Studies of Physical Parameters of Indigenous Artifacts. Collecting and Preserving the Relating Oral Stories

Abstract

The project, supported by the Department of Canadian Heritage, was conducted by scholars from First Nations University of Canada (FNUniv), University of Regina (U of R) and Royal Saskatchewan Museum (RSM) in 2018 - 2020, in collaboration with Sturgeon Lake and Pelican Narrows First Nations communities. More than forty people, including Elders and students, participated in this project. The research Ethics review was done by U of R. We also consulted with Elders regarding the research Ethics protocols during the individual meetings, ceremonies and workshops in Pelican Narrows and Sturgeon Lake. Research assistants (Indigenous students) were trained (Indigenous studies and the basics of archaeology) for working in First Nations communities and at the RSM. We interviewed Elders and Knowledge Keepers from Pelican Narrows and Sturgeon Lake and recorded their oral stories; collected Indigenous artifacts in these communities and selected samples from RSM collections for physical measurements at the Scanning Electron Microscope Laboratory of the University of Alberta, Saskatchewan Isotope Laboratory of the University of Saskatchewan and André E. Lalonde Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Laboratory of the University of Ottawa. Then we carried out the statistical analysis of the obtained data. The preliminary results of the project were presented to community members.

Keywords

• Indigenous artifacts
• archaeology
• oral stories
• statistical analysis
• carbon dating