ABSTRACT: Holocene climatic variability on the Interior Plains of Canada: contrasting the context for Eurocanadian settlement with that for previous human occupation

CGRG Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology
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Abstract

Intensive EuroCanadian settlement of the interior plains of Canada has been on-going only for about 200 years. EuroCanadian experience of climates in this region therefore only encompasses part a small part of the total variability through the Holocene. EuroCanadian 'explorers', such as Kelsey, Henday, Palliser, Hind, and Macoun, experienced the plains during the height of the Little Ice Age, on balance the coolest and wettest interval of the Holocene. Their views and writings form the basis of perceptions of these landscapes that were used to encourage settlement. Notwithstanding the overall Little Ice Age context, some travellers, such as Palliser, did encounter the plains during drought phases. Review of available tree ring and lake records, however, show that these recent drought intervals probably did not match the magnitude of those in this region during the last millennium, which were themselves probably less intense than Hypsithermal droughts in the early-mid Holocene. The oldest archaeological dates sites in this region date from the early Holocene. Aboriginal people therefore had to cope with climatic intervals that encompassed more severe drought phases. Their mobile lifeway, based on bison hunting, allowed flexibility in the face of climatic extremes and variability. The number of sites on the plains (of 23,429 sites known for Alberta, 15,402 are found south of 52 deg N) suggests that the region has been important for people during the Holocene, although the pattern of landscape use may have changed. For instance, evidence from an early Holocene Paleoindian site, the Fletcher site (DjOw-1), suggests that the prairie surface may have supported more water sources, especially during summer months. Thus patterns of Paleoindian land use may be expected to differ from those of people in mid or late Holocene.

Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology