Set in stone: Re-examining stone feature distribution and form on the Northwestern Plains

Abstract

Recently, Reeves and Kennedy [(2017) Stone Feature Types as Observed at Ceremonial Site Complexes on the Lower Red Deer and the Forks of the Red Deer and South Saskatchewan Rivers with Ethnohistorical Discussion. Saskatchewan Archaeological Society, Saskatoon] identified a series of what they argue are unique stone feature types in the Forks area, near the village of Empress in southeastern Alberta. These researchers assert that, to their knowledge, no similar stone features exist in southwestern Alberta. They suggest that this regional difference in distribution and their absence from Blackfoot territory in southwestern Alberta indicates that they were created by the Gros Ventre as part of a distinct ceremonial practice. We examine Reeves and Kennedy’s feature types and provide examples of most from southwestern Alberta along the foothills front. We then examine the hypothesis of a Gros Ventre affiliation for these features and discuss how the evidence from southwestern Alberta informs this hypothesis and larger questions of ethnicity. While some of these stone features may have been created by the ancestral Gros Ventre, it appears others were most likely created by ancestral Blackfoot groups as part of their own cultural practice. This is supported by the presence of these feature types in southwestern Alberta and their consistent association with important landmarks and named places in the Blackfoot cultural landscape.