Researching the Petun
Volume: OA89-90
Year: 2010
Author: Charles Garrad
Page Range: 3-57
Abstract: More than a century of research has led to the present state of knowledge of the Petun occupation of the Petun Country, in the former Collingwood, Nottawasaga, and Mulmur townships. Many individuals, with different skills and interests, have contributed to the study of the Petun between ca. AD 1580 and 1650. This paper outlines the history of investigation of the Petun, describing the work of the more notable contributors.
Understanding Conflict through Burial: Neural Network Analysis of Death and Burial in the War of 1812
Volume: OA89-90
Year: 2010
Author: Stephanie Spars
Page Range: 58-68
Abstract: This paper concerns methods and theories for analyzing and interpreting burials related to wars and other conflict situations. Spars (2000; 2005) developed a conflict burial model to facilitate the identification of material differences in burials that will, in turn, help in understanding burial circumstances (e.g., whether a death occurred during conflict on the battlefield, as a direct consequence of battlefield injuries or other trauma, from execution, or in circumstances unrelated to the conflict, and whether the subsequent burial was by a “friendly,” “neutral,” or “hostile” group). Data from burials in the War of 1812 mass grave site of Snake Hill, Fort Erie, Ontario (1814) are compared to those from the conventional cemetery at Prospect Hill, Newmarket, Ontario (1824–1879). The variables of the model include body positioning; cause of death; presence or absence of mutilation; burial container; and ritual markers, including clothing and grave goods. The quantitative methodology neural networks (self-organizing maps) provides a clear, accessible and repeatable means of exploring, classifying—and ultimately making predictions from—smaller, more complex datasets, such as those reflecting the many attributes of human activity preserved in archaeological contexts.
Technological Choices: Ceramic Manufacture and Use at the Antrex Site (AjGv-38)
Volume: OA89-90
Year: 2010
Author: Gregory Braun
Page Range: 69-96
Abstract: This paper examines technological characteristics of the pottery recovered from Antrex (AjGv-38), a Middle Ontario Iroquoian village site located in present-day Mississauga, west of Toronto, which dates to the midthirteenth century AD. Four different vessel types were identified at the Antrex site, each with a distinct set of manufacturing characteristics and patterns of use alteration. They include: small and medium-sized pots that were used for boiling stews, porridges or soups by placing them on stone supports directly over a small, hot fire; large pots, used in conjunction with hot rocks or “boiling stones,” ideal for the extraction of fats and oils; and juvenile vessels, which were not used for food processing but appear to have been carefully curated. Overall, the choices made by Antrex site potters indicate a technologically sophisticated knowledge of ceramic manufacture. They also suggest that the practice of this technology was informed by both functional and social concerns.
The In-house Burials at the Late Ontario Iroquoian Draper Site (AlGt-2): A Multidirectional Approach to Interpretation
Volume: OA89-90
Year: 2010
Author: Crystal Forrest
Page Range: 97-119
Abstract: Interments in longhouses have long represented an alternative to ossuary burial in the Ontario Iroquoian context, although they are less common in general. Beginning with Kapches (1976), researchers have made attempts to understand the impetus for in-house burials by making use of the ethnohistoric record. This article investigates the osteological and archaeological data pertaining to the in-house burials from the late fifteenth-century Draper site (AlGt-2) in the context of the ethnohistoric record from the early seventeenth century. In particular, the high proportion of infants interred at the Draper site, and in longhouses from other Iroquoian villages, is investigated by drawing on the writings of historic era missionaries and traders. While archaeologists have expressed concern regarding both the use of clearly biased ethnohistoric accounts and the utility of the direct historic approach to analogy, it is argued here that the construction of analogies through the use of ethnohistoric documents provides access to the cultural aspects of Iroquoian death and burial that are obscured by purely functional explanations. These include the importance of ideology and ceremonialism in the way in which death and burial are treated in Iroquoian communities.
Philleo Nash (1909-1987): The Toronto Years
Volume: OA89-90
Year: 2010
Author: Mima Kapches
Page Range: 120-125
Abstract: no abstract
The Mortuary Features of the Tillsonburg Village Site
Volume: OA91
Year: 2011
Author: Michael W. Spence
Page Range: 3-20
Abstract: Excavation of the late fourteenth century Tillsonburg Village site (AfHe-38) produced 14 features containing human bones. These included not only primary and secondary burials but also a primary burial feature from which most of the skeleton had been exhumed. A fourth mortuary feature category, the sorted deposit, was represented by five of the features. These held skeletal elements that had apparently been discarded during the process of sorting the skeletons from exhumed primary burials to prepare them for the subsequent secondary burial. This mortuary feature type is probably more widespread in Ontario Iroquoian settlements than has been recognized, and can provide important information on the social context of mortuary practices. In the case of Tillsonburg Village the nature and location of these sorted deposits suggest that the exhumation and sorting of subadult primary burials was done by the longhouse social unit while the processing of adults commanded a wider audience.
The Mortuary Features of the Tillsonburg Village Site
Volume: OA91
Year: 2011
Author: Michael W. Spence
Page Range: 3-20
Abstract: Les fouilles archéologiques du site du village Tillsonburg (AfHe-38), qui date de la fin du quatorzième siècle, ont mis au point quatorze vestiges contenant des ossements humains. Ces derniers ne contenaient non seulement des sépultures centrales et de deuxième degré mais aussi les aménagements et les traces d’une sépulture centrale où plusieurs squelettes avaient été déterrés. Une quatrième catégorie de caractéristique mortuaire, le dépôt trié, a été représentée dans cinq de ces vestiges. Ces vestiges de dépôts triés contenaient des éléments squelettiques qui avaient apparemment été abandonnés lors du processus de tri des sépultures centrales exhumées. Les ossements qui n’avaient pas été jetés et qui avaient été sélectionnés des sépultures centrales, avaient été envoyés ailleurs pour une sépulture ultérieure de deuxième degré. Dans les peuplements iroquoiens, en Ontario, les aménagements et les traces mortuaires des dépôts triés sont probablement plus répandus que préalablement reconnu et ils peuvent fournir d’importants renseignements quant au contexte social des pratiques mortuaires. Dans le cas du village Tillsonburg, le style et l’emplacement de ces dépôts triés suggèrent que l’exhumation et le tri des sépultures centrales subadultes étaient exécutés par l’unité sociale de la maison-longue tandis que le traitement des adultes était dirigé par un public plus vaste.
Promoting Archaeology through Cultural Resource Management
Volume: OA91
Year: 2011
Author: Lori D’Ortenzio and Christine Saly
Page Range: 21-31
Abstract: This research seeks to illustrate the potential to increase the exposure of Ontario archaeology through the use of outreach programming in cultural resource management and museums to provide a potential liaison between archaeologists and the general public. A comparative analysis is conducted with the use of case studies from Ontario, British Columbia and Great Britain to identify the similarities and differences between government structures and types of outreach programs utilized by selected museums. An examination of government expenditures and the limitations placed on cultural resource companies that prohibit ease of public access to archaeological sites in Canada and in Britain is conducted to show differences in how archaeology is portrayed to the public. We discuss the possible ways of presenting archaeology to the public through various forms of media. An analysis of museum outreach programs also identifies the potential for museums and cultural resource firms to collaborate with educational institutions.
