Archaeology 101
What is archaeology? This may seem like a straightforward question, but you would be surprised with the answers that Canadians give to this question. In the early 2000s, the University of British Columbia and Department of Canadian Heritage carried out a public survey in collaboration with Ipsos Reid on Canadians’ perception, knowledge and attitudes toward archaeological heritage. They surveyed a random […]
Mystery Ship Arrives at Fort York
Beginning in 2005, ASI began working with the developers in the Fort York Neighbourhood to record the vestiges of the harbour infrastructure in this portion of the waterfront, particularly the Queen’s Wharf and other features built by the Grand Trunk and Northern railways to the south and east of the fort. Indeed, it is only […]
A Forty-Year Fascination With Fort York
This is the first summary of archaeological contributions to our understanding of the War of 1812, published as the war commemorates its 200th anniversary. The contributors of original papers discuss recent excavations and field surveys that present an archaeological perspective that enriches– and often conflicts with—received historical narratives. The studies cover fortifications, encampments, landscapes, shipwrecks, […]
Dining With John and Catharine Butler Before the Close of the Eighteenth Century
The partial excavation of the homestead of Colonel John Butler in the town of Niagara-on-the-Lake has afforded the opportunity to explore the daily activities of one Loyalist family after the establishment of the British colony of Upper Canada in the 1780s. In particular, the large collection of zooarchaeological material (over 14,5000 specimens) can provide information […]
Echoes of the Iroquois Wars: Contested Heritage and Identity in the Ancestral Homeland of the Huron-Wendat
From the publisher: This book will suggest new agendas for identity and heritage studies by means of presenting contentious issues facing archaeology and heritage management in a globalized world. The book is not only present the variability of heritage objectives and experiences in the New and Old World, and opens a discussion, in a shrinking […]
In the Shadow of the Bridge II: The Archaeology of the Peace Bridge Site (afgr-9), 1997-2000 Investigations
The 1997-2000 archaeological investigations at the Peace Bridge site, carried out on behalf of both the Buffalo and Fort Erie Public Bridge Authority and Public Work Departement of the Town of Fort Erie, resulted in the documentation of 334 post moulds and 295 features, of which 258 were excavated as they could not otherwise be […]
Mourning, Curing, Feasting or Industry? The Interpretation of the Quinte and Perch Lake Mounds
The Middle Woodland burnt stone mounds of Prince Edward County, Ontario, and Jefferson County, New York, form an unsual class of monuments that have defied satisfactory interpretation. They have been identified variously as “burial mounts,” “hut rings,” “sweat lodges” and the remains of “fire riturals.” Some of this confusion may be attributed to the fact […]
Ruthven and the Collection of Andrew Thompson: A Case Study of a Nineteenth Centurey Antiquarian
ASI was involved in the development of a management plan for Ruthven Park, the mid-nineteenth century historic estate of Colonel David Thompson, one of the chief proponents of the Grand River Navigation Company. The estate is approximately 640 hectares (1,600 acres) in extent and is situated on the east side of the Grand River north […]
Settlement and Subsistence Change at the Turn of the First Millenium: The View From the Holmedale Site, Brantford, Ontario
The agricultural “revolution” in southern Ontario, like many others in the archaeological record elsewhere, was by no means marked by a sudden transformation, as its full effects were not manifest until the end of the thirteenth century. Moreover, that transition should be viewed as multi-linear with each community undergoing the transformation in their own social […]
Stable Dietary Isotopes and MTDNA From Woodland Period Southern Ontario People: Results From a Tooth Sampling Protocol
Bioarchaeological research must balance scholarly commitment to the generation of new knowledge, descendants’ interests in their collective past, and the now common practice of rapid re-interment of excavated human remains. This paper documents the first results of a negotiated protocol built on the retention of one tooth per archaeologically derived skeleton, teeth that can then […]
