A Valley Full of Secrets
Tucked into the Wakamow Valley near Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, a remarkable archaeological dig is pulling back the curtain on centuries of Indigenous life on the Canadian Prairies. Researchers have now recovered around 240,000 artifact fragments from the site — a number that's staggering even by the standards of major excavations.
Among the most striking finds: evidence of corn, beans, and squash — the so-called "Three Sisters" crops that are foundational to many Indigenous agricultural traditions across North America. Their presence this far north challenges older assumptions that the Prairies were primarily home to nomadic, bison-hunting cultures with little connection to horticulture.
More Than a Hunting Ground
For generations, the dominant narrative of pre-contact Prairie life centred on the bison hunt. While that was certainly central to survival, finds like these point to a far more complex picture — one that includes cultivation, trade, and settled community life.
The Three Sisters crops require sustained tending over a growing season. Their presence at Wakamow Valley suggests that Indigenous peoples here weren't simply passing through. They were planting, harvesting, and likely trading agricultural surplus with neighbouring nations.
Archaeologists believe the site may have functioned as a hub in a broader regional trade network, with goods — including foodstuffs — moving across the Prairies in ways that connected communities hundreds of kilometres apart.
What 240,000 Artifacts Tell Us
The sheer volume of material recovered is what makes Wakamow Valley stand out. Artifacts include pottery sherds, stone tools, bone fragments, and plant remains — a cross-section of daily life that researchers can use to reconstruct diet, technology, and social organization.
Each fragment adds resolution to a picture that written history largely left blank. Indigenous oral traditions have long described deep roots in these landscapes; archaeology is now catching up with what communities have always known.
The Wakamow Valley itself — a green corridor along the Moose Jaw River — has long been recognized as ecologically significant. It makes sense that it was also a place people returned to season after season, generation after generation.
A Growing Field of Prairie Archaeology
This discovery comes at a moment when Canadian archaeology is increasingly centred on collaboration with Indigenous communities. Descendant nations are playing active roles in shaping how sites are excavated, interpreted, and shared with the public — a shift that's producing richer, more accurate histories.
For Canadians, findings like these are a reminder that the land we live on carries stories far older and more layered than colonial settlement. The Prairies weren't empty. They were home.
Source: CBC News. Original reporting by CBC Indigenous.