Promoting Archaeology through Cultural Resource Management
Volume: OA91
Year: 2011
Author: Lori D’Ortenzio and Christine Saly
Page Range: 21-31
Abstract: Cette recherche tente d’illustrer le potentiel qui existe afin d’augmenter la visibilité de l’archéologie en Ontario. Par l’entremise de programmes de sensibilisation dans la gestion des ressources culturelles et des musées, un lien possible pourrait être établi entre les archéologues et le grand public. Avec des études de cas de l’Ontario, de la Colombie-Britannique et de la Grande-Bretagne, une analyse comparative est en cours afin d’identifier les ressemblances et les différences entre les structures gouvernementales et les types de programmes d’approche utilisés par divers musées sélectionnés. Afin de présenter les différences dans la façon dont l’archéologie est présentée au grand public, une vérification des dépenses et des restrictions gouvernementales imposées aux sociétés de ressources culturelles interdisant la facilité d’accès public aux sites archéologiques du Canada et de la Grande-Bretagne est présentement en cours. Par l’entremise de diverses formes de médias, nous discutons des moyens possibles afin de présenter l’archéologie au grand public. Une analyse des programmes de sensibilisation des musées identifie également le potentiel qui existe afin que les musées et les firmes de ressources culturelles puissent collaborer avec les institutions éducatives.
Hi-Lo Lithic Toolkits: New Insights from the Double Take Site
Volume: OA91
Year: 2011
Author: Parker S. DicksonPage Range: 32-57
Abstract: The stone tool assemblage from the Double Take site (AgHb-240) near Brantford, Ontario, is described. The main component of this assemblage is attributed to Hi-Lo (ca. 10,000 years B.P.). I examine how these tools, particularly end scrapers, are similar to, or differ from, tools of earlier (Paleoindian) and later (Early Archaic) developments. Many characteristics of the Hi-Lo end scrapers (e.g., manufacturing technique, outline shape, and bit retouch intensity), serve to reinforce their affinity with conventional Paleoindian end scrapers, while others (e.g., overall size) reinforce ties to succeeding Archaic assemblages. After reviewing other aspects of the toolkit, including biface manufacture and expedient tool use, I suggest that tool production and use strategies appear to be intermediate between the two developments and that the shift from the Paleoindian to Archaic was a smoother and more gradual transition than previously thought.
Hi-Lo Lithic Toolkits: New Insights from the Double Take Site
Volume: OA91
Year: 2011
Author: Parker S. Dickson
Page Range: 32-57
Abstract: L\’assemblage d\’outils en pierre du site Double Take (AgHb-240), près de Brantford, en Ontario, est ici décrit. La principale composante de cet assemblage est attribuée au complexe Hi-Lo (environ 10 000 ans A.A.). J\’ai examiné comment ces outils, particulièrement les grattoirs, sont similaires ou différents des outils des développements antérieurs (du Paléoindien) et des développements ultérieurs (de l’Archaïque). Plusieurs caractéristiques des grattoirs du complexe Hi-Lo, telles que la technique de fabrication, la silhouette et l\’intensité de retouche des mèches, servent à renforcer leur affinité avec les grattoirs conventionnels de la période paléoindienne tandis que d\’autres caractéristiques telles que la taille globale, renforcent les liens aux assemblages de la période archaïque. Après avoir examiné d\’autres aspects du coffret à outils, y compris la fabrication bifaciale et l\’utilisation opportune des outils, je suggère que la production d\’outils et que les stratégies d\’utilisation sont intermédiaires entre les deux évolutions et que la transition de la période paléoindienne à celle archaïque a été plus douce et plus progressive que préalablement cru.
Dip Nets and Jacklights: Paul Kane’s Views of Fishing the Great Lakes Region
Volume: OA92
Year: 2012
Author: Kenneth R. Lister
Page Range: 13-26
Abstract: In 1845, Canadian artist Paul Kane travelled by foot, canoe, steamer, and wagon through regions of the Great Lakes taking sketches to illustrate the native peoples, their customs, and, in his words, “the scenery of an almost unknown country” (Kane 1859:viii). After returning in 1848 from a second journey that took him as far west as the Pacific Ocean, he placed 240 of his sketches on exhibition in Toronto. The display received overwhelmingly positive reviews, with the media referring to Kane’s art as being “perfectly accurate.” Kane sketched in graphite, watercolour, and oil on paper native encampments, transportation methods, subsistence activities and resource preparation, domestic-oriented techniques, social and economic relationships, warfare, and ceremonial and sacred events. In the Great Lakes region his sketches of dip-net fishing and seasonal camps on the St. Marys River at Sault Ste. Marie and fishing with jacklights on the Fox River in Wisconsin illustrate details that are commensurate with historical reports. Kane’s art speaks to the economic value of fish to the native peoples of the Great Lakes region because it also represents first-hand graphic records of activities he directly witnessed.
Dip Nets and Jacklights: Paul Kane’s Views of Fishing the Great Lakes Region
Volume: OA92
Year: 2012
Author: Kenneth R. Lister
Page Range: 13-26
Abstract: En 1845, à travers certaines régions des Grands Lacs, l’artiste canadien Paul Kane s’est déplacé à pied, en canot, en bateau à vapeur et en chariot, créant des croquis illustrant les peuples autochtones et leurs coutumes, et, selon ses paroles, illustrant « le paysage d’un pays presque inconnu ». En 1848, après son retour d’un deuxième voyage qui l’a porté vers l’ouest, aussi loin que l’océan Pacifique, il a exposé 240 de ses esquisses à Toronto. Cette présentation a reçu des commentaires très positifs. Les médias ont même présenté l’art de Kane comme étant « tout à fait exact ». Sur du papier, Kane a esquissé divers scénarios en utilisant du graphite, de l’aquarelle et de l’huile. Entre autres, ses esquisses présentaient des campements autochtones, des moyens de transport, des activités de subsistance et de préparation des ressources, des activités liées aux tâches domestiques, des relations sociales et économiques, des scènes de conduite de guerre et des événements cérémoniaux et sacrés. Ses croquis de pêche à l’épuisette et des campements saisonniers de la rivière Sainte-Marie à Sault-Sainte-Marie, dans la région des Grands Lacs, et ceux de la pêche à la lanterne sur la rivière Fox dans le Wisconsin, illustrent des détails qui correspondent à des rapports historiques. L’art de Kane parle en faveur de la valeur économique du poisson pour les peuples autochtones de la région des Grands Lacs. De plus, il représente également des traces graphiques de première main d’activités qu’il a directement témoignées.
The Grand River Sturgeon Fishery
Volume: OA92
Year: 2012
Author: Paul General and Gary Warrick
Page Range: 27-37
Abstract: The Grand River fishery is an ancient one. Using archaeological data, historical documents, and oral history, this paper argues that lake sturgeon was fished in the lower Grand River by Iroquoian-speaking peoples over the past 1,000 years. Archaeological evidence suggests, however, that by A.D. 1840, sturgeon fishing on the lower Grand River had come to an end. The history of dam construction on the lower Grand River in the early nineteenth century suggests that sturgeon were prevented from swimming upriver to spawn. Nevertheless, oral history accounts from the Six Nations community suggest that sturgeon were caught and observed as recently as the 1960s and that they may still be living in the Grand River.
