Buckley’s
These days, as winter slowly melts into spring and cold and flu bugs pop up, we take runny noses and flu symptoms as they come. “No big deal,” we tell ourselves, often falsely. Get a flu shot, buy some pills….done. There was a time, however, when viral respiratory infections such as colds and flu were […]
A Mexican Coin in Ontario
Coins and root cellars often go hand-in-hand in the archaeological world but a very special coin found in a root cellar last summer by John Sleath and crew had everyone scratching their heads. Crew member Simon Belanger announced he had recovered a “Mexican coin” that day outside Orono, Ontario which raised a few eyebrows but […]
Alexandra Site
In 2000, ASI was retained to conduct a Stage 3 and 4 mitigative excavation of an area in Scarborough (now the city of Toronto) that was planned for a subdivision development. The original Stage 2 investigations of the site area revealed a total of 249 artifacts – 197 of them stone, including one Iroquoian triangular […]
Canada Day
In honour of Canada’s 146th birthday, we thought we would feature several artifacts from our archives that we think represent Canada. They just don’t get anymore Canadian than this. Enjoy. 1 The first artifact in this series is a Rockingham teapot found at the Bishop’s Block site in downtown Toronto. Rockingham is a mottled brown […]
Victoria Day
In honour of Queen Victoria, whose lengthy rule extended from 1837 to 1901, we’ve collected some regal artifacts to share with you while you prepare for this Victoria Day long weekend. These items were recovered from various sites around southern Ontario and they demonstrate the magnitude of her reign and her influence on British Canada […]
Bishop’s Block
ASI was retained to complete a Stage 4 mitigative excavation of the Bishop’s Block site, located on the north side of Adelaide Street West, between Simcoe Street and University Avenue in downtown Toronto. The excavation involved digging six trenches to expose the foundations and backyard features of four townhouses – three of the houses were […]
Easter
This egg cup was recovered from a nineteenth-century housing site on Adelaide Street West in downtown Toronto. The cup features an incised narrow blue band below the outer lip, with an embossed leaf motif (an example of ‘rouletting’) and a blue painted band around the stemmed base. And the animal featured on this next object […]
Blacker’s Brickworks
Stage 4 archaeological salvage excavations were carried out in the summer and fall of 2013 at the Blacker’s Brickworks site (AgHb-415) located within part of the area of proposed residential development at Tutela Heights Phase 1, Stewart & Ruggles Tract, formerly, County of Brant, Ontario. Operational circa 1870-1890, the site was the smallest of four […]
Fort York
Fort York, considered to be the birthplace of Toronto, contains the best collection of War of 1812 era buildings still standing on their original foundations. These are contained in Fort York National Historic Site, the largest urban archaeological site in the City of Toronto. Until recently, most of the excavations took place under the direction […]
City of Toronto
Archaeological Master Plan
The City of Toronto retained ASI, in association with Commonwealth Historic Resources Management Limited, Golder Associates, and Historica Research Limited, to prepare a detailed planning and management study for archaeological resources within the City. The Archaeological Master Plan has four major goals: 1) the compilation of detailed, reliable inventories of registered and unregistered archaeological sites […]
