New Severn or Nieu Savanne: The Identification of an Early Hudson Bay Fur Trade Post
Author: Christianson, David J.
Year: 1980
Institution: McMaster University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: W. Noble
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: This thesis examines problems inherent in identifying fur trade post archaeological sites dating to the early Hudson Bay trade period (1668-1713). Research focuses on a particular trade post site (G1Iw-1) located near Fort Severn, Ontario. A re-evaluation of the area's early history indicated that New Severn (1685-1690) and Nieu Savanne (1700-1704) were the most probable candidates for the identity of this site. Archaeological and historical data were used to identify the G1Iw-1 site as the former Hudson's Bay Company post New Severn. Evidence for this conclusion included artifact and settlement analysis of the New Severn site and historical accounts from archival and secondary sources. The presence of French material culture items within the New Severn assemblage in conjunction with historical evidence suggesting a dependence on French Canadian fur trade expertise by the neophyte Hudson's Bay Company led to the advancement of a research hypothesis. It states that French and English fur trade posts extant on Hudson Bay between 1668-1713 should be characterized by strongly similar material culture remains.

Sawdust Bay-2: The Identification of a Middle Woodland Site in the Ottawa Valley
Author: Daechsel, Hugh J.
Year: 1981
Institution: McMaster University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: P. Ramsden
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: Attention in this thesis is directed towards the analysis, description and identification of Sawdust Bay-2, a small prehistoric site located on the Ottawa River, in relation to the previous classification of Middle Woodland groups for the Ottawa Valley. The assemblage recovered from Sawdust Bay-2 includes ceramic, lithic and faunal material. Ceramics are characterized by grit tempered, coil manufactured vessels, featuring a predominance of 9seudo scallop shell impressions and a relatively moderate incidence of interior brushing. A small number of finished chipped stone tools, made of chert, were identified. A majority of the faunal material identified from the collection is mammalian with minor amounts of reptilian remains and only two fish elements. The assemblage is comparable to assemblages identified for other Middle Woodland groups, including those of the Laurel, Saugeen and Point Peninsula Traditions. Specific similarities with those features identified by Ritchie (1969) for the Point Peninsula Tradition have resulted in the assignment of Sawdust Bay-2 to this tradition. Observable differences in attribute frequencies between Ottawa River Drainage Basin sites, represented by Sawdust Bay-2 and the ceramic assemblage from the Kant site, and other contemporary Point Peninsula sites in New York State have led to the identification of the Ottawa Valley Phase. This phase, extending approximately from 100 B.C. to A.D. 200, is suggested to be distinguished by a predominance of pseudo scallop shell and dentate ceramic impressions, with a moderate incidence (25%) of interior brushing. The lithic inventory features a predominance of chert chipped stone tools with very few rough stone tools. Existing faunal data and the absence of such tools as net-sinkers, harpoons and fish hooks suggests that fishing may not have been as important a subsistence activity as it appears to have been for northern Laurel groups and southern Point Peninsula populations.

Lest the beaver run loose. The Early 17th Century Neutral Christianson Site.
Author: Fitzgerald, William
Year: 1981
Institution: McMaster University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: P. Ramsden
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: The following aspects of the ca. A.D. 1615 Neutral Iroquoian Christianson village site will be emphasized: 1. an examination of the ecological factors which may have influenced its placement; 2. the morphology of the site, focusing on interior longhouse planning ; and 3. analysis of the artifact assemblage. The artifact descriptions are primarily directed at those parts of the assemblage which could be attributed to ethnohistorically documented accounts of contacts the Neutral had with aboriginal groups and Europeans. While many of the connections are inferred archaeologically to have been based in the pre-European contact period, certain branches developed or, more possibly , were amplified after the Neutral became involved on a large scale in the fur trade some time around A.D. 1615. The desire of Europeans to deal directly with the Neutral about this time is interpreted as being the initiation of intensive participation of the Neutral in the fur trade. Ceramic, lithic, shell, and European artifacts, perhaps certain faunal remains, and aspects of longhouse interments indicate the Christianson site belongs to the period when Europeans, perhaps Étienne Brûlé in 1615 , first entered Neutralia. As such, the identification of the intensity of foreign manifestations are important in identifying the pervasiveness of the effect of Europeans on Neutral relationships. While there does appear to have been notable consequences of the Neutral involvement in the fur trade, such as the Neutral-Fire Nation wars and an increased trade in marine shell, the overall intensity is not as great for the entire network as may have been suspected from an ethnocentric point of view.

The Kirche Site: A Late Prehistoric Huron Village in the Upper Trent Valley
Author: Nasmith, Carol L.
Year: 1981
Institution: McMaster University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: W. Noble
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: The Kirche site is an early 16th century Huron village that was excavated as an integral component of an archaeological project investigating late Iroquoian occupations in the upper Trent valley between approximately A.D. 1450 and 1615, by which time the area had been abandonded. This thesis describes the archaeological material recovered during three seasons of testing and excavation at the Kirche site and outlines a number of interpretations concerning the occupation of this village. As a component of a regionally focused project, analysis and interpretation are directed towards elucidating the nature of the occupation at the Kirche village within the context of its local cultural environment and only secondarily within the broader context of late prehistoric and protohistoric occupations in south-central and eastern Ontario. The Kirche village appears to have had a complex history of formation, characterized by the fission and fusion of household groups. It is suggested that many of the villagers immigrated to the upper Trent valley in the late 15th or early 16th century, and that a small number of an indigenous population settled in the village as well. Population movements during the late prehistoric period in south-central and eastern Ontario appear to have been accompanied by increased warfare, the growth of villages through the accretion of additional population segments and internal village complexity. The archaeological record at the Kirche village provides additional evidence for these occurrences.

Queries Near the Quarry: A Technological Analysis of the Jessup Lithic Workshop Site
Author: Kritsch-Armstrong, Ingrid
Year: 1982
Institution: McMaster University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: P. Ramsden
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: The prehistory of the Lake Abitibi area has remained largely untold. Ridley's excavations in the 1950's and early 1960's showed that Lake Abititi had been a focal point for prehistoric activities over the last 4,000 - 5,000 years. Since that time, however, few excavations have been conducted and the chronological sequence today contains many gaps. Upon the advice and encouragement of Dr. Wm. Noble of McMaster University, who drew my attention to this area, an archaeological investigation under my direction was carried out in the Lower Bay area of Lake Abitibi, in the summer of 1979. Here the remains of a rich and extensive site called Jessup, had been found three summers previously along the beaches by local amateur archaeologists Marjorie and Justin Jordan. The Jordans' findings strongly indicated that this was a lithic workshop site, inhabited by both Archaic and Laurel peoples. Our survey and excavation in Lower Bay rapidly proved this to be the case. The Jessup site was a workshop and habitation site inhabited by both Shield Archaic and Laurel peoples over a period of approximately 3,000 years. This thesis has examined the lithics, ceramics and faunal material from Jessup. Its major contribution is the in-depth descriptive analysis of the lithic detritus and tools recovered from the site for the purpose of determining the types of raw material reduced at the site, their sources and the strategies used by the respective occupants of the site.

North Caribou Lake Archaeology: Northwestern Ontario.
Author: Gordon, Diana L.
Year: 1983
Institution: McMaster University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: W. Noble
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: Field work in the summer of 1981 at North Caribou Lake, at the headwaters of the Severn River drainage, yielded 23 sites. Excavation and testing of ten produced Laurel, Blackduck, late prehistoric, 19th century Fur Trade and 20th century material. To date, this represents the most northerly expression of Laurel and Blackduck cultures in northwestern Ontario. The ethno-archaeological focus of this project, combining archaeological, archival, ethnographic and informant data, allowed for a clear understanding of the native use of the lake over the past one hundred years, including some important determinants of boreal forest settlement patterns. These determinants appear to have remained relatively stable from Middle Woodland times to the present. Observation of modern seasonal patterns of occupation has aided in the interpretation of the culture history of North Caribou Lake.

Hidden Amidst the Highlands: Middle and Late Iroquoian Occupations in the Middle Trent Valley.
Author: Sutton, Richard E.
Year: 1989
Institution: McMaster University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: P. Ramsden
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: Abstract pending.

Thistle Hill (AhGx-226): A New Look at the Late Archaic.
Author: Woodley, Philip
Year: 1989
Institution: McMaster University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: P. Ramsden
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: This report discusses the excavation and analysis of the Southern Ontario Late Archaic Thistle Hill site (AhGx-226). Excavations concentrated on two house floors with Internal storage pits and hearth(s), delineating the site margins, recovering artifacts from the topsoil and features, and reconstructing paleo-environment through pollen, floral and faunal analyses, and comparative data. The site is interpreted within a cultural ecological framework using paleo-environmental and physiographic data. As well, this report examines some of the assumpt10ns associated with the Late Archaic, such as the littoral/inland, summer/winter, macro/microband dichotomies. Artifact and environmental analyses indicate a correlation between Small Point site location and microenvironment exploitation. A microenvironment-oriented subsistence model is postulated for all of the Late Archaic.

The Adder Orchard Site (AgHk-16): Lithic Technology and Spatial Organization in the Broadpoint Late Archaic.
Author: Fisher, Jacqueline
Year: 1990
Institution: McMaster University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: P. Ramsden
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: This thesis discusses the 1989 excavation and analysis of a Late Archaic Broadpoint component. the Adder Orchard Site (AgHk-16), located in the County of Lambton, Ontario. The excavation centred around two surface debitage concentrations that were approximately 40 metres apart. Grids A (93 m 2) and B (22 rna) revealed a total of 27 features with varying amounts of cultural material. The purpose of the 1989 project was to define site limits. and to locate features to provide more data pertaining to site function, seasonality, chronological sequence, lithic procurement and reduction strategies. and sUbsistence practices of the Broadpoint people.

The MacLeod Site (A1Gr-1) and a Preliminary Delineation of the Lake Ontario Iroquois.
Author: Reed, Patricia
Year: 1990
Institution: McMaster University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: P. Ramsden
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: The present work describes the archaeological material recovered from excavations at the MacLeod site, a Late Ontario Iroquois site in Oshawa, Ontario, which were carried out between 1968 and 1972. In comparing ceramic and non-ceramic data from the MacLeod site with other sites in southern Ontario, the existence of a distinct group which has been named the Lake Ontario Iroquois is tentatively defined. This group extended along the north shore of Lake Ontario from the Rouge River in the west to Prince Edward County in the east. The sites of the Lake Ontario Iroquois shared similar frequencies of certain ceramic attributes and similarities in their non-ceramic assemblages. It is suggested that the Lake Ontario Iroquois may have formed a group similar to the historically described tribes of the Huron. It is also recommended in this thesis that students turn their attention to the analysis of previously existing collections over the excavation of further unthreatened sites.

Are Settlement Patterns Enough? The Re-Evaluation of Assumptions Concerning A Huron Chief's House Using Assemblage Variation and Artifact Distribution Analyses.
Author: Smith, Angela P.
Year: 1990
Institution: McMaster University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: P. Ramsden
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: Archaeological settlement data has been used to identify Huron chief's houses. Finlayson identified chief's houses (1985) at the Draper site, a 15th century Huron village in the Puckering Township. His interpretations were based on settlement characteristics such as being the longest and widest house, having the highest density of wall. sweatbath and interior house isolated post moulds, and having the greatest distance between hearths. This thesis analyzes two houses from the Draper site-one, based on the above criteria, a chief's house, and another a 'non-chief's' house. By examining the variation within and between the artifact assemblages and the distributions of artifacts through these two houses, another mean of identifying a chief's house has been tested and the settlement pattern analyses tested.

The Boresma Site: A Middle Woodland Base Camp in the Thames River Valley.
Author: Wilson, Jim A.
Year: 1990
Institution: McMaster University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: P. Ramsden
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: In this report I discuss the excavation and analysis of the Boresma site (AfHi-121), a large Middle Woodland occupation located on the Thames River floodplain near Delaware Ontario. Rather than a spring/early summer macro-band fishing station, the Boresma site appears to have functioned as a base camp, occupied on and off throughout the year, providing the focal point for a local group's movements. The location of the Boresma site along the proposed boundary between the Couture and Saugeen complexes also allows some observations concerning the utility of these large culture complex labels. At present, labels such as Saugeen have come to be used as rubrics for real sociopolitical groups. I suggest that they should be restricted to use as labels for areas where similar patterns of settlement and subsistence can be demonstrated. On this basis I present revised margins for the Saugeen complex, and propose a new term. the Middle Thames River complex. for the Middle Woodland occupations along the middle reaches of the Thames drainage.

Variations on a Theme: The Carson Site and Its Implications For a Re-evaluation of the LaLonde Focus.
Author: Varley, Colin D
Year: 1991
Institution: McMaster University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: P. Ramsden/A. Herring
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: Using the recently excavated data from the Carson site (BcGw-9), near Barrie, Ontario, a re-examination of large Lalonde focus (c. A.D. 1400-15(0) ceramic collections was undertaken. Statistical evaluation of the data led to the demonstration that: 1) samples taken only &om middens are inadequate for a thorough understanding of Ontario Iroquois prehistory; 2)that there is much more variation among Lalonde sites than was previously acknowledged. Further, a proposed chronology of six Lalonde sites is presented, based on the clustering of sites using 95% confidence limits as a statistical methodology.

Dating and Provenancing of Sherds from Five Balsam Lake Area Sites.
Author: Volterra, Vito
Year: 1994
Institution: McMaster University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: P. Ramsden
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: This thesis provides additional insight on the occupation of the upper Trent River valley of Ontario by Iroquoian people during the period of approximately one hundred years that preceded the eventual consolidation of the Huron Confederacy in Simcoe County. The data are obtained by means of an archaeometric analysis of ceramic sherds recovered at late Iroquoian sites located in the Balsam Lake area. The results of the research support the hypothesis that these communities were impacted by the early effects of European trade. Dating of the ceramic by thermo luminescence confirms and refines the chronological sequence for these sites suggested previously by others through stylistic analysis. Determination of ceramic fabric composition by trace element analysis supports the proposed transition of the interactions between the local population and the St. Lawrence Iroquois from trading relationships to eventual absorption of the latter into the local Huron communities.

Fishing Stations and the Low Country: A Contribution to Hudson Bay Lowland Ethnohistory
Author: Lister, Kenneth
Year: 1996
Institution: McMaster University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: W. Noble
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: The Hudson Bay Lowrand - often referred to in fur-trade records as the "low country" has been the subject of much research within the natural sciences; however, research pertaining to the region's human history and ecology is not as well advanced. This study employs ethnohistorical methodology integrating ethnographies, exploration literature, fur-trade records, archaeological data, and Native advisor consultations in an attempt to elucidate culture history and patterns of Native occupation within the Lowland region. Hudson's Bay Cornpany fur-trade journals, reports, and maps indicate that within the Lowrand the Indian population harvested fish at "fishing stations" where "weirs" were constructed, maintained, and operated. Fur-trade records in combination with information provided by Native advisors illustrate that fishing stations were operational on a year-round basis and that fish played a significant rore within Native economic strategies. Based upon an 1815 Severn District report and accompanying maps, recorded fishing station locations were identified on the Shamattawa River and at the southern junction of Spruce Lake and the North Washagami River. Activity areas at these fishing station locations yielded evidence of substantial occupation over time and space and they provided insight into economic strategies and adaptations.

The Middle Iroquoian Colonization of Huronia.
Author: Sutton, Richard
Year: 1996
Institution: McMaster University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: P. Ramsden
Degree Type: Ph.D.
Abstract: This archaeological study focuses on the identification and analysis of prehistoric Iroquoian migration patterns, and the examination of the adaptations made by pioneering Middle Iroquoian horticulturalists who colonized Simcoe County in south-central Ontario in the early fourteenth century. Unlike some other areas of southern Ontario where there is clear evidence of in situ development from the Early Iroquoian through to the Late lroquoian period, the earliest Iroquoian village sites in Simcoe County date to the Middle Iroquoian period. In order to confirm that the Middle Iroquoian occupation was the result of a migration, an archaeological migration model formulated by David Anthony (1990) was adopted in this study. The Anthony (1990) model contends that migration is a structured process that develops in a predictable manner once it has begun. Several of the general migration patterns identified by Anthony, as well as several new aspects of Iroquoian migrations, were identified in this study. The results of this study indicate that Iroquoian migrations do evolve in a predictable manner and exhibit several characteristics which are readily identifiable using archaeological data. This includes familiarity with the destination area prior to the actual migration, a leapfrog settlement pattern consisting of settlement clusters, the placement of initial settlement clusters in areas which are easily accessible from the source area, an initial settlement system which has already been introduced in its final format with the placement of semi-sedentary village sites in strategic locations within resource rich areas, and rapid initial population growth rates in the newly colonized area. While any archaeological migration process will vary to some extent depending on the physical environment, socio-political organization, technological sophistication and settlement-subsistence patterns of the group involved, the migration patterns identified here are applicable to other suspected migrations involving slash and burn horticulturalists.

When Small Pots Speak, the Stories They Tell: The Role of Children in Ceramic Innovation in Prehistoric Huron Society as Seen Through the Analysis of Juvenile Pots
Author: Smith, Patricia
Year: 1998
Institution: McMaster University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: A. Cannon
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: pending

Historical Context and the Forager/Farmer Frontier: Re-Interpretting the Nodwell Site.
Author: Rankin, Lisa
Year: 1998
Institution: McMaster University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: P. Ramsden
Degree Type: Ph.D.
Abstract: This thesis examines the socio-economic transition from foraging to farming in Bruce County, Ontario which culminates with the appearance of the Nodwell village. the form (settlement pattern) and contents (material culture and subsistence remains) representative of a small-scale farming community, and was therefore distinct from the earlier forager habitations in the region. As recently as AD 1000 this region was occupied by mobile hunter-gatherers who followed an annual cycle, inhabiting numerous small sites, in nuclear family units. This strategy allowed the foragers of Bruce county to exploit various natural resources throughout the region during the course of the year. In contrast, the Nodwell village was occupied by a much more sedentary community of people, living in extended family groups, and producing domesticated crops. This transition occurred in a maximum of 350 years. Until recently, this transition was explained using a migration model which suggested that an intact horticultural community had migrated into Bruce county in the mid-fourteenth century and replaced the indigenous foragers. However, this model has become increasingly controversial. Primarily, the migration model over-simplifies the process of culture change by suggesting that culture change is short-term process, initiated from the outside. As a result, this model fails to explore adequately the complex historical, cultural, regional and ecological context in which this event occurred. Furthermore, by failing to situate the appearance of the Nodwell village into historical context this model was unable to negate the possibility that the transition from foraging to farming was initiated locally. In contrast, this dissertation re-evaluates the transition within a much broader historical and regional framework and demonstrates that the socio-economic transition from foraging to farming in Bruce county was a long-term process influenced by events occurring inernally, at the local level, and externally, through inter-cultural interaction. The process of change from foraging to farming will no doubt vary in other regions, but the historical approach used here provides a valuable explanatory framework which can be applied in other regions and will help to highlight the diversity of cultural behaviour in prehistory.

The McLeod Site: A Small Paleo-Indian Occupation in Southwestern Ontario.
Author: Muller, Joseph
Year: 1999
Institution: McMaster University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: P. Ramsden
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: This thesis deals with the Early Paleo-Indian (EPI) component at the McLeod site. It explores issues of regional paleoecology for southern Ontario, and relationships among tool and lithic assemblages with respect to site size and activities. These topics are examined on a regional scale, placing the McLeod site within an environmental and cultural context. Data were compiled from 130 pollen sites in southern Ontario and adjacent areas, and critical percentages in the pollen profiles of Betula, Picea, Pinus, and non-arboreal pollen dated and evaluated by interpolation. Proposed vegetation colonization and succession patterns were confirmed using quadratic surface trend analysis, and evidence of old carbon in poorer-grade 14C samples validated the date evaluations. Fossil Coleoptera, oxygen isotope and faunal data were combined with these results to synthesize a vegetation chronology, and review paleoecological and subsistence implications for the EPI occupation in the southern Ontario post-glacial. McLeod site lithic tools and debitage were analyzed using established typologies, with data from other EPI sites compiled and standardized for comparison. The root of variation in tool assemblages, reflecting site activity specialization or being a function of sample size, was studied in two ways. First, relationships among size, richness, evenness, and heterogeneity in tool kits were analyzed, determining that only site size and richness are weakly related. Second, a study comparing tool and lithic debitage assemblages concluded that they are closely related. Activity variation rather than sample size accounts for assemblage variation in both analyses. These analyses identify McLeod as a small, Parkhill complex site within the EPI tradition in southern Ontario. It comprises two large clusters and three ephemeral scatters, yielding a very rich tool assemblage that indicates generalized site activities. It is likely a base camp, unique in its higher degree of richness for its small size. The site was located at the headwaters of a pro-glacial lake estuary, ca 1 km from the lake, set in spruce-parkland vegetation.

In Their Time: Archaeological Histories of Native-Lived Contacts and Colonialisms, Southwestern Ontario A.D. 1400-1900.
Author: Ferris, Neal
Year: 2006
Institution: McMaster University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: A. Cannon
Degree Type: Ph.D.
Abstract: The archaeology and history of the post-contact era and European-Native interaction in southwestern Ontario is a field rich in data and opportunities to examine issues related to social processes of change and continuity, as well as Native adaptation and resistance to the colonial British state that ultimately became Canada. Yet the almost half millennium of history this period encompasses is often read as a single action, and we continually struggle not to insert historic biases and omissions, and contemporary issues, into that history of European-Native interaction. And while we can easily access the deeper history of European peoples in the centuries prior to their arrival in North America, often the deep archaeological history that Native peoples inhabited when Europeans first arrived is unexplored when seeking to interpret Native behaviours. This study seeks to re-situate the archaeological history that so shaped Native-centric perspectives through the events of the 16th to 19th centuries in southwestern Ontario, and in so doing, provide an alternative set of interpretations that emphasise change and continuity as ongoing processes informing Native behaviours. From this alternative perspective, one that emphasises archaeological interpretations arising from both material and written record, I outline how Native communities succeeded in maintaining a cohesiveness through centuries of European influence and material innovations, by their direct agency and maintenance of complex, ancient, adaptive social processes that both incorporated European ideas and things, and reinforced historically understood notions of self and community. This active engagement in the formation of their own histories identities has allowed Native individuals and communities to be of the Indigenous while being in the Colonial---an engagement that today provides the historical dimension affirming distinct Aboriginal identities, and underscores the significance these archaeological histories are to the ongoing construction of our collective pasts as being(s) in and of Canada.

So Many Decisions! The Fonger Site: A Case Study of Neutral Ceramic Technology
Author: Holterman, Carrie
Year: 2007
Institution: McMaster University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: K. Michelaki
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: This thesis investigates how potters from the Fonger site, a Neutral Iroquoian village near Brantford, made their ceramic vessels. My goal is to understand how a given environment, raw material properties, vessel function and a particular social context all came together to influence the potters' choices. I do this by identifying the choices potters made throughout the manufacture of ceramic pots, from the raw materials selection and preparation, to vessel formation and finish, decoration, firing and use, through the combination of a raw materials survey and experimental projects with macroscopic, petrographic and x-ray diffraction analyses and re-firing tests. Each step in the operational sequence exhibited a different number of choices. The reasons why Fonger potters do things one way and not another seem to be more a reflection of social guidelines, of how a vessel should be made, rather than a reflection of distinct functional or mechanical requirements of their vessels. There are several interesting conclusions from this research, including the identification of the raw materials from which shell-tempered vessels were made as well as the steps in the operational sequence that were socially directed and those that allowed potters more freedom of choice. I demonstrate that more micro-scale studies of ceramic manufacture at the village level give us a more nuanced understanding of how potters and ceramics fit into the daily lives of the Neutral people.

The Adoption of the Bow and Arrow in Southwestern Ontario: A View From the Smallpoint Archaic
Author: Snarey, Kristy
Year: 2000
Institution: University of Western Ontario
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: C. Ellis
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: This thesis investigates the initial entry of the bow and arrow into Southwestern Ontario. Traditionally, a Woodland origin for the bow and arrow is accepted, however, evidence presented in this paper suggests that an Archaic origin (c.a. < 3000 BP) is more accurate. However, the adoption of the bow and arrow was not complete. Rather, for a period of time apparently the bow and arrow was used alongside the other predominant weapon of the time, the spearthrower. Changes in settlement and subsistence patterns at this time indicate that the adoption of bow and arrow may have offered certain advantages to Late Archaic peoples, even though it was not wholeheartedly adopted until later in time. Keywords: Smallpoint Archaic, Ontario, bow and arrow, spearthrower, hunting strategies, subsistence

The Bridgeport Site: Small-Scale Manufacturing in Ontario
Author: Quirk, Laura June
Year: 2001
Institution: University of Western Ontario
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: C. Ellis
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: The Bridgeport site was excavated as a salvage operation in the summer of 1995. The artifacts and archival evidence initially provided an image of a typical domestic occupation. Upon closer inspection it was revealed that Henry Wahl purchased property on the site in 1862 and proceeded to tan leather for the purposes of making shoes. He was a self-described shoemaker for a number of years, after which, he was a farmer. Rather than being a farmer alone, Henry Wahl was engaged in light manufacturing on his property coupled with the daily chores of living. The site has provided some of the first evidence of a small-scale manufacturer associated with a domestic occupation in Ontario and provides a series of archaeological signatures, which can be used to recognize such leather/shoe manufacturing sites in the future. There is little to compare directly with the site but general comparisons using Mean Ceramic Dates and Miller's Index shed light on the socio-economic situation of a number of different sites. This allows for larger comparisons between site types and economic situations to be made. Keywords: Shoes, Mean Ceramic Dating, Miller's Index, Historic Archaeology, Small-scale manufacturing

Lengthy Longhouses, Eccentric Ceramics, and Other Quandaries: An Exploration of Identity at the Savage Site (AdHm-29)
Author: Fraser, Meredith
Year: 2001
Institution: University of Western Ontario
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: M. Spence
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: The Savage site (AdHm-29) represents a small Middle Ontario Iroquoian settlement constructed in Kent County during the 14t' century. The results of the analysis of adult and juvenile ceramic vessels, pipes, beads, figurines, and miscellaneous fired clay objects recovered from the site are used in concert with faunal and floral data for the purpose of examining issues of identity. Specifically, these data are used to cultivate a better understanding of the position of this site in the social landscape of this region during the 14th and 15th centuries, in addition to exploring possible relationships between this community, and neighbouring groups. The goal of the project is to shed light on a relatively poorly understood region and time period of Ontario prehistory through the analysis of a site that exhibits several distinctive traits in terms of house size and structure, ceramic assemblage composition, and decorative disjunction between adult and juvenile ceramics. Keywords: Iroquois, Ceramic Analysis, Southwestern Ontario, Identity, Juvenile Ceramics, Western Basin Tradition, Ontario Iroquoian Tradition, Cabin Sites, Springwells Phase, Middleport Substage

Dealing with Unknowns in a Non-Population: The Skeletal Analysis of the Odd Fellows Series
Author: Ginter, Jaimie
Year: 2001
Institution: University of Western Ontario
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: M. Spence
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: A forensic and socio-historical analysis has been conducted on a series of skeletal remains of unknown origin and context that were donated to the Anthropology Department at the University of Western Ontario by the Independent Order of Odd Fellows of Ontario. This thesis is concerned with determining the age, sex, ancestry, health and socio-economic status of the individuals in this series in an attempt to determine their identities. In doing so, issues related to the production of human skeletal remains, the procurement of human cadavers, and the practice of dissection and the study of human anatomy during the 19th century were explored. The multiple lines of evidence employed in this analysis are sufficient to indicate that a large proportion, if not all, of the individuals in this skeletal series were members of groups most commonly exploited for dissection and the study of anatomy. The health, age, and sex profiles of this series as well as the presence of direct evidence of dissection served to confirm the connection to 19`h century medical training. Keywords: forensic anthropology, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, history of medicine, human osteology, human skeletal analysis, dissection, production of articulated human skeletons, 19th century Ontario.

Enigmatic Pots: Enculturating Identity at the Dymock Site (AeHj-2)
Author: Retter, Michael
Year: 2001
Institution: University of Western Ontario
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: M. Spence
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: The Dymock Site, located near Glencoe, Ontario is a multi-component Younge phase Western Basin site. This thesis conducts a stylistic analysis of the ceramic material recovered from the Dymock site, with specific attention to the production of juvenile ceramics. Criteria are set forth for the designation of juvenile ceramics based on three general observations: 1) mastery of technology, 2) mastery of decorative technique application, and 3) the mastery and understanding of decorative motifs. These observations are then used to determine the extent to which social identity is passed on to younger members of a group from adults through the learning of ceramic manufacture. Bourdieu's concept of the habitus is used to reconcile the two theoretical approaches to style (active and passive), as well as to examine the development of group identity, by way of learned dispositions. Keywords: Western Basin, Younge phase, style and identity, ceramic variation, juvenile ceramics, habitus.

Early Palaeoindian Trianguloid End Scrapers: A Comparative Analysis
Author: Lancashire, Susannah
Year: 2001
Institution: University of Western Ontario
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: C. Ellis
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: Gainey and Parkhill complex Early Palaeoindian trianguloid end scrapers from the lower Great Lakes are examined to determine if variation exists in their morphology. Using a life history approach, it is determined that variation exists in the morphology of trianguloid end scrapers, particularly in hafting attributes and bit morphology, between the Gainey and Parkhill complexes. Data are used to determine the cultural affinity of scrapers from the Culloden Acres, Halstead, Murphy, and Sandy Ridge sites, culturally `unidentified' sites in the lower Great Lakes region. Then, using design theory, hypotheses are generated to explain the identified significant morphological variation among scrapers from the Gainey and Parkhill complexes. Results indicate that morphological variations in trianguloid end scrapers likely are related to both the design considerations of Early Palaeoindians and their settlement, mobility, and subsistence practices in the lower Great Lakes. Gainey and Parkhill Early Palaeoindians may have designed their trianguloid end scrapers differently in order to solve differing `problems' presented to them. Keywords: Paleo-Indian, Paleoindian, Gainey, Parkhill, lithics, stone tools, Great Lakes, Ontario, Michigan, Gainey complex, Parkhill complex, end scraper, design theory, tool life history, variation, behavioural chain.

