The Worked Faunal Material from the Anderson Site: A Uren Village on the Lower Grand River, Ontario
Volume: OA69
Year: 2000
Author: DEBORAH J. BERG AND JEFFREY A. BURSEY
Page Range: 7 - 18
Abstract: The Anderson site (AfGx-54) was a small prehistoric village located near the Town of Cayuga, approximately five kilometres west of the Grand River in southern Ontario. Salvage excavation of the site prior to its destruction by a modern quarry revealed five longhouses surrounded by a palisade enclosing an area of about 0.6ha. Both seriation of the pottery rim sherds and one AMS radiocarbon date indicate the occupation occurred in the late thirteenth century A.D. and allow the designation of this site as an early component of the Uren substage of the Middle Stage of the Ontario Iroquoian Tradition. In this paper, the complete assemblage of 78 pieces of worked faunal material recovered from the Anderson site is described and discussed. While emphasis is given to form and function, comparisons with other assemblages, particularly those from sites of a similar date in southern Ontario, are made.

Augmenting Faunal Quantification Procedures Through the Incorporation of Historical Documentary Evidence: An Investigation of Faunal Remains from Fort George
Volume: OA69
Year: 2000
Author: MATTHEW W. BETTS
Page Range: 19 - 38
Abstract: Faunal analyses are now commonly included in historical archaeology reports. Many of the techniques used in these analyses are identical to those used in prehistoric faunal studies. However, these techniques are often inappropriate for faunal remains recovered from historic sites because historical documents exist that can be utilized to refine quantification procedures beyond the standard minimum number of individuals (MNI) and meat cut calculations. This paper demonstrates the usefulness of augmenting traditional quantification procedures through the incorporation of historical records and documents, using historic Fort George and Fort Maiden as examples. Revised quantification procedures for cattle (based on quarters) and swine (based on stored barrels) are created and are compared to MNI calculations. This comparison indicates that meat weight calculations based on MNI units may misrepresent the actual amount of edible meat represented by the archaeological bone.

Faunal Remains from the Loyalist Occupation of the Bliss Islands, Quoddy Region, New Brunswick
Volume: OA69
Year: 2000
Author: DAVID W. BLACK AND CHRISTOPHER R. BLAIR
Page Range: 39 - 54
Abstract: During the summer of 1992, a remarkably undisturbed, single-component Loyalist occupation, dating A.D. 1783 to ca. A.D. 1803, was excavated on the Bliss Islands, Quoddy Region, New Brunswick. The Loyalist site (BgDr-66) is believed to represent the homestead of Samuel Bliss, for whom the islands are named. It contains a substantial, diverse and well-preserved faunal assemblage, which shows that, while the occupants raised several species of domestic animals on the Islands, and exploited a variety of vertebrate and invertebrate species from the adjacent waters, they apparently hunted neither marine nor terrestrial mammals. The site and the faunal assemblage afford a view of Loyalist life that is different from the predominantly political and genealogical perspectives of the historic records, and that contrasts with what might be expected based on a knowledge of local biogeography, faunal assemblages from Native archaeological sites, and recent subsistence and commercial activities on the islands.

New Caribou Fossil Records from Rice Lake, South-Central Ontario: Radiocarbon Evidence and Middle Holocene Climatic Change
Volume: OA69
Year: 2000
Author: LAWRENCE J. JACKSON
Page Range: 55 - 64
Abstract: This paper discusses three new radiocarbon dates on fossil caribou bones from Rice Lake, Ontario, and their possible environmental implications. Three specimens identified by Howard Savage, of the University of Toronto, and Richard Harington, of the Canadian Museum of Civilization, indicate a middle Holocene caribou presence in this area of south-central Ontario. One specimen, previously reported as a possible Late Pleistocene record (cf. Pavlish and Alcock [1984] on Webb Bay), is radiocarbon-dated several thousand years later in the middle Holocene. Zonal pollen in Rice Lake cores suggests the principal occurrence of these dated Rice Lake caribou during a Hypsithermal warming between about 7,000 and 3,000 years B.P. The lack of fossil material for the late glacial period (terminal Pleistocene) is believed to correlate with the current inaccessibility of depositional environments due to flooding of ancient Rice Lake shorelines. The local presence of Early Palaeo-Indian sites, on the other hand, is highly suggestive of the presence of caribou at this time. The apparent absence of caribou during the early and late Holocene, as well as lack of evidence for their human exploitation throughout the Holocene, requires explanation.

How Much is Enough? An Approach to Sampling Ichthyofaunas
Volume: OA69
Year: 2000
Author: GREGORY G. MONKS
Page Range: 65 - 75
Abstract: This paper focuses on the issue of characterizing richness and diversity of a faunal assemblage. This issue is presupposed by Graysons (1984) seminal volume and it is of pragmatic interest to academic and contract researchers. The question, then, is how much of an excavated assemblage must be examined in order for that assemblages richness and diversity to be accurately identified? The skeletal characteristics of different taxa, and taphonomic variability among sites or assemblages suggest that no single method may work reliably in every case. The completely identified Ma'acoah (DfSi-5) assemblage is used to examine several approaches to characterizing assemblage richness and diversity in order to identify the methods that may be appropriate under certain conditions. This exercise is intended to help analysts to evaluate an assemblage in terms of their research aim and choose the method(s) most likely to help achieve that aim.

Economic Strategies and Community Patterning at the Providence Bay Site, Manitoulin Island
Volume: OA69
Year: 2000
Author: BEVERLEY A. SMITH AND ROSEMARY PREVEC
Page Range: 76 - 91
Abstract: The Providence Bay site (BkHn-3) on the south shore of Manitoulin Island has produced a large faunal assemblage representing a late precontact/early contact period occupation. This paper provides basic descriptive and previously unavailable information about this important site and combines the results of the authors independently conducted faunal analyses to identify and reconstruct subsistence activities. The large faunal sample provides the database for a reconstruction of the subsistence and dietary preferences of the site's occupants, the seasons of site occupation, and the procurement strategies practiced at the site. A comparison of faunal density and the density of important species of animals provides evidence to support the hypothesis that community and household economic activities can be identified at the Providence Bay site.

Variability in Neutral Iroquoian Subsistence: A.D. 1540-1651
Volume: OA69
Year: 2000
Author: FRANCES L. STEWART
Page Range: 92 - 117
Abstract: This paper adds information on the subsistence of the pre-contact and post-contact Neutral Iroquoians to that published by Prevec and Noble in 1983. Using zooarchaeological research completed since that publication, some of their findings are supported and some changes to their conclusions are indicated. Trends in Neutral faunal utilization are updated. Explanations for the variability observed in the faunal samples from 13 Neutral Iroquoian sites are offered, with the most consideration given to microenvironmental differences in the sites' locations, and to changes over time, particularly the coming of Europeans to the region.