Wildlife site. And they offer tours in the summer. Last year, more than 220 people visited the site.
"We want all these people to appreciate what was here before and gain a better understanding of this," Malainey said.
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