The Archaeology of the Blue Water Bridge Site
Author: O’Neal, Paul
Year: 2002
Institution: University of Western Ontario
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: C. Ellis
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: This thesis examines evidence from the Bluewater Bridge South site, a large stratified archaeological site in Point Edward, Ontario. The purpose is to increase our understanding of Middle Woodland culture history. Therefore, the focus of this study is artifact categories which previous research suggests are most sensitive to temporal and spatial variation. The artifacts recovered, along with four radio-carbon dates, indicate the site dates to ca. A.D. 200 to 600. Two temporally sequential components can be recognized, but comparison suggests few significant changes over time. The ceramic vessels exhibit many classic Middle Woodland traits, and seem closest to sites which have been referred to the Saugeen "culture." Comparison of ceramic vessels to those reported from other Middle Woodland sites in southwestern Ontario suggest the site does not easily fit into previously recognized Middle Woodland developments. These data support recent propositions that discrete, broad-scale spatial cultural divisions do not really exist. Keywords Prehistoric archaeology, Middle Woodland, Ceramics, Southwest Ontario

Challenging Assumptions: An Analysis of the Scattered Human Remains at the Keffer Site, AKGv-14
Author: Rainey, Dori
Year: 2002
Institution: University of Western Ontario
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: M. Spence
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: The Keffer site is a Huron village site located north of Toronto. It was occupied for some time between A.D. 1475 and 1525, and the large-scale excavations that occurred at the site produced scattered human bone fragments from the middens and houses. Scattered human bone at other Iroquoian village sites has been attributed to the torture and cannibalism of war captives, as described in the Jesuit Relations. This thesis is the examination of the cultural processes responsible for the formation of this assemblage. Bone modification and spatial context provide a broader view of the activities that occurred at Keffer, and illustrate that the cultural processes are more complex than originally thought. Keywords: Huron, Keffer, Bone Modification

The Chypchar Site (AiGx-73): A study of ceramic variability and social organization at a Middle Ontario Iroquoian Village
Author: Sherratt, James
Year: 2003
Institution: University of Western Ontario
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: R. Pearce
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: The Chypchar Site, Located near Flamborough Ontario, is a Middleport village dating to the Middle Ontario Iroquoian Stage (A.D. 1300-1400). This study focuses on the ceramics, both vessels and pipes, recovered from the site. More specifically, the ceramic vessels and pipes recovered from House 2 on the site were analyzed. In addition, a selection of other artifact categories were plotted to determine if significant patterns could be discerned. Keywords: Ceramic Analysis, Identity, Ontario Iroquois Tradition, Middleport, Spatial Distributions, Formation Processes

Social Organisation and Mortuary Program of the Rice Lake-Trent River Middle Woodland Hopewellian Manifestation at Cameron’s Point
Author: Dougherty, Kathleen
Year: 2003
Institution: University of Western Ontario
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: M. Spence
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: A bioarchaeological analysis was performed on the skeletons from Cameron's Point Mound C, a Middle Woodland burial mound dated to AD 100 +/- 55. The mound is located on the north shore of Rice Lake, near Peterborough, Ontario. Past analysis performed in the late 1960s seemed to indicate that the clear bipartite burial pattern of sub-floor semi-articulated and articulated pit burials and disarticulated fill burials was due to rank differences. The goal of this analysis was to re-examine this hypothesis through analysis of the representativeness of the mound series, age/sex compositions, evidence of mortuary processing, and biological structure in order to examine Cameron's Point group membership and test for possible rank differences in the fill and sub-floor burials. A reconstruction of a possible mortuary program whose end-stage could result in this type of patterning was performed, ultimately discounting the rank hypothesis, and increasing the understanding of Middle Woodland mortuary practices. Keywords: Hopewellian, Middle Woodland, Rice Lake, Mound Burial, Mortuary Analysis

Middle Woodland Fishing Methods at the Bluewater Bridge South Site (AfHo-7)
Author: Prowse, Shari
Year: 2003
Institution: University of Western Ontario
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: C. Ellis
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: This thesis examines the fishing methods used by the pre-contact Native inhabitants of the Blue Water Bridge South site (AfHo-7) through ethnographic and archaeological research, the fish fauna remains and the fishing related artifacts excavated from the site. From these lines of evidence it was determined that spring spawning fish species such as lake sturgeon and walleye were being harvested with the use of harpoons and spears for the former, and fish nets and leisters for the latter. Evidence also strongly suggests the existence of an intensive summer fishery that used nets for the capture of spawning freshwater drum as well as a spring and summer opportunistic fishery that employed fishhooks and nets. This site was inferred to have followed a spring early-summer macroband settlement pattern with perhaps a minor fall occupation that may have involved fishing for spawning lake whitefish. Based on the overall pattern of settlement and subsistence inferred for the Blue Water Bridge South site and comparisons with other Middle Woodland sites within the central Great Lakes region, it was concluded that the Middle Woodland pattern of settlement and subsistence was highly variable and influenced by both environmental variables and human choice.

Hafted Diagnostic End Scrapers from the Nettling Site: Assessing Technological Change in the Palaeoindian-Early Archaic Transition
Author: McMillan, Katherine
Year: 2003
Institution: University of Western Ontario
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: C. Ellis
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: The primary goal of this thesis has been to contribute to our knowledge of the Palaeoindian-Archaic transition in the lower Great Lakes. The study is based on artifacts from the Kirk Corner-Notched horizon Nettling site (9,500-8,900 BP), the largest single­component Early Archaic site in southern Ontario. In addition to providing the first detailed description and analysis of the end scrapers from the Nettling site, this thesis compares the Nettling end scrapers to analogous lower Great Lakes Palaeoindian end scrapers, within the framework of the organization of technology. Several important technological changes are apparent, including shifts in blank selection, raw material procurement, and patterns of artifact discard. These technological changes occurred within the context of variable environmental conditions. All of these patterns point to a shift from forager-based organization to a logistically-organized collector strategy, and challenge some of our previously held assumptions regarding the nature of the Palaeoindian-Archaic transition. Keywords: Early Archaic, Nettling, Palaeoindian, Lower Great Lakes, Lithic Analysis, End Scrapers, Organization of Technology, Technological Change, Hunter-Gatherer Adaptations

Iroquoian Chert Acquisition: Changing Patterns in the Late Woodland of Southwestern Ontario
Author: Keron, James
Year: 2003
Institution: University of Western Ontario
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: C. Ellis
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: This thesis examines the organization of Iroquoian chert acquisition technology by comparing a number of sites in the southwestern Ontario. The relative amount of cherts from various sources is examined through time and space and across various types of sites looking for patterns both between sites and within sites. During Glen Meyer times a direct embedded acquisition pattern of Kettle Point chert is evident. Groups from the east of the study area could pass freely through intervening groups to acquire chert with distance being the only factor determining the quantity used. A transition to a down-the-line exchange pattern controlled by lineages takes place with the advent of the Middle Ontario Iroquoian (MOI) stage coincident with other significant changes in social organization indicative of increasing complexity. Also, at that time, there is a general constriction in the accessibility of Kettle Point chert. Use of this chert rebounds through time to an almost obsessive use at the late prehistoric Lawson site.

Scattered Bone: Fragmentary Human Remains From the Lawson Site (AfHg-1)
Author: Fontaine, Adriana
Year: 2004
Institution: University of Western Ontario
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: M. Spence
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: This study focuses on the analysis of scattered and fragmentary human skeletal remains from the Lawson site. Evidence from ethnohistory and archaeology was used to develop a set of hypotheses for explaining scattered human remains in the Neutral village. These hypotheses were used in conjunction with the analysis of sharp force trauma, thermal alteration, animal scavenging, green bone fractures and intrasite spatial analysis in order to interpret the presence of these scattered remains. Intersite comparison was made with a site interpreted to exhibit cannibalism (Roebuck), a site interpreted to not have cannibalism (Keffer) and finally, with a prehistoric ossuary (Orkney Crescent). The final analysis indicates that scattered remains from Lawson likely had several origins, including disturbed secondary burial contexts, inter-personal violence and possible cannibalism. The osteological evidence for cannibalism in Ontario Iroquoian sites is hampered by the inability to distinguish dismemberment and defleshing associated with cannibalism versus traditional mortuary ritual. Keywords: Scattered human remains, bioarchaeology, osteology, cannibalism, mortuary practices, Prehistoric Neutral Indians, Southwestern Ontario

An Examination of Foreign Ceramic Styles: Parker Festooned in Southwestern Ontario Neutral Sites
Author: Pawlowski, Andrew
Year: 2005
Institution: University of Western Ontario
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: M. Spence
Degree Type: UniversityAbstract: The appearance of Algonkian Western Basin-influenced Parker Festooned ceramics on Neutral Iroquoian sites in southwestern Ontario in the 15th and 16th centuries A.D. poses problems for our understanding of Ontario prehistory. Archaeologists have questioned whether these Parker Festooned ceramics were made by foreign people rather than constructed by local Neutral potters copying the foreign design. Parker Festooned and typical Neutral ceramics from the Lawson (AgHh-1), Harrietsville (AfHj-10), and Brian (AfHh-10) Neutral village sites are compared to establish the presence or absence of functional, technological, and stylistic differences between the ceramic types. Ceramic thin-section petrography, rim thickness, rim diameters, and spatial distributions of the ceramic types using Geographical Information Systems (GIS) are methodologies used to show that Parker Festooned ceramics were made by foreign potters and incorporated into Neutral village sites. Keywords: Neutral Iroquoian, Western Basin, Ceramic analysis, Southwestern Ontario, Parker Festooned, Western Basin, Ceramic petrography, Geographic Information Systems

Small Point Archaic Lithic Procurement and Use in Southern Ontario
Author: Pearce, Sherri
Year: 2008
Institution: University of Western Ontario
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: C. Ellis
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: This thesis examines the lithic procurement and use behaviours of Small Point Archaic people occupying southern Ontario. The ultimate goal of this thesis was to test the "Direct-Embedded" procurement model originally proposed by Ellis and Spence (1997) in which they argued that Small Point Archaic people used mainly two toolstone sources and traversed most of southern Ontario in their seasonal rounds. An examination of data collected from 54 Small Point Archaic sites has shown that direct-embedded procurement of lithic resources was the norm at most sites, but Small Point Archaic people were not traveling all over southern Ontario utilizing both Kettle Point and Onondaga cherts during normal settlement movements. The most significant finding from the lithic data collected is that Onondaga chert is present at all sites and is being exchanged at a regional level in the form of points and preforms to areas far distant from the primary outcrops. Keywords: Late Archaic, Terminal Archaic, Small Point Archaic, Lithic Procurement, Direct­Embedded Procurement, Onondaga Chert, Kettle Point Chert, Southern Ontario, Technological Organization, Lithic Technology, Exchange, Habitus

An Eastern Regional Expression of the Pickering Branch
Author: Pearce, Robert James
Year: 1977
Institution: Trent University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: M. Tamplin
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: pending

Late Wisconsin Environments and Paleo-Indian Occupation in the Northeastern United States and Southern Ontario
Author: Jackson, Laurie James
Year: 1978
Institution: Trent University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: R. Johnston
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: pending

The Pipeline Site: A Component of the Late Ontario Iroquois Stage
Author: Busby, Anne Melanie
Year: 1979
Institution: Trent University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: R. Johnston
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: pending

The Wyght Site: A Multicomponent Woodland Site on the Lower Rideau Lake, Leeds County, Ontario
Author: Watson, Gordon Dulmage
Year: 1980
Institution: Trent University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: R. Johnston
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: pending

The Wolfe Creek Site: A Prehistoric Neutral Frontier Community
Author: Foster, Gary Anthony Martin
Year: 1982
Institution: Trent University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: R. Johnston
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: pending

A Petrological Analysis of Kettle Point Chert and Its Spatial and Temporal Distribution in Regional Prehistory
Author: Janusas, Scarlett Emilie
Year: 1983
Institution: Trent University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: R. Johnston
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: pending

Late Palaeo-Indian Settlement Patterns Along the Margins of the Simcoe Lowland in Southcentral Ontario
Author: Dibb, Gordon Charles
Year: 1985
Institution: Trent University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: R. Vastokas
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: pending

The Coleman Site (AiHd-7): A Late Prehistoric Iroquoian Village in the Waterloo Region
Author: MacDonald, Robert Ian
Year: 1986
Institution: Trent University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: R. Vastokas
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: pending

Haldimand Chert & Its Early Archaic Manifestation in Southern Ontario
Author: Parker, Lawrence Ralph
Year: 1986
Institution: Trent University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: R. Vastokas
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: pending

Analyses of the Le Caron Faunal Assemblage: A Study in Methods and Techniques
Author: Muir, Robert James
Year: 1990
Institution: Trent University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: S. Jamieson
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: This thesis presents analyses, including a detailed intrasite study using Whallon's (1984) 'Unconstrained Clustering' method, of faunal remains recovered from the Le Caron site, a ca. A.D. 1630-1640 Huron village located in Simcoe County, Ontario. The results of the analyses provide information about various aspects of historic Huron subsistence, ritual activity and longhouse spatial organization. The data is found to be consistent with the hypothesis developed by Latta (1976), that the economic importance of hunting declined while fishing increased in historic Huronia. Evidence of ritual sacrifice of dogs is identified at the Le Caron site. It is argued that these rituals were part of a widespread response to the deadly European epidemics which plagued historic Huronia and that the use of the domestic dog in such rituals was rooted in their status within the village community. Spatially discrete ritual and domestic refuse indicate the segregation of activities within longhouses, contradicting traditional views about Iroquoian longhouse organization.

A Study of the Knife Lake Siltstone Quarries on Knife Lake (Mookomaan Zaaga'igan), Quetico Provincial Park, Ontario
Author: Nelson, Jon
Year: 1992
Institution: Trent University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: M. Tamplin
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: Knife Lake, from the Ojibwa Mookomaan zaaga'igan, lies on the Ontario-Minnesota border. A field survey including both the shoreline and the adjacent bush on the Ontario side of the lake was conducted to determine the extent of quarry activity. Twenty quarry sites were found. Evidence of quarry activity included the presence of flake scars on bedrock and boulders, hammerstones, hammerstone marks adjacent to quarry faces, and quarry debris. In addition, intact and broken preforms were recovered from quarry sites and adjacent campsites. Geological samples were obtained and those from quarry sites were overwhelmingly fine-grained Knife Lake siltstone (94%), while non-quarry samples were predominantly coarser-grained (77%). Neutron activation analysis of quarry samples showed that Knife Lake siltstone was distinct from all except some Lake of the Woods chert samples. Flakes from 7 of the 9 archaeological sites analyzed closely matched the Knife Lake quarry samples. Thin-sections of Knife Lake siltstone indicated it is composed of silt-sized particles. Its high silica content and metamorphosed nature indicate it should be called Knife Lake silicified metasiltstone.

The Abbott Site: Investigating the Potential of a Surface Collected Lithic Assemblage from Southern Ontario
Author: Brownell, Ward Glen
Year: 1993
Institution: Trent University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: S. Jamieson
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: This thesis reports the results of a use wear and debitage analysis conducted on the Abbott site lithics, a surface collected assemblage containing almost 4000 bifaces, unifaces and debitage fragments from Oakland Township, Brant County, in Southern Ontario. The Abbott site assemblage is a quintessential example of a surface derived lithic collection. It is temporally mixed with no accompanying faunal, floral, spatial, or any other contextual data. It is imperative that appropriate methodologies be developed so that relevant cultural information can be obtained from what is traditionally considered an "impoverished artifact collection". A low power use wear study employing magnifications of 100x and less, and a comprehensive debitage analysis was formulated and applied to the Abbott assemblage. The results demonstrate that this type of approach has considerable potential for recovering information that would normally not be obtainable. The use wear demonstrates that a wide range of activities were carried out at the Abbott locality. The debitage analysis suggests that secondary lithic reduction activities were responsible for this aspect of the collection. These data are used to infer, on a very general level, a continuity between site occupations based upon similarities in treatment of lithic resources and subsistence activities.

Huron Ceramic Smoking Pipes: A Semiotic Analysis
Author: Doak, Colin James
Year: 1993
Institution: Trent University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: S. Jamieson
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: pending

An Analysis of Ceramics from the Hungry Hall Site, Northwestern Ontario
Author: Zibauer, Doris Patricia
Year: 1994
Institution: Trent University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: S. Jamieson
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: This thesis presents attribute and typological analyses of the total rim and whole vessel assemblages from Mound I and II of the Hungry Hall site, Northwestern Ontario, following Lenius and Olinyk's (1990) newly devised Upper Great Lakes Woodland ceramic taxonomy. Most rim fragments were accidentally incorporated into the mound structure when fill was borrowed from occupation sites. Complete vessels are associated with mortuary behaviours at the mounds. Previous examinations of portions of the Hungry Hall ceramic assemblages have resulted in conflicting assignment of the site to late Laurel or Blackduck. The results of this analysis are that Blackduck ceramics represent the most important group from the fill at both mounds, although vessels of the Middle Woodland Laurel and Late Woodland Rainy River and Selkirk Composites are present. I conclude from complete vessels that the Hungry Hall Mounds were constructed during the Late Woodland period, although the mounds are not necessarily contemporaneous. Indeed, I argue that Mound I was likely constructed prior to Mound II. Strongest affinities of both mounds are to the Rainy River Composite and to the late Blackduck Horizon which places mound building circa A.D. 900/1000 to 1350. The diversity of ceramic groups represented at the site may be explained by two possibilities. Either a number of culturally different groups used the site at separate times, or, conversely, a number of different groups converged at the site at the same time. These interpretations cannot be resolved until associated habitation areas are identified and examined.

An Attribute and Spatial Analysis of Several Ground Stone Artifact Types from Southern Ontario, in Relation to their Patterning and Context in the Northeast
Author: Lackowicz, Robert John
Year: 1996
Institution: Trent University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: S. Jamieson
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: pending

Prosperity, Adversity and the Appearance of Worth; Socio-Economic Status and the Macdonells of Pointe Fortune, Ontario 1813-1881
Author: Vaccarelli, Vito
Year: 1996
Institution: Trent University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: S. Jamieson
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: This thesis attempts to establish a theoretical and methodological approach for exploring the complex relationship between various forms of material culture and socio-economic status (Beaudry 1988; Klein 1991; Little 1992; Schuyler 1988; Spencer-Wood 1987). This was accomplished by examining the documentary, architectural, and archaeological (1,202 ceramic vessels, 94 cutlery and 110 toy items) material culture of the nineteenth century Macdonell family of Pointe Fortune, Ontario. The results indicate that, though the Macdonells had a well established and prominent position in the Pointe Fortune community, the family was plagued by economic hardships. The economic problems, however, did not diminish their status, nor their ability to display that status through material symbols. Indeed, the three lines of evidence illustrate that through the household's life cycles (birth-marriage-death) and consumer strategies, the Macdonells maintained the appearance of wealth and status by the consumption and manipulation of high quality material culture even when the economic means to do so may not have been present.

The Nineteenth Century Farmer in Upper Canada: A Comparative Butchering Analysis of Four Historical Sites in Ontario
Author: James, Dwayne
Year: 1997
Institution: Trent University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: S. Jamieson
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: pending

Pinched-Face Human Effigy Pipes: A Contextual Analysis
Author: Kearsley, Ronald Glenn
Year: 1997
Institution: Trent University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: S. Jamieson
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: Pinched-face human effigy pipes are a distinctive type of ceramic smoking pipe made and used by Iroquoian speaking peoples throughout the eastern Great Lakes region around A.D. 1620-1650. Despite their detailed motif and sculptured execution, and the large area over which they are found, pinched-face pipes are highly standardized in appearance. Why did this type of pipe appear so suddenly and gain such a wide spread popularity? The purpose of this thesis is to attempt to understand the social mechanisms that conditioned their manufacture and use. This is achieved by: (1) an examination of the geographical chronological and cultural distribution of pinched-face pipes; and (2) an interpretive analysis of the attributes of the pipes themselves in order to understand their meaning(s) and to suggest the specific sociocultural context in which they may have been used. The results of this study indicate that pinched-face effigy pipes represent an organized attempt by particular individuals within Iroquoian society to counteract the disease, change, and misfortune brought on by European contact. It is also argued that these effigy pipes were made by craft specialists, and in some cases may have been intended as depictions of actual dramatis personae commonly known to the Iroquoian peoples of the seventeenth century.

Pergantile and King's Forest Park: Glen Meyer, Hamilton, Ontario
Author: Robert, Daniel Luc
Year: 1997
Institution: Trent University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: S. Jamieson
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: The Pergentile and King's Forest Park sites are Early Ontario Iroquoian sites located on Red Hill Creek at the head of Lake Ontario near Hamilton, Ontario. Artifacts and ecofacts from both sites were reanalyzed for this thesis and found that they are late Glen Meyer settlements. This was corroborated by artifact analyses and radiocarbon analysis of carbonized material recovered from both sites. The Pergentile site appears to be a hamlet or village settlement that may have been occupied year-round between 1100 to 1300 AD. The King's Forest Park site was a smaller, campsite setttement likely occupied for shorter periods, perhaps from fall through to the spring between 1200 to 1400 AD. Furthermore, both sites were compared to others in the region. It was found that the transition from Early to Middle Iroquoian substages is much more complex than previously assumed. This is significant because this region is supposedly where the dividing line between Pickering and Glen Meyer was situated. It is argued that assumptions underlying current models of Iroquoian development have not been thoroughly tested. Until models that take into account the more complex realities of the archaeological record are developed and tested, hypotheses such as the conquest proposed by Wright (1966) are extremely suspect. The data presented in this thesis underlines the weakness in current models of Iroquoian development.

Keeping It Cool: Investigations Around The Benares Icehouse, Mississauga, Ontario
Author: Springate, Megan Elizabeth
Year: 1997
Institution: Trent University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: S. Jamieson
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: This thesis presents description and analysis of the structure known as the icehouse and associated artifacts from the Benares site (AjGv-30), Mississauga, Ontario. An architectural analysis of this semi-subterranean stone structure indicates that it was constructed by the Harris family as an icehouse in 1857, and modified in the early 1900s. A total of 9,593 artifacts from around this structure were analysed. Following Leone and Potter (1988), connections between material objects, economic ability, and social status are explored. Results indicate that the Harrises' economic ability was compromised by devastating fires in 1855 and 1856. In isolation, this suggests that the Harris family became members of a lower class after the fires; the documentary record, however, indicates that despite financial difficulties, they remained members of the 'country gentry'. Social and economic status, while linked, cannot be considered equivalent. Despite Jouppien's (1980:27) hypothesis, artifact analysis indicates that mean date calculations using sherd frequencies are more accurate than those using minimum vessel counts.

A Synthesis of Middle Woodland Panpipes in Eastern North America
Author: Turff, Gina M.
Year: 1997
Institution: Trent University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: M. Tamplin
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: Panpipes are often included in discussions of Hopewell archaeology as they have been found in Middle Woodland sites, ca 200 B.C.-A.D. 400, throughout eastern North America. An investigation was undertaken to determine if the Hopewell panpipes from various regions are identical and found only in the burials of adult males. In the course of this investigation, the number of panpipes was determined, a typology was established, the sources for the metals used were investigated, and data were compiled on the age and sex of individuals from burials associated with panpipes. A panpipe data and illustration inventory was also compiled. Although it was determined that Hopewell panpipes are not homogeneous in form or size, it could not be demonstrated that panpipes were associated only with the burials of a specific age group or gender since the corroborating data are often lacking or incomplete. Panpipes, nonetheless, constitute an important artifact type associated with many Hopewell sites.

The Relationship Between Cultural Crisis and Material Culture Creativity Among The Ontario Iroquoians, ca. 1530-1650 A.D.
Author: McGarry, Karen Ann
Year: 1998
Institution: Trent University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: J. Vastokas
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: This thesis explores the relationship between sociocultural stress and creativity as evidenced in a diachronic examination of the material culture of the Ontario Iroquoians between 1530 and 1650 A.D. The period after 1580 A.D. was a time of severe cultural disruption and increased stress for the Iroquoians as it coincided with the onset and/or intensification of both positive and negative sociocultural stress factors. These developments stimulated a florescence of ritual activity and material culture, and a period of increased creativity in the expressive arts. Under such conditions of escalating stress, material culture played a vital therapeutic role at the sociocultural level, much in the same way as it functions at the level of individuals undergoing art therapy. In assessing this relationship, an interdisciplinary, historical approach has been adopted in which ethnographic, ethnohistoric, archaeological, and art historical sources and methods of analysis and interpretation are employed. In particular, the imagery and formal qualities of various material culture items, including effigy pipes, pendants, rattles, figurines, re-worked metal, and combs have been examined diachronically to determine the relationship between creativity and sociocultural stress.

A Bioarchaeological Approach to Constructing Mortuary practices: A Case Study From the Circa A.D. 1580-1625 Petun Buckingham Ossuary Site (BcHb - 24), Ontario Canada
Author: Rost, Robert
Year: 1999
Institution: Trent University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: H. Helmuth
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: The purpose of this thesis is to determine if it is possible to construct the mortuary practices associated with the circa A.D. 1580-1625 Petun Buckingham Ossuary site (BcHb-24), Ontario, Canada. To address this problem, this study adopts a bioarchaeological approach that consists of contextual and analytical frameworks. The contextual framework provides the sociocultural-demographic and taphonomic backgrounds for interpreting the inferred mortuary practices and biological trends associated with the Buckingham Ossuary analysed assemblage. The analytical framework outlines an approach for constructing mortuary practices via human remains by discussing the osteological methods of this thesis. The ossuary contained at least twelve individuals, both sexes, individuals with different stature, copper artefacts, and all age categories. The latter are represented by the remains probably belonging to two old adults, four middle adults, one young adult, one adolescent, one child, one infant, and one fetus. However, the results are too incomplete, biased, and non-specific to relate mortuary practices to specific body part(s), health, body exposure, body preparation, and cremation. This thesis study has three major implications: (1) bioarchaeologists can make significant contributions to mortuary studies; (2) a detailed description of the human skeletal material from the Buckingham Ossuary site provides new information for constructing mortuary practices associated with this site and the Petun; and (3) all collections, whatever their completeness, have scientific value.

The Syncretic Continuum: A Model for Understanding The Incorporation of European Goods at Le Caron, A 17th Century Huron Village Site, Ontario
Author: Evans, Helen Marie
Year: 1999
Institution: Trent University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: S. Jamieson
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: This thesis examines the incorporation of European artifacts by the Huron peoples who occupied the Le Caron village site in Simcoe County, Ontario, ca. A.D. 1615-1640+. Theoretical approaches used by archaeologists to understand culture contact are typically impeded by simplistic culture-histories with a reliance on Eurocentric documentation and outdated acculturation paradigms which mask dynamic Native actions. Therein, acculturative and syncretic processes are (re)assessed for their practical application to archaeology, and a local sequence for Huron development and interaction is examined through intrasite analyses of European goods recovered from the Le Caron site. Addressed within the context of syncretic theory (Nutini 1988) and viewed as a temporal continuum, this thesis demonstrates that Iroquoian, rather than European, objectives and motivations played the primary role in directing processes of cultural change during the first half of the 17th century.

Archaeology and First Nations: Examining the Attitudes of Ontario Archaeologists
Author: Kapyrka, Julie
Year: 2005
Institution: Trent University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: S. Jamieson
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: Indigenous people around the world have been increasing their involvement in archaeology and as a result the discipline has undergone some significant changes in its theoretical design and methodological practices. "Ownership" of the past, the interpretation of the past and the control of access to the evidence of the past are issues that have increasingly permeated archaeological discourse in recent years. As a result, many First Nations and some archaeologists have cast a shadow of "cultural insensitivity" over all archaeologists. This study is aimed at addressing this accusation in Ontario through an examination of the attitudes of archaeologists regarding First Nations' interests. A survey questionnaire was used to collect data through the mail and is statistically analyzed. Results indicate that archaeologists' attitudes regarding First Nations' interests are contradictory and that a measure of uncertainty and complacency surrounds archaeological ethics pertaining to Aboriginal peoples. This thesis provides a model for Ontario that promotes long-term commitments to the promotion of proactive, cross-cultural, co-operative educational programs developed by archaeologists and First Nations communities. This Master's thesis is designed as the first stage of a multi-stage research project that would see later stages including the analyses of the attitudes of First Nations regarding archaeologists and archaeological practice. A comparative analysis of these studies would highlight contentious issues that need to be addressed collaboratively.

Organisation of Technology and Chert Raw Material Utilisation at the Bark Site, Southern Ontario
Author: Miles, Katie Margaret
Year: 2005
Institution: Trent University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: S. Jamieson
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: The purpose of this thesis is to elucidate how specific cherts were used by aboriginal peoples in the middle Trent Valley during the fifteenth century by researching stone tool manufacture at the Bark site (BbGp-12), Peterborough County, Ontario. In particular, 164 artifacts from the Bark site chert assemblage were analysed for technological and raw material attributes. Technological analysis found that informal tools at Bark were produced predominantly using bipolar reduction. Raw material analysis, consisting of macroscopic, petrographic, and palynological analyses, determined that Onondaga Formation, Fossil Hill Formation and Upper Gull Formation cherts were the most abundant chert types utilised by the inhabitants of Bark. This also demonstrated the necessity of using a combination of analytical techniques for chert provenance. By providing an interpretation of chert raw material acquisition and utilisation of the people of the Bark site I have refined our understanding of chert use by native peoples in the middle Trent valley during the fifteenth century.

Ontario's First Farmers? Investigations Into Princess Point and the Introduction of Horticulture to Ontario
Author: Cappella, Katherine
Year: 2006
Institution: Trent University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: S. Jamieson
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: This thesis re-examines the introduction of cultigens to Ontario. It presents a model, based on current archaeological theory for the adoption and spread of food production in other areas of the world, to explain the process through which cultigens may have been introduced to Ontario. Archaeological data from Ontario's Middle Woodland and Princess Point periods are applied to this model in order to establish the timing of the introduction of cultigens to the province. As a result of this analysis, it is postulated that, although it is possible that cultigens were introduced at the onset of the Princess Point period, the social environment of the Middle Woodland period was more likely to have facilitated their introduction than the social and economic environment of the Princess Point period. Thus, a possible use of cultigens by Ontario groups much earlier than is commonly conceived is suggested. Further, it is also argued that the Princess Point peoples did not practice horticulture. Cultigens were utilized to a degree that can only be considered transitional between hunting and gathering and horticultural lifeways. The findings of this thesis are important to our understanding of the introduction of cultigens to Ontario as they challenge our current conception of the process and timing of this adoption. Further, they suggest that our current understanding of the incorporation of cultigens into the economies of societies in the Great Lakes region may be incomplete and indicate that more intensive research is necessary in order to comprehend the timing of the earliest cultigen use in the region.

