Unit 8
Late Prehistoric and Protohistoric Cultures, 1,750-1,250 to 120 B.P.

Unit 7 described the Middle Prehistoric Period, which spanned nearly 6,000 years in Alberta, and was characterized by the use of side-notched projectile points on atlatl darts. The following 1,600 years or so are divided into two periods: the Late Prehistoric Period, which continued until 250 B.P., and the Protohistoric Period, which began with the acquisition of the horse and ended with the arrival of the North West Mounted Police 120 years ago.

This unit provides a description of the major characteristics of the Late Prehistoric and Protohistoric Periods in each biogeoclimatic zone in Alberta. It also discusses the major archaeological sites that belong to each 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 prehistoric subsistence-settlement patterns.
2. identify and describe the diagnostic artifacts and the major sites from the Late Prehistoric Period in each environmental zone.
3. identify and describe the diagnostic artifacts and the major sites from the Protohistoric Period in each environmental zone.
4. compare and contrast the human adaptive strategies, including subsistence-settlement patterns, technology, and social organization, as evidenced by the archaeological data in each environmental zone.
5. critically assess the two major hypotheses that account for the relationship between the Besant and Avonlea peoples.
6. discuss the importance of the Cluny site as it relates to the nature of contact between prehistoric groups.
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 Late Prehistoric Period.
9. outline the two-tradition model proposed by Reeves to organize Alberta prehistory.
10. describe the kind of information that was derived from Writing-on-Stone.
11. identify two major burial sites dated to the Late Prehistoric, and explain why these two sites are important.
12. describe how the investigation of mounds has changed over the last 100 years.