Tracing the Introduction of Rats Across 19th-Century Lake Ontario Settlements Using Archival Newspapers
The introduction of commensal rat (Rattus) species into Ontario is hypothesized to have followed the intensification of European settlement in the early to mid-19th century. However, the exact date of rat translocation is not precisely known. This study tracks the introduction and establishment of Rattus species across Lake Ontario, using archival newspaper accounts, and addresses […]
Dialing Up the WAMP-erage: Updating the Windsor Archaeological Management Plan
The City of Windsor was an early adopter of an archaeological management plan, having completed their original study in 2005. In 2020, Windsor commissioned a project team jointly composed of staff from Fisher Archaeological Consulting and ASI Heritage to update the Windsor Archaeological Management Plan—affectionately known as the WAMP—to bring it into better alignment with […]
An Introduction to the St. Johns Stone Chinaware Company (1873-1900)
This paper is part of the session in honour of Dena Doroszenko. The St. Johns Stone Chinaware Company (1873-1900) produced fine white-bodied and blue-bodied earthenwares to rival those of the potters in the United Kingdom during the late nineteenth century. Indeed, the St. Jean-Iberville district of the province of Québec where it was located was […]
A Trusted Authority on Historical Archaeology: Papers in Honour of Dena Doroszenko
This session marks the occasion of Dena Doroszenko’s retirement from the Ontario Heritage Trust, where she has held the position of Senior Archaeologist since 1987. The Trust owns or has easements on over 400 provincially significant properties with built heritage that requires continuous maintenance and repair. Thus, Dena has designed and implemented numerous historical archaeological […]
Training the next generation of heritage practitioners: Perspectives from the Schreiber Wood Project
The realization that our archaeological field school at the University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM) has operated, in its current form, for the last 12 years and has involved 200 students, and more impressively that the Boyd Archaeological Field School, run for 50 years, has provided 1500 students an opportunity to experience archaeology, has given us […]
The Location, Architecture, and Adaptive Re-use of Motherhouse Properties in Ontario
Motherhouses are the administrative headquarters for Catholic religious orders, both male and female alike. In Ontario, the properties on which they were located were often vast, with trees, lawns and open spaces, long driveways, cemeteries, as well as other buildings such as the novitiate, a home for retirees or the infirm, and/or schools in which […]
Setting the Scene: Landscapes and Place-making in CRM
Cultural Resource Management (CRM) archaeology favours the clarity and efficiency of technical reports in communicating with clients, governments, and colleagues. Yet archaeology is an imaginative, empathetic practice that relies on field crews making observations and developing knowledge of the landscapes in which they work. Stepping beyond reports and weaving these data and experiences into stories […]
Tracing the Irish Famine Diaspora through Archaeology
The Great Irish Famine of 1845-1852 was a watershed moment, not only for Ireland but also for the countries that absorbed the over 2 million famine emigrants forced to leave their homeland. These victims were often painted as a monolithic peasantry with limited agency; however, the archaeological study of the Irish Famine on both sides […]
Storytelling Through Storymaps: A nineteenth century immigrant experience through the lens of CRM archaeologists
Nestled in farmland slated for development in Burlington, Ontario, is a site that tells a familiar story of nineteenth century immigration. Multiple families moved to Canada and set up roots in a rural community, building a new life for themselves and their descendants. Almost two hundred years later, a group of archaeologists began to uncover […]
A Late Archaic Smallpoint Horizon Conundrum
Excavations at the multi-component Gehl Site in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada resulted in the recovery of more than 50,000 lithic artifacts. During lithic analysis of the site’s assemblage at least one pattern began to emerge focused on one temporal period of Ontario’s past: the documentation of 71 Late Archaic Smallpoint Horizon Expanding Stem projectile points of […]