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 […]
The Expedient Tool
Various types of stone tools are recovered from Ontario’s archaeological sites each year. Some are formed so perfectly that we know what their intended use was, and others are shaped in such a way that we can pretty much date them to one of Ontario’s prehistoric periods. However there is a tool type that can […]
Alphabet Wares
Plates. We think nothing of our tableware today. We eat off them and whip them into the dishwasher. In summer we may buy paper plates, pile on the potato salad and then dispose of them when done. It’s just a plate. Back in the nineteenth century, plates and tableware played a very important role in the […]
The Infant Feeder
The excavation of the Dollery site, a mid-to-late nineteenth-century domestic site in downtown Toronto, yielded a robust collection of artifacts relating to children, from medications to toys. Perhaps the most interesting and unusual is the infant feeder. The blown glass bottle is made with a nipple and nipple shield, rather than having an additional rubber […]
Alexandra Site
Located in the geographic Township of Scarborough, now the City of Toronto, the 2.5 hectare Alexandra site spanned much of the mid- to late fourteenth century A.D. in two major overlapping phases of occupation. Excavations at the site were conducted in advance of subdivision development.
Antrex Site
The Antrex site is a late thirteenth- to-fourteenth-century Iroquoian village located in the City of Mississauga excavated in advance of subdivision development.