The Spruce Point Site (DjKq-1) : A late woodland community pattern and cultural assemblage from Northwestern Ontario and their relationships within the Selkirk composite

• Main Author: Rajnovich, M. Grace N.
• Language: en
• Published: 2014
• Subjects: Spruce; Point; Site; DjKq-1
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1993/23344

The Spruce Point Site (DjKq-1) in the northwestern sector of Lake of the Woods, Ontario, is a Selkirk site dated through ceramic seriational analysis to the sixteenth or seventeenth century A.D. It is rare for two reasons. First, it is a single component among a plethora of multi-component sites with collapsed stratigraphy which characterize the major portion of the Lake of the Woods prehistoric record. This factor allows for the first analysis and description of Lake of the Woods Selkirk community patterns, material remains, especially ceramics, and adaptive strategy free from stratigraphic interference. The assemblage is represented by ceramics and lithics akin to the Winnipeg River Complex and a faunal sample indicating an exploitation pattern using an unspecialized strategy and varied resources. Second, the site has remains of two house structures, unreported elsewhere for the Selkirk Composite, that are similar in floor plan and size to earlier Laurel structures and later Cree houses reported in the ethnographic literature. House style and geographic location, plus the faunal assemblage indicate the site was occupied during the summer and was chosen for its varied animal, plant and lithic resources.