Moccasin Fragment Reveals Precolonial Connection Between Subarctic and Southwest

[Judi Lynn]

An 800 year-old Promontory moccasin constructed in a Subarctic style. (Photo credit: Dr. J. W. Ives)

BY NATIVE NEWS ONLINE STAFF APRIL 15, 2021

THUNDER BAY, Canada — New research by anthropologist Dr. Jessica Metcalfe at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ontario and other researchers provides direct evidence of long-distance connections among precolonial Dene peoples from northern Canada to the southern United States.

About 800 years ago a group of highly successful hunter-gatherers spent several decades living on the north shore of Great Salt Lake, Utah. Archaeological evidence suggests that these "Promontory people" were Dene ancestors whose moccasin styles indicate an origin in the Canadian Subarctic, more than 932 miles to the north.

Dr. Metcalfe’s research shows the Promontory people also made at least one journey even farther into the south and/or east, bringing back a scrap of leather that they incorporated into one of their distinctive moccasins.

“We can take a tiny piece of leather and determine if it has chemical signatures that are typical of the place where it was found, or if it came from somewhere else,” said Dr. Metcalfe, Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Lakehead University.

More:
https://nativenewsonline.net/currents/moccasin-fragment-reveals-precolonial-connection-between-subarctic-and-southwest

[jeffreyi]

1. Early day snowbirds.

How neat to cipher this out.