The Grand River Sturgeon Fishery
Volume: OA92
Year: 2012
Author: Paul General and Gary Warrick
Page Range: 27-37
Abstract: La pêche de la rivière Grand en est une ancienne. À partir de données archéologiques, de documents historiques et d’histoires orales, cet article soutient que l’esturgeon jaune a été pêché, au cours des 1000 dernières années, dans la partie inférieure de la rivière Grand par les peuples de langue iroquoienne. Par contre, des preuves archéologiques suggèrent que par l’année 1840 de notre ère, la pêche à l’esturgeon dans la partie inférieure de la rivière Grand avait cessé. L’histoire de la construction de barrages sur la partie inférieure de la rivière Grand dans le début du XIXe siècle suggère que l’esturgeon était incapable de nager en amont pour frayer. Néanmoins, des témoignages d’histoire orale de la communauté des Six-Nations suggèrent que l’esturgeon a été capturé et aperçu dans une période aussi récente que les années 1960 et qu’il pourrait encore possiblement vivre dans la rivière Grand.
The Pre-contact Upper Niagara River Fishery: Shadows of a Changed Environment
Volume: OA92
Year: 2012
Author: David A. Ingleman, Stephen Cox Thomas and Douglas J. Perrelli
Page Range: 38-73
Abstract: This article offers a synopsis of recent research into the pre-contact fishery on the upper Niagara River, with a view towards the Middle Woodland period (ca. 2,100–1,000 B.P.) and subsequent modern environmental impacts. During the Middle Woodland, fishing was a major subsistence activity, and the climate and water levels were within their historically documented range. However, many details of the pre-contact upper Niagara River fishery have hitherto remained unclear. Archaeological data suggest that during the Middle Woodland period a diverse fish community was exploited, with spawning walleye as a major focus. Anecdotal historical accounts suggest that spawning walleye were captured with nets in the upper Niagara River. Interestingly, despite the presence of some favourable habitat conditions, there is no confirmed walleye spawning ground in the upper Niagara River today. It is likely that over the past two centuries a suite of anthropogenic factors contributed to the environmental degradation of such hypothesized spawning grounds. We hope the results of this study will be germane to future palaeo-environmental reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts.
The Pre-contact Upper Niagara River Fishery: Shadows of a Changed Environment
Volume: OA92
Year: 2012
Author: David A. Ingleman, Stephen Cox Thomas and Douglas J. Perrelli
Page Range: 38-73
Abstract: Avec un regard sur la période Sylvicole moyenne (environ 2100 à 1000 B.P.) et sur les impacts environnementaux modernes qui ont suivi, cet article propose une synthèse des recherches récentes quant à la pêche avant le premier contact sur la partie supérieure de la rivière Niagara. Au cours de la période Sylvicole moyenne, la pêche était une activité de subsistance importante et le climat et les niveaux de l’eau étaient dans leur intervalle de variation normal documenté historiquement. Cependant, de nombreux détails de la pêche avant le premier contact sur la partie supérieure de la rivière Niagara sont jus-qu’ici demeurés incertains. Les objectifs de cette étude sont de décrire la pêche de la partie supérieure de la rivière Niagara avant le premier contact, y compris les méthodes de pêche probables, les espèces de poissons et les anciens habitats de poissons. Des données d’artéfacts, de radiocarbone et de zooarchéologie suggèrent que durant la période Sylvicole moyenne, la communauté de poissons exploités était diversifiée mais le doré jaune en période de frai était une préoccupation majeure. Des comptes rendus anecdotiques historiques suggèrent que, sur la partie supérieure de la rivière Niagara, le doré en frai était capturé au filet. Fait intéressant, aujourd’hui, malgré la présence de quelques conditions d’habitat favorables, il n’y a pas de frayères de dorés confirmées dans la partie supérieure de la rivière Niagara. Il est probable qu’au cours des deux derniers siècles, la succession de facteurs anthropiques a contribué à la dégradation environnementale de ces frayères. Nous espérons que les résultats de cette étude seront pertinents pour la reconstruction paléo-environnementale éventuelle et pour les efforts éventuels de réhabilitation.
The Walleye Fishery at the Peace Bridge Site, Fort Erie, Ontario
Volume: OA92
Year: 2012
Author: Suzanne Needs-Howarth and Robert I. MacDonald
Page Range: 74-94
Abstract: Excavations at the Peace Bridge site (AfGr-9) over the past 20 years by Archaeological Services Inc. have produced a large faunal assemblage that spans theWoodland period. The fish remains are dominated by the genus Sander, which in Ontario comprised the three taxa commonly known as sauger, walleye, and blue walleye. The osteological element representation of the fish remains is uneven, likely largely the result of preferential survival of the robust portions of the cranium and the vertebrae. Comparison with other Woodland period fish bone collections suggests that trampling may have been a major taphonomic process at the site. Osteometrics indicate that most of the Sander sp. were sexually mature at the time of capture and somewhat restricted in their size distribution. These fish were likely obtained from the Niagara River during their spring spawning run, using techniques of mass capture, such as nets. The Peace Bridge site represents a nodal site, where people were attracted to a suite of key resources, including an outcrop of Onondaga chert, for hundreds of years. Here we argue that another of the key resources was a predictable supply of fish that allowed people to obtain food to sustain them during their occupation of the site with a minimum input of time and labour. This idea is supported by comparing the Peace Bridge site faunal assemblage with a similar faunal assemblage at the nearby Martin site, which is also dominated by Sander sp.
The Walleye Fishery at the Peace Bridge Site, Fort Erie, Ontario
Volume: OA92
Year: 2012
Author: Suzanne Needs-Howarth and Robert I. MacDonald
Page Range: 74-94
Abstract: Les fouilles accomplies par Archaeological Services Inc. sur le site du Peace Bridge (AfGr-9) au cours des 20 dernières années ont produit une collection de spécimens recueillis à l’occasion d’un relevé faunique. Cette dernière couvre la période Sylvicole. Les vestiges de poissons sont dominés par le genre Sander, qui, en Ontario, comportent les trois taxons communément connus sous les noms de doré noir, doré jaune et doré bleu. La représentation du caractère ostéologique des vestiges de poissons est irrégulière, probablement en grande partie liée au résultat de la survie préférentielle des parties solides du crâne et des vertèbres. Des comparaisons avec d’autres collections d’os de poissons de la période Sylvicole suggèrent que des dommages dus au piétinement auraient grandement contribué au processus de taphonomie sur ce site. L’ostéométrie indique que la plupart des espèces du genre Sander étaient sexuellement matures lors de la saisie et quelque peu limitées dans leur taille. Ces poissons ont probablement été obtenus de la rivière Niagara lors de leur migration du frai printanier en utilisant des techniques de saisie de masse telles que les filets. Le site du Peace Bridge représente un site nodal où les gens ont été attirés, pendant de centaines d’années, par un ensemble de ressources clés, y compris un affleurement de silex onondaga. De plus, il est soutenu qu’une autre ressource principale était l’approvisionnement prévisible de poissons. Ceci permettait aux gens de s’alimenter rapidement et sans trop d’effort de labeur, pendant la période qu’ils occupaient le site. Cette idée est soutenue en comparant la collection de spécimens recueillis à l’occasion d’un relevé faunique du site du Peace Bridge à celle du site Martin à proximité, qui est également dominé par l’espèce du genre Sander.
