Kihtê-ayâwak Wasawakasihk: The Old Ones at Wasawakasin
Date
2025-01-06
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
ORCID
0009-0004-9651-2031
Type
Thesis
Degree Level
Masters
Abstract
This thesis was a multipronged Indigenous archaeological investigation of the historic region downstream from the village of Sandy Bay, a community in northern Saskatchewan, of the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation, to document and understand the ancestors who lived nearby. This study included a contextualizing archaeological overview of the previous archaeological findings in the region, to lay out the culture history, and demonstrate the cultural link between the people who live there today and the pre-contact inhabitants of this region. Further, Elder interviews were conducted to illuminate some of their rich knowledge of traditional life-ways and historic practices, passed down from ancestors, as recognition of the strong lineages of knowledge that are maintained within the community. An archaeological survey of a historic habitation area on the east bank of Wasawakasin Bay was conducted, to demonstrate an anchor place where such traditional practices were exercised and lived. A synthesis is made, in the form of a short story, to garner a more humanistic understanding of ancestors who lived in that area during the historic fur-trade era, one which centers the inherited knowledge of descendants as crucial direct information to understand that history.
The findings and interpretations, though constrained by the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic, point towards a more humanistic way to understand the ancestors who lived in that area.
Description
Keywords
Archaeology, Saskatchewan, Fur trade, Indigenous
Citation
Degree
Master of Arts (M.A.)
Department
Archaeology and Anthropology
Program
Archeology