The Far North Focus, as part of the Border Lakes aspect, can generally be dated from early Archaic through first contact. However, there may be one site, located on Gold Island in the south arm of Knife Lake on the Minnesota-Ontario border, that could date back to the Paleo-Indian period. Three skeletons were found buried in a cobble lined pit dug into a gravely esker. The geological antiquity could not be established and no cultural objects were present. Dr. Martin Q. Peterson performed the initial analysis of the skeletal material and reported that the cranial vaults showed a low height index. The only comparable specimens were found in the Hitzfelder Cave in Texas, and these have been claimed to be quite early. Peterson cautions against any unfounded speculation. Considering the vast expanse of the continental interior, he suggests that the Gold Island burials represent the remnants of an inbreeding refugee population. (Steinbring, 67)
The Smith Site or Grand Mound is located on the Minnesota-Ontario border near the mouth of the Bigfork River where it empties into the Rainy River. This site is associated primarily with the Laurel Aspect of the Lake Michigan Phase. Lloyd Wilford excavated the Smith Site in the 1930s. There are five well defined burial mounds at the site, one which is very large, and the site was aptly named Grand Mound. The habitations associated with the Smith Focus primarily utilize Laurel Pottery and are associated with headwater river usage. It is has also been thought that the river may have been an important means of communications and travel for their culture. The Smith Focus is closely associated with the McKinstry Focus, which is also a part of the Laurel Aspect and located in the same region.
Houska Point is located near the outlet for the Rainy River on the west end of Rainy Lake. Excavated in 1970-71 by the University of Winnipeg Archaeological Field School, Houska Point is a stratified, multi-component site occupied for about 4000 years. Artifact characteristics range from early preceramic times (Old Copper types) though periods exhibiting both Laurel and Blackduck pottery types. Some of the copper artifacts recovered in 1970 were socketed projectile points, harpoon heads of both toggling and non-toggling type, conical points, crescent knives, fishhooks, chisels, straight knife blades, awls, double-pointed pins, punches, and cones which might have served as tinklers or bangles. One interesting characteristic at Houska Point, also supported by other sites, is the apparent diminishing size and quantity of the copper artifacts after 1000 B.C. This is generally attributed to over-exploitation of drift copper and control of copper sources by powerful groups from the south. Also, Hopewellian ceremonialism required large quantities of copper for ornamentation. (Steinbring, 70-72)
Pickerel Lake, is located in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, and is part of the Quetico Provincial Park in Ontario. In 1969 a fishing party found large quantities of copper artifacts on the beach and beneath the water adjacent to the shore. These included large beveled adzes, socketed projectile points, tanged knifes, conicals, wedges, and a reworked spud. The most interesting finds were a series of socketed harpoon points, both toggling and non-toggling. Two of these harpoons had additional forward points, usually only found among the Eskimo. There were direct modifications made to the traditional Old Copper forms, such as intentional bending of the tapered projectile base to produce a basal barb lifted from the dorsal plane. Lithics represented at the Pickerel Lake site are exclusively a very homogeneous light brown chalcedony, not Knife River flint, as would be expected. It is suggested that the Pickerel Lake site may reflect an independent development of the pre-Cambrian interior by a cultural configuration "lost" in a northern ecological displacement between 2500 and 2000 B.P. (Steinbring, 67-68)
South Fowl Lake is located on the Minnesota-Ontario border about twenty miles west of Grand Portage, and appears to essentially reflect continuity in the Old Copper Complex, but yields Plano blades of jaspilite as well as choppers, bifaces, and end-scrapers which closely resemble those of the Brohm and Cummins sites. These latter sites, both east of South Fowl Lake, are located on ancient beachheads of Lake Algonquin and are known red jaspilite quarries dated about 5600 B.C. At South Fowl Lake one could estimate the introduction of early socketed copper forms at about 3000 B.C. The Snyder projectile point appears in a distinctive, light brown chalcedony, and marks Middle Woodland at South Fowl Lake, but no pottery was found.
Fish Lake Dam is located northwest of Duluth, Minnesota, on the Beaver River. Fish Lake, Boulder Lake, Otter Lake, and Island lake are reservoir lakes formed in a rugged moraine area after the construction of dams along the Cloquet and Beaver Rivers. Most of the evidence from this area is from surface collections amassed by Mrs. R. C. Redepenning, a devoted amateur archeologist. Fish Lake is the only site actually excavated, and then only for one short week in 1969 due to the water levels. It should be noted that the Fish Lake Focus contains two distinct components. The west side appears to be late Archaic, while the east side is primarily Plano. The Redepenning collection reflects both components; The classical Plano projectile point style range in combination with a wide assortment of Archaic tools including heavy choppers, gouges, adzes, bifaces, picks, crescentic blades, and large worked flakes. Not uncommonly, specimens of Plano or related styles are also found expressed in a red, jaspery taconite, referred in Minnesota as jaspilite, and nearer its Ontario source, as oölitic jasper. The surface finds in the area also include hammered copper artifacts, such as crescents, socketed and tanged projectile points, knives, and awls.
Steinbring, Jack, Preceramic Archaeology of Northern Minnesota, Aspects of Upper Great Lakes Anthropology, Edited by Elden Johnson, Papers in honor of Lloyd A. Wilford, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul, 1974.