Nation Building and Social Signaling in Southern Ontario: A.D. 1350–1650
Pottery is a mainstay of archaeological analysis worldwide. Often, high proportions of the pottery recovered from a given site are decorated in some manner. In northern Iroquoia, late pre-contact pottery and early contact decoration commonly occur on collars—thick bands of clay that encircle a pot and extend several centimeters down from the lip. These decorations […]
Planning for Ontario’s Archaeological Past: Accomplishments and Continuing Challenges
Over the past 35 years, the practice of archaeology in the province of Ontario, Canada has witnessed a number of very important and dramatic changes that have resulted in a vigorous archaeological consulting industry as a response to societal concerns for the conservation of heritage values and environmental protection. Pre-development archaeological assessments are required as […]
A Delightful Odor to the Breath: Toothpaste in Nineteenth-Century Toronto
The Bishop’s Block site in downtown Toronto contained the foundations of four townhouses constructed between the 1830s and 1860s, which were occupied as private residences into the early twentieth century. From this site came a ceramic container of “Atkinson’s Celebrated Parisian Toothpaste,” a commercially prepared product developed in the late 1850s to appeal to people […]
Concerns at Home, Concerns Abroad: Irish and English Political Ephemera in Southern Ontario
Four unusual artifacts reflecting an unambiguous connection with a particular politician or political movement have recently been recovered from archaeological sites in Southern Ontario. These items reflect socio-political issues from the homelands of immigrant families. Politically charged items carry meaning for the user and also serve to forge bonds and create divisions within the community. […]
Removes All Obstacles: Abortifacients in Nineteenth-Century Toronto and Beyond
Exploring the biographies of small artifacts from archaeological contexts is an endeavour that can expose unrealized or forgotten historical and cultural meaning at local, regional, national, and international levels. The recovery of a small glass bottle embossed with the name “Sir J. Clarke’s Female Pills” from a site in Toronto has drawn together the production […]
From Goose Drops to Spec Ops: A Pinfire Shotgun Shell from Fort York
In 2011, during a salvage excavation at the Fort York National Historic Site, Archaeological Services Inc. (ASI) recovered a pinfire shotgun shell cartridge. This unique small find tells a story of the ebb and flow of the firearms technology used by armed forces around the world. It also shows how the pinfire shotgun was likely […]
Introduction to Small Finds, Big Implications: The Cultural Meaning of the Littlest Artifacts
Why do the smallest artifacts found during the excavation of a site elicit the most visceral response from those who find them and study them? Is it because they are portable items that can be tied to people, such as coins, smoking pipes, and children’s toys, or is it because often they are visually appealing? […]
The Archaeological History of the Wendat to A.D. 1651: An Overview
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 […]
Challenges of archaeological collections management
While buildings are among the most visible elements of heritage landscapes, they are frequently like the tip of the proverbial iceberg, associated with vast underground archaeological deposits capable of fleshing out cultural history narratives – of both pre-contact Indigenous and post-contact Euro-Canadian occupations – in substantial detail through their careful investigation. The task of curating these finds is fulfilled by over 450 consulting archaeologists licensed under the Ontario Heritage Act by the […]
Upper Canada’s first parliament buildings: A place of hopes and dreams
The discovery a decade ago of archaeological remnants of the first and second parliament buildings of Upper Canada in Toronto’s Old Town focused the attention of the city, province and nation on a cornerstone of Canadian history.