Seasonality, Mass Capture, and Exploitation of Fish at the Steven Patrick Site, a Uren Period Village near Kempenfelt Bay
Volume: OA92
Year: 2012
Author: Alicia L. Hawkins and Erin Caley
Page Range: 95-122
Abstract: This paper considers the three fisheries model for fish exploitation during the Uren substage of the Middle Ontario Iroquoian (MOI) period north of Lake Ontario. Data from the Steven Patrick site, a village near Kempenfelt Bay of Lake Simcoe, are compared with existing information from other Uren sites in the area. A study of the relationship between bone and body dimensions in yellow perch provides a baseline for estimation of the size of these fish caught by Uren fishers. This line of evidence in turn allows zooarchaeologists to consider whether or not perch were obtained in mass capture events during spawning. Size also serves as a rough proxy for age, which provides further information on the nature of the Uren fishery in Simcoe County. The three fisheries model is generally supported, and data from Steven Patrick suggests that the spring spawning fishery was particularly important. Yellow perch were caught when large in size and sexually mature. Faunal remains from one feature provide strong evidence of a connection between the Steven Patrick people and the north shore of Lake Ontario.
Seasonality, Mass Capture, and Exploitation of Fish at the Steven Patrick Site, a Uren Period Village near Kempenfelt Bay
Volume: OA92
Year: 2012
Author: Alicia L. Hawkins and Erin Caley
Page Range: 95-122
Abstract: Cet article considère le modèle de pêche à trois temps d’exploitation du poisson utilisé au cours de la période de la Tradition Iroquoienne de l’Ontario, lors de la subdivision Moyenne 1: Uren, au nord du lac Ontario. Des données provenant du site Steven Patrick, un village près de la baie Kempenfelt du lac Simcoe, sont comparées à des données provenant d’autres sites de la subdivision Uren de cette région. Une étude de la relation entre les os et les dimensions du corps chez la perchaude, fournit un point de comparaison afin d’estimer la taille de ces poissons capturés par les pêcheurs de la subdivision Uren. Cet aspect permet aux zooarchéologues de considérer si la perchaude était obtenue, ou non, par pêche massive lors du frai. La taille permet également de fournir une approximation de l’âge, ce qui offre des informations complémentaires quant à la nature de la pêche de la subdivision Uren dans le comté de Simcoe. Le modèle de pêche à trois temps est généralement soutenu et les données du site Steven Patrick suggèrent que la pêche lors du frai printanier était particulièrement importante. Les perchaudes étaient capturées lorsqu’elles étaient assez grandes et matures sexuellement. Des débris de faunes d’un des aménagements fournissent des preuves solides d’un lien entre le peuplement Steven Patrick et celui de la rive nord du lac Ontario.
OA93 Introduction
Volume: OA93
Year: 2013
Author: Alicia Hawkins
Absrtact: None
Projectile Points and Refitted Artifacts at the Sheguiandah Site: Their Position and Meaning
Volume: OA93
Year: 2013
Author: Robert E. Lee
Page Range: 6 – 31
Abstract: Paleo-Indian projectile points from the Sheguiandah site onManitoulin Island, Ontario, played an important role in dating the site, both in the original excavation in the 1950s and in a 1990s reinvestigation, but the conclusions of the two investigations were radically different. This divergence of opinion stems not from the classification of the artifacts, but from their positions in the ground. Originally, these specimens from a narrow temporal period were described as being restricted to a thin soil layer dividing the cultural material above it from that below. The occurrence of artifacts below the Paleo-Indian level had implications for their geological dating, which placed them earlier in time and, it was argued, in glacial till deposits. Reassessment of the provenance of those projectile points and of refitted artifact fragments in the 1990s, which pointed to substantial post-depositional mixing, changed the whole picture and opened the way for a new dating of the site as postglacial. A review of that reassessment now shows that it was fundamentally flawed. The distributions of the refitted artifacts and projectile points tend to support the original interpretation that the sediments were both largely intact and had meaningful relationships.
Projectile Points and Refitted Artifacts at the Sheguiandah Site: Their Position and Meaning
Volume: OA93
Year: 2013
Author: Robert E. Lee
Page Range: 6 – 31
Abstract: Les pointes de projectile paléoindiennes du site Sheguiandah sur l\’îleManitoulin, en Ontario, ont joué un rôle important dans la datation du site à la fois dans les années 1950 et dans une nouvelle enquête dans les années 1990. Par contre, les conclusions des deux enquêtes étaient radicalement différentes. Cette divergence d\’opinion ne découle pas de la classification des objets, mais plutôt de leur position dans le sol. À l\’origine, ces échantillons de période temporelle restreinte étaient décrits comme étant limités à une fine couche de sol, divisant la matière culturelle du dessus de celle du dessous. La présence d\’artéfacts sous le niveau paléoindien a eu des conséquences sur leur datation géologique, les situant plus tôt dans le temps et, il a été débattu, en dépôts de till (de l’âge glaciaire). Une réévaluation de la provenance de ces pointes de projectile et de fragments d\’artéfacts réaménagés dans les années 1990 a complètement changé la vue d’ensemble, pointant plutôt vers une perturbation et un mélange substantiels suite aux dépôts, et elle a ouvert la voie vers une nouvelle datation du site en tant que site postglaciaire. Une révision de cette réévaluation montre maintenant qu\’elle était sans fondement. Les répartitions des artéfacts réaménagés et des pointes de projectile ont tendance à soutenir l\’interprétation originale qui stipulait que les sédiments étaient en grande partie intacts et qu’ils entretenaient des relations significatives.
Spanish River Lithic Cache, Sudbury Region of Ontario
Volume: OA93
Year: 2013
Author: Patrick J. Julig and Darrel G.F. Long
Page Range: 32 – 51
Abstract: The Spanish River lithic cache site (CcHj-2) is located between the Spanish River and Ministic Creek, west of Sudbury. It was reported in 2001 and consists of 68 specimens, mostly leaf-shaped and oval bifaces and other biface tools, as well as 15 uniface tools. The cache assemblage is unusual in that it includes a range of bifacial and unifacial tool types, possibly representing a tool kit. Based on visual criteria, the entire assemblage is formed from Hudson Bay Lowland (HBL) chert. The site is outside the normal geographic range of this material. FourierTransform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and Inductively Coupled PlasmaMass Spectroscopy (ICP-MS) testing of several specimens confirmed the material. The site was found by chance, and the assemblage was recovered by a local resident from a disturbed, small, oval pit feature located along a roadway on a flat sand plain, some distance from the two local waterways. Its location is similar to that of the Crane site cache (Ross 2013), and differs from the typical context for boreal forest sites, which is close to waterways. The cache is undated, but appears to be Late Archaic orMiddleWoodland based on comparison with metric criteria of other HBL caches. A technological study of the bifaces was undertaken to determine the stage of reduction and presence of wear facets from transportation. This cache is here considered in relationship to other regional caches and to caching behaviours in northern Ontario. The cache is similar to several other HBL chert biface caches reported from across the Canadian Shield, but the bifaces are typically smaller in size than those in some other Archaic caches. A further difference is the location, possibly indicating that the cache was deposited on a portage between two rivers that intersect nearby.
