Located in the atrium of the Buffalo and Fort Erie Public Bridge Authority’s administration building is an exhibit entitled “Mewinzha – A Journey Back in Time.” The exhibit is located within the interpretive centre and showcases many Indigenous artifacts.
The Mewinzha gallery was created to showcase the antiquity of the Peace Bridge site. According to the Fort Erie Museums website, it is a “gallery [that] honours the First Peoples who lived, traded and created a flint-knapping industry on this site. Mewinzha is a native word meaning ‘a long time ago.’The Peace Bridge Site exists under the modern surface of the Bridge Plaza and adjacent Fort Erie neighbourhoods.
The Mewinzha gallery features a recreation of a four thousand year old dog burial from the site as well as ancient artifacts, most of which were found during excavations by Archaeological Services Inc. at the Peace Bridge site. Below is a list of a few of the many objects on display from ASI:
• Genesee spear heads and drills;
• Meadowood cache blades;
• Lamoka points, Iroquoian Triangular points, Nanticoke Notched points;
• Pestle and grinding stones, scrapers, axes;
• Glass trade beads and copper beads;
• A birdstone;
• Net sinkers, harpoons and hooks;
• Effigy pipes;
• Juvenile ceramic vessels;
• Modified animal bone.
