Come From the Shadows: Tales of Ontario Archaeology

Transcription

1 Third Age Learning York Region October 24, 2016 Come From the Shadows: Tales of Ontario Archaeology Martin S. Cooper ASI Heritage Archaeological Services Inc. 528 Bathurst Street Toronto, Ontario M5S 2P9

2 Heritage is all that our society values and that survives as the living context both natural and human from which we derive sustenance, coherence and meaning in our individual and collective lives (Ontario Heritage Policy Review [OHPR] 1990:18-19). Archaeological Sites Built Heritage Features Cultural Landscapes Traditional Use Sites Natural Heritage Resources Intangible Heritage Resources

3 People have been living in Ontario for over 11,000 years. Over 13,000 pre-contact and post-contact archaeological sites have been documented in Ontario. The most significant threat to archaeological resources is posed by land development. The Ontario Planning and Environmental Assessment Acts address this threat.

4 Standards and Guidelines Archaeologists are licensed by MTCS Guidelines and Standards for conducting archaeology in Ontario Engaging Aboriginal Communities in Archaeology. ASI

5 The Stages of an Archaeological Investigation Stage 1 Background Research Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4 Field Assessment (Survey) Archival Research, Controlled Surface Collection, Test Excavation Mitigation Site Protection/Salvage Excavation

6 Stage 2 Archaeological Assessment: Pedestrian Survey

7 Stage 2 Archaeological Assessment: Test Pitting

8 Stage 3 Archaeological Investigation

9 Stage 4 Archaeological Assessment Mitigation options include: Protection and Avoidance (the preferred option) Excavation and Documentation Draft standards & guidelines for Stage 4 mitigation work have been circulated, with the aim of standardizing the methods and reporting formats used by archaeologists conducting Stage 4 work. No amount of thorough documentation can replace an archaeological site. Excavation of all or part of an archaeological site represents an irreversible loss of a valued heritage resource.

10 Planning for the public sector is a large component of our work; it leads to archaeological resource conservation Archaeological Master Plan Regional Municipality of York

11 Snake Hill: A Military Cemetery from the War of 1812

12 The American Military Leaders, each of whom played a role in the Niagara Campaign of 1814 Major General Jacob Brown Brigadier General Winfield Scott Capt. Nathan Towson

13 Area of the Niagara Campaign of British casualties 1800 American casualties

14 Siege and Defense of Fort Erie, August to November, 1814

15 Location of the Snake Hill Site

16 The Gradall removing topsoil from the site

17 Burial 2 Completely Exposed Burial 2 as it was first uncovered

18 Excavation Bev Garner & Andrew Clish working on Burial 2 Canadian military tents covering the burials Julie MacDonald and Debbie Steiss

19 Rows of Exposed Burials

20 On-Site Conservation Charlotte Newton from the Canadian Conservation Institute conserving metal artifacts Anne McLaughlin & Julia Fenn from the ROM placing bones in a plaster cast

21 Important Visitors Lois Maxwell (Miss Moneypenny of 007 fame) General Quinn Becker, Surgeon-General of the US Army and his entourage, accompanied by Canadian Colonel Daryl Prosser, visit the site.

22 Plan of the Snake Hill Site showing the location of the burial features

23 Burial 4 Complete Skeleton Thorax

24 Burial 4 US Military overalls button next to a rib Coffin Nails behind the cranium

25 Burial 5

26 Burial 5

27 Burial 5 Find the individual s third hand

28 Burial 5 A close-up of the amputated distal forearm and hand

29 Surgical Amputation Surgical kit circa 1800 Close-up of a surgical amputation, notice the snap

30 Burial 5 - Projectiles Iron ball found below right shoulder Brick fragment lodged in the spinal column

31 Burial 6 Close-up of military buttons showing British 104 th button found in his pocket

32 Military Buttons found at Snake Hill Feature 9, Button 1 Burial 9, Button 6 Burial 4, Button 13 Feature 9, Button 4 Burial 8, Large Militia Button Burial 4, Button 14 Feature 9, Button 5 Burial 29, Button 32 Burial 6, Button 12

33 Artifacts associated with Burial 8

34 Burial 8 - Artifacts French (American) Gunflint Brass cloak button (militia)

35 Burial 10

36 Burial 10 - Artifacts T-shaped American musket tool and gunflints right pocket Personal spoon left pocket

37 The Three Lads (Burials 7, 12, & 13)

38 Burial 12 - Artifacts Metal buttons and Y-shaped British origin musket tool Close-up of the musket tool

39 Burial 13 Trauma to the Right Femur

40 Burial 15 Bandage Pin

41 Copper bandage pins found around a number of the burials

42 Burial 17 Note third leg in grave shaft

43 Burial 17 Third Leg

44 Burial 19

45 Burial 19 - Trauma Above: Shattered pelvis as a result of the cannonball injury Left: Six pound cannonball injury to the left side of the thoracic cavity

46 Burial 23

47 Burial 23 Bone buttons indicating the deceased was buried wearing an undershirt.

48 Burial 23 Leg and Ankle Binding

49 Feature 25 A medical waste pit that contained the amputated left leg of an individual.

50 Ox Burial

51 Analysis of the Finds Dr. Peer Moore-Jansen analyzing a skull at ASI Susan Pfeiffer working in the lab at the University of Guelph

52 Pathologies Humerus with a cortical defect at the insertion of the pectoralis major muscle Schmorl s Depression

53 Bone Injuries Fractured Tibia Bi-lateral amputation due to fractures of the humerus, ulna and radius. Shot fracture of the left knee involving the femur, patella, tibia, and fibula.