Spanish River Lithic Cache, Sudbury Region of Ontario
Volume: OA93
Year: 2014
Author: Patrick J. Julig and Darrel G.F. Long
Page Range: 32 – 51
Abstract: Le site de la cache lithique de la rivière Spanish (CcHj-2) est situé entre la rivière Spanish et le ruisseauMinistic à l’ouest de Sudbury. Il a été signalé en 2001 et il se compose de soixante-huit échantillons, principalement de bifaces en forme de feuille et de forme ovale et d’autres outils bifaces, ainsi que quinze outils unifaces. L\’assemblage de cette structure d’entreposage est inhabituel puisqu\’il comprend une gamme d\’outils de types biface et uniface, ce qui pourrait suggérer une trousse d\’outils. En se basant sur des critères visuels, il paraît que l\’assemblage entier est formé à partir de matériel des Basses-terres de la baie d\’Hudson, ce qui est à l’extérieur de l\’aire de répartition normale de ce matériel. Les essais par spectroscopie ITFR et ICP-MS de divers échantillons ont confirmé que ces derniers sont bel et bien du silex de la période des Basses-terres de la baie d\’Hudson. Le site a été trouvé par hasard et l\’assemblage a été récupéré par un résident local des vestiges d’une fosse ovale perturbée le long d\’une route et sur une plaine de sable plate, à une certaine distance des deux cours d\’eau locaux. À ce titre, son contexte est similaire à celui de la cache du site Crane (Ross 2013), mais diffère du contexte typique des sites de la forêt boréale à proximité de cours d\’eau. La cache n\’est pas datée, mais, en se basant sur des critères métriques comparatifs d\’autres structures d’entreposage de la période des Basses-terres de la baie d\’Hudson, elle semble être de la période du Sylvicole Moyen ou de la période Archaïque supérieure. Une étude technologique des bifaces a été entreprise pour déterminer le stade de réduction et la présence d\’usure due à la transportation. Cette cache est ci-considérée par rapport à d\’autres caches régionales et à l’organisation des caches dans le Nord de l\’Ontario. La cache est similaire à plusieurs autres caches de bifaces de silex de la période des Basses-terres de la baie d\’Hudson signalées à travers le Bouclier canadien, mais les bifaces sont généralement de plus petite taille que d\’autres de la période Archaïque. Une autre différence est qu\’ils ont été retrouvés sur une plaine de sable, plutôt que le long d\’un rivage ou d’une voie d’eau, indiquant qu’ils auraient possiblement pu être situés sur un portage entre deux rivières se croisant.
A Lake through Time: Archaeological and Palaeo-Environmental Investigations at Lake Temagami, 1985–1994
Volume: OA93
Year: 2013
Author: Diana L. Gordon
Page Range: 52-158
Abstract: Surveys for precontact and historic sites, excavation of the multi-component Three Pines (CgHa-6) and Witch Point (CgHa-7) sites, and pollen coring of three bogs provide wide-ranging information on the changing cultural and natural history of Lake Temagami. Increased knowledge of changing palaeo-shorelines modifies interpretation of known sites and alters survey methodology. Survey first along and later inland from modern shorelines produced precontact campsites, lithic workshops, vein quartz quarries, and nineteenth- to twentieth century Teme-Augama Anishnabai traditional use sites. Because of the topographic constraints of Lake Temagami, hunter-gatherers favoured those limited locations with well-drained, flat ground; protection from cold winds; and ease of shoreline access. Three Pines has shallow, compressed soils that are typical of precontact sites on the Canadian Shield, but a modified Harris Matrix analysis allows insights into the stratigraphic sequence of occupations from the Archaic to Modern periods. Site-significant landscape changes seem to have affected spatial patterns of site usage and potentially led to the loss of early components. In contrast to the results from the Three Pines site, preliminary results from theWitch Point site show deeper deposits, greater artifact densities, numerous cobble features, and lithic reduction activities.These structural differences relate to variation in site landscape, elevation, seasonality, and cultural usage. LateWoodland ritual behaviour, suggested by a dog burial and red ochre at theWitch Point site, is examined in the context of early post-contact accounts wherein rituals reinforce group alliances.
A Lake through Time: Archaeological and Palaeo-Environmental Investigations at Lake Temagami, 1985–1994
Volume: OA93
Year: 2013
Author: Diana L. Gordon
Page Range: 52 – 158
Abstract: Les enquêtes de sites préhistoriques et historiques, l’excavation des sites à composants multiples de Three Pines (CgHa-6) et deWitch Point (CgHa-7) et le carottage de pollen de trois tourbières fournissent des renseignements étendus quant à l’histoire culturelle et naturelle en évolution du lac Temagami. Une meilleure connaissance de l’évolution des paléorivages modifie l’interprétation des sites connus et la méthodologie d’enquête. Des enquêtes des rivages modernes, premièrement ceux le long des rivages et deuxièmement ceux internes, ont engendré des sites de campement préhistoriques, des ateliers lithiques, des carrières de veine de quartz et des sites d’utilisation traditionnelle de la Première nation Teme-Augama Anishnabai datant des XIXe et XXe siècles. Compte tenu des contraintes topographiques du lac Temagami, les chasseurs-cueilleurs favorisaient ces endroits limités ayant un terrain plat et bien drainé, une protection contre les vents froids et une facilité d’accès au rivage. Le site Three Pines possède un sol mince et comprimé qui est typique des sites préhistoriques de la région du Bouclier canadien, mais une analyse modifiée du diagramme stratigraphique (de la version originale Harris matrix) permet un aperçu de la séquence stratigraphique des occupations de la période Archaïque à celle moderne. Des changements significatifs au niveau du paysage sur le site semblent avoir affecté la configuration spatiale de l’utilisation du site et potentiellement avoir conduit à la perte de composants primitifs. Contrairement au site Three Pines, les résultats préliminaires du site Witch Point (CgHa-7) montrent des gisements plus profonds, une plus grande densité d’artéfacts, de nombreux vestiges de galet et des activités de façonnage. Ces différences structurelles sont liées aux variations relatifs en lien avec le paysage du site, l’altitude, la saisonnalité et l’utilisation culturelle. Un comportement rituel du Sylvicole supérieur, suggéré par un enterrement de chien et par de l’ocre rouge au siteWitch Point, est examiné dans un contexte de dires primitifs postcontacts où les rituels renforçaient les alliances de groupe.
Beyond the Sacred: Temagami Area Rock Art and Indigenous Routes
Volume: OA93
Year: 2013
Author: Dagmara Zawadzka
Page Range: 159 – 199
Abstract: The rock art of the Temagami area in northeastern Ontario represents one of the largest concentrations of this form of visual expression on the Canadian Shield. Created by Algonquian-speaking peoples, it is an inextricable part of their cultural landscape. An analysis of the distribution of 40 pictograph sites in relation to traditional routes known as nastawgan has revealed that an overwhelming majority are located on these routes, as well as near narrows, portages, or route intersections. Their location seems to point to their role in the navigation of the landscape. It is argued that rock art acted as a wayfinding landmark; as a marker of places linked to travel rituals; and, ultimately, as a sign of human occupation in the landscape. The tangible and intangible resources within which rock art is steeped demonstrate the relationships that exist among people, places, and the cultural landscape, and they point to the importance of this form of visual expression.
Beyond the Sacred: Temagami Area Rock Art and Indigenous Routes
Volume: OA93
Year: 2013
Author: Dagmara Zawadzka
Page Range: 159 – 199
Abstract: L’art rupestre de la région deTemagami, situé dans le Nord-Est de l’Ontario dans le Bouclier canadien, représente une des plus grandes concentrations de cette forme d\’expression visuelle. Créé par les peuples de langues algonquiennes, il fait partie intégrante de leur paysage culturel. Une analyse de la répartition de quarante sites de pictogrammes concernant des routes traditionnelles connues sous le nom nastawgan a révélé qu\’une écrasante majorité est située sur les routes ainsi que près de rétrécissements, de portages ou d’intersections de routes. Leur emplacement semble identifier leur rôle dans la navigation du paysage. Il est soutenu que l\’art rupestre a agi comme point de repère d’orientation, comme marqueur de lieux reliés à des rituels de voyages et finalement, comme signe d’occupation humaine dans le paysage. Les ressources tangibles et non tangibles dans lesquelles l\’art rupestre est imprégné démontrent les relations qui existent entre les personnes, les lieux et le paysage culturel, et elles soulignent l\’importance de cette forme d\’expression visuelle.
