Presenting a monthly roundup of all the stories, photos and projects that got us excited this month. July has found us trying to escape the heat, answering questions through the Ask An Archaeologist hashtag, and learning about ancient bread! Ask An Archaeologist is a new concept that grew out of the heritage community in the UK. The idea was simple, on July 18th people...
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Meet Jose, Field Technician for our Mitigation Division! When Jose Gutierrez isn’t uncovering Toronto’s past as part of our historical crew, he’s passionately engaging in Peruvian archaeology. I was always into history but the Indiana Jones trilogy made me want to pursue something similar to what Indy did. I took whatever history or geography courses that were available in high school. I was finally able to...
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As part of our historical recipe project, our Assistant Manager of Communications Caitlin Coleman brought in raspberry shrub, a fruit and vinegar syrup that is used to make refreshing beverages! Since we were sampling this recipe before a long weekend, we decided to try our hand at cocktails, and used the raspberry shrub to make some simple gin mixed drinks. In the days before refrigeration, a vinegar based...
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It’s our favourite time of the year! The ground is finally unfrozen and mostly dry, so Ontario’s archaeology season has officially begun. Unusually, we have had small crews out doing survey work in April because we had a such a warm spring. But as of May 1st we have a full retinue of crews, and the work begins in earnest! In our Burlington and Toronto offices...
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As part of our historical recipe project, our Lab Manager Alexis Dunlop brought in sweet macaroni pudding! The transition of pasta from a sweet to uniquely savoury ingredient provides a fascinating insight into how our tastes and expectations have changed over time. In Anne Yentsch’s article Applying Concepts from Historical Archaeology to New England’s Nineteenth-Century Cookbooks, she notes a marked drop off post 1870 in the...
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Previously we shared the great spider photos that our report writer Mike Brand captured during his time doing archaeological survey work. Today in honour of St Patrick’s Day we are bringing you a fresh round-up of Mike’s wildlife photos, this time featuring snakes snapped in and around Ontario archaeological sites! Many of these snakes were photographed while doing survey work along Highway 69, such as the...
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