By Dale Walde Associate Professor, Department of Archaeology, University of Calgary, Calgary
The Mortlach phase, named for a site near the town of Mortlach, dominates the terminal Late Precontact Period in southern Saskatchewan and portions of southwestern Manitoba, northern North Dakota, northeastern Montana, and portions of southern Alberta.
First appearing at about A.D. 1200, the phase expanded to its greatest extent by AD 1500 and ended as the first Euro-Canadian explorers were approaching the area (just before A.D. 1800 or so).
