Unit 7
Middle Prehistoric Cultures, 7,500 to 1,750 B.P.

Unit 6 described the Folsom and Plano people who hunted with fluted and unfluted projectile points throughout Alberta until about 7,500 years ago. This unit focuses on the groups of Middle Prehistoric people who lived in Alberta during the following 6,000 years.

The onset of the Middle Prehistoric is marked by the appearance of side-notched projectile points; these points may have been used to tip either spear shafts or atlatl dart shafts. Middle Prehistoric cultures are highly variable in chronology, geographic extent, and subsistence orientation. Some imaginative and complex models have been proposed to account for their great diversity. This unit describes the major characteristics of Middle Prehistoric period cultures in all three biogeoclimatic zones. It also discusses the major archaeological sites that belong to this chronological period, and offers interpretations of the prehistoric lifeways for which these sites provide evidence.

Learning Objectives

When you have completed this unit, you should be able to

1. describe the environmental changes that would have affected the prehistoric lifeways in each biogeoclimatic zone.
2. outline the chronological cultural sequence in the plains, illustrating it with important sites and diagnostic artifacts.
3. discuss how the chronological sequence in the boreal forest differs from that proposed for the plains.
4. discuss how the chronological sequence in the eastern slopes differs from that proposed for the plains.
5. describe the changes in human adaptation, subsistence-settlement patterns, technology, and social organization in each biogeoclimatic zone, as indicated by the archaeological data.
6. evaluate the significance of plains traits present in archaeological sites in the boreal forest and eastern slopes.
7. compare the prehistoric adaptive strategies with those recorded ethnographically, for each environmental zone.
8. evaluate the evidence for the inter-relationships among the three major geographic and cultural areas during the Middle Prehistoric .
9. discuss the most recent interpretation of changes in communal hunting strategies as evidenced at the Head-Smashed-In and Old Women’s buffalo jump sites.
10. define and discuss the significance of the Altithermal in the interpretation of changes in prehistoric adaptive strategies.
11. define and discuss the significance of medicine wheels in the interpretation of prehistoric religion, ritual, and social organization.