A Palaeopathological Analysis and Health Reconstruction of a 19th Century Methodist Cemetary from Port Hope, Ontario
Author: Hawken, Christianne
Year: 2006
Institution: Trent University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: A. Keenleyside
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: Over the past two decades, an increased focus on heritage preservation has provided archaeologists with opportunities to study excavated historical sites such as pioneer burial grounds. The present study is based on a skeletal sample of at least sixty-two individuals from a 19 th century Wesleyan Methodist cemetery located in Port Hope, Ontario, dated between the early 1830s and 1873. The main objective of this study is to reconstruct the health status of the individuals in this sample by establishing the types and extent of pathological conditions observed in the human skeletal remains, based primarily on macroscopic observations. The remains showed signs of a variety of health problems such as joint disease, infection, traumatic injury, and some metabolic/nutritional deficiencies which were inferred to be related to their diet, living conditions, and occupation.

Life and Health in Nineteenth Century Port Hope, Ontario: Isotopic and Dental Evidence of Diet
Author: Blackbourne, Karen
Year: 2006
Institution: Trent University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: A. Keenleyside
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: This study investigates diet through the analysis of dental pathology and stable isotopes in collagen samples from a skeletal collection of sixty-four individuals excavated from a 19th century Methodist cemetery in Port Hope, Ontario. The patterns of dental pathology indicate that these individuals consumed an extremely carbohydrate-rich diet. The high rate of caries observed in this sample, and other Canadian samples, reveals that 19th century Canadians consumed a much more cariogenic diet than the British and Americans. The analysis of stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes in human collagen samples indicate that the diet of these Canadian settlers remained similar to that of their European counterparts with a heavy reliance on meat, wheat, and root vegetables, while maize and sugar cane were not important components of their diet. The combined use of isotopic and dental evidence of diet in light of historical evidence provides insight into the living conditions in 19 th century Port Hope and enhances our knowledge of how diet, culture, and environment influence and affect health.

The Richardson Site Revisited: An Examination of Plant Remains and Dates From a Late Pickering Site
Author: Murphy, Charlene Alexandria
Year: 2006
Institution: Trent University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: M. Tamplin/S. Jamieson
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: The Richardson site has proven difficult to place culturally and temporally within the Early Ontario Iroquoian tradition. In revisiting this problem, a sub-sample of unanalyzed water screened material from the 1976 investigation was selected from features within Longhouse One and Midden One for examination and the recovered floral material was counted and identified. My results confirm those of R. Pearce that maize was the only cultigen present. However, I further conclude that the site was most likely occupied only during the winter months and not, as previously thought, on a year-round basis. To further clarify the temporal placement of the Richardson site, two radiocarbon assays were performed. When calibrated and combined with the previous radiocarbon dates from the site two distinct dating clusters were generated. I conclude that Early Ontario Iroquoian people were utilizing the natural resources of the site area, circa. A.D. 1100. However, radiocarbon dates and the archaeological evidence support an occupation of the site, proper, of circa. A.D. 1300--1400.

A Wendat Flaked Stone Assemblage From the Le Caron Site, Simcoe County, Ontario
Author: Jolly, Alistair Ronald
Year: 2007
Institution: Trent University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: S. Jamieson
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: This thesis examines flaked lithic artifacts recovered from the Le Caron site (BeGx-15), an early sixteenth century A.D. Wendat village located in Simcoe County, Ontario. The study illustrates the nature of reductive strategies at the site by morphological categorization of artifacts by morphology, followed by statistical testing. Type and frequency of tools and debitage, reductive strategies, raw material and spatial and temporal distributions are considered. Also considered is why a specific reductive technique was employed and how this was adapted to a particular way of life, demonstrating how technology fits into the sociocultural makeup of past peoples. This includes reflections on the uselife of an item and how use activities are related to cultural behaviour. Analysis demonstrates that the Le Caron lithic assemblage is dominated by bipolar reduction and imported formal tools. The latter indicate strong ties to neighbouring Aboriginal groups and illustrate trade networks that extend as far south as the Upper Ohio Valley.

The Archaic Lithic Assemblage From West Burleigh Bay, Ontario
Author: Teichroeb, Janice M.
Year: 2007
Institution: Trent University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: S. Jamieson
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: The objective of this thesis is to document the Archaic (ca. 10,000 to 2800 BP) lithic assemblage from the West Burleigh Bay site (BdGn-12) and to examine changes in raw material usage and flint-knapping skill during the Archaic period in southeastern Ontario. The use of coarse-grained, locally available, lithic material is a noted characteristic of the Archaic period in the Northeast and the West Burleigh Bay Archaic assemblage fits this model. One third of diagnostic Archaic tools excavated from the site were made on locally occurring, black, lightly metamorphosed, sedimentary material. Toolstone provenance and quality were assessed as were knappers' skill levels to determine if the tools were made with less care and skill or if the quality of the toolstone affected the appearance of finished tools. Analysis determined that flint-knapping skill levels at the West Burleigh Bay site remained constant throughout the Archaic but that raw material quality fluctuated.

Stable Isotope Analysis and Geographic Origins of 19th Century Port Hope Pioneers
Author: Paterson, Catherine A.
Year: 2007
Institution: Trent University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: A. Keenleyside
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: The aim of this research is to determine the geographic origins of 26 individuals, known as the Hawkins collection, who were buried in the Old Wesleyan Methodist Cemetery in Port Hope, Ontario between 1830 and the mid 1870s. This was done using stable oxygen isotope analysis of the carbonate component of bone and enamel. Analysis of nine First Nations individuals from burial sites near Campbellford and Lake Scugog provide the local isotopic signature of -9.5 to -12[per thousand]. The δ 18 Oc values obtained from the analysis of the enamel of the Port Hope individuals range from 22.67 to 26.91[per thousand] (-6.19 to -11.52[per thousand] when converted to δ 18 Ow ) indicating that they originated from Upper Canada, the Northeastern United States, and the British Isles. All seven children under the age of 15 were born in the Port Hope region. Twelve of the 16 adults of known age older than 15 are non-local and often relocated during their childhood.

Socioeconomic status and the British officers at Fort York, 1815 -1830
Author: Foster, Jean-Paul
Year: 2008
Institution: Trent University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: S. Jamieson
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: The concept of socioeconomic status has been widely used in historical archaeology as a means by which to assess social group relationships. The methods used to derive socioeconomic status have been contentious, and there is not yet a universally accepted approach. This thesis aims to evaluate the comparative utility of four of the most appropriate methods, using the ceramic and glass tableware components of a collection excavated at Fort York in 1987 (Operation 1FY3) along with historic documents, associated with the Officers' Barracks and Mess. Ratio comparisons, weighted expense rank values, and ceramic price index values are used to gauge the relative cost of the archaeological collection, while documentary analysis focuses on a comparison of the amount of space assigned to officers and soldiers using contemporary plans. The assemblage, dating between the 1815 construction of the barracks and the ca. 1828 filling of the east areaway, conforms to patterns observed at other contemporary British military sites, A high level of affluence is inferred from the weighted expense rank values and ceramic cost indices, while ratio comparisons are deemed less useful. Plan analysis suggests that less space was given to the officers at Fort York than elsewhere. This, along with a lack of the most prestigious ceramics, accords with the suggestion that the highest ranking officers lived outside the garrison.

A location analysis of early seventeenth century Neutral settlements, southern Ontario
Author: Krahn, Thomas
Year: 2008
Institution: Trent University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: S. Jamieson
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: This is a re-examination of the settlement pattern of seventeenth century Neutral town, village and hamlet sites within the Fairchild-Big Creeks and Spencer-Bronte Creeks drainages. The updated analysis is intended to take into consideration the questions of the relationships of site size, economic factors and socio-political organization, which have been raised in the years subsequent to earlier studies of the Neutral settlement pattern. GIS is used to tabulate the contents of catchments and comparisons of the results by site size and locations are used to examine the relationships between sites and environmental features. This analysis confirms existing assumptions about the association of Neutral sites with respect to individual environmental variables, namely streams, elevated locations and well-drained light textured soils. This analysis also reveals differences between the Glass Bead Period 2 and Glass Bead Period 3 site locations indicating greater association with larger streams, population concentration southwards in the Fairchild-Big Creeks site cluster, and movement eastwards into the Spencer-Bronte site cluster.

Canadian Shield rock art and the landscape perspective
Author: Zawadzka, Dagmara
Year: 2008
Institution: Trent University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: J. Vastokas
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: Canadian Shield rock art, which is believed to have been created by Algonquian-speaking peoples, survives in the form of pictographs finger-painted with red ochre and petroglyphs pecked or incised into rocky outcrops. This study examines Canadian Shield rock art from a landscape perspective, by focusing specifically on the phenomenology of landscape. The aims of this study are to elucidate why rock art sites are found in their particular locations and why certain landscape attributes might have guided the selection of particular sites for creation of rock art. Furthermore, the possible functions of Canadian Shield rock art are explored. This study concludes that multi-functional rock art sites form an integral part of the Algonquian sacred landscape and that landscape attributes present at the site represent the spiritual and cosmological concepts of Algonquian-speaking peoples. In doing so, it helps shed light on an often neglected form of visual expression within the larger Algonquian-speaking peoples' belief system.

Early Archaic/Early Holocene Lithic Technology in Southcentral Ontario, Canada
Author: Bursey, Jeffrey
Year: 2008
Institution: University of Toronto
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: D.G. Smith
Degree Type: Ph.D.
Abstract: pending

Pots as Agents: A Phenomenological Approach to Late Woodland Period (CA. AD 900-1300) Pottery Production and Use in Southwestern Ontario, Canada.
Author: Watts, Christopher M.
Year: 2006
Institution: University of Toronto
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: D.G. Smith
Degree Type: Ph.D.
Abstract: pending

Processes of Cultural Change: Ceramics and interaction across the middle to Late Woodland Transition in South-Central Ontario.
Author: Curtis, Jenneth
Year: 2004
Institution: University of Toronto
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: M. Latta
Degree Type: Ph.D.
Abstract: pending

New Materials, Old Ideas: Native Use of European-Introduced Metals in the Northeast.
Author: Anselmi, Lisa
Year: 2003
Institution: University of Toronto
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: M. Latta
Degree Type: Ph.D.
Abstract: pending

Huron Potters and Archaeological Contructs: Researching Ceramic Microstylistics.
Author: Martelle, Holly
Year: 2002
Institution: University of Toronto
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: M. Latta
Degree Type: Ph.D.
Abstract: pending

Princess Point Palaoethnobotany.
Author: Saunders, Della
Year: 2001
Institution: University of Toronto
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: G.W. Crawford
Degree Type: Ph.D.
Abstract: This dissertation explores the human-plant interrelationship of Princess Point in southern Ontario. Princess Point is one of a number of prehistoric populations that inhabited the Lower Great Lakes region and is likely ancestral to later Iroquoian horticultural societies. This complex dates from about 1570 to 970 B.P., ascribing it to the early Late Woodland of southern Ontario. The goal of this study is to explore early horticulture, together with plant use generally, in southern Ontario, and to gain a better understanding of a time when people were changing their subsistence pattern from one based on wild plant resources to one that incorporated crops. Nearly 1700 litres of soil samples were analyzed, resulting in the identification of over 3400 macrobotanical remains. The study also explores the microbotanical techniques of biochemical analysis of organic residues and phytolith analysis. Princess Point represents the first shift to a subsistence pattern that incorporated horticulture into a hunting, fishing, and plant collecting lifeway. The earliest dates for evidence of corn horticulture in Ontario are from Princess Point. By Glen Meyer, a reliance on agriculture had increased in Ontario. The continued use of many plant species exists from Princess Point to Glen Meyer; however, Princess Point exhibits a greater frequency of the greens and grains category. An interconnectedness between Princess Point and those populations to the south in the Northeast is seen. Starchy and oily-seeded annuals, such as chenopod, erect knotweed, and purslane, are common both in the Northeast and with Princess Point. This study concludes that rather than simply replacing wild plants, Princess Point incorporated maize horticulture into their economic pattern and continued to be dependent on wild plant foods, especially fleshy fruits, and greens and grains. By exploring the continuum of mild interaction with the environment to intensive interaction, it is possible to obtain a better understanding of all phases of the human-plant interrelationship. This study hopes to stimulate ongoing research on early horticulture in Ontario and encourage continued investigations of Princess Point, together with the time periods before and after Princess Point.

Princess Point: The Landscape of Place.
Author: Dieterman, Frank
Year: 2001
Institution: University of Toronto
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: G.W. Crawford
Degree Type: Ph.D.
Abstract: The Landscape of Place is an interpretation of Princess Point settlement as an expression of the surrounding landscape. Princess Point is a proto-Iroquoian group, who may or may not be direct ancestors of Ontario Iroquois, that occupied southwestern Ontario circa A.D. 500 to 1050. This dissertation defines and models the Princess Point settlement system with emphasis on the relative contributions of activities associated with a period of sedentarisation, social re-organisation, and subsistence change in the form of maize cultivation activities. The research objective of this dissertation uses a substantive evaluation of the Princess Point settlement system through spatial and temporal modelling of the interrelationships between archaeological sites and the environment. The research objective also uses an inferential explanation of the Princess Point settlement system through spatial and temporal modelling of the interrelationships between space and place. The data sources include a cross section of 45 sites from Princess Point, Middle Woodland, and Glen Meyer cultures southwestern Ontario, and 10 random locations in the lower Grand River valley, analysed through geographic, topographic, water, and soil landscapes. Landscape modelling illustrates the relationships between a community and its surroundings. These relationships are presented through the format of a viewshed in this dissertation, suggesting the recreation of a community's perception of their immediate landscape. The landscape approach presents site location preferences as cultural decisions based on both economic needs and socially determined needs. The landscape model, as applied to the Princess Point culture, is used to explain the effectiveness of applying a landscape methodology to prehistoric data sets in southern Ontario. Princess Point site distribution follows a newly evolving pattern, whereby a bounded orientation is repeated at all scales. Discrete clusters consist of naturally bounded communities and oriented towards water resources. Sites with rich, yet restricted, resource zones are in association with immediate access to productive soils, placing a greater emphasis on cultivated resources. The Landscape of Place highlights the fulcrum of the shift from people living in the landscape to people living on the landscape.

Subadult Growth and Health from Ossuary Samples of Prehistoric Southern Ontario Iroquoian Populations.
Author: Gruspier, Katherine
Year: 1998
Institution: University of Toronto
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: F.J. Melbye
Degree Type: Ph.D.
Abstract: A growth deficit in juveniles, specifically toddlers, has been demonstrated for many prehistoric and historic skeletal samples in North America. All of these samples consist of skeletons with matching dentitions and long bones. This thesis explores the possibility of detecting a growth deficit in four ossuary samples from Southern Ontario where long bones and dentitions are no longer in association. Each of the four ossuary samples (Fairty, Kleinburg, Carton and Milton) were extensively researched, with regards to their excavation and post-excavation histories, in an attempt to control environmental bias. In one case, radiocarbon dating was done to clarify the date of a sample (Fairty). The results indicate a date much earlier than previously thought, although this date cannot be easily accepted. Potential cultural bias of the samples was addressed by a thorough review of the ethnohistoric documents, and critical appraisal of the demographics of the samples themselves. Much of the research presented here was done in order to minimize potential methodological bias, which has been cited as the most frequent cause of a perceived growth deficit in skeletal samples. Fairty, a pre-contact, marginal horticultural sample displayed a juvenile growth deficit which was most pronounced in the 1 to 3 year age groups. Kleinburg, a circa-contact maize horticultural. sample did not display a longitudinal bone growth deficit in the juveniles, but a cortical bone deficit in both the juveniles and adults of this sample has been shown by the work of others (Saunders and Melbye 1990). The Carton and Milton ossuary samples were biased by human-induced taphonomic changes so severely that no information on growth deficit in juveniles could be derived from them. The concluding chapter of this thesis provides alternative interpretations of subadult health in Southern Ontario by utilizing the results of this, and previous studies on the same samples. These interpretations am based upon the assumptions that high frequencies of stress related skeletal changes can either be pathological, and therefore indicative of excessive morbidity, or they can be viewed as adaptive, and therefore would not have caused any overt clinical illness. These results are considered to be sample specific.

Glen Meyer and Prehistoric Neutral Paleoethnobotany
Author: Ounjian, Glenna
Year: 1997
Institution: University of Toronto
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: G.W. Crawford
Degree Type: Ph.D.
Abstract: The plant remains from fifteen archaeological sites in southwestern Ontario are examined and statistically compared. Two Late Woodland cultures are represented: the early Glen Meyer and the later prehistoric Neutral. These groups spanned a time range from as early as ca. A.D. 900 through to approximately ca. A.D. 1500. Changes in the plant record that occurred during this Late Woodland period are documented, and a remarkable similarity in the ethnobotany of the two cultures is revealed. The Glen Meyer, previously believed to be the key to the beginnings of agriculture in Ontario, are shown to have possessed a stable system of cultivation involving the native cultigens maize (' Zea mays'), bean ('Phaseolus vulgaris'), cucurbit (' Cucurbita pepo'), sunflower ('Helianthus annuus' var. ' macrocarpa') and tobacco ('Nicotiana' sp.), indicating that research must now look to earlier cultures for incipient agriculture. The prehistoric Neutral, previously thought to be a group which relied heavily on cultivated plants for subsistence, are shown to have had as strong a reliance on wild plant foods as their ancestors. The major focus of this study is on the degree of difference between the Glen Meyer and the prehistoric Neutral, and the major finding is that there is such a marked similarity in the ethnobotany of the two cultures that despite their temporal range they are tatistically indistinguishable

Towards a Comprehensive Understanding of the Lithic Production System of the Princess Point Complex, Southwestern Ontario.
Author: Shen, Chen
Year: 1997
Institution: University of Toronto
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: G.W. Crawford
Degree Type: Ph.D.
Abstract: The Princess Point Complex represents a transitional culture from the Middle to Late Woodland in southwestern Ontario (c.a. A.D. 500-1,000). The AMS dates on corn remains (Zea mays) recovered from this culture indicate the emergence of horticulture based on corn-production in the Lower Grand River Valley as early as A.D. 550. This dissertation is a study of lithic assemblages of the Princess Point Complex, with a focus on an examination of lithic production systems. The study aims to reconstruct the pattern of Princess Point lithic production, and to explore the transformation of lithic production in relation to the emergence of food production in the study region. The lithic data comes from a three-year field investigation at the Grand Banks, Lone Pine, and Young 1 sites. The study first established a lithic typology that is distinguished from classification systems currently used for Ontario Woodland materials. Over 2000 lithic samples were selected for both the typo-technological analysis and the use-wear analysis. The results from these analyses have been used to interpret core reduction strategy and tool use-patterning at a Princess Point site (Grand Banks). A diachronic comparison was then undertaken to examine the transformation of lithic production during the Princess Point Period. The results of lithic analysis demonstrate that the Grand Banks lithic industry represents a generalized stone tool production. A trend toward an increased use of flake tools for generalized needs, corresponding to mixed economic activities, is evident in the Princess Point Complex. This study suggests that the shift from specialized to generalized stone tool production, as a long-term technological change, is likely associated with the introduction of horticulture. Since the subsistence shift may have brought about a series of changes in socio-economic structures, the transformation of lithic production might have been caused by, not one single factor, but an integrated relationship of external factors (sedentism, use of localized resources, population increase) and internal factors (time-stress, productive organization). The study aims to stimulate research on lithic production in the context of agriculture in the study region, and to suggest new lines for further study.

Huron Palaeoethnobotany.
Author: Monckton, Stephen
Year: 1990
Institution: University of Toronto
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: G.W. Crawford
Degree Type: Ph.D.
Abstract: pending

On A Darkling Plain: A Study of the Demographic Crisis of the Huron Indians
Author: Sullivan, Norman
Year: 1988
Institution: University of Toronto
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: F.J. Melbye
Degree Type: Ph.D.
Abstract: pending

The Cummins Site Complex and Palaeoindian Occupations in the Northwestern Lake Superior Region
Author: Julig, Patrick
Year: 1988
Institution: University of Toronto
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: M.R. Kleindienst
Degree Type: Ph.D.
Abstract: A large stratified Paleoindian quarry workshop site on raised beaches of proglacial Lake Minong is investigated using a multifaceted "global" approach. Geoarchaeological accomplishments include documentation of site formation processes and stratigraphy, determination of postdepositional effects on artifact context, and a refined interpretation of local post glacial environment. Methods include palynology of on-site bog cores, clay mineralogy, granulometry, and SEM analysis of quartz sand grains. Provenance studies of exotic lithic materials are conducted by use of INAA (Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis) to characterize prospective distant geological quarry sources, and likewise archaeological specimens. Subsistence information is obtained from blood and protein residues on stone tools by meas of cross-over electrophoresis using anti-serum techniques. Technological studies of the stone tool industry are carried out to characterize the Lakehead Complex taconite industry and to investigate lithic procurement, reduction, and transport. Regional site assemblages and caches are compared in order to reveal aspects of biface preform production and transport. Organizational aspects of the local taconite industry are examined, including tool versatility, standardization, and curation, as related to distance from lithic raw materials source.

Washahoe Inninou Dahtsuounoaou: Ecological and Cultural Adaptation Along the Severn River in the Hudson Bay Lowlands of Ontario.
Author: Pilon, Jean-Luc
Year: 1986
Institution: University of Toronto
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: W.N. Irving
Degree Type: Ph.D.
Abstract: The Hudson Bay Lowlands is a vast region with a very unique set of environmental conditions which arise because of its proximity to Hudson Bay, and due to the consequences of post-glacial events. Until recently its ecological potential has been poorly documented and understood. Even today, little specific environmental and ecological data from the Lowlands is available. This situation led many anthropologists to deny the possibility of any significant, year-round prehistoric occupation of the area and to propose that the historic occupants were attracted there by the presence of European traders. Prior to 1981, the area remained virtually unexplored, in spite of the existence of long culture-historical records in adjacent regions. Sites along the Severn River are few and the remains are sparse. However, following four seasons of reconnaissance and testing, it is possible to describe a distinctive adaptive pattern which began 1500 to 2000 years ago. The way of life of these people was predicated on the exploitation of a wide range of subsistence species of which caribou was a focal resource. Their material culture reflects the very significant distances which had to be traveled in order to successfully exploit the Lowlands on a year-long basis. Ceramics were only occasionally acquired, likely through trade. Bone and antler were probably more important raw materials for the manufacture of tools than was stone, which was used in a very expedient fashion. The Severn River assemblages stand in marked contrast to those of neighbouring areas to the East, South and West, although it is evident that long-range communication networks were maintained. From an archaeological perspective, contact with Europeans, although obvious in certain categories of material items such as hunting weapons, had little effect on the general lifestyle of the people until the mid to late XIXth century, when the subsistence/settlement pattern underwent important changes, coincident with declining caribou populations.

Housing Metaphors ‑ A Study of the Role of the Longhouse in the Persistence of Iroquois Culture.
Author: Daly, Richard
Year: 1985
Institution: University of Toronto
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: R.B. Lee
Degree Type: Ph.D.
Abstract: Interview data obtained on reserves indicate the longhouse is a key symbol evoking ethnic identity, continuity and cultural sovereignty in the face of a dominant alien culture. Ethnohistorical and archeological data indicate that socio-spatial configurations of the Proto-contact dwelling served to give cultural meaning to both society and cosmos. The architectural form "contains" a number of social and semiotic contents which build layers of meaning through symbolic analogy in social, ceremonial, political, economic and cosmological pursuits. These symbols are infrequently evoked in secular life, their ethnic attractiveness emanating from esoteric use.

Socio‑Cultural Development and Archaeological Cultural Patterning on the Lower Great Lakes Frontiers of New France.
Author: Brown, Donald
Year: 1985
Institution: University of Toronto
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: R.B. Drewitt
Degree Type: Ph.D.
Abstract: This thesis rejects the notion that French exploitation and colonization of the interior of North America was ad hoc in terms of settlement growth and socio-cultural development. Instead, this study demonstrates that New France frontier society was a reflection of the more populous, contemporary areas of Quebec and Louisbourg, and that there was a socio-cultural continuum from 1604-1760, throughout the geographical area under French economic influence. By using every available French Regime artifact assemblage from "European" sites throughout North America, but focussing on the lower Great Lakes area of southern Ontario, southern Michigan, and surrounding states, and by studying numerous settlement plans described by archaeologists or on contemporary maps, frontier French sites are shown to display temporal and spatial similarities of social organization and material culture. French Regime sites are shown to grow physically in similar patterns, but the greater number of 18th century archaeological sites allows for a more detailed examination of internal growth based on changing site function within the frontier economic and military networks. A diffusionist model is proposed for this culture, in which the artifact and settlement pattern evidence shows the spread of a "French Tradition" to the frontier in a number of stages, with little evidence for the creation of a new society on the French frontier as a response to adaptation. The unusual situation of reliance on a central, focal area for most goods and sale of furs, the active involvement of the central government through a tightly regulated fur trade licensing system, and enforcement by an expanding military organization, are suggested as possible causes for this observation. It is also demonstrated by artifact assemblage and settlement pattern comparisons, that the individuals living on the French frontier attempted to imitate their 17th and 18th century counterparts in the St. Lawrence, and that those individuals living in the frontier settlements were traditionally French in attitudes towards society and culture.

A Re‑examination of the Assumption of Reciprocity Between Middle Woodland Groups Participating in Hopewellian Exchange in the Mid‑ Western Riverine and the Western and Upper Great Lakes Region.
Author: Altuna, Linda
Year: 1984
Institution: University of Toronto
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: W.M. Hurley
Degree Type: Ph.D.
Abstract: The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that the Hopewellian solution allowing trade to take place between the Middle Woodland regional cultural traditions, of the Midwestern-Riverine and the Western and Upper Great Lakes area, involved the extension of generalized reciprocity across social boundaries. In order to test this hypothesis, the distribution patterns of the Hopewellian exotic raw materials in the region of study were defined and analyzed through the application of Plog's (1977: 129) variables critical for the understanding of the organization of exchange networks. This method of analysis allowed not only a means of testing the above hypothesis, but provided a way to test Struever and Houart's (1972) model of the "Hopewell Interaction Sphere", which is based on the assumptions of reciprocity and of the contemporaneity of Hopewellian sites. Results indicate that there were different types of interaction taking place among the Middle Woodland cultural manifestations in the region of study. One type of transaction was characterized by a two-way flow of goods, and was interpreted as representing interregional trade based on reciprocity. A second type of transaction was defined by a one-way flow of goods, and was associated with Ohio Hopewell's special access to certain raw materials. The former type of transaction was probably episodic rather than continuous. The latter was probably characterized by single transactions or by a few short-term transactions. It is proposed that not all raw materials were necessarily traded commodities, but may have been obtained directly from the source area by "neighboring" cultural groups. The results of this study also modify Struever and Houart's (1972) model of the "Hopewell Interaction Sphere" such that reciprocity does not characterize all transactions, and that transactions were more likely episodic in nature. Also, Struever and Houart's (1972) assumption of contemporaneity for Middle Woodland sites participating in Hopewellian exchange is not supported. The removal of this assumption considerably decreases the intensity of trade and invalidates the concept of a "network" of exchange. Other modifications involve evidence for local demand and consumption of Hopewellian exotic goods at a number of Ohio Hopewellian sites rather than redistribution, and for an asymmetric distribution pattern of these exotics, favoring Ohio Hopewell.

Chemical Analysis of Prehistoric Human Bone from Five Temporally Distinct Populations in Southern Ontario.
Author: Katzenberg, Mary Anne
Year: 1983
Institution: University of Toronto
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: F.J. Melbye
Degree Type: Ph.D.
Abstract: This study was carried out in order to address two questions concerning the use of strontium as a dietary indicator. First, is it feasible to compare bone strontium levels from different sites within a given region in order to make dietary inferences? That is, can environmental variation in strontium be detected, and if present, controlled for? Second, if valid comparisons can be made, what patterns of dietary change are indicated for Middle and Late Woodland populations in southern Ontario? Five populations from four sites were chosen for study. The Serpent Mounds site included two components, the mound burials, dated A.D. 100, and the pit burials, dated A.D. 1100. The Fairty ossuary is dated A.D. 1350-1400, the Kleinburg ossuary dates to A.D. 1600 and the early historic Ossossane ossuary is dated A.D. 1636. Ninety-eight human ribs and nineteen animal bones were analysed for the trace elements strontium, rubidium, zirconium and yttrium. Twenty-five human and eight animal bones were analysed for major elements including calcium, phosphorus, silicon, aluminum, iron, manganese, titanium, magnesium and potassium. Soil samples from each site were analysed for all elements. All analyses were performed using a crystal dispersive x-ray fluorescence spectrometer. Results indicate little or no variation in available strontium in the antemortem environment. Variation in the postmortem environment can be detected from examining levels of zirconium, calcium and phosphorus, and the ratio of calcium to phosphorus. Zirconium in bone indicates soil contamination, and abnormally high ratios of calcium to phosphorus indicate contamination from calcium carbonate. Once these abnormalities are corrected for, comparisons among sites and dietary inferences can be made. Among the five populations, the highest strontium levels were found in the Serpent Pits group. The Serpent Mounds people were slightly lower, followed by Fairty, Kleinburg and Ossossane. These findings suggest that with the adoption of maize horticulture, populations became less dependent on strontium rich foods such as nuts and molluscs, and more dependent on low strontium foods such as maize and squash. From a cultural perspective, it appears that the subsistence shift occurred mainly in foods procured by women.

An Archaeological and Ethnohistorical Analysis of Huron Intra‑Community Exchange Systems
Author: Sykes, Clark
Year: 1983
Institution: University of Toronto
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: W.M. Hurley
Degree Type: Ph.D.
Abstract: This study examines the nature and functions of intra-community exchange systems in seventeenth-century Huron society. A general model, drawn from substantivist economic theory, is developed, and evaluated against historical information on Huron exchange, as well as archaeological data from one seventeenth-century village site. In particular, European and native exotic goods from the Warminster Site are described, and their spatial distributions within and between major structural/depositional units at the site are analyzed. The results both of the ethnohistorical analysis, and of the examination of the Warminster Site data indicate that principles of generalized sharing and reciprocity pervaded Huron social interaction at all levels within a single community. Beyond the village, however, social relations apparently became strained, and material exchange, consequently, more restricted. The study further suggests that status and wealth discrepencies, based upon the differential accumulation of material goods, did not characterize Huron communities in the early seventeenth century, nor did the economic aspects of trade determine Huron social organization and residential patterns.

