Blog
By Kurtis Blaikie-Birkigt
May 16, 2016
The Archaeology of Wildfire
This is a guest post by Christina Poletto, a Master’s student with the Institute of Prairie Archaeology at the University of Alberta Department of Anthropology. She’s studying the palaeoenvironmental signature of wildfire, to look for signs of pre-historic controlled burning by indigenous societies in northeastern Alberta. Fire is almost a constant in Alberta’s north, and its impact
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By Reid Graham
May 11, 2016
Stone Drill
This week, we showcase a stone drill. That’s right, you guessed it, this type of stone tool is used to drill holes in things. Like knives and projectile points, drills are worked on both sides to create sharp edges and a narrow tip. Unlike other stone tools however, drills are very narrow and thick, and often
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By Teresa Tremblay
May 4, 2016
2550 – 1400 year old projectile point!
This week we present one of the artifacts from a site we found while doing surveys for Sundre Forest Products on the North Saskatchewan River in 2015. More than 30 artifacts were found through shovel testing at the site, but this one is extra-special. It’s a dart point of the Besant style. Above is a photo
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By Elenore
April 27, 2016
Black Bear
It’s that time of year again! The bears are waking up and the field workers are heading into bear territory. One of our archaeological field crews encountered this little guy in 2013 and found that he was a little less scared of them than the average bear. Usually bears are skittish and will leave the
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By Teresa Tremblay
April 20, 2016
Agate Basin Spear Point
This week’s photograph is of an artifact we found in 2015 when undertaking an HRIA for Sundre Forest Products. It comes from a site south of the Ram River – our 100th site of the year, in fact. It’s an exciting find: a spear point of the Agate Basin style. The picture above was taken when
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By Elenore
April 18, 2016
What should I do if I find an arrowhead?
It is not uncommon for farmers, gardeners and outdoors-men and women to find artifacts like arrowheads, spear points, stone axes and hammerstones. Farmers often find them in their fields after plowing. In fact many farmers have more impressive artifact collections than a lot of museums do! Click here to read about some of Alberta Culture’s
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By Corey Cookson
April 13, 2016
Knife River Flint Dart Base
In the summer of 2013, Tree Time Services surveyed cutblocks for Alberta-Pacific Forest Industries in the Logan River area north of Lac La Biche and found an artifact protruding out of exposed sediment along a previously constructed oil and gas access road. When we find artifacts in disturbed areas it is unfortunate because these artifacts
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By Kurtis Blaikie-Birkigt
April 12, 2016
Archaeology on Deer Mountain
On Friday, April 15th at 7 PM Tree Time Services Sr. Project Archaeologist Kurtis Blaikie-Birkigt will be presenting at the High Prairie and District Museum on ongoing research on Deer Mountain, Alberta. On the weekend, Tree Time will be at the High Prairie Gun & Sportsmen’s show with a display of artifacts and replicas to help identify your finds.
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By Madeline Coleman
April 6, 2016
Checkout our Slave Lake Roadshow April 9, 2016
This Saturday, April 9, 2016, Tree Time archaeologists will be giving a presentation on some of our survey results in forestry developments along the historic Peace River Trail, which is located on the north shore of the Athabasca River between Smith and Sawdy, AB. This trail is now the modern Peace River Wilderness Trail, a
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By Kurtis Blaikie-Birkigt
April 1, 2016
Archaeology of the Marten Creek valley
Last year (2015) archaeologists from Tree Time Services conducted surveys of a number of areas on the Marten Creek valley, from near the mouth of the creek at Lesser Slave Lake to the headwaters at Marten Lakes. These surveys were done in advance of forestry operations by Alberta Plywood and Tolko Industries Slave Lake mill.
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