Abstract

The variables responsible for soil formation can be grouped into five categories, i.e., parent material, biotic and abiotic forces, topography, and time. Although people fall under the biotic forces category, landscape often affects where people are and what they do in it. In 1970 Dr. Dick Forbis brought together, via a field seminar with flip-charts and all, an interesting group of people to discuss how a wide variety of disciplines could give depth to the Head Smashed In Buffalo Jump research. There were Dr. Dick Forbis, convener and archaeologist, Barney Reeves, nascent archaeologist, Archie Stalker, geologist, Ted Cook, soil microbiologist, Larry Lutwick, soil geneticist, John Dormaar, soil organic chemist, and Bill Byrne, nascent archaeologist plus an assortment of summer students. Ever since, I have asked myself as to how I could, as a soil scientist, contribute to the discipline of archaeology. The landscape is really the soil scientist's living laboratory. On a macro-scale, people affected that landscape via the use of fire, confined grazing after free-roaming bison were eliminated, and upside down farming. On a micro-scale, by arranging cobbles into circles, alignments, and cairns, people could affect soil transformations beneath these arranged cobbles. However, I, as an avocational archaeologist, was also able to contribute via the question as to why petroforms, such as structures used for vision questing, were here, but not there in the landscape, since I was in that landscape anyway to practice my soil science profession. The Manyberries Cairn (DgOo-1) will be discussed as example where a soil scientist and an avocational archaeologist can contribute to the discipline of archaeology.