Volume 19 Number 2
January 1980

Murray R. Smith

IN JUNE and July of 1978, ten Swampy Cree students from Oxford House, Manitoba, were involved in an archaeological dig. All the students were Bachelor of Teaching candidates, enrolled in Brandon University's Northern Teacher's Education Project (BUNTEP). Through this program they attended classes in their native community which is an isolated settlement of 1,000 Swampy Cree and 28 white people situated 400 miles north of Winnipeg. Small aircraft service the community daily from the outside world.

The thrust of the program is to give local Native people the opportunity to obtain a teaching certificate enabling them to teach in the local school. Prior to BUNTEP all of the schools were run by white people. The curriculum was white oriented and much of the material was foreign and irrelevant to the Cree student. As a result, most Cree students left school before completing Grade 12. Cree teachers, who speak the language of the children, are expected to overcome this situation.

The community has a hunting and fishing economy. However, the school system is that of the urban south. Here values, goals and objectives are in conflict. It is hoped that Cree teachers who better understand the student will develop programs to provide a success oriented educational system. The author feels part of the solution is finding a common interest between the Cree and white cultures. Such a common interest was found through archaeology.

The objectives of the plan to introduce archaeology into the Bachelor of Teaching program were as follows: (1) To educate Cree-speaking students from Oxford House in research techniques and thus help them to assume professional positions in their community. (2) To give these students an experience in writing their own lost history while utilizing scientific processes. (3) To seek a common base of interest to student and community while complying with requirements laid down by Brandon University. (4) To start a museum in the community and enhance an interest in preserving the cultural history of the Cree people in Oxford House.

The two courses offered to accomplish part of these objectives were Introduction to North American Archaeology and Field Methods in Archaeology. One course complemented the other. The first course gave the students a background in prehistoric North America and an insight into their cultural heritage. The second course allowed the students to practice their newly learned skills while digging an actual archaeological site.

Oxford House seemed an ideal location to innovate such a plan. The students were familiar with the area. They not only had the interest but the encouragement and resources of the communities. Many of the elders had information not yet recorded. Many community members had found artifacts about which they were curious. Several artifacts were donated to enhance the productivity of the dig. Oxford House had many archaeological sites which lay undisturbed in the vicinity of the community. These sites were compact due to the slow rate of soil deposition in the subarctic zone. It was proved that the site chosen only had a depth of 30 centimeters.

Historically, Oxford House was inhabited by people entering the area from the southwest. These people, it was believed, were following the retreat of the glacier some 6,000 years ago. In 1798 the Hudson's Bay Company was actually forced to establish a fur trading post on Oxford Lake. Two years previously the Northwest Company to the south had found its way to the Churchill River and had cut off the fur supply to Fort Prince of Wales on Hudson's Bay. However, the whereabouts of that early fort had been lost. As no previous archaeological activity had been done around Oxford House, nothing was known of the early inhabitants and little was known of the beginning of the fur trade.

Fortunately a site containing both historic and prehistoric artifacts was located a mile and a half from the community. Early documents suggested this was the location of the early fort. Glazed pottery and metal verified an early white establishment while Indian pottery flakes and bone indicated an earlier campsite. As the students lived close by and boats were available, the cost of digging this isolated northern site was reasonable.

By incorporating archaeology into a Cree Teacher Training Program a mutual learning bond was developed. The subject matter was definitely relevant to the students' background and environment. History of interest to both the instructor and the students was being written. As the dig progressed, artifacts uncovered were identified and the cultural significance interpreted. Then the material was compared to that found and analyzed at Southern Indian Lake, which was the only other dig done on the Nelson River. A preliminary study of the Hayes River system and its relevance to the Cree expansion in Manitoba was unfolding.

Simultaneously doing research and practicing skills, the students were qualifying for a three year university degree. Until the BUNTEP program, only one person from Oxford House had had the opportunity to complete a university degree. All the other students who left Oxford House have, for one reason or another, returned discouraged. This gave rise to the idea that the university with a permanent coordinator in the community might prove more successful in training professional people of Native ancestry. In order to reinforce this assumption such a program must have a cultural bias. This would give the student much needed support and hopefully start a tradition of Native oriented programs in the school.

Keeping the relevance of the program and the above in mind, the planning was started in May, 1977. After an initial proposal was accepted by Brandon University, Dr. Leigh Syms went to Oxford House to speak to the students. A proposal was then drafted and accepted by the chief and council permitting a dig on reserve lands. A second permit to dig an archaeological site was received from the provincial archaeologist, Dr. Leo Pettipas.

Equipment was collected from BUNTEP and the Department of Anthropology at Brandon University. Later, more equipment was loaned from the Museum of Man and Nature and the University of Winnipeg. This equipment ranged from pens, maps and paint to basins and brushes, plus other laboratory supplies. Trowels, screens and field kits were created in order to accomplish the field work. Approximately a ton of supplies was collected in Winnipeg and flown to Oxford House. Gasoline was shipped overland via the winter road.

During the time of equipment collecting, a Canada wide-search for an archaeologist was being conducted. The successful incumbent required the following qualifications: (1) Proven ability to work with Cree-speaking people in an isolated situation. (2) Experience in conducting archaeological digs in the Canadian subarctic. (3) A Master of Anthropology degree concentrating on archaeology. Mr. Clint Wheeler from the University of Winnipeg was hired.

While the first course was being taught, arrangements for boats at Oxford House to carry the students to the selected site were being made.

Pat McManis of Indian Affairs, upon hearing of the plan, volunteered to SCUBA dive along the shore of the site. (Thanks to her efforts, a copper basin, copper lid and a glazed water pitcher were recovered.) Laboratory space and museum space were then prepared. As the introductory course ended all was in place to receive the first artifacts.

