An Artifact and Spatial Analysis of South Branch House (FfNm-1)

Abstract

The archaeological site FfNm-1 (South Branch House) is a late 1700s fur trade site located on the South Saskatchewan River in Central Saskatchewan. Its construction is attributed to the Hudson’s Bay Company fur trade post of the same name, dating to between 1786-1794. Between the years of 2005 and 2014 the Saskatchewan Archaeological Society operated a series of public field schools with the purpose of excavating this site and exposing the public to a hands-on archaeological experience. The results of these field schools recovered over 24,000 artifacts and excavated 215 units. The identity, corporate affiliation and occupation dates of the site were called into question prior to the completion of the field schools. Today, after nearly a decade of field work on this site has taken place, the large quantity of data offers an excellent opportunity to re-evaluate what is known about FfNm-1. The following thesis contributes to this re-evaluation through a functional analysis of the site’s artifacts and GIS-based horizontal and vertical analyses of artifact distribution. Through multiple lines of evidence these analyses successfully determined a range of occupation dates at the site, as well as provided tentative corporate affiliations. It was further determined that while more information is needed, the site is consistent with what would be expected at the Hudson’s Bay Company’s South Branch House.