Key Number:	HS 19723
Site Name:	Beaver River Quarry Archaeological Site
Other Names:
Site Type:	1910 - Archaeological Site

Location

ATS Legal Description:

			Twp	Rge	Mer
			94	11	4

Address:	N/A
Number:	N/A
Street:	N/A
Avenue:	N/A
Other:
Town:
Near Town:	Fort MacKay

Media

Type	Number	Date	View	Source

Architectural

Style:
Plan Shape:
Storeys:
Foundation:
Superstructure:
Superstructure Cover:
Roof Structure:
Roof Cover:
Exterior Codes:
Exterior:	N/A
Interior:	N/A
Environment:	Legal Description: N 1/2 of LSD's 15 and 16, Sec. 36, Tp 93, R 11, W4M; and LSD's 1 and 2, Sec. 1, Tp 94, R 11, W4M. North of Beaver Creek on a former stream bank (now abandoned) in a stand of Jack Pine. Soil is sandy. Site is elevated 75 feet above present day Beaver Creek (850 ft. above sea level). North of Fort McMurray near the Ft. McKay highway. Site is only a short distance from the Syncrude tailings pond. Overturned trees are present. The root masses of these trees contain a large quantity of cultural material.
Condition:	Less than 1/2 of 1% of the site has been excavated to date. The remainder of site is in good condition. Site condition - undisturbed.
Alterations:	N/A

Historical

Construction:	Construction Date:
Usage:	Usage Date:
Archaeological Site	1979/01/01
Owner:	Owner Date:
Crown, portion of Syncrude lease Province of Alberta	1985/12/30

Architect:	N/A
Builder:	N/A
Craftsman:	N/A
History:	Site Description : The Beaver River Quarry is comprised of a series fo prehistoric archaeological sites, the most important of which is HgOv-29. Other, somewhat smaller sites, including HgOv-31, HgOv-32, HgOv-51, HgOv-54, HgOv-56, HgOv-64, HgOv-65, and HgOv-70, are clustered tightly around HgOv-29. These sites occur on embankments and prominences immediately north and south of the Beaver River, just to the southwest of the Athabasca Bridge. HgOv-29 is centred on a major surface exposure of bedrock known as 'Beaver River Sandstone'. Beaver River Sandstone is a hard, siliceous stone found within the lowest member of the McMurray Formation - the same geological formation which produces the bituminous sands. This sandstone has fracture or flaking properties which make it highly desirable as a raw material for manufacturing stone tools. Prehistoric Natives first began visiting the sites some 8,000 to 10,000 years ago, and continued to use the Beaver River Sandstone outcrops for stone raw materials until the fur trade made metals more widely available in the eighteenth century. Though some of the sites certainly represent domestic camps, the Beaver River Quarry sites have yielded collections dominated by stone tools and especially the waste flake by-products from stone tool manufacturing. They thus served as workshop areas at which tools were formed. * * * The site appears to be a large aboriginal quarry and workshop based on the very large quantity of flaking debris and outcrop of the raw stone material (limestone) at the site. The exact extent and content of the site cannot be determined without further investigations. The soil consists of a thin layer of medium sand overlying a bedrock formation of limestone. The artifacts are concentrated in the upper portion of the sandy soil. A thick layer of moss covers the surface of the ground. Due to the shallowness of the soil a large number of now parallels. The top of the bank on which the site is located is approx. 75 ft. above the present water level. The elevation is approx. 850 ft. above sea level. Historical Significance: Beaver River Sandstone is by far and away the most important raw stone material to have been used in the Athabasca River valley; virtually every collection in the Fort MacKay region is totally dominated by the raw material. It was clearly vital to the stone technology of the prehistoric Native living in the region. Beaver River Quarry is a highly significant site, therefore, because: 1. It is he best documented locality in which we know the raw material was recovered and put to use. 2. It is comprised of large complex of sites, most of which contain many thousands of artifacts. 3. It is a locality which has been used intensively for this purpose for the last 3,000 years, and probably for the last 10,000 years. The Beaver Quarry has a crucial role to play in reconstructing the procedures by which prehistoric stone tools were fashioned, and in charting how prehistoric Native populations moved seasonally throughout the larger lower Athabasca region as part of their annual rounds.

Internal

Designation Status:	Designation Date:
Provincial Historic Resource	1985/12/30

Register:	N/A

Links

Internet:
Alberta Register of Historic Places:	4665-0145