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By Brian Leslie
July 12, 2019
Edible Plant Series – Wild Mint
For this installment of the Edible Plant Series we will showcase wild mint. Mentha arvensis is a fairly common flowering plant that is found all over the world. It likes to grow in low-lying poorly drained areas, and will commonly be found along creeks and rivers, or in grassy areas bordering muskegs. It can be
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By Brian Leslie
June 12, 2019
Edible Plants Series – Wild Berries Part 1
If you follow our blog, or have read any of the other installments of the Edible Plant Series, you will notice some repetition in the following cautionary note. Do not eat any wild plants that you can not identify with 100% certainty! Berries are generally safer than plants like mushrooms, since most edible berries do
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By Brian Leslie
May 9, 2019
Wind Storm in the Slave Lake Region Aids in the Discovery of Giant Archaeological Site.
In July of 2017, some forests in the vicinity of Slave Lake experienced catastrophic blow down when a fast moving storm swept through central Alberta. The large storm system caused high winds and localized flooding in many areas, including Slave Lake and Edmonton. It also dropped golf ball sized hail on Drayton Valley and spawned
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By Brian Leslie
April 24, 2019
Edible Plant Series – Wild Mushrooms
For this installment of the Edible Plant Series I decided to take a bite out of mushrooms. Before I get into the bread and butter of this topic, I must first do what everyone must do when they are discussing eating wild mushrooms. I must state: DO NOT EAT ANY MUSHROOMS THAT YOU CAN NOT
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By Brian Leslie
April 17, 2019
Wildfire and Archaeology: The good, the bad, and the opportunity
In recent years, wildfires in Canada and the United States have brought devastation to many communities. In the last 10 years, wildfires have burned nearly two million hectares of land in Canada alone. Human intervention, aimed at stemming the destruction wrought by wildfires during the last century, has actually increased the threat of large fires
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By Corey Cookson
April 4, 2019
Where does the Obsidian we find come from?
Obsidian is a volcanic glass that was used by pre-European contact people all over North America. Known for its natural sharpness, ancient peoples sought the material for making tools for cutting and slicing. Additionally, it is easier to flintknap than the harder and more readily available materials local to Alberta. As many of our readers
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By Brian Leslie
April 1, 2019
Food on the Road
It’s the little things that keep you going during a 10 day survey shift, and we archaeologists at Tree Time Services Inc. all have our own favorite go-to food depending on where we are in the province. For this week’s post, I decided to ask my fellow archaeologists what their favorite on the road food
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By Corey Cookson
March 25, 2019
Top Ten Sites of 2018!
Now that all the reporting is done, we thought it was a good time to look back on some of the exciting sites we worked on from the past year. We find over 100 sites every year but these sites stand out either because we found interesting artifacts or the site is unique. It doesn’t
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By Corey Cookson
March 8, 2019
Birgitta Wallace
In honour of International Women’s day we will explore the life and studies of Birgitta Wallace. She is a Swedish-Canadian female archaeologist and expert on Norse archaeology in North America. Born in 1944, Birgitta Wallace studied and received her degree in her home country, Sweden. She studied at Uppsala University and underwent field training in
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By Elenore
February 25, 2019
Underwater Archaeology – Sanisera Field School
Ever wanted to combine a hobby you enjoy with work you are passionate about, like scuba diving and archaeology? In 2013 Vince and I did just that. Archaeologists tend to be naturally curious people, always wondering “what’s over there?” or “what’s under that?”, so its not surprising that many archaeologists also enjoy scuba diving. There
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