Starting Over and Managing the Past: The Archaeology of the Hudson’s Bay Company Staff House, Moose Factory Island
Volume: OA93
Year: 2013
Author: Dena Doroszenko
Page Range: 200 – 213
Abstract: Les fouilles archéologiques ont eu lieu au local de personnel de la Baie d’Hudson de l’Île de Moose Factory en 1979 et 1980, sous l’égide de la Fiducie du patrimoine ontarien. Cet article résume les recherches archéologiques de ces deux projets ainsi que les projets complémentaires de reconnaissance archéologique entrepris sur l\’île. Récemment, la Fiducie du patrimoine ontarien a terminé les historiques de conservation de toutes les collections archéologiques et a terminé le relogement de ces collections archéologiques en documents d\’archives stables. Les responsabilités associées à la conservation archéologique sont traitées ainsi que les défis associés à la gestion des collections archéologiques, utilisant les collections de Moose Factory comme étude de cas.
Starting Over and Managing the Past: The Archaeology of the Hudson’s Bay Company Staff House, Moose Factory Island
Volume: OA93
Year: 2013
Author: Dena Doroszenko
Page Range: 200 – 213
Abstract: Archaeological investigations took place at the Moose Factory Island Hudson’s Bay Staff House in 1979 and 1980 under the auspices of the Ontario HeritageTrust.This article summarizes the archaeological investigations of these two projects as well as additional archaeological reconnaissance projects undertaken on the island. Recently, the Ontario Heritage Trust completed curation histories of all its archaeological collections and rehoused these collections into stable archival materials. This paper discusses the responsibilities associated with archaeological curation as well as the challenges that result from the management of archaeological collections, using the Moose Factory collections as a case study.
Charles Augustus Hirschfelder (1857–1946): “An Antiquarian from Toronto”
Volume: OA93
Year: 2013
Author: Mima Kapches
Page Range: 214 – 218
Abstract: none
The Archaeological History of the Wendat to A.D. 1651: An Overview
Volume: OA94
Year: 2014
Author: Ronald F. Williamson
Page Range: 3- 64
Abstract: The foundations for modern scholarship concerning Wendat history and archaeology were laid in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries by researchers, such as Andrew Hunter and Arthur Jones, investigating hundreds of sites and ossuaries that had been reported to provincial authorities. The focus of their work and of the work of many of those who followed was the search for places that could be related to villages and missions mentioned in early documentary accounts. Avocational, academic, and government agency archaeologists working in the mid-twentieth century had only these early archaeological studies to inform their investigations of Wendat sites. During the past 30 year, however, a revolution in archaeological data collection has occurred. SOme of these data are published and thus accessible to current researchers, but much of it remains unpublished and some of it has not even been reported on. This paper is an overview of most of this work, especially of those sites where substantial excavations have occurred. It is intended to provide a guide for those who wish to use these studies to delve deeper into various aspects of the history of historic-period or ancestral Wendat communities.
The Bioarchaeology of Cannibalism at the Charity Site
Volume: OA94
Year: 2014
Author: Michael W. Spence and Lawrence Jackson
Page Range: 65- 80
Abstract: The remnants of the Huron (Wendat) nation, fleeing Iroquoian war parties, took refuge on Christian Island over the winter of 1649- 50. Suffering from starvation and disease, some were forced to cannibalize the remains of deceased family members. Although this tragic situation was described by the Jesuits, archaeological excavations on Christian Island by David Boyle in 1897 and the University of Toronto in the 1970’s, found no skeletal evidence for the practice of cannibalism among the burials that they encountered. However, the 1991 excavation of the Charity site, on an inland lake, revealed several deposits of human bone, representing five individuals, associated with one of the longhouses. The skeletal elements show evidence of dismemberment, defleshing, percussion breakage, and burning, Both the skeletal and the contextual data support the Jesuits’ report of cannibalism, including their statement that it was frequently practiced by those close to the deceased.
The Gosling Site (AiHb-189): A Small, Parkhill Phase, Paleo-Indian Site in Guelph, Ontario
Volume: OA94
Year: 2014
Author: Christopher Ellis and Dana R. Poulaton
Page Range: 81- 111
Abstract: A description and analysis of the information recovered during the 1996 CRM fieldwork at the Early Paleo-Indian (fluted point-related) Gosling site is presented, The site, located in the City of Guelph, Wellington County, Ontario, is a single-component one assignable to the Parkhill Phase based on the recovery of a Barnes-type fluted point. The assemblage from the site is the largest recovered from an Ontario Parkhill Phase site that is located away from the strandline of pro-glacial Lake Algonquin/Ardtrea. Yet, the assemblage is a very small, diffuse lithic scatter comprising only 24 artifacts recovered over an area of 373 sq. M. The majority of the assemblage is from a controlled surface collection, because the site was not recognized as a Paleo-Indian component until, during stripping of the ploughzone in an attempt to find features, the fluted point was recovered. Nonetheless, Gosling is of some significance because it expands our currently highly biased knowledge of the Parkhill Phase in terms of site locational preferences, tool inventories, and lithic raw material source selections. In addition, as an object lesson, the site highlights a number of characteristics of Paleo-Indian sites, knows primarily to specialists in that field, that need to become better known in the CRM community. These characteristics should assist in recognizing such sites in the future in cases where diagnostic fluted points are not recovered.
From Grey to Pring: Introduction
Volume: OA94
Author: Ron Williamson
Page Range: 112-113
Preliminary Excavations at Sainte Marie II
Volume: OA94
Year: 2014
Author: Peter J. Carruthers
Page Range: 112- 141
Abstract: Saint Marie II, situated on Christian Island, was the scene of the last chapter in the story of French and Wendat occupation in historic Wendake in southcentral Ontario. This paper reports on the first systematic excavations undertaken at the site. Abandoned in 1651, it was not until the mid-nineteenth century that the fort was relocated and documented, leading to the installation of a plaque in 1923 by the federal government. The excavations were undertaken in the summer of 1965 by Wilfrid Jury and Peter Carruthers and were sponsored by the Ontario Historic Sites and Monuments Board. The objective of the project was to determine the feasibility of carrying out more extensive excavations with a view to future reconstruction and interpretation of the site. The work was among the first designed in Ontario in meaningful consultation with a First Nation. Beausoleil First Nation permitted the excavations provided they were carried out, in part, by band members, they were confined to a single test trench inside the walls of the compound, and that the recovered artifact assemblage remained on the island in the possession of the First Nation. The remains of at least one structure were encountered, along with a refuse deposit and evidence of an altered landscape. A comprehensive rante of both European and Aboriginal artifacts were recovered including a 1640 French coin, similar to one recovered from Sainte Marie I. As this assemblage was eventually destroyed by fire, this paper represents the only record of their former presence on this site. (Abstract by Ronald Williamson)
Introduction
Volume: OA96
Year: 2016
Author: Louis Lesage, Neha Gupta, and Georges Sioui
Page Range: 3- 6
Understanding Ethnicity and Cultural Affiliation: Huron-Wendat and Anthropological Perspectives
Volume: OA96
Year: 2016
Authors: Mariane Gaudreau and Louis Lesage
Page Range: 6- 16
Abstract: It is a well-known fact that archaeological cultures constructed by archaeologists do not always overlap with actual past ethnic groups. This is the case with the St. Lawrence Iroquoians of the Northeast. Up until recently, conventional narratives viewed this group as distinct from all other historic Iroquoian populations.However, the Huron-Wendat and the Mohawk consider themselves to be their direct descendants. Our paper is an attempt to reconcile oral history and archaeological interpretations by suggesting that part of the disparity between Huron-Wendat and archaeological conceptions of the group identity of the St. Lawrence Iroquoians lies in differential understandings of the very nature of ethnicity by each party.