Hungry Hall and Late Woodland Populations of the Upper Great Lakes.
Author: Kolar, John
Year: 1982
Institution: University of Toronto
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: F.J. Melbye
Degree Type: Ph.D.
Abstract: Hungry Hall is a Late Woodland Blackduck burial mound site in northwest Ontario. Excavated in 1959 and 1969, the skeletal material from the site has remained unanalyzed except for an unpublished manuscript describing the remains from Mound II. The thesis has three purposes. In addition to the description of the skeletal biology of the Mound I collection, the hypothesis that lower and upper Mound I represent different populations is examined. The third purpose is to evaluate the hypothesis that Blackduck represents more than one population with biological affinities to different historic Plains tribes, as well as suggestions that skeletal populations over a wide geographic range from the Upper Great Lakes to Manitoba form a single "Northern Woodlands" population. Data regarding the problem of whether Mound I represents a single population are equivocal. Radiocarbon dates suggest that upper Mound I and Mound II are very close temporally. There are no radiocarbon dates for lower Mound I. Cultural data, in the form of ceramics and burial practices, indicate a consistent pattern throughout the Hungry Hall mounds which could indicate a single population. Biological data also are equivocal. The biological affinities of lower and upper Mound I are slightly different, though both appear closely related to Mound II. The differences could reflect statistical error due to small sample size. The comparative analysis employs cranial non-metric data from Late Woodland sites in Ontario, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Manitoba, as well as data from historic Plains tribes. The statistic used is Smith's Measure of Divergence (MD) with the Freeman-Tukey inverse sine transformation of trait frequencies. Comparative analysis indicates that Mound I is closely related to Mille Lacs, north Arvilla and north Blackduck and distinct from south Blackduck. Together with north Arvilla and north Blackduck, Mound I appears related to the historic Cheyenne. South Blackduck is ancestral Dakota. The data support the hypothesis of the dual nature of the Blackduck peoples. Evidence for a "Northern Woodlands" population is not apparent from the non-metric comparisons. The skeletal populations from Minnesota, Ontario, and the Plains periphery differ significantly from those in Michigan and northern Wisconsin.

A Diachronic Study of Dental Palaeopathology and Attritional Status of Prehistoric Ontario Pre‑Iroquois and Iroquois Populations.
Author: Patterson, David
Year: 1982
Institution: University of Toronto
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: F.J. Melbye
Degree Type: Ph.D.
Abstract: This study was conducted to evaluate the oral health of Pre-Iroquois and Iroquois populations from southern Ontario. A battery of dental pathological and attritional status characteristics was utilized to investigate the similarities and differences in dental health among three southern Ontario skeletal samples, each chosen because it falls into a critical period of Ontario prehistory. The samples included: LeVesconte Mound whose time frame was just prior to the emergence of effective maize horticulture; Bennett site, dating just prior to the Middle Ontario Iroquois cultural horizon, during which time some investigators suggest that the Ontario Iroquois became heavily dependent upon maize horticulture; and Kleinburg ossuary, which is representative of a late proto-historic Ontario Iroquois population. Dental characteristics utilized to investigate the oral health of southern Ontario prehistoric populations were rigorously documented and standardized. The dental conditions analyzed included tooth status, occlusal attrition, caries, alveolar abscesses, calculus, periodontal disease, enamel hypoplasia, antemortem tooth trauma, hyperdontia, hypodontia, helicoidal occlusion, and interstitial attrition. Results of the investigation of dental health demonstrated that LeVesconte Mound differed significantly from the Bennett and Kleinburg samples for tooth loss, attrition, caries, and tooth trauma, while there were many similarities for other dental conditions, including alveolar abscesses, calculus, and periodontal disease. Bennett and Kleinburg showed close similarities for almost all dental characteristics, the only major differences being for enamel hypoplasia and tooth chipping. Results of an inter-site comparison of dental conditions of the Ontario Pre-Iroquois and Iroquois showed that samples can be seriated on the basis of certain patterns of dental characteristics. Middle Woodland populations were characterized by a low tooth loss, moderate to severe attrition, low levels of caries, and substantial tooth trauma; those from the beginnings of the Late Woodland period displayed moderate tooth loss, moderate attrition, moderate to high caries, and moderate tooth chipping; and proto-historic Iroquoian samples had high tooth loss, low to moderate attrition, rampant caries, and low to moderate tooth chipping. Additionally, although results suggested that there was a diachronic stability in dental diseases across southern Ontario, there was some evidence of differentiation between Huron and Neutral samples, especially for caries.

The Middleport Pattern in Ontario Iroquoian Prehistory.
Author: Kapches, Mima
Year: 1981
Institution: University of Toronto
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: W.M. Hurley
Degree Type: Ph.D.
Abstract: Middleport is a name applied to a particular time period in the development of the Ontario Iroquois. It is a prehistoric period ranging from ca. A.D. 1250 to A.D. 1450. During Middleport, there existed in Southern Ontario, Iroquoian peoples who lived in palisaded semi-permanent villages 3 to 5 acres in size, who practiced maize horticulture, and who buried their dead in ossuaries. The dominant theories concerning Middleport were those of Wright (1966) who theorized that Middleport was a homogeneous culture which spread, like a horizon, in a short period of time over southern Ontario. Furthermore, after Middleport, there cocurred the cultural diversity which led to the development of the different historically documented Iroquoian tribes in Ontario. This thesis postulates other hypotheses about Middleport. Middleport is considered a name for a specific Iroquoian cultural pattern which spanned a period of approximately 200 years. The ceramic data from several sites were analysed, and allowed the delineation of 10 regional foci. By studying in detail the data from one cluster of sites or focus, in particular the Markham focus, it was possible to define three phases in the development of Middleport, early, middle and late. The data from the regional foci were compared according to their placement in this phase framework. It was found that although the foci have certain ceramics in common diagnostic of Middleport, such as Ontario Oblique and Middleport Oblique, however, they also have distinctive ceramics. These allow for the clarification of foci heterogeneity during the Middleport period, a heterogeneity that in some foci relates to the tribal distinctions observed in the later Iroquoian period. Even though heterogeneity is recognized in the foci, there are similarities observed which allow the definition of a Middleport cultural pattern. The similarities include specific material culture items, settlement and subsistence systems, and ceremonial practises. Based on these data, comments were made about the developments leading to Middleport, during Middleport and following Middleport.

Biological relationships of Southern Ontario Woodland Peoples: The Evidence of discontinuous Cranial Morphology.
Author: Molto, Joseph Eldon
Year: 1980
Institution: University of Toronto
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: F.J. Melbye
Degree Type: Ph.D.
Abstract: The purpose of this study is to present a synthesis of biological relationships during the Woodland period of southern Ontario prehistory. The data base consists of a battery of discontinuous nonmetric cranial traits which were used to compute C. A. B. Smith's Mean Measure of Divergence (MMD) between 17 large (N (GREATERTHEQ) 20 crania) Woodland samples. The research design involved testing a series of hypotheses which were formulated from a review of previous skeletal and archaeological studies in the research area. The main straegy of the research design vis a vis the hypotheses, was to eliminate, as much as possible, those factors potentially biased towards producing Type I or Type II statistical errors. In particular, the methodology emphasized the selection of an appropriate battery of traits to compare the samples, since inappropriate data would ruin attempts to estimate biological distance from the start. From an initial list of 50 discontinuous traits a final battery of 21 precisely scored, highly variable, relatively age stable and independent traits were chosen. Significant sex differences in 8 of the 21 traits constituted a potential weakness of this trait list. This was controlled by calculating the combined % contribution of these traits to each MMD to determine which coefficients were most affected by the sex bias. It proved not to be problematic. The distance analysis was supplemented by two multivariate taxonomic statistical procedures and by considering the spatial-temporal distributions of the traits and their % contributions to each MMD. The MMD results support the hypothesis of genetic continuity between the Middle and Late Woodland peoples of the region. Morpho-genetic evidence supporting the view that the Late Woodland Iroquois were a product of biological admixture between the ancestors of distinct indigenous Middle Woodland populations representing Saugeen and Point Peninsula cultures was also provided. This admixture resulted in a homogeneous biological population across most of southern Ontario before A.D. 1300. Biological relationships among the Ontario Iroquois after this date show varying degrees of synchronic biological homogeneity, with MMDs indicating greater regional variability between A.D. 1400-1500 than in the preceding or following periods of the Late Woodland sequence. From a morpho-genetic standpoint the St. Lawrence Iroquois are much closer to the Iroquois of south-central Ontario and Huronia than are the Orchid Iroquois of the Niagara Peninsula. Overall the MMD results suggest that the microevolution of the Woodland peoples was a gradual process. The gene pool appears to have remained stable over considerable time. This view was reinforced by the evidence showing that the large MMDs noted between the Middle Woodland and later Late Woodland groups probably overstates the amount of genetic change because these coefficients reflect dietary as well as genetic differences in the morphology. In addition, some of the diachronic differences noted between historical affiliates is directly attributable to gene flow. Gene flow, is then used to explain both the diachronic heterogeneity and the synchronic homogeneity noted between the Woodland groups. It was suggested that the evidence of extensive gene flow among the Late Woodland horiculturalists is consistent with what is known of between group interactions in extant horticultural societies. A consequence of this pattern is that biological relationships among the Ontario Iroquois are not easily delimited by geographical or political factors. Genetic drift and directional selections appear to play minor roles in the 'in situ' development of the Iroquoian speaking Woodland peoples of southern Ontario.

Palaeopathology of archaeological aboriginal populations from southern Ontario and adjacent region.
Author: Hartney, Patrick
Year: 1978
Institution: University of Toronto
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: D.R. Hughes
Degree Type: Ph.D.
Abstract: pending

The Huron spine: a study based on the Kleinburg ossuary vertebrae.
Author: Jackes, Mary
Year: 1977
Institution: University of Toronto
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: B.A. Sigmon
Degree Type: Ph.D.
Abstract: pending

The Iroquoian cultures of Huronia: a study of acculturation through archaeology.
Author: Latta, Martha
Year: 1977
Institution: University of Toronto
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: J.N. Emerson
Degree Type: Ph.D.
Abstract: pending

The Saugeen Culture: A Middle Woodland Manifestation in Southwestern Ontario.
Author: Finlayson, William
Year: 1976
Institution: University of Toronto
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: A. Mohr
Degree Type: Ph.D.
Abstract: pending

The skeletal biology of archaic populations of the Great Lakes region.
Author: Pfeiffer, Susan
Year: 1976
Institution: University of Toronto
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: F.J. Melbye
Degree Type: Ph.D.
Abstract: pending

An analysis of Huron skeletal biology and mortuary practices: the Maurice Ossuary.
Author: Jercik, Sonja
Year: 1975
Institution: University of Toronto
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: D.R. Hughes
Degree Type: Ph.D.
Abstract: pending

A refinement of some aspects of Huron ceramic analysis.
Author: Ramsden, Peter
Year: 1977
Institution: University of Toronto
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: J.N. Emerson
Degree Type: Ph.D.
Abstract: pending

A multivariate analysis of some prehistoric and historic Ontario crania.
Author: Webb, James Douglas
Year: 1972
Institution: University of Toronto
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: D.R. Hughes
Degree Type: Ph.D.
Abstract: pending

An analysis of a Late Woodland population in the Upper Great Lakes.
Author: Melbye, Jerome
Year: 1969
Institution: University of Toronto
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: J.E. Anderson
Degree Type: Ph.D.
Abstract: pending

The Miller Site: an archaeological report.
Author: Kenyon, Walter
Year: 1968
Institution: University of Toronto
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: J.N. Emerson
Degree Type: Ph.D.
Abstract: pending

Public Archaeology and the Cultural Resource Management Industry in Southern Ontario
Author: Birch, Jennifer
Year: 2006
Institution: Carleton University
Department: Sociology and Anthropology
Supervisor: D. G. Smith/J.-L. Pilon
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: The growth of the archaeological consulting industry in Ontario has drastically changed how archaeology is done in this province. This new public context has raised questions about accountability, and it has been suggested that archaeologists have an obligation to public education and outreach. This thesis will investigate the public role of consulting archaeologists in Ontario, with reference to a recent survey undertaken among archaeological practitioners in the province for the purposes of this study. The results suggest that the current system of cultural resource management in this province is lacking in policies and practices that permit meaningful communication with the public.

Issues in Ottawa Valley Archaeology: Examining the Protohistoric
Author: Thibaudeau, Paul
Year: 1995
Institution: Carleton University
Department: Sociology and Anthropology
Supervisor: D. G. Smith
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: pending

Habitation and Boundary Symbolism in the Northeastern Woodlands: An Archaeological Case Study of the Haagsma Site (AeHl-33), ca. A.D.1350
Author: Riddell, David
Year: 1999
Institution: Carleton University
Department: Sociology and Anthropology
Supervisor: D. G. Smith
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: The frontier region between prehistoric Iroquoian and Western Basin populations in southwestern Ontario during the fourteenth century is poorly understood. The excavation of a settlement and documentation of several others within this region has shed some light on contact situations between these two cultures. It has also revealed some indications as to the influences precipitating these encounters, and the nature of this interaction itself. It is proposed that the Haagsma Site was regarded as a neutral facility for exchange and negotiation, including that of an ideological nature, such that the settlement was invested with a greater emphasis of symbolic display, and that the dwelling itself was a tangible symbol of the changes in social structure and apprehensions of space that were occurring on an interregional basis between these cultures. This entailed a sharing and modification of the structure to suit both groups needs, and an effort to preserve an area of not only tolerance, but also of mutual benefit involving an amalgamation of Western Basin and Iroquoian cultures.$sp1$ ftn$sp1$"Amalgamation" refers to an integration of individuals into a population(s), as in intermarriage or spousal exchange, real or fictive kinship, or other types of cooperative arrangements. It is therefore a form of interaction which in this case implies the creation of a new community composed of individuals of two (or more) cultural groups.

Paleo-Indian lithic technological structure and organization in the lower Great Lakes area : a first opproximation
Author: Ellis, Christopher J.
Year: 1984
Institution: Simon Fraser University
Department: Archaeology
Supervisor: Brian Hayden
Degree Type: Ph.D.
Abstract: Analyses of lithic assemblages from four fluted point sites in southwestern Ontario are presented with the aim of generating models of technological structure and organization. The models are concerned with the explanation of formal artifact variability in terms of proximate and ontogenetic causes such as manufacturing procedures, hafting, and recycling, as well as with explanation at an ultimate or adaptive level. The adaptive models are concerned with how tool production systems worked in order to overcome incongruences between lithic resource locations and tool use locations. Such models are important in that they 1) recognize lithic materials as a resource; 2) emphasize the role of advance planning in human adaptations; 3) realize that tool production systems are open and are subject to causative factors beyond a proximate level; and 4), focus attention on the explanation of "basic properties" of tool production systems such as the use of certain raw materials and the degree of standardization of reduction strategies. Detailed models of technological structure are developed which produce several insights into factors conditioning formal variability in the assemblages, Such models also lead to the recognition of several characteristics useful for placing materials in time/space frameworks. In terms of organization, it is noted that Paleo-Indians used only a limited number of lithic material types and sources out of all of those potentially available -- a practice which greatly increased incongruences between source and too use locations. It is suggested that the basic constraint limiting lithic source use is that such materials served as "social-descriptors" of homogeneity among groups who relied largely on “risk-pooling” strategies of resource risk reduction. Several strategies related to tool design, inventory management and segmenting of the reduction sequence, are delineated or suggested which were used by Paleo-Indians to reduce the bulk and maintain the use-flexibility potential of lithic items transported some distance.

Examination of the Link Between Social Roles and Dental Health: A Study Among Three Iroquoian Ossuary Populations
Author: Crinnion, Catherine
Year: 2001
Institution: McMaster University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: S. Saunders
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: pending

Reconstructing Population History from Past Peoples Using Ancient DNA and Historic Records Analysis: The Upper Canadian Pioneers and Land Resources
Author: Dudar, J. Christopher
Year: 1999
Institution: McMaster University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: S. Saunders
Degree Type: Ph.D.
Abstract: It has been argued that the real anthropological potential of ancient DNA has yet to be realized (Stoneking 1995). Ancient DNA Research can only become truly anthropological when it is integrated holistically through a multidisciplinary approach within the bio-cultural framework. Reconstructions of past societies by definition necessitates the synthesis of other sources of culturally relevant information. ^ Attempts to interpret Upper Canadian pioneer population history from the ancient DNA recovered from two historic cemeteries (the nineteenth-century St Thomas' Anglican Church cemetery, Belleville, Ontario, and the Farewell Family Cemetery on Harmony Road, Oshawa, Ontario) revealed that there were a number of possible evolutionary explanations for the observed pattern in both nuclear and mitochondrial DNA data. The reconstruction of past sociocultural variables to facilitate further interpretation relied on the collection of scholarly historic research, primary records analysis, and archaeological theory and observations. Through this analysis it was shown that conclusions regarding past population history could not be drawn from any single source of information. ^ It was possible to observe the intragenerational and intergenerational kinship alliances influenced by a land resource stress through the establishment of a social context and an interment chronology. This finding provides strong empirical evidence in support of the Saxe (1970) and Goldstein (1976) theory which predicts the presence of a vital resource pressure when kinship structure is hypothesized in archaeological mortuary practice. While this theory may have use in broader archaeological contexts, it is maintained that its application can only be evaluated through a multidisciplinary approach involving ancient DNA and other relevant cultural evidence.

Infant Mortality in Mid-nineteenth Century Southern Ontario: Dundas and Stamford Townships.
Author: Gray, Alison
Year: 1997
Institution: McMaster University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: S. Saunders
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: pending

Analysis of Patterns of Injury and Disease in an Historic Skeletal Sample from Belleville, Ontario.
Author: Jimenez, Susan B.
Year: 1991
Institution: McMaster University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: S. Saunders
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: ANALYSIS' OF PATTERNS OF INJURY AND DISEASE IN AN HISTORIC SKELETAL SAMPLE FROM BELLEVILLE' ONTARIO The presence of specific and non-specific infections in human skeletal remains, as well as indicators of trauma are valuable pieces of information that can be utilized to reconstruct the health status of a community. A sample of 25O adults, removed from an archaeological excavation of cemetery interments (1820-1874) associated with St. Thomas Anglican Church in BeIleville, Ontario, were examined for indicators of trauma and infectious disease. Traumatic injuries were common within the sample. Nonspecific infections are also represented. Some cases exhibit specific infections, including tuberculosis and tertiary syphilis. Significant differences between males and females were found in healed fractures and traumatic injuries in general. This data was compared to historical documentation from the period. Inferences about mortality rates and causes of death among groups, of individuals or populations are frequently made on the basis of observations of pathological changes in human skeletal remains, The degree to which this is a reliable source of information was, evaluated. The results of this study suggest that a combination of both skeletal observations and historical documentation is necessary to reconstruct the overall health status of a community, particularly with reference to infectious disease since many acute diseases of the nineteenth century are not observable in skeletal remains.

An Assessment of the Nutritional Health Status of Prehistoric Aboriginal Populations from Southern Ontario.
Author: Esler, James
Year: 1989
Institution: McMaster University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: S. Saunders
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: This study was conducted to evaluate the nutritional heal th status of prehistoric aboriginal populations from southern ontario. An investigation of femoral midshaft cross-sectional bone areas was undertaken to examine possible diachronic changes in these bone areas among three time periods represented by eight ontario skeletal samples. Each sample was chosen because it falls into a critical period in ontario prehistory. The samples included: Cameron's Point, Serpent Mounds and LeVesconte Mound Middle Woodland (MW) populations which practiced a hunter-gatherer economy; Bennett, Richardson, Miller and Serpent pits whose populations practiced a mixed economy supplemented by cultigens introduced prior to and during the Early ontario Iroquois (EOI) stage; and Orchid, a Middle ontario Iroquois (MOl) population which was supported by an increasing reliance on maize agriculture. It has been demonstrated that populations undergoing nutritional stress exhibit reduced cortical bone areas, in particular per cent cortical area (PCA). Furthermore, it has also been demonstrated that populations which rely heavily on a maize diet exhibit nutritional stress. Therefore, if later ontario aboriginal populations were heavily dependent on maize, there should be a diachronic change in the cross-sectional bone areas of these populations. A total of 343 femora were obtained from individuals of all ages and both sexes. The midshaft cross-sectional bone areas were measured using a Kroton MOP Video-Plan Stereological and Morphometric electronic digitizer. Only the adult samples of each time period included enough individuals to be statistically significant, and thus form the basis of the analysis. The results of this investigation indicate an overall maintenance of cross-sectional bone areas over time. The mean peA of the MW and Eor samples did not significantly differ from each other, perhaps indicating the maintenance of a mixed economy later supplemented by maize. The mean peA of the Mor sample is significantly greater than that of the EOI sample. The inclusion of beans into the later diet may have produced a diet of higher nutritional value, as indicated by this higher mean peA. However, the MOI sample may be composed of a greater number of younger adults, who would have a higher peA. Additionally, the mean peA of the MW and MOI samples do not differ significantly, again indicating the maintenance of a nutritionally varied diet.

The Boys Site : a Pickering branch village in Ontario County
Author: Reid, Colin Stanton
Year: 1974
Institution: McMaster University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: W. Noble
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: Since Wright (1966) proposed his early, middle and late Ontario Iroquois Traditions, the earliest period has been the one least reported upon until very recently. New contributions by Noble and Kenyon (1972) and Noble (1973) have broadened our knowledge of the Glen Meyer culture of the early Ontario Iroquois Tradition, and his monograph is intended to fill some of the gaps in our knowledge of the contemporaneous other branch: Pickering. Data on settlement, artifact, subsistence, and trade patterns are provided for the Boys site and compared to the earlier Pickering Miller village (Kenyon 1968) and to the later Pickering Bennett site (Wright and Anderson 1969) in order to place Boys chronologically and confirm previously reported seriational trends. New data for chronological ordering is provided, and a number of unique features of Boys discussed. Comparisons of Boys with the synchronic Glen Meyer village of Van Besien are presented, and overall Pickering and Glen Meyer comparisons further clarify the distinctions between the two cultures.

The dental morphology of three Ontario Iroquois ossuary populations
Author: Wright, Philip James
Year: 1974
Institution: McMaster University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: E. Szathmary
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: The major emphasis of this thesis is the statistical analysis of the biological affinity of Ontario Iroquois populations within the context of the Ontario Iroquois Tradition. The statistical comparison is based on a study of the dental morphology of the permanent crowns of three ossuary populations. A total of 64 dental morphological traits are considered. The three dental samples studied include two protohistoric Neutral ossuary populations and a protohistoric Huron ossuary population. The results of the statistical analysis indicate a greater degree of biological affinity between the two protohistoric Neutral ossuary populations than between the Neutral ossuary populations and protohistoric Huron ossuary population. The dental morphological evidence parallels the present model of the Ontario Iroquois Tradition which is based on archaeological, ethnohistoric and linguistic studies. This model indicates a cultural divergence between the four entario Iroquois groupings - the Neutral, Huron, Erie and Petun - which occurred circa 1400 A.D. Up until this point, dental studies of the Ontario Iroquois have been limited in number. This thesis indicates the potential of dental morphological analysis for making a major contribution to our current understanding of the Ontario Iroquois. In addition, it hopefully provides a preliminary step towards a uniform framework within which future Ontario Iroquois studies can be carried out.

The culture history of Kirkland Lake district, northeastern Ontario.
Author: Pollock, John William
Year: 1975
Institution: McMaster University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: W. Noble
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: In this thesis the culture history of the 5,633 square mile Kirkland Lake District of Northeastern Ontario is examined. Drawing upon archaeological materials amassed during two years of fieldwork involving description and analysis of three major archaeological sites along with supporting evidence from ethnology and ethnohistory, an attempt has been made to delineate a cultural-chronological sequence extending from the historic era back to circa 4500-5000 B.C. To this end, four cultural phases representing three separate cultural traditions are defined. These are the Abitibi Narrows and Mattawan phases of the Shield Archaic Tradition, the Eastern Laurel phase of the Laurel Tradition, and the Duncan Lake phase representing a terminal Woodland Northern Algonquin Tradition. Five basic research problems are initially posed by the author for the area, and all five are answered positively in this thesis. Several, however, clearly require further research in the future. By delineating the various cultural phases and cultural chronology of this district in north eastern Ontario, this thesis has laid the foundation for future archaeological and ethnohistorical work in this previously unknown part of Northern Ontario.

The Walker Site
Author: Wright, Milton John
Year: 1977
Institution: McMaster University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: W. Noble
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: This thesis represents the analysis of the Walker site, a large 10 acre, non-palisaded Neutral Iroquois town occupied circa 1640 A.D. Walker provides a comparative baseline for the study of the Neutral Iroquois, as well as, demonstrating trends and relationships extant during the late part of the Neutral sequence. The analysis also provides needed definitional refinement to the terminal period of Neutral development. Twelve longhouse structures are analysed and reveal settlement pattern configurations that are unique to the historic Neutral. The analysis of the Walker artifact inventory includes both aboriginal remains and the abundant European (French) trade items. Historic Neutral subsistence patterns are largely defined on the basis of the Walker data, and burial practices of the historic Neutral are clarified by the Walker analysis. In addition to the archeological analysis an attempt is made to demonstrate the historic significance of the Walker town. Specifically it is proposed that walker represents the capital village of the Neutral confederacy, shortly before their dispersal by the League Iroquois in 1650-51. Further, it is argues that Walker represents the main Jesuit mission to the Neutral, established by Fathers Jean de Brebeuf and Joseph Chaumanot in 1640-41.

The Hamilton site : a late historic neutral town
Author: Lennox, Paul Anthony
Year: 1977
Institution: McMaster University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: W. Noble
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: This thesis presents the description, analysis and interpretation of the Hamilton Site (AiHa-5), a large 6-acre Neutral Iroquois town occupied circa 1638 to 1650 A.D. Analysis of the settlement patterns and the material culture clearly indicates historic Neutral occupancy, but a significantly high (64 percent) incidence of shell tempered pottery also occurs. This presence of foreign pottery raised interpretational hypotheses to account for it, and an influx of foreign female potters is seen as the best explanation. Use of ethnohistoric documentation offers several alternatives for the identification of the foreign population. Finally, the possibility that Hamilton represents a Jesuit "mission" site is raised.

The use of dental morphology to identify an Ontario Iroquois ossuary population
Author: Wright, Kathryn Eleanor
Year: 1977
Institution: McMaster University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: E. Szathmary
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: The Kleinburg ossuary population is known to be a protohistoric Iroquois group, but little else has been discovered. The non-metric dental morphology was observed and compared to that of three contemporary Iroquois groups known in an archaeological context in an attempt to more precisely identify the Kleinburg population. Twenty-eight characters were used for comparisons. Two statistical methods were chosen, both giving estimates of overall divergence between samples. A modern white sample was included to test the validity of the method.

Analysis of lithic debitage from fluted point sites in Ontario
Author: Ellis, Christopher John
Year: 1979
Institution: McMaster University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: P. Ramsden
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: This thesis is concerned with the interpretation of lithic debitage from two fluted point sites in Ontario: the Park-hill and McLeod sites. Given the extremely homogenous nature of the debitage collections, a typological analysis was undertaken. Explanation of the variability between debitage attribute clusters (i.e. debitage types) is based on two factors, namely, the types of tools being altered and the stages and steps in the manufacture of lithic tools from which the debitage was derived. As a result of the above endeavours: (1) hypotheses about the nature of site activities suggested by the lithic tools from a site or site area are tested with information on site activities derived from an examination of the debitage collections; (2) the lithic reduction sequence on the sites examined is partially constructed; (3) the breakdown of this sequence into segments practiced at different loci of activity is documented and discussed; (4) conclusions are presented as to t he relative length of occupation, temporal ordering and association of discrete loci of lithic activities from an examination of the channel flake collection; and (5), the possible significance of some inconsistencies between the relative frequency of certain lithic material types among the debitage and the lithic tool categories is discussed.

The Gunby site and late Pickering interactions
Author: Rozel, Robert John
Year: 1979
Institution: McMaster University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: W. Noble
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: The Gunby site, excavated during the summer and fall of 1977, represents a late Pickering village dating to circa 1300-1320 A.D. Ten longhouses, ranging from 10.0 to 45.2 meters in length, lie within a village estimated at 1.1 hectares (2.7 acres). This constitutes the most longhouses uncovered at a Pickering site to date. Faunal and floral samples from Gunby clearly provide important new information concerning the subsistence and dietary preferences during this middle period of Ontario Iroquois prehistory. Important horticultural evidence indicates the presence of carbonized corn, squash and bean seeds. Also, the faunal sample indicates that hunting of Virginia deer was an important aspect of Gunby subsistence. The artifact analysis reveals that closer contact existed between the Gunby Pickering peoples and the Glen Meyer villagers to the west than has previously been suggested. The utilization of various Glen Meyer cording techniques on Gunby ceramics illustrates this phenomena.

The Robin Hood Site: a study of functional variability in Iroquoian patterns
Author: Williamson, Ronald
Year: 1980
Institution: McGill University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: B. Trigger
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: The Robin Hood Site is located in Pickering township, Ontario, within the New Toronto International Airport Project Area. The site was initially discovered during an intensive archaeological survey of the airport region. In 1979, excavation at Robin Hood revealed the presence of four house structures relating to a late Iroquoian occupation (southern division Huron). Subsequent analysis of the settlement, subsistence, and artifactual data, in light of the ethnohistorical record and previous archaeological research with “special purpose sites”, suggests that Robin Hood was seasonally occupied and functioned as an agricultural cabin site.

An analytical approach to the seriation of Iroquoian pottery
Author: Smith, David
Year: 1981
Institution: McGill University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: B. Trigger
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: This study presents an analytical methodology for the seriation of rim sherd assemblages from Iroquoian sites in southwestern Ontario. The use of both ceramic attributes and types as seriation classes is reviewed at the theoretical, methodological, and practical levels, and an alternative seriation class, the attribute complex, is proposed. A procedure for establishing attribute complexes, employing as an aid the statistic Goodman and Kruskal’s tau is described. The methodology is applied to the seriation of rim sherd assemblages from the Drumholm, Messenger, Nott, Lawson, and Southwold sites (in chronological order from earliest to latest), all Iroquoian villages in the London area of southwestern Ontario. Following a comparison of seriations generated using attributes, MacNeish’s Iroquois pottery types, and attribute complexes, it is argued that the latter is the most useful seriation entity.

The Steward site: a study in St. Lawrence Iroquoian chronology
Author: Jamieson, J. Bruce
Year: 1982
Institution: McGill University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: B. Trigger
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: This study examines the attributes of St. Lawrence Iroquoian pottery derived from a stratified midden deposit at the Steward site, a prehistoric fishing station located close to the St. Lawrence River. The work of other scholars was reviewed and comparisons of their data with those from the Steward site were made whenever possible. The chronological ordering of sites generated by the pottery types, attributes and radiocarbon dates derived from the work of other scholars were examined followed by an examination of the alternative site order generated by the chronological attributes and radiocarbon dates from the Steward site. It is argued that the stratigraphic evidence and the radiocarbon dates from the Steward site give this latter alternative order strength and legitimacy.

