McKean Lithic Resource Utilization at the Wolf Willow and Dog Child sites, Wanuskewin Heritage Park: A New Look at Saskatchewan Raw Materials.

The scientific importance of Wanuskewin Heritage Park lies in the number and diversity of archaeological sites present in a single area. Wolf Willow and Dog Child are multicomponent occupation sites located in the Opimihaw Valley and both contain McKean components. McKean Complex sites are relatively uncommon on the Northern Plains which makes the cluster at Wanuskewin Heritage Park important. McKean lithic materials are mainly locally produced with very few exotics. Materials from McKean assemblages have a heavy reliance on local lithic materials such as chert and quartzite. McKean levels at the Thundercloud, Cut Arm, and Red Tail sites, all located in Wanuskewin Heritage Park, are consistent with this pattern of lithic resource utilization. The presence of exotic lithic materials can allude to territory, trade networks spanning vast amounts of land, or even show preference for an exotic material over locally available tool stone. This thesis will allow Wolf Willow and Dog Child to be understood in the broader context of McKean sites on the Northern Plains. Secondarily, Eldon Johnson’s 1998 “Properties and Sources of Some Saskatchewan Lithic Materials of Archaeological Significance”, a popular and highly utilized thesis, is updated here with new information concerning raw materials found in Wanuskewin Heritage Park