St. Lawrence Iroquoians among the Wendat: Linguistic Evidence
Volume: OA96
Year: 2016
Author: John Steckley
Page Range: 17- 25
Abstract: Recollect Brother Gabriel Sagard wrote Dictionnaire de la langue huronne based on material gathered during his stay with the Wendat in 1623–1624. In his introduction he wrote that the “huronne” language had several dialects. It turns out that his dictionary represents samples not only of two Wendat dialects, but also of the separate language of St. Lawrence Iroquoian. This variation can be seen in the sounds represented in several words and in the names given to particular First Nations, demonstrating that at least one of his linguistic informants belonged to a nation then thought to have disappeared.
Territorial Precedence in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Huron-Wendat
Volume: OA96
Year: 2016
Author: Jean-François Richard
Page Range: 26- 34
Abstract: On the basis of research underway at the Bureau du Nionwentsïo, this article highlights the memory of the “St. Lawrence Iroquoians” in the ethnicity and perceptions of the history of the Huron-Wendat Nation, particularly during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It begins with a discussion of the Huron-Wendat oral tradition, its credibility, and its formal and informal modes of transmission. It then presents the main examples of traces of the Huron-Wendat’s ancestors in various accounts, including those by the German Friedrich Valentin Melsheimer, dating to 1776; Grand Chief Nicolas Vincent Tsawenhohi (1769–1844), dating to 1824; and Grand Chief François-Xavier Picard Tahourenche (1810–1883), dating to the second half of the nineteenth century.Major parallels are also drawn with the oral tradition of the “Wyandot.” This research underscores the importance of taking into account the perspective of Indigenous people—the Huron-Wendat, in this case – especially in contexts where their history and ethnicity are concerned.
Geopolitics and Dimensions of Social Complexity in Ancestral Wendake c. A.D. 1450–1600
Volume: OA96
Year: 2016
Authors: Jennifer Birch
Page Range: 35- 46
Abstract: During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries A.D., processes of settlement aggregation, population relocation, and geopolitical realignment galvanized Iroquoian communities into formative nations. Socio-political changes were brought about by regional patterns of conflict and migration as well as intra-community reorganization as populations met the social, political, and economic challenges of coalescence. These historical events provided the context for the incorporation of St. Lawrence Iroquoians into the Wendat world. This paper employs a conceptual framework that emphasizes historically contingent and multilinear explanations for the development of social complexity. It is argued that these processes of political development in ancestral Wendat society involved the generation of both consensual and asymmetrical power structures between and within ancestral Wendat communities.
Iroquoians in the St. Lawrence River Valley before European Contact
Volume: OA96
Year: 2016
Author: Christian Gates-St Pierre
Page Range: 47- 64
Abstract: At the time of contact with the first Europeans, the St. Lawrence Iroquoians occupied a territory that extended from the mouth of Lake Ontario to the Cap Tourmente area, near Quebec City, with a southward extension to the northern tip of Lake Champlain, as well as seasonal extensions into the estuary and the gulf of St. Lawrence. Decades of archaeological research on this large territory have documented an Iroquoian and proto-Iroquoian presence that appears to have been continuous from at least 1,500 years ago until the arrival of the first Europeans during the sixteenth century. This precontact occupation history of the St. Lawrence River valley is also characterized by a variety of local adaptations in terms of material culture, settlement patterns, and subsistence, as well as a series of complex and changing relations with neighbouring populations. This paper presents a brief overview of this rich and complex occupation history.
The Iroquoian Occupations of Northern New York: A Summary of Current Research
Volume: OA96
Year: 2016
Author: Timothy Abel
Page Range: 65- 75
Abstract: In the late precontact period, northern NewYork state was home to several distinct yet related Iroquoian village settlements. Archaeological collections from these sites, derived from both controlled and uncontrolled excavations, reside in various museums across the eastern United States. Brief researches by the New York State Museum, the Smithsonian Institution, the Heye Foundation, the United States Army, and SUNY Buffalo have resulted in a concrete seriation of the ceramic tradition in the area and a preliminary view of village settlement patterns. Since 1994, I have been conducting my own research on the St. Lawrence and Sanford Corners sites. New excavations have shown that, despite being plowed down, looted, or destroyed by development, these sites still have intact features and therefore the potential to tell us a lot about settlement patterns and subsistence. Chronology remains a problem, as few sites in the region have been reliably dated, but this aspect, too, is being addressed by current research.
Stone-Tipped versus Bone- and Antler-tipped Arrows and the Movement of the St. Lawrence Iroquoians from Their Homeland
Volume: OA96
Year: 2016
Authors: William Engelbrecht and Bruce Jamieson
Page Range: 76- 86
Abstract: One of the most striking differences between St. Lawrence Iroquoian assemblages and those of the ancestral Haudenosaunee is the scarcity of stone arrow points in the former and their abundance in the latter. Most St. Lawrence Iroquoian populations lacked direct access to sources of quality chert and therefore used bone- or antler-tipped arrows. We argue that stone arrow points have superior killing power and gave the ancestral Haudenosaunee an advantage over enemies who used organic points.
St. Lawrence Iroquoians and Pan-Iroquoian Social Network Analysis
Volume: OA96
Year: 2016
Author: Susan Dermarkar, Jennifer Birch, Termeh Shafie, John P. Hart, and Ronald F.Williamson
Page Range: 87- 103
Abstract: St. Lawrence Iroquoians have long been seen as being culturally separate from other Iroquoian groups, a position supported by their disappearance in the mid-sixteenth century. In this paper, Social Network Analysis of Iroquoian ceramic collar motifs and two characteristic St. Lawrence ceramic types repositions this group, most fundamentally the Jefferson County Iroquoians, as a central and integral constituent of a highly fluid pan-Iroquoian ceramic social signalling system that, we argue, reflects changing socio-political relationships. Specifically, we suggest that the strong social ties of the late fifteenth century may be reflected in subsequent distinct movements and integrations of St. Lawrence Iroquoian peoples with Ancestral Wendat and Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) communities.
East-West Interaction among Fifteenth-Century St. Lawrence Iroquoian and North Shore of Lake Ontario Ancestral Wendat Communities
Volume: OA96
Year: 2016
Author: Ronald F. Williamson
Page Range: 104- 120
Abstract: As early as the mid-fifteenth century, St. Lawrence Iroquoian material culture appeared in north shore of Lake Ontario ancestral Huron-Wendat communities. At the mid-fifteenth-century Parsons site, for example, situated in what is today the city of Toronto, a possible St. Lawrence Iroquoian enclave was identified on the basis of a cluster of St. Lawrence Iroquoian ceramic vessels. Along with the Mantle site iron tool, thought to have been traded upstream from the Gulf of St. Lawrence, material culture from other sites also signals interaction (such as the presence of discoidal beads made of steatite on some north shore communities, the preliminary source analysis of which suggest a Jefferson County or more broadly eastern Ontario origin for the material). Marine
shell and possible ivory artifacts on mid-fifteenth-century ancestral Huron-Wendat sites in the Oshawa area also point to east–west exchange patterns along the north shore of Lake Ontario and St. Lawrence River valley/lower Ottawa River valley prior to European arrival in historic Wendake. The Oshawa cluster of sites, which seems to disappear by the late fifteenth century, may have been one of the long-hypothesised north shore communities to move to the upper Trent River valley in the early sixteenth century.
