Ecological Islands And Vickers Focus Adaptive Transitions In The Pre-Contact Plains Of Southwestern Manitoba

Hamilton, Scott; Nicholson, B. A.

doi:10.1080/2052546.1999.11931930

Cited by 15 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…Relatively minor lateral shifts of these sub-environments could result in the vertical sequence observed. Minor changes in anthropogenic fire regimes may yield similar landscape responses (Hamilton andNicholson, 1999, 2000;Boyd 2000aBoyd , b, 2002. Therefore, we recognize that the sedimentary sequence at Flintstone Hill considered alone does not necessarily reflect regional-scale climatic variability.…”

Section: Implications For Climate Change Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Holocene Stratigraphy and Geomorphology of Flintstone Hill, Lauder Sandhills, Glacial Lake Hind Basin, Southwestern Manitoba

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Havholm

Boyd

et al. 2004

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Sediments exposed at Flintstone Hill in a Souris River cutbank provide the most complete postglacial stratigraphic section in the Glacial Lake Hind Basin (GLHB), southwestern Manitoba. Four lithologic units, A-D, are observed: A1 (~2 m thick), glaciolacustrine silts and clays that grade upward to peat and record final regression of Glacial Lake Hind (~10 500-9300 BP); A2 (~1.5 m thick), low energy fluvial marl and silts grading to O-horizon(s) (by 6700 BP); B (1.5 m thick), dune sands that migrated from the southwest, contrary to the modern wind regime (after ~6700 BP); C (1.0 m thick), thin fluvial deposit between eolian sand sheets (~5500-3200 BP); D (up to 7 m thick), parabolic dune on the modern landscape oriented consistent with the modern wind regime, blowouts suggest episodic dune reactivation (~3200 BP to present). Overall, Flintstone Hill deposits record draining of Glacial Lake Hind, establishment of the Souris River channel through the GLHB, mid-Holocene eolian activity / landscape instability greater than present, and a return to nearly modern conditions by ~5400 BP. Native inhabitants in the GLHB focused on exploiting wetlands and wet meadows before 9300 BP and a landscape similar to the present thereafter.Les sédiments à découvert de la Flintstone Hill, sur la berge escarpée de la rivière Souris, offrent la séquence stratigraphique postglaciaire la plus complète du bassin du Lac glaciaire Hind. Quatre unités lithologiques, de A à D, y sont observées : A1 (~2 m d’épaisseur), silts et argiles glaciolacustres au granoclassement vertical progressif jusqu’à la tourbe témoignent de la dernière régression du Lac glaciaire Hind (~10 500-9300 BP) ; A2 (~1,5 m d’épaisseur), marnes fluviatiles de faible énergie et silts jusqu’à un horizon O (vers 6700 BP) ; B (1,5 m d’épaisseur), sables dunaires en provenance du sud-ouest, contrairement au régime des vents actuel (après ~6700 BP) ; C (1,0 m d’épaisseur), dépôt fluviatile mince entre des couches de sable (~5500-3200 BP) ; D (jusqu’à 7 m d’épaisseur), dune parabolique faisant partie du paysage moderne et orientée selon le régime des vents actuel, avec des creux de déflation témoignant de réactivations dunaires épisodiques (~3200 BP à aujourd’hui). En résumé, les dépôts de la Flintsone Hill attestent d’abord de la vidange du Lac glaciaire Hind, puis de l’établissement du chenal de la rivière Souris à travers le bassin, d’une activité éolienne et d’une instabilité des paysages à l’Holocène moyen plus grande que maintenant et de l’établissement de conditions quasi contemporaines vers 5400 BP. Les premiers habitants du bassin ont d’abord exploité les terres humides et les prés humides avant 9300 BP, puis un paysage semblable à celui d’aujourd’hui par la suite.Los sedimentos expuestos en la zona de Flinstone Hills en la ribera del Souris River proporcionan el registro estratigráfico post-glaciar más completo de la cuenca del Lake Hind, al sudoeste de Manitoba. Se distinguen cuatro unidades litológicas: A-D. La unidad A1, de unos 2 m de grosor, está compuesta por limo...

