Centuries of human presence in Canada have left traces of philosophies, belief systems, and lifeways upon the earth. These clues to human existence are keys to understanding the complex histories of Canada's First Nations peoples. Cognitive histories are revealed by examining objects such as the ancient Sproat Lake petroglyph rock carvings, or the winter count calendars painted on animal hides by the people of Alberta's foothills. The physical remains of butchered animals are significant as are the tools left by Arctic hunting bands that scraped the bones. The fertile land belts of the Great Lakes region also tell the story of a people who marked the earth with farming and elaborate burials. Ceramic fragments also teach us about the hands that manufactured it and the associated culture. The above are examples of the vast amount of physical information the historian shifts through in order to understand ancient cultures in an environment where no written record in the European style exists. Historians construct a pre-contact history of Canada's First Nations from oral record, physical evidence, European documents, and from information gleaned through a host of relevant sciences. This information is often elusive and contradictory so historians use innovative research strategies to create balance and harmony between these tangible and intangible sources. Historians are challenged by the study of Native histories because it is not solely dependent upon on the interpretation of written documents. Traditional Canadian historiography often discusses European impression and adaptation, rather than Native experiences. Instead, Native history in Canada must be derived from several other sources because it is not until the fifteenth century that documents written by Europeans became available. Historians must examine historical sources to accommodate the diverse forms of information from societies that lived for centuries before European contact in Canada. A multi-disciplined, multi-layered approach is used by the historian to decipher the sources and develop a sense of historical antiquity. Historical research of North American First Nations is based upon a collaborative analysis with the following disciplines:

Oral Tradition

The oral information passed from generation to generation provides the historian with a detailed description of the recent past. The language and context used in the telling of the story is vital to understanding its meaning and purpose. The analysis of similar stories from different cultures creates a historical framework for the story and its relevance within that culture. The Blackfoot elders would appoint certain individuals to remember an incident or circumstance. They emphasised first and foremost to remember the truth, not merely to focus upon the pleasant or profane.

Challenge
A story is never told the same way twice because it is subjected to the interpretation of both the teller and the listener. The storyteller can also manipulate the story to conform to his or her own generation.

Archaeology

Archaeology provides physical evidence of human activity where no European-style literate record exists. The archaeologist studies cultural history, past lifeways, and historical cultural processes. They use chronological and spatial evidence gained from archaeological survey and excavation. Human remains, objects, and artefacts are examined and assigned meaning according to their time and space placement within an archaeological survey. Archaeological data is based upon soil types, fossil pollen, geological formations, regional climatic patterns, and ancient faunal species. The methodology to classify and date objects is radiocarbon analysis, archaeomagnetic thermoluminescence, obsidian hydration tests, and DNA analysis.

Behavioural Archaeology

The behaviour of humans is studied according to the archaeological record of material remains. In order to understand, for example, the social strata of an ancient people, the living or occupation floor is examined. A site is analysed in two different ways. It is viewed as a moment in time or patterns that developed over time. The comparison and spatial relation of objects is then classified based upon what is unique or typical to other similar sites. Archaeologists also study aspects of human behaviour such as mobility patterns. These patterns are traced through the geographic distribution of stone technology. Behavioural archaeologists speculate on the reason why stones indigenous to a specific area are excavated from a site two hundred kilometres away.

Challenge
Artefacts and skeletal remains in North America, south of the Arctic tundra, are limited and often difficult to find. Geological disturbances of glacial activity, erosion, and extreme cold shift the earth and destroy sites. Settlement or seasonal campsites are also difficult to identify. Hence, the specific evidence and the means used to establish an archaeological record for North America is often open to contention. The archaeological record has traditionally emphasised big game hunting cultures because lithic material or stone projectile points preserve well. Women's gathering tools, on the other hand, such as leather snares, wood fibre basketry, and digging sticks did not preserve will in the acidic Precambrian soils. As a result, gathering practices are often not known or emphasised within the archaeological record. Another complex issue faced by archaeologists is the difficulty in establishing the identity and the cultural context of the objects. For example, stone tool technology. The relation of the tool placement within an archaeological site and its function creates an understanding of migration patterns, for example, but the human motivation that created the tool, traded the tool and discarded it is unknown.

Anthropology

Historians rely on anthropological research to gain insight into human diversity and patterns of adaptation. Anthropologists examine human dynamics and lifeways within the environment based upon a society's mobility, technology specialisation, social differentiation and behavioural variables. The Canadian Arctic regions are unique in that the Inuit have continued a lifeway that has remained similar for centuries. This allows anthropologists to gain first-hand knowledge of behaviour.

Physical Anthropology

Physical anthropology is based upon human skeletal remains and the material objects associated with the remains. Burial sites are researched to discover sexual dichotomy, composition of populations, nutrition, social organisation, access to resources, disease, warfare, and violence patterns. The cultural context assigned is based upon what is found, where it was located, and when it was a part of human lifeways.

Challenge
Anthropologists researching Canadian First Nations antiquity face the challenge of limited evidence of tool or human skeletal remains. Identifying an object and its use is extremely difficult without the benefit of cultural context. It is also difficult to interpret, date or determine cultural association of petryglyphs, medicine circles and burial goods. Burial practices of the Huron and Iroquois are similar to those found within the Hopewellian complex of the eastern United States. This provides a fuller archaeological record than other First Nations groups, such as the Dene of the Sub-arctic who did not bury their dead.

Environmental History

The study of human impact upon the natural environment and the study of the human ecosystem within that environment are new approaches to historical research. Two methods are employed to understand historical human interaction within their environment. The first is the localised and immediate individual response, hence the everyday lifeways of individuals or small groups. The second is the population's response to the environment according to shifts and modifications of settlement and subsistence patterns.

Challenge
Human adaptation patterns are difficult to qualify because human response to the environment is often not logical or apparent. It is difficult to separate cultural response from instinctual human motivations. The historic geological and meteorological record allows historians to speculate upon human interaction with the environment of a specific time period. But ultimately, speculation is limited to possibilities, not certainties. The combining of Dene origin stories and the geological record provide possible explanations for the migration of the Dene peoples. Volcanic eruptions may have been responsible for movement north and west into the present Dene territories in the sub-arctic region. Yet the evidence for these migrations is not substantiated by archaeological record.

Comparative Ethnology

Comparative ethnology is the comparison of cultural traits of historic societies. Intangible elements of culture, such as mythology and religious beliefs, are interpreted to reconstruct human behaviour. Ethnologists study cultural processes beyond the mechanical cause-and-effect relationships of a purely scientific approach.

Challenge
Any form of cultural definition is open to subjective interpretation. This is especially true when defining human rationale in terms of spiritual or otherwise intangible aspects of human lifeways. The historian attempts to use ethnological information in an objective manner while recognising that no society is better or more permanent than another. For example, the practice of Huron crop cultivation is not a more advanced or civilised lifeway than Cree nomadic hunting and gathering.

Historic Linguistics

Linguistic research allows the historian to classify related Native groups or to speculate on length of occupation within a given area. Language also interprets and defines culture. The nature of language and the comparison of similar languages allow linguists to estimate the origin and development of languages. Contemporary language families are researched to determine the root of ancestral languages.

Challenge
First Nations ancestral languages are divided into three language families, Aleut-Eskimo, Na-Dene and Amerindian. The development of these three language categories into contemporary language forms is tracked to establish length of human occupation in Canada. This linguistic research, however, reaches widely varied conclusions. For example, some researchers estimate that humans have lived in Canada for 40,000 years. This date, however, is not supported by the physical evidence.