Becoming Wendat: Negotiating a New Identity around Balsam Lake in the Late Sixteenth Century
Volume: OA96
Year: 2016
Authors: Peter Ramsden
Page Range: 121- 132
Abstract: In the late sixteenth century, people of four different ethnic groups came to inhabit the area of Balsam Lake, in the Upper Trent River valley: two groups of ancestral Huron-Wendat with different geographical origins, some St. Lawrence Iroquoians who had found refuge with them, and ancestral Algonquians with ties to the Canadian Shield to the north and to the Ottawa River valley. These people came to live together in the same communities and households, and in spite of conflicts and tensions, they forged a common identity as a new group of Huron-Wendat.
The Huron-Wendat and the St. Lawrence Iroquoians: New Findings of a Close Relationship
Volume: OA96
Year: 2016
Author: Gary Warrick and Louis Lesage
Page Range: 133- 143
Abstract: This paper summarizes the archaeological, historical, and linguistic evidence for relationships between the Huron-Wendat and the St. Lawrence Iroquoians. There is overwhelming archaeological and oral history evidence that Iroquoian groups living in the St. Lawrence River valley allied themselves with and were politically incorporated peacefully, in large numbers and over a long period of time, into the Huron-Wendat Confederacy in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, effectively making them Huron-Wendat and giving weight to the Huron-Wendat knowledge that the St. Lawrence River valley is ancestral Huron-Wendat territory.
Mortuary Practices and Their Social Implications at the Keffer Site, Ontario
Volume: OA97
Year: 2017
Authors: Michael W. Spence and Dori Rainey
Page Range: 1- 43
Abstract: Keffer (AkGv-14), a late 15th centuryWendat site on the Don River, grew over a period of two to three decades
to ultimately include 15 longhouses and a population estimated at 744 people. During its complete excavation,
29 individuals were recovered from 27 burial features, the majority of them in longhouses. Seventeen of these
longhouse burials were of infants or young children. A detailed analysis of their placement in relation to the
interior features of the longhouses suggests that reincarnation was the anticipated outcome of their burial, that
reincarnation was viewed as a process rather than an event, and that care was taken to ensure that they would
be reborn to an appropriate matriclan mother. The 12 other individuals described here include 4 from
longhouses, 5 from elsewhere in the village, and 3 from a primary burial cemetery just outside the village.We
also discuss the cultural and archaeological context of the numerous human bones from midden and other nonburial
contexts within the village and from the ossuary in which the majority of the deceased villagers were
buried. Although this paper involves a broad range of mortuary contexts, a comprehensive reconstruction of the
Keffer mortuary programme is difficult because we do not have comparative osteological and dental data from
the ossuary or from the other primary cemeteries presumed to exist beyond the village limits.
Minimum Sample Sizes, recovery Techniques, and the Reporting of Animal Bones from Historic-Period Assemblages in Ontario
Volume: OA97
Year: 2017
Author: Eric Tourigny
Page Range: 44- 60
Abstract: An overview of faunal assemblages from Euro-Canadian historic period sites located across southern and
eastern Ontario challenges the validity of faunal analyses that strictly adhere to the Ontario Standards and
Guidelines for Consultant Archaeologists. Through its requirement to only identify 500 animal remain
specimens, the standards and guidelines inadvertently suggest that such a sample size is large enough to be
representative of the archaeological deposit. Results indicate that sample sizes under 2,000 are insufficient to
properly address one of the most fundamental zooarchaeological research questions: Which animal species were
exploited by past site occupants? Fish are particularly underrepresented in historic faunal assemblages, and
links are made to excavation strategies and their effects on the data being generated. New standards for
minimum sample sizes and excavation strategies are recommended based on analyses examining the extent to
which assemblages have been sampled to redundancy. Also discussed are the inconsistent ways in which faunal
analyses are currently being presented and a need to update the current standards and guidelines with regards
to zooarchaeology.
Mortuary Practices and the Social Adjustment to Village Life at the Younge Phase Bingo Village
Volume: OA97
Year: 2017
Author: Michael W. Spence and Brandy E. George
Page Range: 61- 90
Abstract: Bingo Village (AgHk-42) is a Western Basin Younge phase component site in southwestern Ontario, near the
modern village of Arkona. It represents a time of village formation, as extended families, which had formerly
been the principal settlement unit, came together to create larger and more settled communities. Full excavation
of the palisaded Bingo Village site led to the identification of 16 mortuary features with a total of 27
individuals. The features fall into three categories: unexhumed primary burials, sorted deposits, and multiple
secondary burials. Sorted deposits are features containing the skeletal elements from exhumed primary burials
that had not been selected for inclusion in the subsequent secondary burials. Evidence suggests that primary
burial, exhumation, and sorting events were conducted by the social group occupying the deceased person’s
longhouse, but that these events took place in open areas, thus allowing for the participation of other villagers
in the rituals. The secondary burials were more closely tied to the decedent’s residential group. This dichotomy
of inclusion was probably a result of, and the first step in accommodation to, the pressures created by the novel
social environment of the village.The extended family unit, now a longhouse group, still maintained its integrity
in the rituals, but the social relevance of the broader community was also recognized in the initial steps of the
mortuary sequence.
The Blueberry Field Site (BcHa-23): A Middle Woodland Campsite in Wasaga Beach Provincial Park, Ontario
Volume: OA97
Year: 2017
Authors: David A. Spittal
Page Range: 91- 120
Abstract: The Blueberry Field site (BcHa-23) and several small associated artifact clusters, situated near the Nottawasaga
River in the Town ofWasaga Beach, were salvage excavated in 1977. The recovered artifact assemblage includes
portions of six ceramic vessels and small lithic and faunal samples. Two hearth features were also recorded. The
site was a small, single component encampment of the MiddleWoodland period. Located in an area where the
dominant cultural associations appear to be with the Saugeen Culture to the west, the site also exhibits a strong
affiliation with Point Peninsula sites to the east. The area of the lower Nottawasaga River appears to be an area
where people of the two cultures came into close association.
Profile: Marian E. White (1921 – 1975): Action Archaeologist
Volume: OA97
Year: 2017
Author: Kathryn Leacock and William Engelbrecht
Page Range: 121- 130
Profile: J. Norman Emerson and Frank Ridley: Ontario Archaeology As We Know It
Volume: OA97
Year: 2017
Author: Peter Ramsden
Page Range: 131- 140
Book Review: Contact in the 16th Century: Networks among Fishers, Foragers and Farmers
Volume: OA97
Year: 2017
Authors: Jennifer Birch
Page Range: 141- 144
Book Review: Mailhot-Curran: Un Village Iroquoien du XVIe Siècle
Volume: OA97
Year: 2017
Author: Suzanne Needs-Howarth
Page Range: 145- 147
Book Review: Before Ontario: The Archaeology of a Province
Volume: OA97
Year: 2017
Author: Claude Chapdelaine
Page Range: 148- 150
Book Review: Late Pleistocene Archaeology and Ecology in the Far Northeast
Volume: OA97
Year: 2017
Authors: William Fox
Page Range: 151- 154