Remembrance Day
As Ontario archaeologists, we often come across objects from the many wars that have involved British and Canadian forces. In honour of Remembrance Day, we’ve found a few more items to share with you from our sites. Lest we forget. The first items in our series are from the Loretto Site in Niagara Falls, Ontario. The […]
The Huson Site
Today vehicles drive right though the exact spot where more than 90 centuries ago a small band of hunters set up camp and went about their daily lives shaping stone into tools and weapons. Welcome to the Huson Site, a site so rare in Ontario, ASI pulled out all the stops to decipher and understand […]
Robbie Burns Day
In honour of Robbie Burns Day, we’d like to share with you a Scottish artifact that we found recently on a site in Aurora, ON. This metal button (measuring 2 cm in diamater) is embossed with the words “COMUN NAN GAEL” on the front, which translates as “Land of the Gaels” in the Gaidhlig language of […]
The Mantle Site
The Mantle site is a large 16th century ancestral Huron (Wendat) community, which was discovered in an agricultural field just south of the Town of Whitchurch-Stouffville. It was excavated by a team of ten archaeologists between 2003 and 2005 and was found to cover an area of almost ten acres (4.2 ha). While the remains of multiple rows of […]
St. Patrick’s Day
In honour of St. Patrick’s Day, we would like to present a few of our favourite Irish artifacts collected from various sites around Ontario. Enjoy! Recovered from the Holden site in Stouffville, this brass, looped-back button (Cat.#4047) is decorated with the image of Daniel O’Connell. An important figure in Irish history and national icon, Daniel O’Connell […]
The Peace Bridge Site
Since the spring of 1992, ASI has carried out extensive archaeological investigations along the shore of the Niagara River within the Town of Fort Erie. This work was undertaken on behalf of the Buffalo and Fort Erie Public Bridge Authority, and the Public Works Department of the Town of Fort Erie, in conjunction with the […]
The Battle of York
In honour of 200th anniversary of the Battle of York, a battle that was fought on April 27th, 1813, we would like to share a few artifacts discovered at Fort York that are dated to the War of 1812. [line] This musket ball artifact was found during excavations for the Visitor’s Centre at the Fort […]
Toronto General Hospital Site
ASI conducted archaeological investigations at the site of Toronto’s first General Hospital between 2006 and 2010. The hospital was situated on the Town of York Hospital Reserve, as illustrated on maps of the day. Our work began at 326-358 King Street West in downtown Toronto, now home to the TIFF Bell Lightbox. Excavations were required to […]
The Broke Token
This “Broke Token” was found in the buried topsoil of the Loretto Site in Niagara Falls. Interestingly, this North American token was found in the same stratigraphic lot as the pai sikka (learn about the pai sikka token). The token was struck to commemorate the first naval victory of the War of 1812 by […]
3 Merry Widows
Of the over 20,000 domestic artifacts recovered from the Weir I site in Scarborough, Ontario, this little one caught our eye. The small, round aluminum container is stamped “3 Merry Widows/Agnes, Mabel, Beckie.” Dating from the 1920s and 1930s, 3 Merry Widows was a popular brand of rubber (and, therefore, reusable) condoms. The use of […]
