Saamis Archaeological Site
I discovered an awesome publication prepared by The Saamis Tepee Association and Ethos Consultants Ltd. both of which do not exist today. Ethos Consultants was a company run by John Brumley, a lifetime member of the South Eastern Alberta Archaeological Society and significant contributor to the archaeological record of Medicine Hat. John passed away July 20, 2020. Here is an excerpt from his obituary:
John Brumley
“From very early on, John showed a great interest in archaeology. At the age of 15, he brought the Wahkpa Chu'gn Buffalo Jump to the attention of the proper authorities. He continued his interest in this site all of his life writing several articles and booklets about its history. In 1994, John and his wife, Anna, took over managing the site until 2017, when they moved to Utah.
In August of 1969, John married Laurie Milne and they had two children, Mary Elizabeth and Sarah Anne. They later divorced.
After graduation, he started his own business, Ethos Consultants Ltd. in Medicine Hat, Alberta. In 1983, he married Anna Knopp Sawyer in Billings, Montana. He opened a branch office, Ethos Consultants Inc., in Havre, Montana, in 1985. John lived a large amount of his adult life in Alberta. He said he thought of Alberta as much his home as the U.S.
John has authored or co-authored over 500 published and unpublished reports. John's main interest was tipi rings and medicine wheels, on which he wrote several technical reports. John always said he was very fortunate to spend his life doing something he really loved.
He shared his enthusiasm for archeology with many in Alberta and Montana. In 1975, he was instrumental in forming the Southeastern Alberta Archaeology Society in Medicine Hat, Alberta. John shared his interest in archaeology by holding workshops and involving members in actual investigations and research. He always had time to answer questions. He was very inventive both with devising ways of making site mapping and excavations more efficient as well as developing new theories that interpreted sites to reflect early peoples actual living experiences. He learned to fly so he could do aerial photographs of sites and then later invented the "photo boom" to take overhead photographs from the ground and SPEED, a machine to make excavating much easier.
Summertime was spent going on field trips, mapping medicine wheels and other sites, floating various rivers including the Missouri - many good memories were made.
John loved being around his five grandchildren. He also had a love of animals and the house was always filled with an assortment of dogs and cats. He helped rescue and find homes for many of them over the years.
John received many awards during his career including the 1994 Distinguished Service Award, Archaeological Society of Alberta; 2002 Montana Archaeological Society Conservation Award and the 2013 Montana Governor's Humanities Award.”
The Self Guided Tour of Saamis Archaeological Site appears to be a very rare publication that does not exist digitally. I went ahead and scanned and reformatted the publication to ensure its preservation. The PDF is available along with the photos of each page below:
