Microclimate of an Aboriginal Winter Campsite at Wanuskewin Heritage Park, Saskatoom

Authors

E. A. Ripley, University of Saskatchewan, 51 Campus Drive, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5A8 Canada
O. W. Archibold, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5A8 Canada
C. Jackson, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5A8 Canada
E. J. Walker, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5A8 Canada

Date of this Version

October 1997

Comments

Published in Great Plains Research 7:2 (Fall 1997). Copyright © 1997 The Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska–Lincoln. Used by permission. http://www.unl.edu/plains/publications/GPR/gpr.shtml

Abstract

The microclimate of an aboriginal winter campsite, set in an incised, south-facing meander of a small creek, is compared to the conditions on the adjacent open prairie at Wanuskewin Heritage Park, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Maximum and minimum temperatures and wind speeds were measured daily, on the prairie and in the valley, along with temperatures in a modern canvas tipi erected in the valley. Maximum temperatures tended to be about 1 °C higher in the valley, and 2 °C higher in the tipi, than on the prairie, while minima were 1-2 °C lower. Wind speeds were reduced to about 50% in the valley. Windchill factors, derived from these data, were reduced between 200 and 250 W m^-2 , suggesting that the valley site afforded considerable benefit as a winter habitation site.