Show Notes
This special episode of Artifactuality features conversations with Blackfoot Elders about the decolonization of archaeology and how the Blackfoot think about history, time and territory. It starts with a tour of the area around Wally's Beach in southwestern Alberta — home to the Siksika, Kainai and Piikani Nations of the Blackfoot Confederacy. Moving to Head-Smashed-in Buffalo Jump, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Canadian Museum of History’s Curator of Western Archaeology, Gabriel Yanicki, listens to Blackfoot stories. The stories reflect peoples who have always inhabited this area, as evidenced in bones and other stone tools found scattered across the surface at Wally’s Beach. These objects tell a remarkable story of continuity that predates Blackfoot contact with Europeans a few short centuries ago. Butchered horse and camel bones more than 13,300 years old prove — as evidenced in Blackfoot stories, songs and ceremonies — that they have always been here. The episode features Piikani Elders Velma Crowshoe, Jerry Potts, and Jacob Potts; Piikani ceremonialist and Siksika traditional knowledge expert, Kent Ayoungman; Stan Knowlton, Head of Cultural Interpretation at Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump; and Dr. Leroy Little Bear, Vice-Provost at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta.
LINKS
Transcript
Canadian Museum of History Blog: We Have Always Been Here
CBC article: “Indigenous archaeologist argues humans may have arrived here 130,000 years ago”
CBC article: “Students learn to conduct archaeology in respectful way on Siksika reserve”
Article on the Blackfoot Confederacy in The Canadian Encyclopedia
Blackfeet Nation website
PBS News Hour article on Wally Beach finds: “Prehistoric hunt suggests humans arrived in North America earlier than previously thought”
Profile of Dr. Leroy Little Bear
Foreign Countries podcast featuring Gabriel Yanicki
RETROactive: Exploring Alberta’s Past website: “Changing Animals: Alberta’s Ice Age Megafauna and Wally’s Beach”
Canadian History Hall: Traditional Stories and Creation Stories
Canadian History Hall: Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump
What is Artifactuality?
Come behind the scenes at the Canadian Museum of History with award-winning novelist Kim Thúy. Hear about meaningful events and remarkable people in Canadian history, culture, and society from museum experts and the people who experienced them. What can objects and stories from the past tell us about who we are today? How will current events be remembered in the future? History is found in the voices of people who lived it, the things they made and used, and the culture and society we share. Discover how objects and stories connect us with our past, present, and future.
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