A Biocultural Approach for Managing Transborder Cultural Heritage Landscapes
This chapter within Borders, Culture, and Globalization: A Canadian Perspective edited by Victor Konrad and Melissa Kelly, explores the relationship between borders and the conservation of natural and cultural heritage resources in a municipal context. Intergovernmental researchers and policymakers have recently linked conservation of natural and cultural heritage to the protection of biocultural diversity, defined […]
Bill 23: This Game of Chicken Will Have a Bad Ending
The Ontario Government’s introduction of Bill 23, the More Homes, Built Faster Act, 2022, proposes a series of significant changes to the Ontario Heritage Act (OHA). All of the proposed amendments require swift critique and analysis. Most concerning are those to Section 27 of the OHA. These proposed changes, while incredibly substantial, are at the same time, short on […]
New Insights Into Early Paleo (Gainey) Associations with Proboscideans and Canids in the Niagara Peninsula, Southern Ontario, Canada
This paper presents the results of protein residue and use-wear analyses on stone tools recovered during complete salvage excavations of the Mt. Albion West archaeological site, located in the Niagara Peninsula of Southern Ontario, Canada. Mt. Albion West is an Early Paleo (Gainey) locality that yielded evidence of four activity foci and dozens of Early […]
Archaeology and the Commemoration of the Irish Famine: A Report from Kingston
Across eastern Canada, Irish Famine commemoration sites remind us that geopolitical tensions are not a modern phenomenon, and they can have horrific consequences. The oldest memorial was erected in 1859, within living memory of the Famine, by railway workers to commemorate the thousands who died in fever sheds at Point St. Charles, Québec. In Kingston, […]
Sentimental Jewelry in Colonial Canada: Conservation of a Sealed Locket from Stanley Barracks
A poster presentation showing the conservation treatments of a locket found at the Stanley Barracks site. The corrosion on this sentimental jewelry piece functioned to seal the edges of the locket, creating a possibility that a photo or lock of hair might be preserved inside. A treatment of mechanical removal combined with swabbing with diluted […]
Encouraging a Broader Lens in Cultural Heritage Conservation: Amplifying Voices and Layering Stories
A decade ago, common concerns related to heritage conservation that we were hearing from property owners, developers, or governmental representatives focused on the economic costs and physical building restrictions perceived to be imposed by cultural heritage policies or protective mechanisms such as designation. These concerns are still very much pervasive today but, as practitioners, we […]
Using Legacy Collections to Investigate Subtle Changes in Tionontaté Ceramic Artifacts
In 2014, ASI reached an agreement with Charles Garrad to assume curatorial responsibility for his archaeological collections, which represent his life’s work as an avocational archaeologist in the Collingwood area of Ontario. The collections are derived from 47 Tionontaté sites that date roughly from the 1450s to 1650. In the fall of 2017, a volunteer […]
The Long Road to Collaboration: A History of ASI Relationships with Indigenous Communities with a focus on the Huron-Wendat Nation
Collaborative and community-based archaeology has been gaining traction over the last few decades. Increasingly, archaeologists are becoming aware that in many cases, they have been acting as stewards, and sometimes gatekeepers, over a heritage and history that was not their own. Engaging and working with descendant communities has been argued by many as a way […]
Evidence of socio-economic complexity at the Precolumbian Maya site of Coco Chan, Belize
Archaeologists argue that the resiliency of Precolumbian Maya communities during the Terminal Classic collapse (800-1000 AD) in the Maya lowlands was based on their leaders’ ability to navigate the institutional and interrelational changes of the period, especially as they relate to divine kingship. This can be extended to include the leaders’ ability to adapt to […]
Hello from the Other Side: Knowledge Dissemination from CRM Archaeology in Ontario
For the last five years I have been working on disseminating knowledge about heritage and archaeology through my role as Assistant Manager of Communications at ASI, Ontario’s largest Cultural Resource Management company. My goal has been to make information about our current work accessible, by tailoring the messaging to a variety of platforms and audiences. […]