Interpretation of intra site artifact spatial distribution: the Draper Site smoking pipes
Author: Von Gernet, Alexander
Year: 1982
Institution: McGill University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: B. Trigger
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: An analysis of the intrasite spatial distribution of over 4,000 smoking pipe fragments excavated at a late prehistoric Huron settlement has raised a number of important questions concerning the interpretation of an artifact's provenience within an archaeological site. A model which illustrates the processes contributing to the formation of archaeological sites is presented and the analysis of pipe fragments in accomplished in light of this conceptual framework. The study includes a computerized analysis of adult smoking pipes in addition to an independent treatment of juvenile pipes, effigy pipes, clay preforms, recycled fragments, and other special samples. Archaeological evidence is supplimented with extensive ethnohisotrical documentation as these smoking devices are used to derive information about prehisotric Iroquois behaviour. It is concluded that researchers must continue to develop models that systematically isolate all stages of an artifact's pre- and post-depositional life and archaeologists are encouraged to investigate the intellectual processes that enable them to link artifacts recovered in the present with socio-cultural patterns that existed in the past.

The analysis and interpretation of radiocarbon dates in Iroquoian archaeology
Author: Timmins, Peter
Year: 1984
Institution: McGill University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: B. Trigger
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: The study evaluates the traditional use that has been made of radiocarbon dating in Iroquoian archaeology and attempts to refine this application in a variety of ways. The effects of radiocarbon date calibration on the Late Woodland period in the Iroquoian culture area are explored and an assessment is made of the analytical techniques that are most appropriate to the interpretation of radiocarbon dates from Iroquoian sites. Finally, a revised Iroquoian chronology is proposed, based upon a critical assessment of all Iroquoian radiocarbon dates, employing both calibration and the appropriate analytical techniques.

'Harvest of souls': tropes of transformation and domination in the Jesuit Relations
Author: Blackburn, Carole Rae
Year: 1991
Institution: McGill University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: T. Morantz
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: An analysis of the discourse in the Jesuit Relations indicates that the Jesuits' representation of Huron and Montagnais Indians is informed by a colonial ideology. The Jesuits' attempt to identify Indians according to permanent customs and manners is compared to conventional ethnographic description and is shown to result in a reductive, essentializing discourse. In their elaboration of the category of 'savagery' Jesuits metaphorically equated Indians with wild animals. They then stressed the need for reclaiming the Indians' humanity through conversion to Christianity. The Jesuits' figuration of the spiritual realm as a territory to be subdued and conquered is discussed, and the language of conversion is revealed as a language of control and conquest. It is finally argued that Jesuit representations of Indians functioned as an instrument of colonial domination. The analysis points to the need for decolonization of textual and historical spaces dominated by Eurocolonial discourses.

Mapping Middleport: a case study in societal archaeology
Author: Pearce, Robert J.
Year: 1984
Institution: McGill University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: B. Trigger
Degree Type: Ph.D.
Abstract: The detailed analysis of a local sequence of Iroquoian components in the London Ontario area is presented. This sequence consisted of three discrete communities in the Early Ontario Iroquoian Stage that merged to form a single community at the initiation of the Middle Ontario Iroquoian relocated through a series of sequential villages with associated hamlets and camps until it reached the Lawson site during the Late Ontario Iroquoian Stage, circa A.D. 1500. Interpretations are presented under a variety of categories concerning material culture, socio-political organization, and ideology in order to explain how and why the communities in this sequence evolved as they did. It is argued that adopting a societal, as opposed to cultural, framework for analysis allows prehistorians to understand better the human groups that participated in these local sequences. This permits the examination of processes of social interaction and the explanation of sociocultural change in terms of endogenous factors, as well as calling into question the validity of traditional "cultural" classifications and the explanation of change using exogenous factors.

Glen Meyer: People in transition
Author: Williamson, Ronald F.
Year: 1985
Institution: McGill University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: B. Trigger
Degree Type: Ph.D.
Abstract: This is an analysis of the settlement-subsistence system of an Early Iroquoian population on the Caradoc Sand Plain in southwestern Ontario. Their behaviour is examined by employing an ecological approach to reconstruct the prehistoric environment and to define a schedule of resource exploitation. The study is also place within a regional settlement framework that allows for an examination of functional variability in the use of sites. Within this framework, archaeological survey and excavation, conducted over a four-year period, demonstrate that the Caradoc population had a mixed economy involving both horticulture and a considerable reliance on naturally-occurring subsistence resources. Their settlement-subsistence strategy therefore differed significantly from that document for either earlier hunter-gatherers or Late Iroquoians. This suggests that the economic and socio-political organization of Iroquoian society developed over a much longer period than was previously thought.

Archaeological systematics and the analysis of Iroquoian ceramics: a case study from the Crawford Lake area, Ontario
Author: Smith, David G.
Year: 1987
Institution: McGill University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: B. Trigger
Degree Type: Ph.D.
Abstract: This study is an analytical examination of a stylistic anomaly observed among Middleport Iroquoian village sites (dating c. A.D. 1300-1450) located near Crawford Lake in southcentral Ontario, Canada. The anomaly is characterized by differing percentages of two forms of ceramic smoking pipes from closely spaced, contemporaneous village sites. This distinction occurs throughout southern Ontario, but is particularly pronounced in the Crawford Lake area. In order to develop and test a model to explain this anomaly, an approach employing a hierarchy of inference, including formal, spatial, temporal, economic, social, and cultural levels, is proposed. This is applied to an analysis of pottery and smoking pipes from eight Middleport sites. The key elements of the explanation are: (1) the two styles represent two distinct prehistoric communities; (2) these communities competed with each other for limited resources; and (3) they symbolized this competition through differences in pipe styles. This conclusion indicates that both the material culture and social relations among Middleport communities may be more complex than has previously been inferred.

The Paleo-Indian occupation of southwestern Ontario: Distribution, technology, and social organization
Author: Deller, D. Brian
Year: 1988
Institution: McGill University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: B. Trigger
Degree Type: Ph.D.
Abstract: This study concerns Paleo-Indian behaviour and culture history in the central Great Lakes region. More than 15 sites and numerous loci associated with Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene societies in southwestern Ontario are reported. These are organized into archaeological complexes and their interpretation is synthesized into a broader understanding of early occupations in the Northeast. Complexes are defined by projectile point typology and substantiated by other technological traits and patterns of lithic raw material utilization. Early (fluted point associated) Paleo-Indian complexes are, in suggested chronological order, Gainey, Parkhill, and Crowfield. Late Paleo-Indian complexes are Holcombe and Madina. All date between 11 000 and 10 000 B.P. according to geological considerations, pollen dating, and comparisons to dated materials elsewhere. Seasonal rounds of resource exploitation within broad territorial ranges are suggested for Gainey and Parkhill populations. Commodity exchange involving particular implement categories provides evidence of band interaction. Mortuary practices and religious beliefs are suggested by possible cremation burials at the Crowfield site. Other significant behavioural patterns are revealed through inter- and intra-site analyses.

The transculturation of the Amerindian pipe/tobacco/smoking complex and its impact on the intellectual boundaries between `savagery' and `civilization'
Author: Von Gernet, Alexander
Year: 1989
Institution: McGill University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: B. Trigger
Degree Type: Ph.D.
Abstract: While the sixteenth-century transculturation of tobacco was an event of momentous significance in European and Amerindian history, no thorough, anthropological analysis of its effects has heretofore been attempted. This may be attributed partly to traditional acculturation models which have tended to emphasize only changes inflicted on native populations and have often failed to contextualize natives and newcomers within a single bilateral, historical trajectory. This study surveys the effects of smoking on European culture and on colonial activities in America. This is followed by an extensive scrutiny of ethnohistoric and archaeological evidence relating to the use of pipes and tobacco at all socio-political, economic and ideological levels of contact between Europeans and North American Indians. While sharing the pipe fortified native institutions and served as a lubricant in relations between two very different peoples, it eroded the intellectual boundaries between "savagery" and "civilization." The final chapters of the study trace the reactions to this erosion in both academic and popular discourse.

Chronology to cultural process: Lower Great Lakes archaeology, 1500-1650
Author: Fitzgerald, William R.
Year: 1990
Institution: McGill University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: B. Trigger
Degree Type: Ph.D.
Abstract: The lack of a chronological framework for 16th and 17th century northeastern North America has impeded local and regional cultural reconstructions. Based upon the changing style of 16th and early 17th century European glass beads and the settlement patterning of the Neutral Iroquoians of southern Ontario, a chronology has been created. It provides the means to investigate native and European cultural trends during that era, and within this dissertation three topics are examined--the development of the commercial fur trade and its archaeological manifestations, an archaeological definition of the Neutral Iroquoian confederacy, and changes in European material culture recovered from pre-ca. AD 1650 archaeological contexts throughout the Northeast.

A population history of the Huron-Petun, A.D. 900-1650
Author: Warrick, Gary A.
Year: 1990
Institution: McGill University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: B. Trigger
Degree Type: Ph.D.
Abstract: This study presents a population history of the Huron-Petun, Iroquoian-speaking agriculturalists who occupied south-central Ontario from A.D. 900 to A.D. 1650. Temporal change in the number, size, and residential density of prehistoric and contact village sites of the Huron-Petun are used to delineate population change. It is revealed that Huron-Petun population grew dramatically during the fourteenth century, attaining a maximum size of approximately 30,000 in the middle of the fifteenth century. This growth appears to have been intrinsic (1.2% per annum) and is best explained by colonization of new lands and increased production and consumption of corn. Population stabilized during the fifteenth century primarily because of an increased burden of density-dependent diseases (tuberculosis) arising from life in large nucleated villages. Huron-Petun population remained at 30,000 until A.D. 1634; there is no archaeological evidence for protohistoric epidemics of European origin. The historic depopulation of the Huron-Petun country, resulting from catastrophic first encounters with European diseases between 1634 and 1640, is substantiated by archaeological data.

An interpretive framework for the early Iroquoian village
Author: Timmins, Peter Andrew
Year: 1992
Institution: McGill University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: B. Trigger
Degree Type: Ph.D.
Abstract: A methodology is developed for the interpretation of complex Early Iroquoian villages based upon the analysis of site formation processes. This interpretive method is applied to a study of the Calvert site, a twelfth to thirteenth century Iroquoian village located in southwestern Ontario. Four phases in the occupational history of the village are reconstructed and changes in its economic and socio-political organization are examined through a comparative analysis of data from each construction phase. The systematic rebuilding and long-term use of the village indicate significant planning on the part of the Calvert people and suggest that at least some Early Iroquoian communities had developed higher levels of socio-political organization than have been attributed to them in the past. The Calvert site is placed in its regional context and a model is proposed to explain the economic and socio-political changes observed between the Early and Middle Iroquoian periods in southwestern Ontario.

Proto-Huron/Petun and Proto-St. Lawrence Iroquoian Subsistence as Culturally Defining
Author: Stewart, Frances
Year: 1997
Institution: McGill University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: B. Trigger
Degree Type: Ph.D.
Abstract: pending

Late Woodland Settlement Trends in South-Central Ontario : A Study of Ecological Relationships and Culture Change
Author: MacDonald, Robert
Year: 2002
Institution: McGill University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: B. Trigger
Degree Type: Ph.D.
Abstract: This study investigates the land-use patterns of the Iroquoian populations that occupied south-central Ontario during the Late Woodland period. Its initial objective is to understand their cultural ecology as reflected in the placement of their semi-permanent settlements over time. Its ultimate goal is to ascertain how environmental change and ecological adaptation contributed to culture change and particularly to the historical development of these populations and their long-term settlement shift from the north shore of Lake Ontario to Huronia and Petunia. The theoretical guide for this study is the premise that an understanding of culture change can only be achieved by considering evolutionary sequences in all their particularistic complexity, taking into account both generalizations about human behaviour and contingent influences. The methodological guide is the concept of multidimensional constraint, the idea that human behaviour is the rational negotiation of objectives that are constrained by both internal and external parameters operating in a nested series of contexts. These principles are used to develop a methodology utilizing detailed environmental description, summary statistics, and careful evaluation and interpretation to investigate correlations between settlement locations and environmental features at the local, regional, and pan-regional scales. The overall objective is a well-grounded explanatory narrative outlining the multiple dimensions of constraint that influenced Late Woodland settlement in south-central Ontario. The ensuing investigations yield numerous insights into Iroquoian cultural ecology and illustrate the complexity of the long-term settlement shift. In broad outline, it involves an initial phase of settlement, indicating continuity with the Middle Woodland period, an expansion phase, involving the occupation of analogous physiographic zones throughout south-central Ontario, and a final contraction phase, involving coalescence into the uplands of northern Simcoe County. At the local and regional scales, these phases involve slightly different adaptive strategies over time and space, influenced by constraints that included community population size, intensifying food production, temporal and spatial climatic variation, foraging logistics, changing distributions of natural resources, and geo-politics. These results demonstrate the adaptive capacity of these Iroquoian populations, confirm the efficacy of the methodological approach, and establish an ecological context for future investigations dealing with the social aspects of Late Woodland culture change in South-central Ontario.

An Obsession with Meaning: A Critical Examination of the Pictograph Sites of the Lake of the Woods
Author: Colson, Alicia
Year: 2006
Institution: McGill University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: Bruce Trigger
Degree Type: Ph.D.
Abstract: Most researchers who study rock image sites tend to be interested in the meaning of images, even though they could obtain more empirical information about these images and their physical location. Furthermore, very little of the work done in the past on rock image sites has been systematic. In this thesis I address the dearth of detailed information on the images and their context. This thesis presents a thorough examination of the images of the twenty-seven pictograph sites in the Lake of the Woods, in the Canadian Shield. These pictograph sites were selected because they exhibit traits evident in rock image studies in other parts of the world. This study is based on data collected during three months of fieldwork conducted in 2001. Images were found on cliff faces and inside caves. New images and new sites were found and identified. Here, as elsewhere, the choice of theoretical approach influences the fieldwork, analysis, and search for meaning. Each prescribes the types of questions asked and determines the levels of understanding obtained about whichever form of archaeological evidence is being considered. The different but complementary theoretical approaches should be employed in a definite order. The same data must be examined in sequential order using these different approaches to increase the potential quantity and quality of information gained. Archaeologists should use the following sequence of approaches: culture-historical, contextual, followed by either the homological, or analogical approaches, or a combination of the latter two. Classifying and describing any image is very difficult, since the level of description given to an image affects the way in which it can be analysed, and heavily influences the possible outcome of any discussion of perceived meaning. A rigorous examination of the images of these sites was conducted to (a) identify the possible vocabulary of images, (b) determine whether combinatory rules exist, (c) reconstitute the life history of each site, and (d) ascertain whether the images can be related to other indigenous images to determine if this can provide information about the meaning(s) of the rock images. In assessing the meaning of the rock images, the images of a few birch bark scrolls were considered, since it was posited that a detailed investigation of the scrolls, the ethnographic record, and their pictographs might provide some answers regarding the meanings of the images found on the rock faces.

Visibility Analysis of the Rice Lake Burial Mounds and Related Sites
Author: Dillane, Jeffery Bryan
Year: 2009
Institution: Trent University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: J. Conolly
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: Visibility analysis and particularly Geographic Information Systems (GIS) based viewshed analysis is a relatively new avenue of interest in archaeology. This study applies viewshed analysis to the burial mounds constructed on Rice Lake during the Middle Woodland period of Southern Ontario, to determine whether visual relationships between the mounds and their surrounding landscapes were factors for site selection. Viewsheds to and from these mound sites are generated and compared to viewsheds for contemporaneous nearby non-mound Middle Woodland sites as well as sites from the Early Woodland and Archaic periods. Comparisons are also made between Rice Lake site viewsheds and a randomly generated sample. Site groups are compared statistically and through the use of descriptive analysis. Through these analyses I conclude that visibility was a factor in the placement of mound sites and that the selection of these site locations relates to territorial and ideological interests of the mound builders.

Ontario Iroquois Tradition Longhouses
Author: Dodd, Christine Frances
Year: 1982
Institution: Simon Fraser University
Department: Archaeology
Supervisor: K. Fladmark
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: This is a study of longhouse attributes through time and space. Statistical test results suggest that house length and feature and post mould density reached maximum dimensions during the Middle Ontario Iroquois stage. House length and related attributes (eg., storage partition length, hearth number and spacing, house width) are apparently associated with the number of occupants and their wealth or status. Feature and postmould density are thought to be related to intensity and/or length of occupation.

Reconstructing Ontario Iroquoian Village Organization
Author: Warrick, Gary Arthur
Year: 1983
Institution: Simon Fraser University
Department: Archaeology
Supervisor: J. Nance
Degree Type: Simon Fras
Abstract: pending

Preceramic settlement-subsistence strategies in the Lake Ontario basin
Author: Swayze, James Kenneth
Year: 1987
Institution: Simon Fraser University
Department: Archaeology
Supervisor: A.C.B. Roberts
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: pending

The Coulter Site and late Iroquoian migration to the upper Trent Valley
Author: Damkjar, Eric R.
Year: 1982
Institution: Simon Fraser University
Department: Archaeology
Supervisor: R. Schutler
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: pending

The Northwestern Extent of Sandy Lake Ware: A Canadian Perspective
Author: Taylor-Hollings, Jill
Year: 1999
Institution: University of Saskatchewan
Department: Anthropology & Archaeology
Supervisor: D. Meyer/U. Linnamae
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: Sandy Lake ware, a late precontact to early postcontact archaeological manifestation, was first identified in central Minnesota by Cooper and Johnson (1964). Since then, few studies about this ware have been completed. It is considered to be part of the Psinomani culture and occurs across a large area of central North America, where it persisted from about A.D. 1000 to 1750. Archaeological sites with Psinomani components often occur in regions where wild rice grows. It is likely that the people who left behind Sandy Lake ware were ancestral to the Eastern Dakota in central Minnesota and the Assiniboine in southern Canada. The Psinomani and Selkirk composite likely represent the material remains of an early Assiniboine and Cree alliance. Three problems related to Sandy Lake ware were identified, including classification uncertainties, associated cultural questions and its northwestern extent; the latter had never been fully assessed. By studying this ware and comparing it to other pottery, some classification complications were simplified. A synthesis of present information about the Psinomani culture was also completed. Collections from sites across a large area in south central Canada were examined to determine the northwest extent of Sandy Lake ware. One of the first inventories of shell tempered pottery, likely Sandy Lake ware, was compiled for the study area. The Stamped type is now known to have been recovered several 100 km farther northwest into Canada than previously determined.

Kekeewin ou Kekeenowin. Les peintures rupestres de l'est du Bouclier Canadien
Author: Lemaître, Serge
Year: 2005
Institution: L'Université libre de Bruxelles
Department: Faculté de Philosophie et Lettres
Supervisor: M. Groenen/D. Arsenault
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: pending

Marking place and creating space in northern Algonquian landscapes: The rock-art of the Lake of the Woods region, Ontario.
Author: Norder, John William
Year: 2003
Institution: University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
Department: Department of Anthropology
Supervisor: R. Ford and J. O'Shea
Degree Type: Ph.D.
Abstract: The research presented here addresses issues in the socio-cultural production of pictographic rock-art in the Lake of the Woods region of northwestern Ontario, Canada. The majority of previous research has worked to define pictographic rock-art, images painted on cliff faces and other rock outcrops, in the context of historically and ethnographically documented religious and cosmological belief systems of northern Algonquian Indians. Drawing from a diverse body of theoretical perspectives including landscape archaeology, information theory, and hunter-gatherer mobility and land tenure research, this study takes the perspective that pictographic rock-art had functions in addition to those previously suggested for the region. Some of the possible functions examined include territorial marking, trail marking, resource marking, marking of socially defined roles, identification of places of aggregation on the landscape, structuring of social interactions, and the marking of social identity at various levels within the society. Given this number of potential functions, four site types were proposed that communicated information regarding one or more of these functions: General Multiple Function, General Single Function, Specialized Multiple Function and Specialized Single Function. The site types were defined using a combination of the Shannon information measure and ethnographically defined image categories found among historic Algonquian groups. When mapped onto the study region, the distributions of these sites indicated patterning suggestive of several of the proposed functions. In particular, it provided support for the hypothesis that pictographic rock-art sites served to structure the social landscape by facilitating population movements across the landscape and to indicate and define forms of social interactions related to land tenure and social exchange. Of note is the observation that within the sample no pictographic sites were identified that served exclusively secular functions.

The Archaeologist's 'Indian': Narrativity and Representation in Archaeological Discourse
Author: Racher, Paul
Year: 1992
Institution: McMaster University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: P. Ramsden
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: It is argued in this thesis that there is a complex structure of ideas and stereotypes through which all non-aboriginal Canadian cultural constructions of First Nations peoples are filtered. Borrowing the concept of the master narrative from literary criticism, it is demonstrated that in Ontario archaeology the Iroquois have been invented in terms of stereotypical images which serve to isolate them as savage 'Others', the logical antithesis of 'We', Canada's non-aboriginals. These master narratives, which are rooted in the Western intellectual tradition but apprehended for current political agendas, exist as prominent sub-texts throughout archaeological interpretations, often despite inconclusive or contradictory empirical evidence. They are stories which shape and inform archaeological interpretation without the conscious knowledge of the archaeologists involved. Given that these narratives could be interpreted as legitimation for the repression of the First Nations, it is suggested that archaeologists may have unwittingly played a role in the maintenance of hegemony. In conclusion, archaeologists are encouraged to be more aware of the possible biases which can creep into their interpretations of the past, biases which could profoundly affect the way in which the First Nations are viewed in the present.

Native fishing in the Great Lakes: A multidisciplinary approach to zooarchaeological remains from precontact Iroquoian villages near Lake Simcoe, Ontario
Author: Needs-Howarth, Suzanne
Year: 1999
Institution: Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, the Netherlands
Department: Groningen Institute for Archaeology
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. A.T. Clason
Degree Type: Ph.D.
Abstract: Wat mensen eeuwen geleden als vuilnis beschouwden, is nu voor archeologen een kostbare bron van informatie. De in Nederland geboren Canadese archeologe Suzanne Needs-Howarth onderzocht fossiele visgraten en andere voedselresten afkomstig uit afvalputten van drie oude Indiaanse nederzettingen in de buurt van Toronto. Uit dat onderzoek leidt ze informatie af over de voedseleconomie en de jacht- en visgewoonten van de Indianen die dit gebied bevolkten tussen het eind van de dertiende en het begin van de zestiende eeuw. Ze heeft een multidisciplinaire aanpak. De archeologische vondsten combineert ze met visserijbiologische gegevens waardoor ze kan achterhalen op welk soort plaatsen en wanneer in het jaar er werd gevist. Ook gebruikt ze de ethnografische beschrijvingen van de Indianen die zeventiende-eeuwse missionarissen en ontdekkingsreizigers achterlieten. Zo kan ze achterhalen hoe de Irokeze Indianen die ten tijde van de eerste contacten met Europeanen in het gebied van de Grote Meren leefden, hun tijd, energie, materiaal en arbeid indeelden. "Voor iemand die is opgevoed met de middeleeuwse geschiedenis van Europa, is het leven van de Irokezen fascinerend," zegt ze. "Europa kent in diezelfde tijdsperiode geen vergelijkbare cultuur. De Irokezen hadden een samenleving met weinig sociale verschillen. Ze woonden met meerdere gezinnen in één, enorm lang huis en leefden van het verbouwen van maïs en de visvangst. Ze hadden een allesomvattende godsdienst. Ik merk vaak dat mijn verhalen over hun levenswijze de mensen aan het denken zetten, ook in Canada, het land waar ik woon

The Arbor Ridge Site: A Study in Settlement Dynamics and Population Movement during the Fifteenth Century at the eastern end of Lake Ontario
Author: Adams, Nicholas Robert
Year: 2003
Institution: University of Leicester (UK)
Department: School of Archaeology and Ancient History
Supervisor: Dr. Graeme Barker
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: Relationships between the pre-contact Five Nations, the Huron-Petun and the St. Lawrence Iroquois tribes of the lower Great Lakes have been described predominately in terms of tension, conquest, annihilation and assimilation. These images of pre-contact relationships have been moulded by the undeniably devastating, historically documented dispersal of the Huron by the Five Nations during the mid-seventeenth century. The pre-contact disappearance of the St. Lawrence Iroquois from the St. Lawrence River valley and the presence of substantial percentages of St. Lawrence Iroquois pottery vessels on Late pre-contact ‘Huron’ sites, has mainly been interpreted as evidence for the destruction of these people by the Huron, and the presence of female, pottery making captives in Huron settlements. In recent years this model has been repeatedly challenged as new information has been acquired and interpretations of old evidence have been proffered. Many scholars now prefer to view the presence of St. Lawrence Iroquois pottery on Huron sites in a more peaceful light. In this study I attempt to expand our knowledge of Huron - St. Lawrence Iroquois relationships by examining the ceramic similarities and differences between a wide variety of sites. Using the mid-fifteenth century Arbor Ridge site as the primary focus, by using both attribute and typological methods of analysis, and by subjecting the data to coefficient of similarity tests, I have tried to determine whether it is possible to clarify population relationships and movement in the region during the sixteenth century. The results suggest that strong and long-standing relationships existed between St. Lawrence Iroquois and Huron people before the destruction of the St. Lawrence Iroquois. The people living near the east end of Lake Ontario appear to have enjoyed a porous boundary, through which ideas and techniques passed bi-directionally. In this light, it seems likely that some St. Lawrence Iroquois people from Jefferson County migrated west to amalgamate with Ontario Huron during the sixteenth century. The presence of St. Lawrence Iroquois pottery on sixteenth century Huron sites is interpreted as evidence for the cordial coalescence of these closely related people, and is seen in the light of the general trend toward population aggregation on both sides of Lake Ontario during the late pre-contact period.

The Introduction and Duffison of Cultivated Plants in Southern Ontario
Author: Fecteau, Rodolphe David
Year: 1985
Institution: York University
Department: Geography
Supervisor: C. Heidenreich
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: Five cultivated plants (corn, bean, squash, sunflower and tobacco) are known from ethnographic and archaeological sources to have been grown prehistorically in southern Ontario. Previous paleobotanical studies have been conducted in Central and South America as well as the United States, to discover the origins and subsequent history of each of these cultivated plants. This research has also examined the physiological requirements and nutritional affects of these plants on human populations. In addition, the relation of climate to plant and human population and the effect of continued domestication on plants has been studied. The diffusion of these cultigens through areas in the United States has also been examined. This thesis is the first detailed study which combines these data with recently available archaeobotanical information in southern Ontario in order to examine the introduction and diffusion of cultigens in this area. Information for this thesis was gleaned from a variety of published and unpublished books and site reports. These include current as well as historical sources which date to 1888. Reports of botanical remains from numerous sites dating from A.D. 600 to A.D. 1650 were also examined. Metric analyses were performed on sample populations. The stages of the Agricultural Period (A.D. 600-A.D. 1650) have been identified according to the introductions and subsequent spread of these cultigens through southern Ontario. A relationship is seen to exist between increased agricultural dependence and population. Effects of domestication on seed size through this period could not be demonstrated. Climate was not seen to be an important factor in human population growth and movement in the area at that time. The author has attempted to illustrate the extent to which archaeobotanical studies might contribute to the broader understanding of prehistory. The problems encountered in this type of research and ideas for future research are included.

Points to ponder: A regional analysis of the Batten Kill phase in southern Ontario
Author: Burgar, Robert William Cecil
Year: 1985
Institution: York University
Department: Geography
Supervisor: C. Heidenreich
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: The objective of the study was to design a methodology through which regionality at the prehistoric band level could be demonstrated. By objectively quantifying and statistically classifying the diagnostic artifact of the Batten Kill phase, the Genesee projectile point, ten discrete groups were defined. The groups varied regionally and it was argued that such spatial patterning probably reflected prehistoric hunting ranges, the location and size of which appeared to be environmentally restricted. It was also suggested that these hunting ranges were associated with past areas of potentially high deer density, and it was this animal which was restricted by environmental factors.

The native occupation of the Boundary Waters area to 1775
Author: Hinshelwood, Andrew
Year: 1984
Institution: York University
Department: Geography
Supervisor: C. Heidenreich
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: The aim of this research is to map the distribution of native groups in the Boundary Waters area as it was at the time of first European contact. This objective is seen as a step towards the identification of the historically known native group responsible for the production of Late precontact Blackduck ceramic ware. Information available for the mapping of these distributions has been used previously by both archaeologists and ethnohistorians to establish such an identification but such research has proven inconclusive. Generally, this is attributable to the preference of researchers for either ethnohistoric or archaeological records over the other due to their incomparability. This research saw the need for both a reassessment of these sources and the development of an organizational framework which would allow comparison of sources. The direct historical approach was modified for this research by taking ecological factors into greater consideration when utilizing other source material. Ecology, through resource availability, determines the size and mobility of native groups. As both archaeological sites and ethnohistoric records can be used to indicate the seasonal behaviour of bands, the ecological backdrop was chosen as the means of comparing these sources. An outline of the seasonally and perennially available subsistence resources is first modified according to the accounts of native utilization found in direct contact period (1727-1775) records. The relation of subsistence to band distribution is also considered and distributions mapped. The mapping of indirect contact period distributions (ca. 1654-1727) takes into consideration three major seasonal cycles which were found to have been manifest in the later period, and which corresponded to major ecological regions in the study area. Archaeological distributions also reflect these seasonal cycles indicating continuity of Cree-Algonkian occupance in the Boundary Waters area.

