Wendat and the St. Lawrence Valley: New Understandings of Travel, Trade and Homeland
It is becoming clear with the discovery of rare objects in traditional Wendake, both south and north, that long established trading routes from the St Lawrence Estuary to the lower Great Lakes are a reflection of a close and long-standing relationship between the Huron-Wendat and Saint Lawrence Iroquoian populations. Not only was this trade indicative […]
Archaeological Heritage Management: The Last and Next Half Century
This article is part of the Canadian Journal of Archaeology’s Special Edition celebrating the Canadian Archaeological Association’s 50th anniversary. Williamson takes a look back at the last fifty years of commercial archaeology in Canada, and how it has developed from a budding to a thriving industry in a matter of decades. This transformation also offers […]
Best Practices for Archaeological Collections: A Cultural Resource Management Perspective
As a large archaeological and cultural heritage consulting firm in Ontario, ASI has unique curatorial and collections issues that are distinct from those of government funded or non-profit enterprises. We work on the “front line” of collection creation in our province, putting us in an ideal position to develop and implement new best practices for […]
Exploring Time: Considering Heritage as the Fourth Dimension of Environmental Assessment
The assessment of cultural heritage, including archaeological resources, built heritage, and cultural landscapes, provides an important historical perspective on past environments and human ecology. Heritage is also inherently predisposed to regional strategic EA approaches, given its fundamental concern with human landscapes, past and present. This presentation will explore various ways that heritage assessments can integrate […]
Projectile Point with Embedded Fossil
This projectile point fragment was discovered during field walking and it contains the extra surprise of a tiny, fossilized bivalve shell embedded inside the grey and white chert. Because were are missing the base and tip of this point, we can’t identify the exact age or style of this tool. It was also found in the middle of a small […]
Transfer Print: Floware
Floware is a specific type of transferprint with a blurred, watery effect. This decoration is created by exposing the surface of the ceramic to chlorine in the kiln, which causes the colours to “flow.” This motif features two distinct colours; blue or mulberry, with the dark purple mulberry pigment often reading as almost black. Floware occurs […]
Hand-Painted: Monochrome Blue
Monochrome blue is a specific style of hand-painted decoration that is applied using an all-blue palette. It usually features floral designs, but may also include geometric designs. For our own classification, we exclude handpainted Asian-style themes from this motif, which we instead designate as Chinoiserie. The popularity of blue and white ceramics can be traced back […]
Hand-Painted: Chinoiserie
Handpainted chinoiserie motifs show up on some of the earliest ceramics we discover in Ontario, and they are always a pleasure to discover. These early Asian-themed motifs appear most often on tin-enamelled earthenware, creamware, and pearlware. Chinoiserie is an early example of globalization, as British ceramic manufacturers attempted to replicate the popular motifs and colourways of […]
“He Must Die Unless the Whole Country Shall Play Crosse:” The Role of Gaming in Great Lakes Indigenous Societies
Prehistoric Games of North American Indians is a collection of studies on the ancient games of indigenous peoples of North America. The authors, all archaeologists, muster evidence from artifacts, archaeological features, ethnography, ethnohistory, and to a lesser extent linguistics and folklore. Chapters sometimes center on a particular game (chunkey rolling disc game or patolli dice […]
Multi-Scalar Perspectives on Iroquoian Ceramics: Aggregation and Interaction in pre-Contact Ontario
The research in this volume represents a new wave of spatial research—exploring beyond settlement patterning to the process and the meaning behind spatial arrangement of past communities and people—and describes new approaches being used for better understanding of past Northern Iroquoian societies. Addressing topics ranging from household task-scapes and gender relations to bioarchaeology and social […]
