Teiaiagon on the Humber River: Controlling the Western Branch of the Toronto Carrying Place
The settlement of Teiaiagon, located on the Humber River near the limit of upstream travel by canoe, existed for less than a generation between the early 1670s and late 1680s. During this brief period, however, it may have become the most important of the Haudenosaunee villages established on the north shore of Lake Ontario, as […]
Come from the Shadows: Metals on the Iroquois Frontier
The metal assemblages of Iroquois du Nord villages in and around the north shore of Lake Ontario are examined to provide insight into the chronological, technological and cultural aspects of these short lived, late 17th century settlements. These are compared and contrasted with the metal assemblages of contemporary Haudenosaunee sites to the south of Lake […]
Iroquois du Nord Decorated Antler Combs: Reflections of Ideology
The Seneca produced more decorated antler combs than any other Iroquoian-speaking group, an increase in their production coincident with the introduction of iron tools and the growth of their political and military strength in the post-1650 period. This paper will describe the combs that have been recovered from Kente, Bead Hill and Teiaiagon and show […]
Left Handed Stone Knife
A Lithic Analyst’s Ode to a Stone Knife The loss of a favourite pocket knife was an alarming incident for many a young boy or girl growing up. Maybe it was the perfect whittling knife we carried with us as Scouts or Guides, or a “coming-of-age” gift from Grandpa. Nevertheless, in a few days we […]
Industrial Malting Tiles Found on Toronto Hospital Site
In July 2018, ASI undertook a Stage 4 salvage excavation of lands that were once part of the original Hospital Reserve in the Town of York, now Toronto. The hospital was an important public institution during the cholera epidemics of 1832 and 1834, and most particularly the typhus epidemic of 1847. The July 2018 work also […]
Ware is Point Peninsula? Or, Who was living on the lower Credit River during the Middle Woodland Period?
When the compilation volume The Archaeology of Southern Ontario to A.D. 1650 volume was published nearly 30 years ago, three distinct Middle Woodland complexes were discussed in detail, but the authors of that article (myself included) provided a proviso that “…we expect a picture to emerge of a series of localized complexes extending across the southern part […]
Public Communications in the Ontario CRM Industry
In Ontario’s Cultural Resource Management industry, we are experiencing a profound change in how we communicate with the public. Where once we relied on newspapers, academic journals, and museums to disseminate our knowledge, we can now communicate directly with the public through social media. This change has led to new questions about what information we […]
Time, Space and Ceramic Attributes: The Ontario Iroquoian Case
Ontario Iroquoian chronology has been largely based on observed or inferred changes in the frequency of rim sherd types or attributes through time. Such observations include the increasing development of collars, decreasing complexity in collar motif, decreasing frequency of horizontals and changes to the location of their placement and decreasing neck decoration through time, to […]
Urban rats have less variable, higher protein diets
Over the past 1000 years, rats (Rattus spp.) have become one of the most successful and prolific pests in human society. Despite their cosmopolitan distribution across six continents and ubiquity throughout the world’s cities, rat urban ecology remains poorly understood. We investigate the role of human foods in brown rat (Rattus norvegicus) diets in urban […]
An Early Woodland Domesticated Chenopod (Chenopodium Berlandieri Subsp. Jonesianum) Cache From the Tutela Heights Site, Ontario, Canada
A cache of charred, domesticated chenopod (Chenopodium berlandieri subsp. jonesianum) seeds is reported from the Early Woodland (930–915 cal BC) Tutela Heights site (AgHb-446) in Brantford, Ontario, Canada. This is the northernmost report of the crop, approximately 800 km northeast of Kentucky where the previous northernmost occurrences contemporary with Tutela Heights are reported. The Tutela […]