Human use of the Albany River from preceramic times to the late eighteenth century
Author: Julig, Patrick John
Year: 1982
Institution: York University
Department: Geography
Supervisor: C. Heidenreich
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: The Albany River flows into western James Bay from the Shield and Hudson Bay Lowlands of northern Ontario. The Albany was a major travel route across the central Subarctic and the basin has a rich legacy of the fur trade period, extending back more than three centuries. For the upper Albany Basin, within the Canadian Shield, a substantial historic and prehistoric occupation has been documented. The lower Albany, however, within the Hudson Bay Lowlands, has been generally regarded as sparsely utilized, on only a seasonal basis, in precontact times. Although this area had not been carefully investigated by archaeologists, the predominance of wetlands and muskeg with marginal resource potential was regarded as presenting severe limitations to year around occupation. The early historic record for the Central Subarctic (both documentary and cartographic sources) indicated native usage of the lowlands, including the lower Albany, at the time of initial European contact. As well, an analysis of the resource potential (faunal resources) suggests that the rather diverse ecological zones of the coasts and lowlands presented no major obstacle to a year around occupation by small highly mobile hunting bands. This was in support of the historic record. To examine the prehistoric record, archaeological survey and excavations (funded by an Ontario Heritage Foundation grant) were conducted by the author and field crews in the summer of 1981. A two-part survey effort resulted in the location and documentation of approximately twenty prehistoric, as well as a number of historic encampments, in the lower Albany Basin. Preliminary testing indicated most prehistoric sites to be aceramic, including several of Archaic affiliation in the vicinity of the relict Tyrrell beach. Several Initial Woodland (Laurel) sites were located in better drained areas near the Shield/lowland contact. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

HOLOCENE FLOODPLAIN DEVELOPMENT AND PREHlSTORlC HUMAN OCCUPATION: LOWER NOTTAWASAGA RIVER, SOUTHERN ONTARIO, CANADA
Author: Thornbush, Mary J.
Year: 2001
Institution: University of Toronto
Department: Graduate Department of Geography
Supervisor: J.R. Desloges
Degree Type: M.Sc.
Abstract: A geomorphologic investigation of the lower Nottawasaga River, Simcoe County, southern Ontario, Canada was undertaken to address Holocene floodplain development processes to aid cultural interpretations of known prehistoric campsites. The thesis examines the mode of alluvial accretion in unconfined versus confined sections, respectively outside and inside the Edenvale Moraine, as well as the character of channel entrenchment. Reach-scale cornparisons were made, including the specific study of Doran Lake which forms a neck cutoff within the study area. Results show a predominantly vertically accreted sandy floodplain, with some evidence of lateral accretion in unconfined sections. The present channel morphology was established in the early Holocene contingent on entrenchment at around the glacial Lake Hough phase. No strong evidence for catastrophic stripping was found in the higher energy confined reaches. Throughout, the erosion and re-deposition of cultural rernains on the floodplain surface is unlikely for materials larger than sand.

The Praying Mantis Site: A Study of Ceramic Variability and Cultural Behaviour
Author: Howie-Langs, Linda
Year: 1998
Institution: University of Western Ontario
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: M. Spence
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: The Praying Mantis site, located in the Byron area of London, Ontario, is a Glen Meyer village dating to the Early Iroquoian Stage of Ontario prehistory (A.D. 950-1300). This study focuses on the pottery recovered from the Praying Mantis site and looks at sociological and functional factors which have determined the nature and distribution of ceramic variation within the village. Through the analysis of attributes, ceramic variability at the site is characterized in relation to vessel morphology, decoration, use wear and archaeological context. Behaviourally significant patterns in ceramic variation at the site are identified and these patterns are related to specific aspects of Iroquoian village life, including the organization and use of living space within the confines of the village, the specialized and/or communal use of particular residential structures and open areas within the village and the expression of group identity at the household level. Keywords: Early Ontario Iroquois, Glen Meyer, Iroquoian ceramics, Glen Meyer pottery, attribute analysis, function of Iroquoian vessels, Iroquoian vessel morphology and decoration, manufacture and use of Iroquoian pottery.

Pots and Incoherent Culture: Recovering Borderlands at the Van Bree Site (AgHk-32)
Author: Cunningham, Jeremy
Year: 1999
Institution: University of Western Ontario
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: M. Spence
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: This thesis uses non-holistic methodology to study ceramic variation from the Van Bree site, a multicomponent Younge phase Western Basin and Glen Meyer site located near Arkona, Ontario. This methodology tests the assumption that cultures form homogeneous, coherent and discrete social entities by using a practice model to examine how human agents use decorative style in particular social contexts. The use of a practice model also obligates us to reconsider the a priori separation of `Style' from `Function', as this distinction originates in a holistic and environmental determinist model of culture. Instead the methodology used here analyzes the ceramic variation found in particular social contexts. At Van Bree, these contexts are two distinct feature clusters that are identified from ceramic crossmends. The ceramic variation within these clusters indicates that Younge and Glen Meyer represent two distinct ethnic entities which possess substantial differences in their degree of ethnic integration. Keywords: Western Basin, Glen Meyer, Archaeology and Ethnicity, Style and Function, Ceramic Variation, Practice Theory

The Stirrup Court Cemetery: An Examination of Peri-Urban Health in 19th Century Ontario
Author: Parish, Joseph
Year: 2000
Institution: University of Western Ontario
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: M. Spence
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: The remains of the inhabitants of a 19th century peri-urban community near London, Ontario are examined for evidence of palaeopathological conditions and non-specific stress indicators (linear enamel hypoplasia, Harris lines and stature). Several of these conditions are compared to other nineteenth-century sites, primarily the St. Thomas' Church Cemetery and the Brooklin Cemetery. This comparison facilitates the purpose of isolating the factor of urbanicity in the study and the possible effects this factor had on the health of the individuals from the peri-urban setting. Some significant differences were found among the sites, especially in the dental health. Analysis of individual burials revealed an unusually high rate of carcinoma in the study sample, one case of severe neuromuscular disorder as well as two cases of perimortem fracture in young males suggesting violent deaths. Efforts were made to improve the personal identifications of the remains through the use of multiple lines of evidence.

Who Was Left on the Battlefield? Isotopic Identification of Soldiers from Fort William Henry and the Battle of Stoney Creek
Author: Blyth, Lisa
Year: 2003
Institution: University of Western Ontario
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: C. White/ F. Longstaffe
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: Biogenic phosphate in bone and tooth enamel has been used to determine climatic variation and track the history of regional climates. It has also proven to be a useful tool in identifying geographical place of origin and migration patterns for archaeological specimens. This thesis is concerned with the oxygen-isotope analysis of bone and tooth enamel phosphate of two historical populations: soldiers who occupied Fort William Henry during the French and Indian War (1756 to 1763), and soldiers who died at the battle of Stoney Creek during the War of 1812. This research was undertaken in order to verify the concept of using oxygen isotope analysis of body phosphate to identify place of origin and/or long-time residence, as first used by Schwarcz et al. (1991) on skeletal samples from the site of the War of 1812 Snake Hill cemetery. It was also undertaken in order to test the veracity of the historical record. Oxygen-isotope analysis of bone phosphate can elucidate information about long-time residency, while oxygen-isotope analysis of tooth enamel phosphate can be used to identify place of origin. Analysis of the oxygen-isotope composition of bone phosphate of soldiers from Fort William Henry and the Battle of Stoney Creek suggests they spent several years of their lives, prior to death, in the northern United States. Some of the Stoney Creek individuals may have also spent several years in eastern Ontario or Quebec. Analysis of the enamel phosphate samples suggests that soldiers from both sample populations were born in America. Keywords: Oxygen Isotopes, Bone Phosphate, Tooth Enamel Phosphate, Place of Origin, Fort William Henry, Battle of Stoney Creek

Regional Comparisons of Skeletal Stress in Dogs: Addressing Community Health in in Archaeology
Author: Bathurst, Rhonda A.
Year: 2000
Institution: University of Western Ontario
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: A. Nelson
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: Dogs and humans have thrived in the same environment and exploited the same resources for millennia. Numerous studies have illustrated the effects of environmental and cultural stress on human beings in the past. However, such research is limited by the rarity of human skeletal collections and the sensitive nature of their study. Dogs were members of human communities, and offer an alternate means of investigating biological issues of health and stress as experienced by the community at large. The presence of macroscopic stress variables were scored on the bones and teeth of dogs from two regions of Canada, within cultures of differing subsistence bases. Variables were compared for differences over time, between cultures and across regions. Results indicate that dogs from a fishing/foraging culture on the Northwest Coast experienced significantly less stress than dogs from agrarian communities of south-central Ontario. It is suggested that dogs may be useful indicators of community stress and health. Keywords: Dog, stress, health, skeletal pathology, zooarchaeology, Namu, Iroquois, Neutral, Huron

Examining Hi-Lo Lithic Procurement and Use Strategies
Author: Dickson, Parker
Year: 2006
Institution: University of Western Ontario
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: C. Ellis
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: The focus of this thesis is the analysis of a stone tool and debris assemblage from the Double Take site [AgHb-240] near Brantford, Ontario; the main component of which site is attributed to lithic industry known as Hi-Lo (ca. 10,000 years B.P.). In addition to providing a detailed description and analysis of the largest purely Hi-Lo assemblage ever reported, this thesis also examines Hi-Lo lithic procurement, reduction, transportation, and use strategies and examines how these strategies mirror or differ from those of earlier (e.g. Early Paleoindian) and later (e.g. Early Archaic) developments. The various analyses consistently demonstrate that the focus of activity at Double Take was early stage lithic reduction aimed at the production of `roughed out' biface preforms which could be transported off site to more distant locations. Moreover, while more raw material production and use strategies are shared with earlier developments, there are significant technological changes that mirror those in immediately succeeding assemblages. Overall, these strategies appear to be intermediate between the two developments and imply that the shift from the Paleoindian to Archaic was a much smoother and more gradual transition than traditional discourse would suggest. Keywords: Hi-Lo, Paleoindian, Early Archaic, Paleoindian-Archaic transition, organization of technology, lithic analysis, debris analysis, debitage, biface preforms

Coalescent Communities in Iroquoian Ontario
Author: Birch, Jennifer
Year: 2010
Institution: McMaster University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: A. Cannon, R.F. Williamson and G. Warrick
Degree Type: Ph.D.
Abstract: This study documents and theorizes the processes behind the coalescence of ancestral Huron-Wendat populations on the north shore of Lake Ontario. A multiscalar analytical approach is employed to examine settlement aggregation at the regional, local and community levels. The study draws upon cross-cultural models of coalescent societies and the archaeology of communities while being theoretically situated within an historical-processual approach. The settlement data presented demonstrate that during the fifteenth century AD, small, previously distinct communities came together into large village aggregates. Through an examination of settlement relocation sequences and the occupational histories of individual villages, the transformations in social and political organization that accompanied this process are examined. Differences between site sequences suggest that while it is possible to identify similar processes in coalescence, the actual experience of coming together varied at the local level due to particular historical contingencies. A major contribution of the study is a detailed analysis of one village relocation sequence involving the aggregation of several small village communities at the Draper site, during the late fifteenth century. In the early sixteenth century, this coalescent community relocated to establish the Mantle site, the largest Iroquoian village excavated to date in the Lower Great Lakes. A detailed analysis of the occupational history of the Mantle site is presented here. The results point to the increasing integration of the community over time. A comparison of the built environments and other features of the Draper and Mantle sites elucidate practices that directly address the lived experience of coalescence. These community-level processes are ultimately situated in, and form the basis for, the broader sociopolitical realignments that characterized the Late Precontact Lower Great Lakes.

Lake Ontario Maritime Cultural Landscape
Author: Ford, Benjamin Louis
Year: 2009
Institution: Texas A&M
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: Kevin Crisman
Degree Type: Ph.D.
Abstract: The goal of the Lake Ontario Maritime Cultural Landscape project was to investigate the nature and distribution of archaeological sites along the northeast shoreline of Lake Ontario while examining the environmental, political, and cultural factors that influenced the position of these sites. The primary method of investigation was a combined archaeological and historical survey of the shoreline within seven 1-km square areas. The archaeological component of the survey covered both the terrestrial and submerged portions of the shore through marine remote sensing (side-scan sonar and magnetometer), diving surveys, pedestrian surveys, and informant interviews. A total of 39 sites and 51 isolated finds were identified or further analyzed as a result of this project. These sites ranged from the Middle Archaic period (ca. 5500–2500 B.C.) through the 19th century and included habitation, military, transportation, and recreational sites. Analysis of these findings was conducted at two scales: the individual survey area and Lake Ontario as a whole. By treating each survey area as a distinct landscape, it was possible to discuss how various cultures and groups used each space and to identify instances of both dynamism and continuity in the landscapes. Results of these analyses included the continuous occupation of several locations from pre-Contact times to the present, varying uses of the same environment in response to political and economic shifts, the formation of communities around transportation nodes, and recurring settlement patterns. The survey data was also combined to explore regional scale trends that manifest themselves in the historical Lake Ontario littoral landscape including ephemeral landscapes, permeable boundaries, danger in the lake, and factors of change.

The Bidmead Site (BeGv-4): An Historic Wendat Village in Simcoe County, Ontario.
Author: Merritt, Lisa M.
Year: 2001
Institution: University of Toronto
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: Marti Latta
Degree Type: M.Sc.
Abstract: The Bidmead site (BeGv-4) is a Contact Period Huron-Wendat village located in Simcoe County on the Mount Saint Louis Ridge. It was partially excavated in 1984 by archaeologists from the former Ministry of Citizenship and Culture. The site was threatened by a gravel pit operation and a heroic effort, driven by Roberta O’Brien and many OAS volunteers, was able to salvage excavate about one-third of the site. The following is a site report that for the first time presents in its entirety the analysis of the large body of data that resulted from this excavation. Bidmead appears to have been a medium-sized Attigneenongnahac (Cord Nation) village that covered at least 1.5 hectares. Artifact analysis indicates that the site was occupied from approximately 1610-1625. The excavated portion of the site consists of 13 longhouses arranged in an unusual fan-like pattern surrounded by a massive palisade complex. Further comparative analysis is needed to better understand how the site fits in with other Attigneenongnahac sites on the Mount Saint Louis Ridge.

Une tradition technologique régionale de l’industrie de pierre polie dans la vallée de l’Outaouais au cours de l’Archaïque supérieur
Author: Lapensée-Paquette, Manuel
Year: 2010
Institution: Université de Montréal
Department: Anthropologie
Supervisor: Adrian L. Burke
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: The Late and Terminal Archaic cultural sequence of the Ottawa Valley region is not well defined. Definition of cultural boundaries should be based on stylistic, technological and functional variations, on a regional and local scale. he “chaîne opératoire” reconstruction of ground stone celts and gouges from the Muldoon and Lamoureux sites could lead to the recognition of a regional technological tradition linked to the Laurentian Archaic, the Post-Laurentian Archaic (Narrow Point) and other cultural trends from the Great Lakes. The analysis of celts and gouges from Muldoon and Lamoureux show a massive use of amphibolite. The distal half of these tools is mostly finely abraded and polished. The proximal half is frequently broken off, but sometimes abraded. These technological traits prove to have some resemblances and differences with Laurentian sites in the Ottawa Valley and some Post-laurentian sites in southern Quebec and Ontario. The ground stone material from these sites shows several links towards the west while participating in the Post-Laurentian Archaic interaction sphere. The Ottawa valley seems therefore to take an independent place in the Late Archaic, as technologic continuities are seen between Laurentian and Post-Laurentian assemblages.

A Quest for Meaning at the Early 16th Century St. Lawrence Iroquoian Maynard-McKeown Site
Author: Joyce M. Wright
Year: 2009
Institution: McGill University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: Bruce Trigger
Degree Type: Ph.D.
Abstract: The Maynard-McKeown site is an early 16th-century St. Lawrence Iroquoian village situated near present-day Prescott, Ontario. During the summer of 1987 approximately a quarter of the 1.6 hectare settlement was excavated, including all or portions of twenty-three longhouses, multiple palisades, a defensive ditch, two sweatlodges, and numerous other features of social significance. To date, this site constitutes the largest excavation of a St. Lawrence Iroquoian site in either Canada or the United States and the only such site that has produced evidence of trade with Europeans. It is also one of only a few sites attributable to what was probably a confederation of tribes for which strong contextual data exists. The availability of these data presents the as yet rare opportunity to assess hypotheses concerning the past behaviour of this now culturally extinct people. Historic and ethnographic evidence indicates that past Iroquoian cosmology was premised on the tenuousness of human and horticultural vitality and the means by which these could be addressed for the betterment of the populace. Commonly expressed through an emphasis on such opposing dualities as men and women, destruction and creation, hunting and horticulture, and extra-societal influence versus intra-societal influence, these efforts were ultimately perceived as complementary and, consequently, socially sustaining. Material culture and settlement pattern data from the Maynard-McKeown site was used to gain an improved appreciation for some of the ways in which this cosmology is reflected in the archaeological record. In particular, attention was paid to the interpretation of individual ritual features, purification structures including the two aforementioned sweatlodges and a possible woman’s house, longhouses for indications of clan ownership, and material culture iconography. Analysis was facilitated through extensive recourse to extant historic, ethnographicand archaeological evidence concerning other Iroquoian sites and cultures.

Holocene lake-level change and submerged archaeological site potential of Rice Lake, Ontario
Author: Sonnenburg, Elizabeth P.
Year: 2011
Institution: McMaster University
Department: Earth Sciences
Supervisor: J. Boyce
Degree Type: Ph.D.
Abstract: Isostatic rebound and climatic changes throughout the Holocene have resulted in several periods of lowered water-levels in the Great Lakes watershed. The Early Holocene lowstand phase corresponds with the Paleoindian period in the Great Lakes Region (11,000-9000 YBP), and subsequent water-level rise has inundated Paleoindian archaeological sites. This research sought to reconstruct the water-level history of Rice Lake (located north of Lake Ontario) in order to identify areas of high potential for submerged prehistoric sites. Over 750 line km of detailed geophysical data (single-beam bathymetry) and 16 sediment cores were collected over a 30 km2 area of Rice Lake. Sediment cores were visually logged and analyzed for particle size, microfossils and microdebitage. Water-level reconstructions accounting for sediment infill and isostatic rebound of the lake record a post Lake Iroquois (after 12 ka BP) Early Holocene lowstand (∼10-12 m below present level (bp1)) (EH-1). At 10 ka BP, gradually rising water-levels and establishment of wetlands as indicated by thecamoebian assemblages coincide with a newly discovered Paleoindian occupation of the McIntyre basin, where quartz microdebitage was found. Water-level continued to rise to almost 2 m bpl until 6.5 ka BP, when warmer and drier temperatures caused a sudden drop in water-levels as recorded by a pollen hiatus. After 4 ka BP, water-levels quickly recovered and stabilized as shown by rapid recovery of pre-hiatus thecamoebian biofacies and the establishment of wild rice stands. The small number of known, well-preserved Great Lakes Paleoindian sites has limited analysis of Early Holocene population densities, migration patterns, cultural diffusion, or the chronology of settlement. The method of modelling water-level fluctuations and associated archaeological potential developed in this thesis represents a substantial advance in our understanding of Early Holocene archaeology in the Great Lakes. These methods will have broader application to exploration of submerged terrestrial landscapes elsewhere in the Great Lakes and will allow for future regional synthesis of archaeological site distribution and characteristics.

Contested histories: Museums, collectors and Iroquoian peoples in Ontario, 1797--1910
Author: Hamilton, Michelle A.
Year: 2004
Institution: University of Western Ontario
Department: History
Supervisor: R. Hall
Degree Type: Ph.D.
Abstract: Current museological literature focuses on contemporary museum/First Nations relations in North America. The history of anthropology mainly discusses the growing professionalization of Canadian anthropology in the twentieth century after the establishment of the Anthropology branch of the Geological Survey of Canada in 1910, or private collectors of Native artifacts in the nineteenth century. This study investigates the public side of nineteenthcentury archaeology and anthropology, through an examination of Ontario historical societies, and amateur, avocational and professional anthropologists who collected, exhibited and interpreted the material culture of the Iroquoian speaking peoples of Ontario (Wendat, Neutral, Tionontati and Haudenosaunee) to demonstrate their supposed evolutionary development, as well as the Aboriginal response. Historiography has largely overlooked the First Nations reaction to collecting in Canada, and consequently, has obscured its long history. This study contends that Iroquoian communities have protested against and cooperated with museums, anthropologists and archaeologists, and have studied their own past since 1797, the date of the first recorded dissent in Upper Canada. Often the protests and participation of Iroquoian communities, particularly the Six Nations of the Grand River, asserted Indigenous cultural values, although some individuals contributed to mainstream stereotypes. The historicization of anthropology also shows that the issues broached by First Nations in the nineteenth century are similar to those raised in the twenty-first.

Pukaskwa Pits: Rethinking the vision quest hypothesis and other cosmological interpretations
Author: Champagne, Nancy Denise
Year: 2009
Institution: Trent University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: J. Conolly
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: Since Norman Emerson's work in the late 1950s and Kenneth Dawson's work in the mid 1970s, little research has been conducted to elucidate the creation of "Pukaskwa Pits" despite the continuing appearance of these cobble features in northern Ontario. Reanalysis of the archaeological evidence which led researchers to the vision seeking hypothesis, reveals that this hypothesis originated in mere conjecture and not in sound academic reasoning. Non-parametric Mann-Whitney U statistics are used to test an alternative hypothesis for these features, which compares these particular cobble features to features found on "traditional" archaeological sites. I conclude that these cobble features were likely not used for cosmological rituals but instead represent a multitude of activities that one would expect on the beaches of a lake which is both known as a migration route and celebrated for its fishing resources. These results enhance our understanding of northern Ontario's archaeological assemblages and inferences we derive from them.

Paleoethnobotany of the latrine at Fort Wellington (1838-1867), Prescott, Ontario
Author: Lyall, Caylanne
Year: 2010
Institution: Trent University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: S. Jamieson
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: This thesis aims to examine what plant food species were consumed between 1838 and 1867 at Fort Wellington, Ontario, with an emphasis on what was eaten by the enlisted men, and how and why that changed over time. To address these questions, soil from the various levels (1838-1843, 1843-1854, and the 1860s) was floated, and the seeds and nut remains were identified and quantified. Approximately 93 different plant species were found, about 24 of which were likely consumed. Most species were likely plants found around the ramparts and Prescott area. Some of the foodstuffs were imported, such as Bertholletia excelsa (Brazil nut) and the abundant Ficus carica (fig), however, the majority are believed to have been locally grown and collected. Few dietary differences were observed between gender and ranks at Fort Wellington, though the officers had fewer locally cultivated fruit species than did the enlisted men between 1843 and 1854, when the Royal Canadian Rifle Regiment occupied the fort. Notably, in the layers corresponding to the 1860s militia encampment, plant remains were fewer and less variable, and indicate either a reduced access to fruits or different methods of preparation. Some of these differences can no doubt be attributed to sampling, but it is possible that others are related to food purchasing choices.

Trading well-being: exploring the ideological significance of European trade goods in seventeenth century Wendat society
Author: Bolduc, Laurence G.
Year: 2011
Institution: Trent University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: S. Jamieson
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: The purpose of this thesis is to study the integration of European trade items into seventeenth century Wendat society using the assemblage from the Peden site (ca. 1615-1640), a Wendat village located in Simcoe County, Ontario. Through a descriptive analysis of European items, shell beads and native ceramics from Peden, combined with an investigation of ethnohistorical sources, I aim to improve our understanding of why European items were desired by the Wendat and how they were incorporated into social contexts. Following an agency approach, this research acknowledges the active participation of people and objects in the Wendat's cultural reproduction and transformation. The results of my investigation emphasizes the ideological value of certain European items, believed to possess distinctive properties capable of providing spiritual and physical well-being as well as maintaining the cosmic balance in society. Thus, I consider that understanding Indigenous peoples' worldviews and relationships with the spirit world is integral to interpreting European trade goods.

An osteological and stable isotopic investigation of diet and health during the Late Woodland Period at Hidden Spring in Richmond Hill, Ontario
Author: Bower, Megan
Year: 2011
Institution: Trent University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: J. Williams
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: This thesis investigates the diet and health of seven individuals recovered at Hidden Spring (dating to ca. A.D. 1430-1480) in Richmond Hill, Ontario, using osteological, dental and isotopic analyses in conjunction with archaeological and ethnographic data. Diet was analyzed using stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses of bone collagen and bone bioapatite. The isotope data are consistent with a varied diet that included maize, terrestrial animals and freshwater fish. No age or sex differences in isotopic data were documented. Dental data support the isotopic data. Osteological measures of health such as paleopathology, stature and age at death were also evaluated. High rates of pathology and dental defects were observed as well as a young average age at death. The poor health indicated by these data contrasts with the isotopic data for a well balanced diet (i.e., a varied diet) and taller than average (relative to nearby sites) stature. These data, together with archaeological and ethnohistoric data, suggest that this population was exposed to chronic and persistent stressors (e.g., parasitism/infectious disease) but due to their overall good health (indicated by isotope data and stature) were able to survive these stressors. It is this survival that can account for the high rates of pathological and dental lesions. This thesis illustrates the complexity of reconstructing health and nutrition in past populations and highlights the importance of combining multiple indicators of health for each individual.

Pots and people: an examination of the relationships between production, function, and distribution at the Le Caron site in Simcoe County, Ontario
Author: Cameron, Krystal
Year: 2011
Institution: Trent University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: S. Jamieson
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: This thesis examines the interactions between various Wendat ceramic attributes including ceramic type, vessel size, and the contents of cooking pots by focusing on the rim, neck, and shoulder sherds excavated from the early to mid-17th century Le Caron village site located in Simcoe County, Ontario. It also scrutinizes the perceived relationship between vessel rim measurements and vessel size, observing minor correlations between collar base thickness, collar height and vessel size. Orifice circumference is used as a proxy for vessel size and stable isotopes are employed to analyze carbon encrustations to determine the contents of cooking pots. Ceramic types include Huron Incised, Sidey Notched and Warminster Crossed, and, to a lesser degree, Seed Incised and Sidey Crossed. The latter two types are poorly represented and cannot be used to distinguish attribute correlations. The former three types are not restricted to specific size ranges or cooking practices, crossing all size categories and food groups. Four different sizes of cooking pots are present within the assemblage, contradicting the popular conception of only three being necessary to accommodate individual, family, and communal (feasting) requirements. This suggests the need for multiple sizes of cooking pots to fulfill different functions and nuclear family sizes. Additionally, the smallest cooking pots contain no traces of fish, which might be explained by menstrual taboos or travelling practices that are not addressed within the ethnohistoric documentation.

The settlement patterns of the Bark Site (BbGp-12) and the surrounding Trent Valley
Author: Hoskins, Patrick
Year: 2011
Institution: Trent University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: S. Jamieson
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: This thesis uses the Bark site and the Trent Valley to test recent theories in Ontario archaeology that settlement patterns in Ontario are similar to one another and that certain aspects of material culture can elucidate ethnicity. Through the use of GIS and comparative analyses the Bark site's community pattern was determined to be multi-component, primarily occupied in the 15 th century. The Trent Valley settlement pattern was defined and compared to the various Native groups in Ontario. It was found that the settlement patterns across Ontario are similar to one another, with the main difference being the landscape. It was found that while ceramic paste, chert and faunal analysis can lead to ethnicity, it was not possible to make this determination for the Bark site because no comparative datasets are available for the Trent Valley. Research should be pursued in this area in order to determine the identity of the Bark site.

Negotiating representation: collaboration with First Peoples in Ontario's community museums
Author: Thornhill, Natalie Sharon
Year: 2011
Institution: Trent University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: M. Munson
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: The purpose of this thesis is to establish a deeper understanding about the practice of collaboration with First Peoples in Ontario's small community museums. Collaboration and its products have been studied widely within large national and provincial museums across Canada. However, collaboration within small community museums has rarely been explored. The thesis is based on a descriptive analysis of survey research and ethnographic interviews with employees (curators, directors and historians) from small museums in Ontario. These methods highlighted a series of factors such as staffing, funding, time, the unique culture of the individual museum and the nature of the source community, that appear to impact the nature of collaboration at these institutions. Awareness of how these factors impact collaboration provides insight into a paradigm shift that is being experienced in the social consciousness of the museum as a self aware and critical public institution.

Modification, Mixture or Metamorphosis: an analysis of European trade goods at the 17th Century Neutral Walker Site, Ontario
Author: Wallace, Melissa Marie
Year: 2011
Institution: Trent University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: S. Jamieson
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: This thesis examines the European trade goods from the ca. 1630-53 A.D. Neutral Iroquoian Walker site in Southern Ontario, for evidence of modification. This study is intended to understand how and why the trade goods were modified and incorporated into the Neutral assemblage. This analysis also takes into consideration economic, social and historical differences which may have characterized the Neutral people compared to other Iroquoian peoples. The placement of the European materials at the site is considered, using a theoretical approach that focuses on hybridization of material remains, a total of 220 European trade goods are analyzed. The results ofthis examination show that 51.36% of the Walker site's European trade goods were modified, indicating that the Neutral population at the site were altering and incorporating these goods in ways similar to other Indigenous groups, although the frequencies of these goods are slightly lower. This implies that the prevalence of modified European artifacts may have been affected by differences between Indigenous groups, including the different types of contact situations that they experienced with Europeans.

Exploring the relationship between Indigenous peoples and archaeologists in Ontario: A dialectical mixed-model research inquiry
Author: Kapyrka, Julie
Year: 2011
Institution: Trent University
Department: Indigenous Studies
Supervisor: M. Dockstator
Degree Type: Ph.D.
Abstract: Archaeologists and Indigenous peoples in the Americas have been at odds with one another since the inception of their relationship. Historically, this relationship has been one of imbalance, indirectly created through an association characterized by those who study and those who are studied. As a result, through archaeological practice and theory, archaeologists have had a significant impact upon the lives of Indigenous peoples both past and present, and this has served to define the nature of relations between them. Indigenous peoples have rarely been asked about how the archaeological study of their ancestors and cultures impacts their communities, belief systems and ways of life. This research addresses this issue by seeking out an Indigenous voice and explores current relationships between archaeologists and Indigenous peoples in Ontario through an examination of the perspectives of both groups regarding archaeological practice and theory. Using a dialectical mixed-model research inquiry, a methodology that engages in distinct epistemological paradigms from both Indigenous and Western worldviews, this research stands as an example of how differing knowledge systems can work collectively in one study to produce valid and applicable results. The results of this research indicate that although archaeologists and Indigenous peoples in Ontario share some of the same perspectives regarding archaeological practice and theory, there still exists an imbalance shaping the current relationship between them. This relationship is heavily influenced by the differences in the paradigmatic structures of Indigenous knowledges and Western knowledges, as well as by the shared history of 500 years of contact between the two very diverse cultures of these people. Based upon the results of this research, a series of recommendations are made that seek to address this imbalance through the advancement of mutually beneficial archaeological research models that have relationship building and co-operative education as the foundation of their practice. Key words: Indigenous peoples and archaeologists, relationships, archaeology, dialectical mixed-model research inquiry, Indigenous knowledge, toponymy.

Whose pot is this? Analysis of Middle to Late Woodland ceramics from the Kitchikewana Site, Georgian Bay Islands National Park of Canada
Author: Mortimer, Benjamin James
Year: 2012
Institution: Trent University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: S. Jamieson
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: Archaeological interpretation of Ontario's Middle to Late Woodland period is dominated by rigid taxonomic categories that confound archaeologists in potential boundary areas where assemblages may appear diverse. Analyses of attribute frequency, diversity, and clustering of an assemblage of 57 Middle to Late Woodland pottery vessels from the Kitchikewana site on Beausoleil Island in southern Georgian Bay, is undertaken to examine the diversity of the assemblage and to examine its relationship with comparative Point Peninsula and Saugeen pottery assemblages. I find the Kitchikewana assemblage has traits of both traditions, the diversity is not unique and is caused by temporally changing styles, and there are limited pottery connections to the ceramic taxonomies of either tradition. I conclude Middle Woodland pottery was made within a continuum of change from one area to another with each location having its own regional variations that are best explained in an ethnogenesis informed perspective. Accordingly, geographically broad typological constructs have little relation to ethnic or social groupings, and the existing taxonomic structure is seriously flawed.