The scientific format of archaeology provided the native student with a cultural background and an understanding of the scientific processes. As a reference the processes outlined in the Manitoba Department of Education's Interim Guide for Elementary School Science 1976 were used, as it is the curriculum new teachers will use. Archaeology as implemented in this plan was designed to give the student knowledge and practice of the following processes: Observation, classification, communication, measuring, space/time relationship, inferring, and predicting. Archaeology also includes the following integrated processes: defining operationally, controlling variables, formulating hypothesis, and interpreting data.

Space/time relationship process is one of the end results of archaeology as well as one of the most exciting. By comparing artifacts at equivalent levels in various digs a spatial continuum is determined. This is referred to as the "horizon" of a culture. Upon comparing these horizons a sequence through time can be determined. Such a sequence is called a "tradition" in archaeology. In time the horizon and tradition of a culture can be determined.

Swampy Cree students at Oxford House, Manitoba, are shown excavating an archaeological site as part of course project. Staked lines divide the "dig" for cross-referencing research in lab later. Photos by Clint Wheeler.

From the Oxford House dig it is now known that the people who made Clearwater Punctuate pottery at one time had made contact with the people who made Laurel pottery. Perhaps with further excavations and analysis it will be learned what impact white contact had upon the Swampy Cree.

The student teachers practiced some inferring and predicting. Predicting occurs when one searches a map to locate various sites. Students also predicted where to place pits to ensure the highest yield of artifacts. At best a site as large as the Oxford House could be is randomly sampled. Also there was a fair amount of inferring done. When a student uncovered a mystery artifact, or a piece of an artifact, everyone enjoyed inferring. This was done at two levels. First, one must infer what the artifact was. Second, one might infer what the artifact was used for. Both are examples of applied scientific processes.

Archaeology also utilizes some of the integrated processes. Assumptions of the function of the artifact are made, then tested against the memories and experiences of the elders. At times similar artifacts occurred in a different context elsewhere. Such a process is termed defining operationally.

By carefully digging the pits, usually difficult variables can be "controlled." Interference in level formation such as animal burrows, soil drifting patterns or other disturbances show up in the soil. Such variables can distort level interpretation, and greatly affect the hypothesis formulation, leading to erroneous interpretation of the site. Presently this hypothesis formulation and interpretation is still going on at the University of Winnipeg.

As this project in cross cultural education was new, one might expect the unexpected. Some unexpected perceptions by the students did occur, possibly due to the different thinking processes used by the Cree and whites. At first some of the students were convinced that the artifacts had to be deposited within the last 300 years. This arises from the fact that the Swampy Cree have only an oral history. Many of the students believed no artifacts would be found in the pits above the beach. They were convinced of this even after surface collecting artifacts on the beach for several days. They suspected that all the artifacts were being placed on the beach by wave action. However, through digging it was proved that the reverse was true. Artifacts were deposited on the beach by the process of erosion.

By using archaeology in a teacher training program one can achieve many objectives. As archaeology employs many disciplines, it offers a broad base of knowledge and less specialization. This is especially true in elementary schools and schools with declining enrollment. Archaeology gave the Oxford House students a working knowledge of geology, soil, osteology, and the study of pottery. Through this program these student teachers received a practical approach to scientific process teaching. They learned facts and developed skills that could easily be adapted to the classroom. More important, however, the acquired knowledge related more directly to a Cree classroom.

Incorporating both science and the study of man is necessary in today's school curriculum. By studying man one can hopefully overcome prejudice and discrimination. In the Oxford House program it was readily seen that the ancestors of the Cree had reached a level of harmony within the context of their environment. They had been most successful in adapting to a harsh subarctic environment. This is an important concept to teach in determining a universal man. For teachers working in cross cultural situations it is a valuable lesson - a lesson that can be learned using scientific processes. Students aware of archaeology are interested in its application to write lost history.

In science it is also applicable to teaching many scientific processes. AddisonWesley in its science program, Space, Time, Energy and Matter (STEM) have devoted a couple of pages to archaeology for the above reasons. Similarly, Houghton-Mifflin has also used archaeology in its science series, Modular Activities Program in Science (MAPS). The Nasco Company of Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin, has produced a kit which includes models or artifacts to aid in the study of archaeology. From these activities students will learn child developing inquiry skills. Teacher training programs should be aware of this and include archaeology into courses of studies.

Archaeology is also a discipline that can be easily integrated into the school curricula. By carefully observing and sketching artifacts, three dimensional perception is enhanced. Archaeology can easily be coordinated with creative writing. Stories, poems, and paragraphs can be written about events and places forgotten by time. This type of exercise can only aid to build vocabulary and communication skills.

Art is also a good follow-up to a study of archaeology. Not only is a drawing appropriate but the making of models develops manipulative skills. Mathematics has already been discussed with the emphasis on measurement. Graphing could also be taught as artifacts are grouped and counted then placed into a perspective sequence. Environmental studies is, of course, a concern today, and the study of man's adaptation to past environments could give us an insight into our own environmental problems. By incorporating archaeology into the school curriculum a more practical, integrated innovative approach to science and education would result.

Murray R. Smith holds a B.A. degree in anthropology from the University of Winnipeg, a B.Ed. in administration and science and a M.Ed. in science education, both from the University of Manitoba. He has taught in elementary and middle schools since 1964 and at present is a consultant for the mathematics and science curriculum at Frontier School Division No. 48, 121 First Street, S.W., Dauphin, Manitoba.