54 Dental Pathologies Dental Hypoplasia from Burial 5 Hapsburg Jaw from Burial 10

55 Stature Statistics

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57 Distribution of Oxygen Isotope Values in Atmospheric Precipitation over North America

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59 Fort Erie s Temporary Morgue

60 Guarded, Flag-draped caskets at Old Fort Erie

61 Procession of Hearses heading toward the Peace Bridge

62 Repatriation Day Veterans and a NY State news anchor watch as American jets fly overhead

63 So close, and yet so far I found Thomas Poe lying on a blanket. He reached his hand to me and told me that he was mortally wounded, that he had but a few moments to live, and told me he wished to be buried on the American side of the river (July 26, 1814) Alexander McMullen, Private, Col. Fenton s Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers

64 The Mantle (Lainé) Site Archaeological Services Inc. 528 Bathurst Street Toronto, Ontario M5S 2P9

65 By AD , these villages reached eight acres in size with hundreds of acres of cornfields surrounding the settlement

66 North Shore Region AD

67 A Process of Coalescence

68 Early 15th Century, Pre-coalescent Sites Similar early 15 th century settlements on adjacent drainages

69 ?

70 An exceedingly large and complex community 2.9 ha, 7 acres in size 1,942 person days of excavation ( ) 95 houses documented, 52 occupied at one time estimated settlement population of 1,800 people >60,000 palisade and house posts documented 1,243 features more than 100,000 artifacts recovered 18,000 artifacts from surface collections human remains found adjacent to the village circa AD

71 Mantle Site Palisade Phasing

72 Mantle Site Palisade Phasing

73 Mantle Site Palisade Phasing

74 Palisade

75 Inner Palisade Complex

76 Borrow Trench filled with organic and inorganic refuse waste stream management

77 Settlement Pattern Complexity

78 Occupation Phases and Rebuilding

79 Variable House Forms and Exterior House Activity house numbers not assigned in field excavation by 5m square and consecutive feature numbers

80 One house burned down and reconstructed in the same location Some wall posts were cedar; support posts maple Must have been competent fire department

81 Discarded Ceramic Vessels

82 Discarded Ceramic Vessels

83 Mantle Site, Early Village, A.D

84 Mantle Site, Late Village, A.D

85 Two Houses Persist Ethnography suggest that the longest houses in a village were council houses and the homes of prominent lineages Houses 15 and meters in length - Multiple rebuilds to house walls - Situated on highest elevation House 20

86 Ceramic Vessel Castellation Effigies unique in Ontario Oneida and Onondaga in origin appear on late fifteenth century Oneida vessels at a ratio of 1:60 related to mythological corn-husk figures

87 Ceramic Pipe Bowl Effigies

88 The use of small punctuates in the decoration of some ceramic pipe effigies (16th century ancestral Wendat) and the use of dots on the head of this bone figurine (16th century Mohawk) may both reference tattooing

89 Maize Remains Eastern Eight-Row Flint Variety Daily per person consumption of over one pound of maize; 65% contribution to diet

90 Settlement Life spans (15-25) - Maize Fields at Final Years

91 Corn Fields at Twentieth Year of Occupation

92 Providing Protein and Clothing the Population Dr. Suzanne Needs-Howarth was the Zoo-archaeological Specialist examined over 37,000 animal bones; complete assemblage identified 67 unique taxa 90% mammal, rest mostly bird and fish fish dominated by oily salmonid fish that live in Lake Ontario and spawn in fall; especially Coregonus clupeaformis, lake whitefish and salmon off-site processing and discard of heads and possibly even vertebrae; but seems there was a focus on masscapture of fish that can be stored for winter bird dominated by upland game birds, especially the nowextinct pigeon Ectopistes migratorius, caught with nets in huge nesting colonies

93 only predictable source of food and hides is white-tailed deer mammal is mostly white-tailed deer other taxa are smaller garden-hunted species mix of narrow & broad subsistence strategies traded for deer and moose hides with Algonquians to the north for maize

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95 Small Iron Tool Fragment Two radiocarbon dates from the site: AD 1490 and 1520 The earliest trade object in interior Great Lakes?

96 Impressed Marks and Discontinuities

97 Merchant s Marks found on Basque Tools from Spain Meat cleaver Shears for shearing sheep

98 ppm Sb Copper Artifacts from the Mantle Site M2 M M3 M ppm Ag bi-plot Sb/Ag Native Copper Sources Known European Copper Samples Mantle Site

99 Changes in Direction of Interaction and Identity Markers

100 Pendant and Beads Stone pendant and beads, pebble pendants to steatite and slate disc beads Copper beads

101 Mantle Site Cemetery

102 Feast of the Dead The Mantle Ossuary has not been found On the left is an 18 th century depiction of an eye witness account of the 1636 creation of a Wendat Ossuary burial at Ossossane. The ceremony was observed and recorded by the famous Jesuit priest Jean de Brebeuf. While there is much fantasy about this image, it captures the solemn ritual significance of such an event. This ossuary was excavated in the 1940s by the Royal Ontario Museum and the remains were repatriated to the original site in the mid-1990s by the Huron- Wendat.

103 The location of various First Nations in the early seventeenth century (Note the Five Nations Iroquois homeland is in what is now New York State)

104 For More See Curse of the Axe, History Television

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