Source: Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food
They haven’t always enjoyed the most trusting of relationships—archaeologists and farmers.
Innumerable archaeological sites have been lost forever through tillage since Saskatchewan was homesteaded. Even today, many farmers fear that disclosing archaeological remains on their property might lead to expropriation—something that has never occurred in the history of the province.
However, there are also some remarkable stories of farmers and ranchers who have gone out of their ways to ensure the preservation of evidence left by past users of the landscape. Some of them even achieved a certain degree of fame among the North American archaeological community.
David Meyer, a Professor of Archaeology at the University of Saskatchewan, has met a few of these people throughout his career.
“Many of them are deceased now," he says sadly. "I’m thinking of my old friend Archie Campbell in Bjorkdale. He was sort of a local mentor to me. He farmed—and the family continues to farm—there. They came to the Bjorkdale area around 1909 from Scotland. He developed a great interest in history and archaeology. He got involved in collecting artefacts from sites around Bjorkdale and Porcupine Plain. When I studied archaeology in the '60s and early '70s, I spent some time with him visiting the sites he knew in the area. That is how I became familiar with the archaeology of the area as well—as did others. He eventually donated his collection to the Department of Archaeology at the university.”
Another amateur archaeologist who has made quite a contribution to our understanding archaeology in the southwest is Henri Liboiron of Ponteix.
“His contribution was particularly important because he was so meticulous in everything he did," says Meyer. "He kept such good records of site locations and of what he collected. He had such good provenance information on his artefacts. Everything was identified as to what particular site in the Ponteix-Aneroid area they came from.
“Henri was even better than many professional archaeologists in that regard. He had educated himself to the point where he became very knowledgeable and had read many archaeological articles, on which he drew in his research endeavours."
These people earned their living from agricultural activities, yet their commitment to increasing our understanding of, and to preserving archaeological sites and resources in their home areas added a dimension to their farm and rangeland management practices that made them truly outstanding individuals.
Meyer has his own theory for what motivated them.
“These individuals shared interesting circumstances. Generally, they were born in the early 20th Century. They came into adulthood in the Depression era, in the early '20s and into the '30s. In a different world or situation—for instance, if they had grown up during the '60s—they might have gone through high school and university. I think of them as having been caught or trapped by the circumstances of their lives, in their home communities... but it was a real benefit to their communities to have people of such talent remaining in the communities.