The Oxbow complex was first identified in Saskatchewan at the Oxbow Dam site on the Souris River. There was evidence that the Oxbow people were part of a large North American trade network. Copper from the Great Lakes and shells from the Atlantic coast have been found at Oxbow sites.
| Dates: | 4,700 to 3,800 yr BP |
| Lithics: | Lithic raw material was mainly local although material from distant sources does occur. Oxbow projectile points are side-notched with a concave base, creating distinctive "ears" on the base of the point. |
| Technology: | The points were hafted onto atlatl dart shafts. Subsistence patterns were dominated by bison hunting. |
| Distribution: | Throughout Saskatchewan and particularly common in southern Saskatchewan. |
| Sites: | There are numerous excavated Oxbow sites including campsites such as the Harder site near Saskatoon, a mass human burial called the Gray site near Swift Current, and a single medicine wheel. The Oxbow Complex was first recognized in excavations at the Oxbow Dam site in southeastern Saskatchewan in 1958. |
| Environment: | The Sub-Boreal Period (4680 to 2890 yr BP) begins just after Oxbow and is characterized by increasingly severe winters. The Neoglacial, a term applied to the general cooling that begins to occur, starts about 4000 yr BP and results in glacial ice advances in the mountains and arctic. |
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