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Age BP | S-1450 (3515 ±105) | |
Site | EcNx-1a (Gray) ( / about 8 km northwest of Swift Current, 747 m asl, South Saskatchewan valley, Saskatchewan / SK / Canada ) | |
Stored in | ||
Latitude | 50.0000 | |
Longitude | -108.0000 | |
Contact | Not available | |
Material | human bone collagen; collagene osseux humain | |
Taxonomy | b'Homo sapiens' | |
Context | cemetery, burial unit 84, with a single bone tool among the ochre-stained bones | |
References | Callaghan, 1986 Chisholm, et al. 1983 Gibson, 1981 Longin, 1971 Lovell, et al. 1986 Millar, 1978, 1981 Morlan, 1993 Rutherford et al., 1979 So and Wade, 1975 Wade, 1981 Walker, 1984a Wilmeth, 1978 | |
Comments | 72 J/05 J.F.V. Millar July 11, 0096 3415 105 Significance : Archaic, Oxbow?; Archaique Burial 84 Associated taxa : Mammalia: Homo sapiens Aditional Information : The normalized age is a minimum, because bison that had consumed C4 plants were probably included in the human diet. EcNx-1a, Gray: This site is a remarkable cemetery where excavations have revealed 99 burial units containing the remains of about 304 individuals (Millar 1978). Numerous discussions have dealt with the question of whether the Gray site was used only by people of the Oxbow complex over a long period of time or whether different biological or cultural groups made use of the site during successive periods (see Millar 1978, 1981; Wade 1981; with references). None of the data sets - biological, cultural, or chronometric - is conclusive. Grave goods were relatively uncommon and seldom included projectile points. Only four of 17 radiocarbon dates are definitely associated with Oxbow points. Millar (1978: 389-400) viewed eagle talons as important cultural markers linking several graves, three of which were dated by radiocarbon. Pit outlines were seldom discernable during excavation of the Gray site except where the fill was so enriched with red ochre as to mark the border of a pit. Observations of superposition and intrusion permitted reconstruction of a limited burial unit sequence (Millar 1978: 397). Callaghan (1986) attempted to sequence the Gray site burials by their flourine content with results that he notes are not entirely conclusive. Fifteen burial units have been dated by radiocarbon. Nine dates had been published prior to 1993 when Morlan (1993) reported eight additional measurements. Of several extended discussions of the original nine dates (So and Wade 1975; Millar 1978: 386-389; Wade 1981), all noted the great time span and various discontinuities within that span. The additional eight dates reported later caused some changes in that picture. The new dates included four proportional counting dates from Simon Fraser University (SFU-) and four accelerator dates from SFU's former facility, the Radioisotope Direct Detection Laboratory (RIDDL-) at McMaster University's Tandom Laboratory. The dates were obtained in connection with a study of carbon isotope ratios that reflect paleodiets (Lovell, et al. 1986). Special care was taken to isolate the bone collagen through a modification of the Longin (1971) method that eliminated base-soluble humates (Chisholm, et al. 1983: 357). Since base-soluble humates would represent younger contaminants, it is not surprising that five of the new dates fall within the older end of the previously documented time span while three extend the span to earlier centuries. The oldest date (SFU-297) was obtained from Burial Unit 97 which lacked both artifacts and faunal remains but was heavily ochre-stained. Burial Unit 70, which also lacked both artifacts and faunal remains, yielded the youngest date in the original series (S-1449), but its new date (SFU-296) is the second oldest for the entire site. In view of the special methods employed (Chisholm, et al. 1983; Lovell, et al. 1986), SFU-296 should be adopted as the age of Burial Unit 70 instead of S-1449; this finding reduces the younger end of the original time span by 700 years. Burial Unit 46 contained an Oxbow point and was heavily stained by ochre. It yielded the oldest date in the original series (S-647), and a new date (SFU-294) is concordant with that finding. An Oxbow point and a shell bead were found among the ochre-stained bones of Burial Unit 23 which yielded the next youngest date in the series (S-619); this date was derived from an insoluble collagen extraction. Burial Unit 68 is next in the series (SFU-295) but yielded neither artifacts nor faunal remains and only light ochre staining. The youngest date directly associated with an Oxbow point is from Burial Unit 62 (RIDDL-513). Burial Unit 80 yielded a quartzite biface, a shell bead or pendant, and ochre staining on both bones and artifacts (RIDDL-514). Burial Unit 56 contained ochre-stained bones and tools as well as avian tracheal segments that may have been worn as beads (RIDDL-512). Burial Unit 88 contained a heavily ochre-stained adult bundle and the skeleton of a child that was associated with a piece of rolled copper and two bone beads (RIDDL-515). A fragment of copper was also found in Burial Unit 58 (GX-3373). At this point in the series, there is a gap of about 600 years between the means of adjacent radiocarbon dates, although their calibrated 2-sigma limits overlap by 160 years. Burial Unit 42 is the oldest dated burial containing eagle talons (S-646), and it also produced a piece of native copper. Burial Unit 65 contained eagle talons and an end scraper (S-707). Burial Unit 59 yielded three possible bone tools and a split pebble (S-693). Bone pendants and faunal remains including eagle bones were found in Burial Unit 30 (S-706), and a single bone tool occurred with the ochre-stained bones of Burial Unit 84 (S-1450). The latter is the youngest date from the site (excepting S-1449 which can be rejected in favour of SFU-296). There are several ways to interpret these dates. The youngest five dates could be considered to represent an episode of site use several centuries younger than its main use with an average age of 3600 +/- 60 BP for the younger episode. Since McKean points have been found on the surface at the Gray site, such a younger use episode might reflect McKean activities. However, it is noteworthy that four of the five youngest dates were derived from insoluble collagen extractions that may have given spuriously young ages. Except for a few of the relatively early dates, association of the Gray site burials with the Oxbow complex rests on the assumption that the site represents a single mortuary complex (Millar 1981) and therefore a single culture (and a single point type). Without more dates and diagnostic artifacts, it is not clear that the Gray site was used only by people of the Oxbow complex, and it is also impossible to demonstrate or to deny use of the site by earlier or later people. For now, this site does not provide strong evidence for the late persistence of the Oxbow complex (see Gibson 1981). That eagle talons are not exclusively (or not at all?) diagnostic of Oxbow burials is shown by their presumed occurrence in a probable Pelican Lake grave (Bradwell, EkNm-1, Walker 1984a:147). | |