An archaeological and geographic analysis of the nineteenth century Euro-Canadian settlement of Douro Township, Peterborough County
Author: Meskis, Stanley Donald
Year: 2012
Institution: Trent University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: J. Conolly
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: Using Geographical Information Systems software and settlement pattern analysis, and the relative values of recovered ceramic assemblages from eleven historic sites, this research investigates the factors influencing the pattern of the nineteenth-century Euro-Canadian settlement of Douro Township, Peterborough County, and the connections between the relative wealth of rural agricultural sites and land quality. The results of the settlement pattern analyses suggest that land quality played little part in the direction of settlement; rather proximity to early roads was the guiding factor in the settlement of Douro Township. In regards to the connections between relative wealth and land quality, neither the indexical cost of the recovered ceramic assemblages nor the agricultural productivity of the land directly correlates with relative wealth of nineteenth-century southern Ontario farms. This research is significant because it provides a fuller understanding of the nineteenth-century Euro-Canadian settlement in Ontario and the connections between their wealth and the land.

Inter-site analysis of Canis familiaris: a comparison of the Proto-Contact Ball Site and the European-Contact Le Caron site, Simcoe County, Ontario
Author: Dorion, Anne Gisèle
Year: 2012
Institution: Trent University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: E. Morin
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: This study attempts to determine the use of dogs ( Canis familiaris ) by the Wendat. Two 17th century Wendat villages are examined here, and a comparison between them is made to determine whether dog remains increased in relative abundance from the Proto-European Contact to the European Contact Period, as suggested by Latta (1976: 194-195). Examinations of the ethnohistoric literature as well as the archaeological data for both sites suggest that several alternative interpretations of its use are possible. These include the use of dogs for consumption (as suggested here by the location and morphology of cut marks), 2) and ritual purposes, as well as a member of society. The increase in dog remains, which is confrrmed here, may therefore suggest that certain uses increased in frequency at Le Caron.

Iroquoian Infant Mortality and Juvenile Growth, 1250 to 1700 AD
Author: Forrest, Crystal
Year: 2010
Institution: University of Toronto
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: S. Pfeiffer
Degree Type: Ph.D.
Abstract: This thesis investigates changes in Iroquoian infant mortality and juvenile growth between 1250 and 1700 AD in the Lower Great Lakes region of North America. The objectives of this thesis are to investigate the tempo and quality of growth of Iroquoian infants and juveniles; to investigate the relationship between apparent neonatal and postneonatal mortality and predicted mortality ratios based on equal probability of mortality risk in the first year of life (1:11); and to investigate whether or not the ratio of neonatal to postneonatal mortality changed as a result of cultural change associated with the arrival of Europeans at around 1600 AD. These were investigated using a sample of infant and juvenile remains from twenty-one sites in upper New York state and Ontario. Tempo and quality of growth were examined by comparing femoral length at different ages to the Iroquoian adult femur length endpoint and to the growth patterns established in the Denver Growth Study and in other aboriginal North American archaeological samples. Above average infant growth is attributed to biocultural factors and infant mortality is largely caused by acute conditions. Below average juvenile growth, especially between two and seven years of age, is attributed to nutritional imbalances and overcrowding, poor sanitation, and infectious disease prevalence. Juveniles were likely chronically ill, resulting in poor attainment of stature, and this may have contributed to their deaths early in life. Apparent infant mortality was found to differ from predicted mortality, and this difference was attributed to cultural and environmental mortality biases that make interpretation difficult. Change in infant mortality ratios as a result of cultural change associated with European contact is evident in the Iroquoian context: the lack of neonatal remains in postcontact ossuaries is consistent with the ethnohistoric record, but the high proportion of neonates in precontact ossuaries suggests that observations made by ethnohistoric observers may not be applicable to our understanding of precontact burial patterns. The change in the ratio of neonatal to postneonatal remains in the pre- and postcontact periods is interpreted as evidence of changes in burial patterns rather than change in mortality risk.

Deyughnyonkwarakda - "At the Wood's Edge": The Development of the Iroquoian Village in Southern Ontario A.D. 900-1500
Author: Creese, John
Year: 2010
Institution: University of Toronto
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: D.G. Smith
Degree Type: Ph.D.
Abstract: This dissertation explores the origins and development of Northern Iroquoian village life in present-day southern Ontario, from the first appearance of durable domestic architecture in the 10th century A.D., to the formation of large villages and towns in the 15th century A.D. Twenty-five extensively excavated village sites are analyzed in terms of the configuration of exterior and interior space, with a view to placing the social construction of community at the centre of the problem of early village development. Metric and space-syntax measures of the configuration of outdoor space reveal coordinated developments in the scale of houses and villages, their built-densities, and the structure of exterior accessibility networks, that involved the emergence of a "local-to-global" pattern of order with village growth. Such a pattern, I argue, was experientially consonant with a sequential hierarchy of daily social encounters and interactions that was related to the development of factional groups. Within the longhouse, a similarly "nested" pattern of spatial order and associated social identities emerged early in the history of village development, but was elaborated and ritualized during the later 13 th century as the longhouse became the primary body through which political alliances involving village coalescence were negotiated. I suggest that the progressive extensification of collective social groups associated with longhouse expansions and village coalescences involved the development of "conjoint" personhood and power in a context of predominantly mutualistic village economies and enduring egalitarian ideals. The ritualization of domestic space during this process reveals that the continual production and extension of social group identities - such as the matrilineage - was contingent upon "social work" accomplished through an ongoing generative engagement with the built environment.

The evolving role of archaeology in cultural resource management on national historic sites in Ontario
Author: Novak, Melissa
Year: 2007
Institution: Carleton University
Department: Canadian Studies
Supervisor: H. Stovel
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: This thesis argues that archaeology is a valuable tool for cultural resource management on national historic sites across Canada. It examines the historical development of the archaeology and cultural resource management and within a Canadian and North American context. The development of the Parks Canada Agency, its Cultural Resource Management Policy and the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada are explored to illuminate the development of the National Historic Site system and to evaluate the contribution each organization has made to the establishment and protection of national historic sites across the country. By applying the Parks Canada Cultural Resource Management Policy to examples of the ways archaeology has been used at Fort Wellington National Historic Site and Fort Henry National Historic Site, the contribution of archaeology in the management of national historic sites will be demonstrated.

Continuity within change settlement-subsistence strategies and artifact patterns of the southwestern Ontario Ojibwa, A.D. 1780-1861
Author: Ferris, Neal
Year: 1989
Institution: York University
Department: Geography
Supervisor: C. Heidenreich
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: pending

Iroquois archaeology and the development of Iroquois social organization, 1000-1650 A.D.: A study in culture change based on archaeology, ethnohistory and ethnology
Author: Noble, William Charles
Year: 1968
Institution: University of Calgary
Department: Archaeology
Supervisor: R. S. MacNeish
Degree Type: Ph.D.
Abstract: pending

Une etude ethnohistorique et paleoanthropologique des epidemies en Huronie
Author: Larocque, Robert
Year: 1991
Institution: Université de Montréal
Department: Anthropologie
Supervisor: K. Jacobs
Degree Type: ?
Abstract: ette these traite des epidemies qui ont largement contribue a decimer les populations amerindiennes du sud-est de l'Ontario a l'arrivee des Europeens dans le Nord-Est americain a la fin du XVIe et au debut du XVIIe siecles. De quelque 30 000 qu'ils etaient au moment des premiers contacts directs avec les Francais en 1609, les Hurons ne se comptaient plus que par centaines en 1650. Bien connues des chercheurs, ces epidemies, d'origine europeenne, n'ont jamais ete analysees de facon approfondie et plusieurs questions demeuraient non resolues. Notre recherche comporte deux volets complementaires, car les epidemies pouvaient etre documentees a la fois par des documents ethnohistoriques et par des collections de squelettes humains. Nous avons exploite cette double approche pour mieux comprendre comment les facteurs biologiques, culturels et environnementaux ont interagi lors du genocide. De nombreux chercheurs ont voulu identifier les maladies qui ont balaye la Huronie entre 1634 et 1650, mais aucun n'a traite la question en profondeur sur le plan medical. Nous sommes donc repartis a zero. Tous les documents historiques relatifs aux Hurons ont ete analyses et reinterpretes a la lumiere des caracteristiques epidemiologiques des maladies qui pouvaient etre en cause. Nous en concluons que l'epidemie de 1634, le plus souvent imputee a la rougeole, aurait plutot ete causee par la variole, et qu'en 1636 et 1637, il n'y eut pas deux mais une seule epidemie d'influenza. La variole a certainement participe a celle de 1639-1640, mais elle aurait eu des complices: la rougeole, l'influenza, la varicelle, la coqueluche et la scarlatine ont aussi ete evoquees. Nous voulions aussi voir si les epidemies pouvaient etre detectees a l'analyse de restes humains. Nous avons donc compare les squelettes de trois ossuaires: ceux de Fairty (ca 1400 A.D.), de Kleinburg (ca 1600 A.D.) et d'Ossossane (1636 A.D.). Il en ressort que la composition demographique et la frequence de certaines lesions osseuses de la collection prehistorique s'ecartent nettement de celles des deux autres collections, respectivement protohistorique et posterieure a la premiere epidemie connue. Les attributs des deux collections recentes sont compatibles avec l'existence d'epidemies et attestent que des epidemies ont sevi en Huronie avant la premiere rencontre connue entre les Hurons et les Francais. Nous avons demontre par cette recherche comment les documents anciens et les restes humains permettent de documenter les epidemies du passe et combien il peut etre profitable d'utiliser conjointement ces deux sources de donnees.

The chemical characterization of Onondaga chert from the Peace Bridge site (AfGr-9): Implications for the spatial movement of Late Archaic lithics in southern Ontario
Author: Clark, George R.
Year: 2003
Institution: University of Manitoba
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: H. Greenfield
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: The Peace Bridge site (AfGr-9), situated within the town of Fort Erie, Ontario, is an example of an intensive locale for lithic exploitation. Despite the relatively small proportion excavated, the site has shown evidence of finished stone tools, complex feature staining that is indicative of Genesee period living floors or structures, a number of subsequent Transitional Woodland house structures and a three thousand year old mortuary tradition. It seems possible that in past times the site functioned as a central manufacturing and distribution center of finished tools, which, along with preforms and unmodified raw material, were circulated inland to other communities. Genesee Period points or preforms made from Onondaga chert have been found beyond the immediate vicinity of Onondaga source area, where the Peace Bridge site is situated. This raises a number of questions as to the regional organization of lithic procurement and/or exchange during the Late Archaic. Yet the manner by which these items have traveled farther has yet to be studied in detail. Provenance studies, using Induced Neutron Activation Analysis (INAA), were performed on lithic samples derived from a precontact Onondaga chert quarry within the site. Geochemical patterning illuminated in previous studies are described for the Peace Bridge site quarry and are further used on Late Archaic Genesee Period material in on-site and off-site contexts in an attempt to ascribe provenance to the constituent quarry.

The Huron of the Kawartha Lakes: Faunal exploitation strategies as indicators of change during the Pre, Proto and Historic periods
Author: Campbell, Jennifer
Year: 2004
Institution: Memorial University of Newfoundland
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: L. Rankin
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: This research involves the analysis of the faunal remains from three Huron village sites and two Huron hamlets in order to reconstruct the subsistence strategies practiced by the Huron of the Upper Trent River Valley, south central Ontario, throughout the 16 th century. Examination of the faunal remains allows for the shifting exploitation patterns of the period to be addressed in relation to increased contact with the St. Lawrence Iroquois and increased exposure to European goods acquired through trade. The most important economic shift seen in the faunal remains is the increasing relative importance of beaver and dog exploitation to the detriment of deer exploitation. This increased beaver specialization is interpreted in relation to the early onset of a European motivated fur trade, and the arrival of St. Lawrence Iroquois peoples at Huron habitation sites in the Upper Trent River Valley.

Prehistoric Human-Environment Interaction in Eastern North America
Author: Munoz, Samuel
Year: 2010
Institution: University of Ottawa
Department: Geography
Supervisor: K. Gajewski
Degree Type: M.Sc.
Abstract: Industrialized human societies both affect and are vulnerable to environmental change, but the dynamics of human-environment relationships during prehistory are less well understood. Using large databases of accumulated paleoecological and archaeological records, this dissertation explores the relationship between prehistoric humans and environmental change in eastern North America. A synthesis of late Quaternary paleoecological and archaeological data from the northeastern United States shows a close temporal correspondence between changes in climate, terrestrial ecosystems, human culture and population numbers. These synchronous changes occurred at 11.6, 8.2, 5.4 and 3.0 thousand years before present, before the adoption of maize agriculture when human groups in eastern North America subsisted by hunting and gathering. Further examination of these datasets in southern Ontario over the last two thousand years found that clearance of forests by prehistoric Native Americans for agricultural fields significantly altered terrestrial ecosystems at a sub-regional scale (10 2 -10 3 m). Together, these results support the hypothesis that prehistoric Native Americans had a greater environmental impact than previously believed, but show that this impact was concentrated around agricultural settlements and was less substantial than that associated with European settlement during the historic period. The methodologies developed in this dissertation provide a means to better understand human-environment relationships in other regions which differ in their environmental and cultural histories.

The Archaeology of the Ontario Iroquois
Author: Emerson, John Norman
Year: 1954
Institution: University of Chicago
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: F.-C. Cole
Degree Type: Ph.D.
Abstract: pending

The preceramic Period in the Southwest Canadian Shield: An Initial Model Formulation
Author: Wall, Robert David
Year: 1981
Institution: Catholic University of America
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: ?
Degree Type: ?
Abstract: This dissertation concerns the archeology of the preceramic period (9500-2500 B.P.) in northwest Ontario, a region consisting of dense boreal coniferous forest interspersed with barren bedrock exposures, muskeg swamps and a complex network of thousands of interconnected lakes. The purpose of the research was to develop a model for preceramic period subsistence-settlement systems in the southwest Canadian Shield environment. Very little is known about the prehistory of northwest Ontario and adjacent regions of the Shield. Only brief surveys have been carried out there, primarily because of accessibility problems and a concentration of research in areas south of the Shield. An initial synthesis of Archaic sites on the Shield was used to formulate the concept of a Shield Archaic tradition by Dr. J. V. Wright of the National Museum of Canada in the early 1970's. Wright's study is preliminary in that it presents an organization of existing archeological data within a cultural historical outline while offering a few tentative hypotheses. The present study builds upon Wright's initial outline by formulating a cultural ecological model of preceramic period adaptations to a changing Post-Pleistocene environment. A cultural ecological approach constitutes the assumption that man, in his social context, is an element in a dynamic network of ecological relationships. As such, man is directly affected and therefore limited by a variety of environmental variables. These ecological or man-land relationships may be observed archeologically through the relationship of archeological site distribution to features of the physical environment. The present study utilizes a regional framework to model the ecological relationships that affected preceramic period adaptive strategies. Regionally this is best achieved using the focal-diffuse model (Cleland 1966) which addresses the distribution and quality of economic resources and their effect on the type of economy utilized prehistorically within a region. Specific economic resource "pulls" (Jochim 1976) may serve to alter patterns of prehistoric resource exploitation from one locality to another while at the same time supporting a generalized regional subsistence-settlement pattern. Fieldwork for the study consisted of an archeological survey of Lake of the Woods, Ontario. The results were combined with previously recorded archeological and paleoecological data. Site distributions, associated tool assemblages, and the relation of sites to local environmental features provided the basic data for the subsistence-settlement model. The resulting model shows some clear differences between Paleo-Indian and Archaic period subsistence-settlement systems. The earlier Paleo-Indian adaptation is apparently a land-based pattern in which marginal lakeshore environments and interior upland zones were favored areas of occupation. The land-based settlement pattern also involves the concentration on the use of the more massive types of lithic resources, particularly jaspertaconite and rhyolite. The pattern changed by the Archaic period when adaptations became more water-based, that is, the lake systems which dominate the Shield environment were more efficiently and extensively utilized, particularly in the interior of large lake systems which had been previously ignored by Paleo-Indian groups. This marks the change from a focal to a diffuse type of economy from Paleo to Archaic times in terms of variety of species exploited, lithic material utilization and total area exploited. This model should be applicable, in a general sense, to other areas of the boreal forest-Canadian Shield where it can be tested and refined into subregional variants.

Neutral Iroquois Lithics: Technological Process and its Implications
Author: Jamieson, Susan Mary
Year: 1984
Institution: Washington State University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: W.D. Lipe
Degree Type: Ph.D.
Abstract: This study examines the protohistoric and historic Neutral Iroquois flaked stone industry from seven large southern Ontario sites spanning the period A.D. 1540 to 1650. Lithic reduction and toolstone procurement and distribution systems had been poorly understood by previous researchers. Results of this study show that information about this industry can augment our interpretation of Neutral economic and organizational behavior. The nature of the industry is established using a systems approach involving application of a sequential linear reduction model and quantitative analysis supplemented by geological, ethnohistorical, and archaeological data. The industry can be described as a nested series of bounded, dynamic subsystems. They have both temporal and spatial integrity and interact with economic, settlement, and socio-political systems. This lithic system is most fully understood for the historic period, when its structure becomes more complex in response to trade, warfare, and the development of a chiefdom. Systemic elements are kept in equilibrium by means of a number of adjustments inferred to redirect, but not to change appreciably, time/energy expenditures. Between A.D. 1615 and 1630, homogeneity within the industry increases. This implies that tribal groups were surrendering local autonomy. At the same time, greater interaction with groups to the northwest and to the south is indicated. The former affected the procurement system, the latter the reduction system. Pelt preparation requirements resulted in the production of larger, heavier edge tools at one settlement in each of the three tribal clusters examined. Other lithics from these sites indicate a possible foreign presence. A gateway for the importation of toolstones has been identified. Contrary to general opinion, the industry is highly sensitive to change. Also, the intensity of its interaction with the Fort Ancient lithic system to the south has not been recognized hitherto. Directions for future research include examination of the extent and nature of intrasite variability in the lithic industry, further comparison of units within the Neutral chiefdom and the preceding confederacy, and the detailed analysis of materials from surrounding systems. Replicative studies are needed to substantiate inferences drawn in this study.

Gainey phase occupation in the southern Rice Lake Region, Canada
Author: Jackson, Lawrence James
Year: 1994
Institution: Southern Methodist University
Department: Archaeology
Supervisor: D.J. Wilson
Degree Type: Ph.D.
Abstract: This thesis examines the Early Palaeo-Indian Gainey phase occupation of the southern Rice Lake region in Ontario, Canada. Excavations at two newly discovered sites, Sandy Ridge and Halstead (BaGn-6 and BaGn-65, respectively), are the basis for a regional consideration of the Gainey phase concept. Detailed examination of variability in tool and debitage assemblages, raw material use, site structure, and relationship to other Gainey sites is used to explore the Gainey phase construct. Believed on geochronological and typological grounds to date between 11,200 and 10,800 years B.P., Gainey is the earliest Palaeo-Indian cultural expression in the eastern Great Lakes area. Its typological affinity with Clovis and other Clovis-related sites and phases in the Northeast (such as New England's Bull Brook phase) brings into focus the need to clearly articulate phase definitions in the context of assemblages, sites, and regions.

Systems of subsistence and networks of exchange in the Terminal Woodland and Early Historic periods in the Upper Great Lakes
Author: Smith, Beverly Ann
Year: 1996
Institution: Michigan State University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: C. Cleland
Degree Type: Ph.D.
Abstract: The ethnohistoric documents from the Early Historic Period (A.D. 1615-1650) in the Upper Great Lakes make reference to extensive exchange networks among native groups. The Odawa tribes of the Bruce Peninsula and Manitoulin Island and the Ojibwa bands in the northern portions of the region were important participants in this network. Archaeological models have envisioned each Upper Great Lakes culture as economically self-sufficient and regional exchange as infrequent. This research examines in nature of the regional exchange network and reveals that the network was a vital, economically based, system of regional balanced reciprocity. The analysis of faunal remains from archaeological sites dated to the Terminal Woodland and Early Historic Periods provides evidence of the preferred meat species in each area. An understanding of human nutritional requirements and alternative strategies to fulfill dietary needs is critical to understand food preferences and choices made in a subsistence system. Considerations of nutritional requirements of the human population and the available number of preferred animals that could be exploited in sustainable yields reveal that the exchange networks observed by Europeans were critical to the Odawa. To acquire the desired animals and maize, they engaged in a complex network of relationships throughout the Great Lakes, especially with the people of northern Lake Superior. This analysis demonstrates that subsistence systems may not necessarily be designed as localized and self-sufficient. Societies can be politically independent and also employ socially, economically and logistically complex systems, including a regional network of balanced reciprocity, to support their way of life.

Interpreting Fishing Strategies of the Odawa
Author: Molnar, James Stephen
Year: 1997
Institution: State University of New York at Albany
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: D. Snow
Degree Type: Ph.D.
Abstract: This study presents an examination of fishing activities of the Odawa (Ottawa) and other Native peoples of the northern Great Lakes in the Late Woodland and Contact periods. Data from numerous sources are considered inductively to search for patterning relevant to fishing strategies. The Hunter's Point site (BfHhB-3) in Ontario provides the primary data set. Fishing strategies are interpreted from archaeological remains and reconciled with ethnohistoric accounts. Conclusions of this analysis are compared against other regional studies of fishing activities.

Ceramic style, social differentiation, and resource uncertainty in the Late Prehistoric Upper Great Lakes
Author: Milner, Claire McHale
Year: 1998
Institution: University of Michigan
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: R.I. Ford
Degree Type: Ph.D.
Abstract: In small-scale societies, inter-group identification expedites access to alternative resources and places, while boundaries facilitate exchange among socially distant people to offset widespread, severe resource shortfalls. These risk-buffering strategies become critical when subsistence intensification and other strategies are not viable. Nested social networks that progressively encompass larger populations and places compensate for shortfalls occurring on different temporal and spatial scales. The inclusion of ecologically diverse areas provides access to areas subject to different sources of risk. Identification and differentiation that facilitate resource sharing should be expressed in and manipulated through material culture. Inter-group identification and differentiation were critical risk-buffering strategies in the Upper Great Lakes during the Juntunen phase, A.D. 1200 to 1650. Paleo-environmental and archaeological data are used to reconstruct the contexts to which Juntunen phase people adapted. Early historic data on the Ottawa and Ojibwa who inhabited the region at contact provide evidence for local, subregion and regional networks, and alliances with inter-regional populations. The latter became critical after A.D. 1400 with the increased frequency and severity of resource failures of the Little Ice Age. Expectations of ceramic style variability that track identification and differentiation are derived from a hierarchical model of style and considerations of visibility to target populations. Variation among 1097 vessels from 66 Juntunen phase sites are studied. Analysis of well-dated components permit the division of the phase into two 200-year subphases and the isolation of chronologically-sensitive variables used to date other components. Spatial analysis isolates pan-regional stylistic homogeneity at every level of the design hierarchy; clinal variation in a few low-level attributes; a west versus east stylistic division of the region; subregion stylistic markers, many of which derive from inter-regional interaction; and increased intra-regional diversity over time. Stylistic homogeneity and clinal patterning indicates the existence of a stable configuration of groups sharing a common identity. Subregion networks distinguished themselves from each other and constructed alliances across regional borders. Increased intra-regional differentiation indicates that these alliances became more important around A.D. 1400. Social identification and differentiation indicated by these patterns are best understood as responses to the environmental risk faced by Juntunen phase populations.

The Niagara frontier Iroquois: A study of sociopolitical development
Author: Rayner-Herter, Nancy Lynn
Year: 2001
Institution: State University of New York at Buffalo
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: E. Zubrow
Degree Type: Ph.D.
Abstract: Iroquoian culture in the Lower Great Lakes region underwent numerous changes in the Late Woodland period (A.D. 900-1550) including population consolidation and territorial constriction. By the sixteenth century the Iroquoians of southern Ontario and New York State were living in large, sedentary, horticultural villages bound together by tribal social ties. In this dissertation questions regarding the origins of the Niagara Frontier Iroquoians and the nature of sociopolitical development in western New York were addressed. A site chronology was constructed using both relative and radiometric techniques and information regarding site function. Social stress theory and Niemczycki's (1984) model of tribal evolution were relied upon to interpret changes in village size and spatial distribution and ritual behavior. Results of a cluster analysis and a Brainerd Robinson coefficient of agreement study based on rim motifs from thirty-seven sites in southern Ontario, western New York and west-central New York suggest the Oakfield Phase sites of Ganshaw, Oakfield and Woeller are ancestral to the Seneca of west-central New York. Settlement nucleation in the Buffalo site cluster occurred rapidly sometime in the early to mid-sixteenth century resulting in two large villages (>1.5 ha) moving together through time and space. Previously, a single peer polity composed of two or more communities sharing resources in common was centered on a sand and gravel plain just east of the present-day City of Buffalo. Environmental uncertainty due to a late fifteenth century drought and a changing social environment in southern Ontario are investigated as possible causes of the shift from multi-lineage communities to a tribal level society. Iroquoian cultural development did not occur in isolation and a better understanding of western New York prehistory is important for understanding the evolution of the larger Northern Iroquoian cultural pattern.

Ten thousand years of population relationships at the prairie-woodland interface: Cranial morphology in the Upper Midwest and contiguous areas of Manitoba and Ontario
Author: Myster, Susan Mary Thurston
Year: 2001
Institution: University of Tennessee
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: R. Jantz & F.H. Smith
Degree Type: Ph.D.
Abstract: Prehistoric Minnesota was characterized by significant cultural and environmental diversity. Throughout much of its 10,000 year history, this region has witnessed the interaction of human populations with their physical environment, developing adaptive strategies to effectively utilize the resources distinctive to this area. Archaeological research has focused on reconstructing the culture history and the nature and extent of relationships between contemporaneous archaeological manifestations and across major environmental biomes. The research presented here applies a bioarchaeological perspective to the investigation of past population relationships through the integration of archaeological and osteological data. A multivariate discriminant function analysis was conducted on a large sample of human crania recovered from sites dating from the Early Prehistoric to the Historic period in Minnesota and surrounding border areas in Ontario, Manitoba, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Iowa. A series of 41 measurements, representing the major cranio-facial functional complexes, was taken on 380 crania. Interpretation of results provided insight into the degree of genetic continuity among groups, biological homogeneity of defined archaeological cultures and burial complexes, and evaluation of proposed transformation models. Results indicate overall biological continuity between Paleoindian, Archaic and Initial Woodland groups. Significant biological discontinuity between Late Woodland groups and the populations of the Initial variant of the Middle Missouri, Oneota, and Mississippi traditions suggests in-migration of various populations during this time. The Late Woodland Blackduck phase and the Arvilla and Devils Lake - Sourisford burial complexes exhibit significant biological heterogeneity while the Oneota, Mississippi, and Middle Missouri traditions are more homogeneous. This distinction is most likely due to the more sedentary settlement-subsistence pattern of the southern horticulturalists and the continuation of the more mobile lifestyles of the northern groups despite documented increases in population sizes, intensive collection and reliance on wild rice, and other socio-political practices characteristic of transformation to a tribal pattern of socio-political organization. Results further indicate no definitive ancestor-descendant relationships between late prehistoric archaeological manifestations and resident historic tribal groups. These results may reflect the coalescence of many tribal communities as a result of the effects of European colonization including disease and forced relocation to military forts and reservations.

Lake Ontario Maritime Cultural Landscape
Author: Ford, Benjamin Louis
Year: 2009
Institution: Texas A&M University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: K. Crisman
Degree Type: Ph.D.
Abstract: The goal of the Lake Ontario Maritime Cultural Landscape project was to investigate the nature and distribution of archaeological sites along the northeast shoreline of Lake Ontario while examining the environmental, political, and cultural factors that influenced the position of these sites. The primary method of investigation was a combined archaeological and historical survey of the shoreline within seven 1-km square areas. The archaeological component of the survey covered both the terrestrial and submerged portions of the shore through marine remote sensing (side-scan sonar and magnetometer), diving surveys, pedestrian surveys, and informant interviews. A total of 39 sites and 51 isolated finds were identified or further analyzed as a result of this project. These sites ranged from the Middle Archaic period (ca. 5500-2500 B.C.) through the 19th century and included habitation, military, transportation, and recreational sites. Analysis of these findings was conducted at two scales: the individual survey area and Lake Ontario as a whole. By treating each survey area as a distinct landscape, it was possible to discuss how various cultures and groups used each space and to identify instances of both dynamism and continuity in the landscapes. Results of these analyses included the continuous occupation of several locations from pre-Contact times to the present, varying uses of the same environment in response to political and economic shifts, the formation of communities around transportation nodes, and recurring settlement patterns. The survey data was also combined to explore regional-scale trends that manifest themselves in the historical Lake Ontario littoral landscape including ephemeral landscapes, permeable boundaries, danger in the lake, and factors of change.

Earmarked: maize, materiality and agricultural frontiers in the Lower Great Lakes region of North America
Author: Martin, S.W.J.
Year: 2006
Institution: University of Cambridge
Department: Archaeology
Supervisor: ?
Degree Type: Ph.D.
Abstract: My Ph.D. dissertation is devoted to mapping the initial spread of maize cultivation through Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New York and Ontario. My mandate has been to compile an annotated catalogue of all sites with maize in the region within the 200 BC to AD 1100 period and, from there, to present the contextual nuances and group-to-group interactions entailed in its adoption in each state or province and subregion. The primary data that I use derive from archived site reports compiled by professional (Cultural Resource Management) as well as academic ('research') archaeologists. Cultural Resource Management reports are often not available without first-person archive searches and/or formal permission from excavators. Access to these materials entailed my travelling to state and provincial capitals' central archaeological repositories. In my dissertation, I assess the evidence for whether maize spread due to environmental opportunities, functional efficiency vis-à-vis traditional subsistence regimes, rituo-ceremonial consumption, elite manipulation and competitive display or locally-contingent and socially-nuanced relational experiments. I explore themes of human agency, enchainment and variably open, 'boundaries' between groups, where ecological adaptation is downplayed for social relationships and region-wide idioms of action. In this case, I see maize having been taken up within a tradition of broad-based subsistence regimes and wide-reaching competition, adoption and transfer of materials and finished items. I target, then, local trajectories in human enterprise to elucidate past contexts into and through which early maize disseminated and was ignored, experimented with or fully adopted. My data suggest that maize was not taken up in ritual and ceremonial contexts nor, on the whole, in competitive consumption via conspicuous feasting display between elites. Instead, maize appears to have spread through the region as an enhanced and relationally-symbolic material that straddled the designations 'food' and 'artefact'.