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Section: Implications For Climate Change Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Units B and D are both parabolic dune deposits. SCAPE archeologists working in the GLHB area suggest human settlement of the GLHB focused on parabolic dunes adjacent to interdunal wetlands extant on the modern landscape (Hamilton and Nicholson, 1999;B.A. Nicholson, personal communication, 2002).…”

Section: Implications For Climate Change Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Holocene Stratigraphy and Geomorphology of Flintstone Hill, Lauder Sandhills, Glacial Lake Hind Basin, Southwestern Manitoba

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Havholm

Boyd

et al. 2004

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“…6) within the GLHB. The combination of local high topographic relief, and the presence of the Oak lake aquifer, has created a diverse ecotone with high resource potential for hunter-gatherer subsistence (Hamilton and Nicholson, 1999). Warm sandy soils, combined with the high water table and abundant surface water in small lakes and ponds would have been suitable for small-field horticulture.…”

Section: Site Descriptions -Western Clustermentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The local ecology is a mosaic of xeric prairie, aspen-oak forest and small local wetlands (Hamilton and Nicholson, 1999). The Jackson Site is located at the southern edge of a sand plain, bounded by dune formations to the west, south and east.…”

Section: Jackson Sitementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Many of these potholes are permanent surface-water sources today and many others -given higher water tables prior to European settlement -would have been permanent water sources at the time of the Vickers occupations (Hamilton and Nicholson, 1999). The Vickers people seem to have deliberately selected sites at some distance from major waterways and lakes.…”

Section: Vickers Focus Site Selectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Vickers Focus Environmental Choices and Site Location in the Parklands of Southwestern Manitoba

Nicholson

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et al. 2004

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The Vickers Focus people entered the parklands of Southwestern Manitoba sometime around AD 1400, settling in the Tiger Hills uplands. Their ceramics indicate that their original homelands were in south-central Minnesota and northern Iowa and that they maintained connections with the Middle Missouri area to the south. The reconstructed lifeways of the Vickers Focus people, while they were living in this area, indicate that a foraging/horticultural subsistence background influenced their selection of sites. Sometime before AD 1500 they shifted westward into the Lauder Sandhills area southeast of Oak Lake. In their new homeland there is no evidence that they continued to practice horticulture but rather they intensified their foraging activities. While their subsistence strategies appear to have been modified when they relocated themselves, a number of environmental and ecological commonalities link these areas. Both areas are characterized by warm soils, with an abundance of pothole water sources. Ecological complexity and resource richness characterize the local environments. In addition, there appears to have been an active desire to avoid locating their sites along major travel routes in the region. The ecological and environmental parameters of the areas they selected are explored in this paper.

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Can bison play a role in conserving habitat for endangered sandhills species in Canada?

et al. 2012

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Relative to their cultivated surroundings, sandhills of the Canadian prairies represent intact, heterogeneous ecosystems. These extensive tracts of sand dunes and native prairie are biodiversity hotspots, which act as refugia for a variety of specialized wildlife species. However, due to changes in climate and suppression of natural disturbance, the dunes have experienced drastic rates of stabilization over the past 200 years, such that the proportion of open sand in the region is currently less than 1%. This continuing trend is resulting in a gradual loss of sparsely vegetated, sandy habitat for many uncommon, specialist species, including a number that are considered to be at risk of extirpation or extinction by COSEWIC (Canada's list agency). Without management to conserve active sandhill habitat the future long-term survival of rare and imperilled dunedependent plants and animals is questionable. In this article we propose that the re-introduction of disturbance to southern Canadian prairie sandhills, specifically sandhill use by bison, might be effective in restoring and sustaining actively-eroding sandhill habitat to support some threatened and endangered species. We outline several lines of evidence (geological, geomorphological, archaeological, and historical accounts) indicating bison occupied sandhills and actively modified these ecosystems until European settlement of the prairies. We argue that bison were attracted to sandhills for a number of reasons, and that in great numbers they had considerable influence on sandhills ecosystem functions. Behaviours such as grazing, trailing, wallowing, horning, and trampling created a patchwork mosaic of disturbance effects. We hypothesize that it may be beneficial to reintroduce bison to sandhills ecosystems in the Canadian prairies to restore biodiversity at all levels.

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Ecological Islands And Vickers Focus Adaptive Transitions In The Pre-Contact Plains Of Southwestern Manitoba

Cited by 15 publications

References 2 publications

Holocene Stratigraphy and Geomorphology of Flintstone Hill, Lauder Sandhills, Glacial Lake Hind Basin, Southwestern Manitoba

Holocene Stratigraphy and Geomorphology of Flintstone Hill, Lauder Sandhills, Glacial Lake Hind Basin, Southwestern Manitoba

Vickers Focus Environmental Choices and Site Location in the Parklands of Southwestern Manitoba

Can bison play a role in conserving habitat for endangered sandhills species in Canada?

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