Interactive Dynamics of Intrusive Horticultural Groups Coalescing in South-Central Manitoba during the Late Prehistoric Period—The Vickers Focus

Abstract

Recent fieldwork has demonstrated the presence of several intrusive horticultural complexes in southern Manitoba during Late Prehistoric times. These groups probably first began entering the area circa 1000 B.P. and disappeared from the archaeological record some 600 years later—about 150 years prior to the entry of Europeans. An examination of the ceramics indicates that no single migration theory or simple diffusion of technology can account for these assemblages. The diversity of the wares, derived from identifiable antecedents elsewhere, indicates a complex mingling and syncretism of cultural elements drawn from widely separated sources resulting in some form of hybrid ethnicity. Subsequent work has indicated a localized dispersal of these unusual assemblages during the terminal Late Prehistoric period. The material assemblage of one such composite society is evident at the Lowton site which has provided the ceramic type collection for an initial definition of the Vickers Focus within the larger context of the Scattered Village Complex. The sheer abundance of cultural materials in the Lowton assemblage, when compared with other sites containing these ceramics, indicates that the Lowton site was the most important of the known sites for people belonging to this segment of the Scattered Village Complex and may have been a regional center for a coalescing polyethnic society.