Where Eagles Fly: An Archaeological Survey of Lake Nipissing
Author: Brizinski, Morris
Year: 1980
Institution: McMaster University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: W.C. Noble
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: This thesis is an attempt to initiate a detailed understanding of the culture history of the Nipissing Indians. To do so, a description, analysis, and interpretation of three stratified sites, Campbell Bay, Frank Ridley, and Frank Bay, is presented. Generally speaking, the material culture retrieved spans 5000 years of prehistory and is characterized by a number of imported exotic and utilitarian items, as well as, locally manufactured goods. It is suggested that the one theme which permeated this cultural tradition was the inherent mobility and exchange of goods and ideas that took place between the Nipissings and her allies. Specifically, the "middleman role" that characterized the Nipissings during the early Contact period is seen as an amplification of an existing traditional exchange system based on reciprocity. Changes in the direction and magnitude the exchange system are considered particularly as itapplies to the inception and proliferation of prehistoric trade based on horticultural products.

A Regional Approach to the Study of Diet During the First Century of the Hudson's Bay Company Fur Trade in Rupert's Land
Author: Balcom, Rebecca J.
Year: 1981
Institution: University of Manitoba
Department: Department of Anthropology
Supervisor: Dr. Greg Monks
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: This thesis presents techniques for examining diet during the first century of the Hudson's Bay Company fur trade in Rupert's Land. The techniques that have been developed from the regional historical documents in order to study diet in this new environment are a food chronology, two food classification schemes, and a flow diagram which illustrates the flow of food through the Hudson's Bay Company subsistence system. These analytic techniques are then applied at the site-specific level to the historical and archaeological data from New Severn (1685-1690). This research illustrates the usefulness of a regional approach. due to the gaps in the historical record for this time period, particularly at the site-specific level, a broader understanding of diet at individual posts is possible by utilising documents pertaining to the entire Bayside region. Furthermore, this study illustrates the utility of combining historical and archaeological data bases in order to obtain a more detailed inventory of foods available for consumption. The archaeological data base lacks information pertaining to imported foods and the historical data base lacks information pertaining to local resource utilisation. By integrating these two data bases in the manner suggested by the previously mentioned techniques, it is concluded that, barring calamity, the diet of the Hudson's Bay Company fur traders at New Severn was nutritionally adequate providing there was sufficient intake of the available foods.

A use-wear analysis of Gravers from Paleo-Indian Archaeological sites in Southern Ontario
Author: Maika, Monica
Year: 2012
Institution: University of Western Ontario
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: C. Ellis
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: Well-made gravers or spurred tools are one stone tool characteristic of the Paleo-Indian time period, but although many explanations have been posited as to their purpose (tattooing, hide piercing, engraving, etc), to date few typological or use-wear analyses have been conducted. This thesis analyzes a sample of gravers recovered from Early Paleo-Indian (11,000-10,400 B.P.) sites in southern Ontario. Using graver morphology and low-power microscopic examination of traces of use-wear, and guided by experiments using modern replicas, a typology of EPI gravers is evaluated, and a better understanding of their functions and roles in Paleo-Indian technology obtained. This study provides insights into these poorly understood tools and everyday Paleo-Indian actions, looking beyond the traditional focus on the age of sites and manufacturing procedures used to produce Paleo-Indian technologies.

Seasonal Subsistence in Late Woodland Southern Ontario: An examination of the relationships between resource availability, maize agriculture, and faunal procurement and processing strategies
Author: Foreman, Lindsay J.
Year: 2011
Institution: University of Western Ontario
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: L. Hodgetts
Degree Type: Ph.D.
Abstract: This study uses the zooarchaeological record to examine the seasonal mobility and scheduling of faunal procurement and processing activities by southwestern Ontario’s two Late Woodland (ca. A.D. 800-1600) communities, Western Basin and Iroquoian. Faunal datasets helped to reconstruct the timing and location of Western Basin annual hunting and fishing pursuits and identified a greater degree of flexibility in the organization of these activities than previously recognized, as well as in comparison to contemporaneous Iroquoian communities who also occupied this region. Western Basin groups oriented themselves near lakes and rivers year-round where they exploited locally abundant fish, mammals, birds, and other animals. The reconstructed Western Basin seasonal round suggests that these groups were more mobile than neighbouring Iroquoians who settled in upland areas near tributaries, creeks, and ponds. However, during the 800 years of interest, both traditions diversified their hunting and fishing activities, focusing on the procurement of animals available near their camps and villages. These changes likely relate to scheduling conflicts between maize crop production, which was intensified during the second millennium A.D., hunting, and fishing. The highly fragmented nature of Western Basin large mammal (i.e., cervid) assemblages is also investigated. An examination of bone specimen sizes, types, fracture characteristics, and degree of burning indicated that bone marrow and grease was routinely extracted by Western Basin peoples and was integral to food preparation and consumption practices, rather than indicative of seasonal periods of food stress.

De-essentializing the past: deconstructing colonial categories in 19th-century Ontario
Author: Beaudoin, Matthew
Year: 2013
Institution: University of Western Ontario
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: N. Ferris
Degree Type: Ph.D.
Abstract: This study engages with both the archaeology of colonialism and historical archaeology in a manner that brings them into direct dialogue with each other to explore how essentialized identity tropes are used to frame our conceptualizations of the past. The archaeology of colonialism and historical archaeology have been conceptually bifurcated along a colonized/colonizer dichotomy and continuously reified by the insertion of research into one category or the other. The archaeology of colonialism generally focuses on the experiences of the colonized within the colonial process, while historical archaeology focuses on the experiences of Europeans and/or people of European descent. This is not to say that archaeologists working on either side of this conceptual divide ignore each other entirely, but rather their foci – and subsequent discussions – rarely converge. To create a conceptual bridge between these disparate dialogues, I explore multigenerational, 19th-century sites in southwestern Ontario, all of which have two sequential occupations that serve to explore generational shifts through time. The sites explored are conventionally bifurcated along colonial and capitalist binaries, and categorized as colonized (Davisville settlement and Mohawk Village, two Mohawk communities) and colonizer (McKinney and Odlum families, two Euro-Canadian families), as well as elite (Mohawk Village and Odlum) and non-elite (Davisville and McKinney). An exploration of the patterns between generations, contexts, and the bifurcated divides enabled insights into the differences and similarities between and within the conventional tropes of colonialism. Furthermore, this allows for a discussion of how archaeological taxonomic conventions shape and conceptualize our interpretations from the outset and fundamentally limit the narratives that we produce. This exploration emphasizes that our contemporary archaeological discourses are products of present day sensibilities, firmly embedded within the legacies of colonialism, and create archaeological imaginaries of the past that insidiously reify the essentialized colonial divide. Instead of emphasizing the differences between Euro-Canadian and Indigenous sites, exploring the contemporaneous commonalities of existence for all the sites under study illustrates archaeological dialogues that transcend the colonial conceptual divide and de-essentialize archaeological narratives of the past.

Past tents: temporal themes and patterns of provincial archaeological governance in British Columbia and Ontario
Author: Dent, Joshua
Year: 2012
Institution: University of Western Ontario
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: N. Ferris
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: Archaeological governance in Canada is a patchwork of provincial jurisdiction. Comparing past and present archaeological legislation, regulation and policy in British Columbia and Ontario, this thesis identifies temporal themes and patterns both common and distinct in the two provinces. Themes of process, performance and balance and the common transition from empirical archaeological values to conceptual valuations of heritage are discussed using a combination of literary review, archival research and interviews. Analysis of the past and present offers insight into the trajectory of heritage governance and the increasing role of descendant communities in managing their own heritage. The role of archaeologists in this new environment, particularly in Ontario, is still nascent however cross-jurisdictional comparison provides a degree of foresight.

Cultural Resource Management and Aboriginal Engagement: Policy and Practice in Ontario Archaeology
Author: DeVries, Megan
Year: 2014
Institution: University of Western Ontario
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: P. Timmins
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: The Standards and Guidelines for Consultant Archaeologists (Ontario 2011) introduced a new requirement for archaeologists working in Ontario CRM to engage Aboriginal communities in response to growing criticisms from these communities over being excluded from the process. Considered vague by many involved in the industry, both archaeologists and Aboriginal community representatives have developed their own strategies for complying with these requirements and their own opinions on how what they do over the course of engagement does or does not fit into that policy. However, many Aboriginal concerns remain unaddressed in the current engagement process, leaving open the possibility that tension and conflict may arise in the field. While some archaeologists have been open to the recent changes in policy advocating for more transparency and collaboration, others have been resistant and continued to defend their position of authority over the management and interpretation of the archaeological record.

Understanding Early Woodland Meadowood Complex Settlement Patterns in Southwestern Ontario
Author: Wood, Lara
Year: 2015
Institution: University of Western Ontario
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: P. Timmins
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: Although recent work has been completed on the extensive Meadowood Interaction Sphere across the Northeast, little research has been done on the settlement-subsistence patterns of Meadowood complex peoples in southern Ontario. Much of the information necessary for interpreting the pattern has been extracted by CRM excavations and is not widely accessible. This research involves an analysis of the southern Ontario Meadowood settlement system based on information from several recently excavated Meadowood complex sites in the Thames, Credit, and Grand River watersheds, complemented by additional Meadowood data from the Ontario Archaeological Sites Database. Sites in the Thames and Credit watersheds appear to follow a pattern of large camps occupied by large groups of people, possibly year-round, with small teams using smaller sites to target local resources. Meadowood groups in the Grand River drainage and adjacent areas are more poorly documented but appear to follow more varied seasonal settlement patterns.

Ancient DNA in Archaeologically Charred Zea Mays L: Prospects and Limitations
Author: Armstrong, Chelsey G.D.
Year: 2013
Institution: University of Western Ontario
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: P. Timmins/E. Molto
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: Plant remains are an integral part of any archaeological investigation given the large role they play in ancient subsistence economies, medicinal practices, technologies and folklore. However, despite new developments in ancient genetics, research in plant ancient DNA (aDNA) is a relatively young and untouched discipline accounting for less than 7% of all aDNA analyses published in academic literature. As a result, paleoethnobotanists, archaeologists and geneticists have not understood the feasibility and limitations of each other’s field. Few are aware that DNA extraction from charred plant remains is rare and without any kind of standard or working protocol. The possibilities of retrieving aDNA from charred Zea mays L. is considered in this study using modern maize for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) optimization and combining purification methods on ancient samples (1150-1250 AD), resolving the question of whether or not archaeologically charred plants are a viable source for genetic material. The confirmed positive results generate questions about the added-value of maize and how knowledge of genetic attributes can contribute to the growing field of archaeology and ethnobiology while demonstrating the value of these findings as they pertain to the treatment of charred floral remains by archaeologists and First Nation communities.

Sacred Heart: A Stable Isotope Analysis of Childhood, Diet, and Mobility at a Nineteenth Century Ontario Cemetery
Author: Wells, Emily
Year: 2014
Institution: University of Western Ontario
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: C. White/ F. Longstaffe
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: This thesis uses stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen derived from bone collagen and tooth dentin to study infant feeding behaviour, diet, and mobility at the 19th century Sacred Heart Cemetery in Ingersoll, Ontario, in use from 1848 to 1880. d15N and d13C bone values indicate a diet high in protein with a mix of C3 and C4 plants. The most significant source of dietary C4 plants is through secondary consumption, via livestock raised on maize fodder. The dietary profile of the Sacred Heart population is similar to two contemporary Ontario populations. There was no significant difference in the d15N and d13C bone collagen or dentin composition between the sexes, but consumption does vary by age. Supplementary infant feeding began between 8 and 10 months, and weaning continued until approximately 18 to 20 months. Although most individuals were local, there is evidence that some members of the population were landed migrants.

A Stable Isotope Analysis of Faunal Remains from Special Deposits on Ontario Iroquoian Tradition Sites
Author: Booth, Laura
Year: 2014
Institution: University of Western Ontario
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: C. White/ F. Longstaffe
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: The deliberate interment of bears, deer, and dogs on Ontario Iroquoian Tradition sites (900-1650 AD) suggests these animals had social and ideological meaning. This thesis uses stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis from bone collagen of faunal remains from both special and refuse contexts on eight sites in Southern Ontario to investigate the possible relationship between an animal’s burial context, diet, and value. Results indicate that most animals consumed a diet typical for their species regardless of context, suggesting the ideological value of specially deposited animals was augmented through human-animal interactions other than dietary manipulation. Bears from the Dorchester site and dogs from the Praying Mantis site did, however, consume unique diets, suggesting diet contributed to the ideological value of these individuals.

Representing Remarriage on 19th and Early 20th Century Burial Monuments in Southwestern Ontario
Author: de Schiffart, Nicole
Year: 2007
Institution: McMaster University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: A. Cannon
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: The representation of remarriage on burial monuments between 1815 and 1914 is explored here using archaeological and historical approaches combining the identification and understanding of kinship in mortuary archaeology with family history. The study uses thirty-eight Protestant cemeteries in the Province of Ontario located in Halton County and the former Wentworth County to identify motivating factors affecting the representation of remarriage historically. The research combines gravestone analysis with the use of archival sources to identify examples of commemorated remarriage in the cemeteries. Parish marriage records indicate that remarriage was a common practice, however the commemoration of remarriage is less frequent than the commemoration of marriages generally. Several factors, including gender, family composition, status, family/community influences, denomination, and time lapse are examined in order to establish which factors motivated certain individuals to commemorate a remarriage when the majority of the population did not. Remarriage commemorations demonstrate considerable variability, however they do indicate a number of patterns, including that they are more likely to have larger and more elaborate monuments than those commemorating than marriage monuments. The findings indicate that factors affecting remarriage were not uniform across the population. There are, however, four primary factors that appear to play a significant role in the likelihood of overt commemoration. Gender, economic status and inheritance, denominational beliefs, and the rise of companionate marriage are all significant factors acting on the individual decision to acknowledge remarriage on or through the burial monuments. While the presence of anyone of these factors does not guarantee that a remarriage will be commemorated, the likelihood appears to be increased when one or more of these factors is present. Additional research is encouraged.

Investigating Diet and Regional Origins in the Smith's Knoll Skeletal Sample, Stoney Creek, Using Stable Isotopes
Author: Emery, Matthew
Year: 2012
Institution: McMaster University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: T. Prowse
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: This thesis uses stable isotopic analysis to identify diet, geographic origins and long-term residency in a sub-sample of the Smith’s Knoll skeletal collection, soldiers who died during the June 6th 1813 Battle of Stoney Creek. The major objectives of this study have been to differentiate between two major modes of dietary consumption, one wheat-based, the other maize-based, in an attempt to decipher British colonial from American soldiers. These objectives were paired with stable oxygen and strontium isotopes, two isotopic elements presently used to identify migration and regional origins. Oxygen isotopic results from teeth suggest that, as children, 5 individuals may have originated in North America. Nine individuals have isotopic signatures indicative of both a North American or United Kingdom origins. The isotopic composition from bone collagen and phosphate suggest similar geographic origins, with diets composed of both wheat- and maize-based foods. Bone phosphate values indicate that 2 individuals possibly resided in North America. The remaining 20 individuals have bone values indicative of long-term residency in both geographic regions with a significant amount of dietary mixing. These results suggest that other military participants, soldiers from the King’s 8th Regiment and Canadian militiamen, may also be represented in this study. Prior investigations have omitted this crucial information, focusing their historic research primarily on the British 49th Regiment. The data presented in this thesis offers a broader geographic, pan-nationalistic perspective on the possible infantrymen and militiamen who fought during the battle, including select Canadian militiamen from the Niagara region and the King’s 8th Regiment from Britain.

Bioarchaeological Analysis of Trauma in a Skeletal Sample from Smith's Knoll Historic Cemetery
Author: Lockau, Laura
Year: 2012
Institution: McMaster University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: T. Prowse/M. Brickley
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: The Smith’s Knoll collection is composed of the disarticulated, fragmentary, and commingled remains of battle dead from the War of 1812. Historical and archaeological context of this site can be well established, making it particularly valuable in helping to unveil the conditions experienced by individuals in the past. In this thesis, the Smith’s Knoll collection was analyzed for evidence of postcranial perimortem traumatic skeletal lesions. Further context for these injuries was provided through comparison with contemporaneous skeletal and surgical collections, historical documentary sources, and other bioarchaeological studies on violence and warfare in the past. Injuries associated with fractures, sharp force, and musket trauma were observed in the postcranial elements of the collection. Although the overall prevalence of lesions is low, the majority of observed lesions can be attributed to sharp force trauma. Sharp force injuries are present in fourteen of the ribs as well as one fibula, one femur, one carpal, one vertebra, and one ulna. Musket injuries are present in three innominates and one scapula, and perimortem fractures are present in one rib and one scapula. The sharp force injuries can be further differentiated into those most likely caused by the bayonet, found in the torso, and those most likely caused by the sword, found in the extremities. Musket trauma is present in the form of impact from both musket balls and buckshot. Importantly, this is the first study to identify buckshot lesions on archaeological skeletal material. The results of the analysis of Smith’s Knoll demonstrate the value of examining postcranial lesions in relation to violence in the past, which has frequently been overlooked in bioarchaeology. As well, this collection illustrates that fragmented, disarticulated, and commingled collections, despite their limitations, have much to contribute to knowledge of interpersonal violent conflicts, both in prehistory and in the more recent past.

The Heritage of Life and Death in Historic Family Cemeteries of Niagara, Ontario
Author: Paterson, Catherine
Year: 2013
Institution: McMaster University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: A. Cannon
Degree Type: Ph.D.
Abstract: This study explores the history of Niagara settlement and settlers through the changing patterns of burial and commemoration visible in historical family cemeteries established following Euro-American settlement in the 1790s. Data collected from a combination of site survey and archival research demonstrate three clear phases of: 1) early cemetery creation and use 2) the transition to burial in public cemeteries throughout the late 1800s; and 3) the closure of family cemeteries by the early 1900s followed by periods of neglect and renewal characterized by inactive cemeteries being repurposed by descendants as sites of heritage display. There is incredible variation in burial data and the overall patterns speak to changing identity relating to family, land, community, memory, and history. More specifically, the results of this study demonstrate a shift from an identity created through the experience of family place and burial to a community-based identity that emphasizes the nuclear family and their history within their wider social network. More recent heritage displays have explicitly introduced a narrative of settlement, Loyalist identity, and land ownership that was inherent when cemeteries were in use. This cemetery-based history approach demonstrates the potential of mortuary material culture to address questions of social change within the historical context in which it was created and used. It also highlights the value of variability in cemetery data and the consideration of the circumstances of cemetery creation, use, neglect, and renewal to inform the range of personal and collective histories that are visible over generations.

The middle and late Woodland transition in southern Ontario: smoking culture as an index of social change in the context of sedentism
Author: Zepf, Lena
Year: 2014
Institution: McMaster University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: T. Carter
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: This thesis puts forward a unique perspective for how we can view changes in the context of sedentism, specifically with regard to the Middle and Late Woodland periods (ca. 400 B.C. – A.D. 1650) in southern Ontario. The transition to a more sedentary way of life leads to significant socio-economic changes in settlement type, subsistence, demography, architecture, and material culture, and acts as an incentive for change as it pertains to ideological transformations. In this thesis I concentrate on how changing ways of living impacted people’s ideology and related practices, focusing on the social habit of smoking, and its related material culture pre and post-sedentism in southern Ontario. I suggest that the changes witnessed in this practice (and associated paraphernalia) are reflective of a means of social group maintenance, and by extent a different mechanism of how societies regulated themselves. My study further examines the role smoking pipes had for group and individual recreational use, alongside group communal practices. I propose that more pipes per site signify daily use, reflecting a shift away from the pre-sedentary communal practice of smoking led by ritual specialists, to a post-sedentary individual and occasional group experience. Moreover, I argue for a link between smoking, social relationships, and the promotion of social solidarity. The stimulus for certain practices, and the structure of the socio-cultural system within which they occur, is significant for they are interwoven into all aspects of society. The aim of this thesis is to add to our perception of change and transformation during the Middle and Late Woodland periods of southern Ontario, while providing a unique perspective for understanding socio-cultural transformation in the context of sedentism more generally.

Taphonomy: What About the Small Bones, Long Bones, and Cranial Bones? A Study of the Representation and Weathering of Human Remains from the Battle of Stoney Creek during the War of 1812
Author: Casaca, Lia
Year: 2014
Institution: McMaster University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: M. Brickley
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: Disarticulated, commingled, and fragmented assemblages occur over a range of geographic and temporal contexts, yet the relationship between the representation and weathering of bone in these collections is unclear. Previous studies have produced inconsistent results and there is little elaboration discussing why the representation of large bones differ from small bones in archaeological collections containing commingled remains. The purpose of this research was to determine which bones were better represented, and if the representation correlated to the weathering of bone in the collection of human remains from the Battle of Stoney Creek, a War of 1812 site. The soldiers from the battle were likely buried in a mass grave; however, almost 200 years of extensive taphonomic disturbances created an assemblage that was disarticulated, commingled, and fragmented. A database of the collection was used to gather information on bone fragment completeness recorded using the zonation method (Knüsel and Outram 2004), and weathering scores recorded using the scale by McKinley (2004). Results from the Z-statistic and Wilcoxon Rank-Sum statistic indicated that small bones (metacarpals, metatarsals, tali and calcanei) were better represented and less weathered than long upper and lower limb bones (femora, tibiae, fibulae, humeri, ulnae and radii) (p=0.05). The binomial distribution also determined that the crania were underrepresented in comparison to two cemetery sites; the West Tenter Street and Cross Bones burial ground (p=0.1). There are a number of possible reasons for this expression of representation and weathering including the size, morphology, and density of bones, taphonomic disturbances, the burial environment (e.g., soil characteristics, the feather edge effect), and clothing. This study highlights the importance of preservation analyses in commingled, disarticulated, and fragmented collections. The findings from this research suggest that small bones may be better represented than the larger limb bones at sites with extensive taphonomic disturbances.

Exploring Technological Style and Use in the Ontario Early Late Woodland: The Van Besien Site
Author: Schumacher, Jennifer S.
Year: 2014
Institution: McMaster University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: A.Roddick
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: This thesis explores social identity and group membership at the Van Besien site by identifying the social patterning in the production and consumption of ceramics. Since potting is a social event involving transmission of knowledge, production exists within social constraints specific to each potter and influences the technological choices he/she makes. Such technological choices culminate in what is regarded as technological style, created by the repetition of activities or choices that create discernible patterns to allow for identification of styles that demarcate social boundaries. By identifying stylistic traditions of production and use of ceramics at Van Besien, I found evidence for both fluidity and rigidity of social boundaries. There are constant technological choices that traditionally would be viewed as evidence of rigid social membership. In contrast, the presence of variability at the Van Besien site indicates that social groups were not rigid. To identify if social membership was spatially represented, variability was explored throughout the site. I found that there were unexpected social divisions visible spatially in the pottery. The results demonstrate that with new theoretical frameworks, new interpretations regarding village social spheres can be discerned. My thesis represents a successful re-evaluation of an extant collection with missing and deficient documentation. This case study shows that extant collections can be revisited, reevaluated, and shed new light on academic debates in Ontario archaeology.

The Performance of Identity Through the Design of Grave Memorials Installed Between 1850-1920 in St. Peter's Roman Catholic Cemetery, Peterborough, Ontario, Canada
Author: Jasinski, Cassandra Helene.
Year: 2013
Institution: Trent University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: S. Jamieson
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: The study of the grave memorials in St. Peter's was structured by five research propositions which focused on the communication of different aspects of identity, such as gender, through various memorial features. The memorial data was analyzed using a number of non-parametric statistical tests, such as the Chi-Squared and Mann Whitney U tests. The significant analytical results, which were interpreted with performance theory, indicate that the grave memorials in St. Peter's were in part designed to perform the identities of individuals and groups to the cemetery audience in line with the perception of different socioeconomic statuses, ethnicities, genders, and ages in Ontario during the mid-19th-early 20th centuries. This thesis demonstrates that multi-scalar identities can be interpreted through grave memorials if they are studied collectively and with an understanding of the relevant historical context, and reinforces the fact that multiple features of grave memorials must be analyzed in order to properly interpret their design. It also contributes to the limited understanding of grave memorial variation in Ontario during the time period concerned.

Finding Answers in Chaos: A Lithic and Post-Depositional Analysis of the Clark's Bay Site, Ontario
Author: Sine, Keri Lynn
Year: 2013
Institution: Trent University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: S. Jamieson
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: The objective of this thesis is to assess the degree of post-depositional disturbance and to document and analyze the lithic assemblage of 3,595 artifacts from the Clark's Bay site (BdGn-8) near Burleigh Falls, Ontario. This research will contribute to the limited knowledge of stratigraphically compromised sites within the middle Trent Valley of southeastern Ontario. Post-depositional disturbance is assessed using size distribution data and re-fits to see if artifacts experienced sorting by weight and/or surface area. The results suggest that artifacts were sorted by surface area. From a technological perspective debitage is analyzed using a stage typology and the Sullivan and Rozen method. Raw material usage and comparison to established typologies from the Great Lakes area indicate that the assemblage dates to the late Middle Archaic (6,000-4,500 B.P.) through the Late Archaic/Transitional Woodland (4,500- 2,800 B.P.) periods. Formal shaped tools were predominately made from non-local tool stone, other tools from more local tool stone. Tool kits of all time periods were also replenished using local tool stone varieties. The stage typological analysis gave more concrete results than the Sullivan and Rozen method and is therefore recommended for future research involving large assemblages with a wide variety of tool stone types.

A Critical Analysis of the Adoption of Maize in Southern Ontario and its Spatial, Demographic, and Ecological Signatures
Author: Beales, Eric
Year: 2014
Institution: Trent University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: J. Conolly
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: This thesis centers on analyzing the spatial, temporal, and ecological patterns associated with the introduction of maize horticulture into Southern Ontario - contextualized against social and demographic models of agricultural transition. Two separate analyses are undertaken: a regional analysis of the spread of maize across the Northeast using linear regression of radiocarbon data and a standard Wave of Advance model; and a local analysis of village locational trends in Southern Ontario using a landscape ecological framework, environmental data and known village sites. Through the integration of these two spatial and temporal scales of analysis, this research finds strong support for both migration and local development. A third model of competition and coalescence is presented to describe the patterning in the data.

Holocene Resource Exploitation: A Zooarchaeological Analysis from Jacob's Island, Peterborough County, Ontario
Author: Csenkey, Kristen Anne
Year: 2014
Institution: Trent University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: E. Morin
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: This study uses the zooarchaeological record to examine the range of activities represented in Late Archaic period samples excavated from Jacob's Island-1B, in the Trent-Severn Waterway region in Ontario. Radiocarbon dates from sixteen features were used to establish a chronology of site use and occupation. The faunal remains analyzed in this study were recovered from seven dated mortuary features associated with human remains. The results of the faunal analysis suggest that Canis lupus familiaris was the primary species interred at Jacob's Island-1B. Small rodents, specifically Tamias striatus were also found in high abundance and are possibly the result of natural burrowing disturbances. Red ochre staining and low levels of burning were identified. Comparisons with other contemporaneous sites in the region indicate some variation in species composition. It is suggested that Canis lupus familiaris was associated with ritual and mortuary activities at Jacob's Island-1B.

An ecological analysis of the Late Woodland settlement in the Rouge River Watershed, southern Ontario
Author: Davidson, Jamie
Year: 2014
Institution: Trent University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor: J. Conolly
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract: This thesis seeks to understand the influences of environmental variables on site location selection during the Late Woodland period (ca. A.D. 1000-1650) in south-central Ontario, specifically variables considered to be favourable to maize agriculture. Four analyses were undertaken: a geographic information system (GIS) comparative analysis of Late Woodland sites compared to random points; population estimates of four sites for which settlement pattern data was available; maize consumption estimates for these same sites, and; a maize resources catchment analysis of these sites. The analysis conducted did not produce conclusive results to answer questions related to maize-driven site selection, however it did show that requirements for maize resources at these sites could have been met in catchment areas of a 500 m radius, in one case in 250m. The results led to an important question for future research: if agricultural needs were not driving settlement location selection in this area, what was?

Faunal resource exploitation among the St. Lawrence Iroquoians: The Zooarchaeology of the Steward (BfFt-2) Site, Morrisburg, Ontario
Author: Junker-Andersen, Christen
Year: 1984
Institution: University of Toronto
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor:
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract:

A re-examination of the human osteology of Mound E, Serpent Mounds site, Ontario
Author: McFadden, Kathryn Alicia
Year: 1992
Institution: University of Toronto
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor:
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract:  The human remains from Mound E, a Middle Woodland component of the Serpent Mounds site in southern Ontario, were re-analysed and metrical, morphological, and pathological data presented. The information from both complete burials and disturbed material were combined to produce a complete demographic and biological profile of the Mound E sample.

The Strickler site: the analysis of a nineteenth to twentieth century urban farmstead in Markham, Ontario
Author: Henderson, Hearther Mary
Year: 1992
Institution: University of Toronto
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor:
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract:  This thesis comprises the archaeological report for excavations carried out in 1987 on a frame house and associated barn in Markham, Ontario, Canada. The site was continuously occupied from 1848 to the 1960s by conservative middle class families of German Mennonite or British backgrounds. Field work focused on spatial and functional patterning and chronological change. The analysis of the artifact asssemblage of more than 21,000 also examined manufacture to deposition time lag, market access, attitudes to technological change, and socioeconomic behaviour. A preliminary set of ceramic price indices was developed from 20th century Canadian mail order catalogues. Price scaling analysis of both bone and ceramics from two middens dating to World War I and the late 1930s revealed that faunal bone may be a better indicator of short term economic change.

Static types to dynamic variables : re-assessing the methods of prehistoric Huron chipped stone tool documentation and analysis in Ontario
Author: Lerner, Harry
Year: 2000
Institution: McGill University
Department: Anthropology
Supervisor:       
Degree Type: M.A.
Abstract:  An assemblage of prehistoric Huron chipped stone tools has been analyzed in terms of its inherently dynamic properties. It is hypothesized that the series of measurements and ratios that has been developed is more efficient than existing systems for gauging the changing nature of these implements over rime. The statistical evaluation of the data revealed strong linear relationships between various pairs of variables, such as projectile point length and tip angle and end scraper bit edge angles and bit height. It was found that comparing these data to other attributes of these tools, such as use-wear traces and reduction techniques, can he very informative about how each category of tools changed through manufacture, use, and maintenance. The results of this analysis were then compared to those of a more traditional study of a contemporaneous collection of Huron stone tools (Poulton, 1985), demonstrating the utility of the techniques developed.