This presentation explores the preliminary findings of the author’s Masters research based in St. Adolphe, Manitoba, and looks at the relationship between the belongings found at the Delorme House site and the French-Michif language that was spoken in this area. Michif is a North American-based language creole consisting of French noun structures and Cree verb structures. It is primarily associated with Métis communities of Canada and the northern United States. This presentation will pull from Indigenous research methodologies including the Métis methodology of Keeuwaywin and Kitchen Table methodology, it will illustrate how language and archaeology can inform each other to create more inclusive and full interpretations of sites. Material culture and language are not separate in the modern day nor should they be treated as separate in historical archaeology and research.

Archaeologically, Indigenous resources do not end with the beginning of colonialism, which typically signifies a shift in archaeological time. As Euro-American settlers came onto indigenous lands, creating what we typically recognize as historic-era sites, Native Americans continued to leave their mark on the landscape. In recognition that Tribal Cultural Resources (TCRs) are often unrecognized by non-Indigenous archaeologists, Jacobs Solutions and their partners in renewable energy work closely with local Tribes to complete Tribal Cultural Surveys prior to finalizing project alignments and project implementation. This paper explores this partnership and its importance to understanding how lithic Tribal resources can be historic in nature and how the archaeological community tends to view the difference between precontact sites versus historic sites on the Wyoming landscape.

Tunna’ Nosi’ Kaiva’ Gwaa (TNKG) is a large multi-component site complex situated within pinyon-juniper woodlands at the edge of the western Great Basin in a region known by the Numu toponym, Tuvugatudu. The pre-contact components at TNKG include hunting features, rock rings, lithic materials, and rock art. Recent historical materials at TNKG include evidence of charcoal production and wood cutting likely connected to the historic mining towns of Bodie, California, and Aurora and Del Monte, Nevada. While the precontact materials have been well-studied, the recent historic components require further investigation. This paper showcases the preliminary results of dissertation research being completed at TNKG, examining how this landscape was transformed from the mid-19th to early 20th centuries. This project utilizes a multi-pronged approach that incorporates archaeological investigation, archival research, oral history research, and collaborative work with Tribes, federal agencies, and private landowners.

Indigenous place theories are developing “gaps analyses” of archaeological and historical datasets caused by the social contexts in which existing dominant culture narratives have been written. Methodologies for researching stories of marginalized communities are less well established. We present a decolonizing approach to history developed by the Tribal Historic Preservation Office of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde which understands significant places as necessarily ‘verbed’ – centered in practices continuously enacted by people of/in that place since time immemorial. Ikanum (traditional stories) and oral histories define these relationships, both during the millennia of indigenous lifeways and in the last two centuries of Euro-American colonization. Using tumwata (Oregon City) as a case study, we outline changes and continuities in practices such as working, meeting, hosting and exchanging across different periods of history. Emphasizing practice amplifies and re-centers narratives of those people and communities ‘hidden in plain sight’, making place accessible to all.

Tumwata Village, located at Oregon City, Oregon, holds a complex archaeological record of thousands of years of Indigenous lifeways, overlain by 19th century settler and commercial expansion, and 20th century industrial domination. The resulting complexity presents a challenge for archaeologists attempting to understand both this complicated intertwined mix of brick, steel, and oral tellings, but presents a unique opportunity to integrate historic documents with emerging technologies to untangle physical structures and better understand the complex history of site. Prior to, and during demolition of the old Blue Heron Paper Mill, we used the 3D capabilities of ArcGIS and the digital modeling techniques of photogrammetry and LiDAR to create a digital model of tumwata Village. This has allowed the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde to reach the dual goals of useful redevelopment and preservation of the site’s heritage.

The colonization of Greenland in the 18th century led to the development of various regions of increasing cultural interaction between the Kalaallit, Danish traders and colonists, and German Moravian missionaries. The Alluitsoq project in Southern Greenland attempts to address the various aspects of these interactions at Alluitsoq and its surrounding area. Alluitsoq is the location of a former Moravian mission site of Lichtenau, established in 1774. The Danish and the Moravians attempted to influence Kalaallit society with conflicting policies during colonization. This paper utilizes the zooarchaeological analysis of a large and well-preserved archaeofauna collection and historical records to consider how the Kalaallit navigated these conflicting influences and the potential impact of these interactions on human-environment dynamics and human-animal relationships. Additionally, it emphasizes how food resources show the relationships between the Kalaallit and their environment at the site throughout the late 18th to 20th century.