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• Toronto Chapter - An Update on Recent Keffer Site Settlement and Pottery Analyses

  • When
    February 20, 2019
  •  
    7:30 PM
  • Location
    19 Russell Street, Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto, St. George Campus, 2nd Floor Boardroom, Rm. 246

  Speaker: David G. Smith, Associate Professor, Dept of Anthropology, University of Toronto, Mississauga

  Topic: An Update on Recent Keffer Site Settlement and Pottery Analyses

  In this presentation, Dr. Smith will summarize some of the recent work he conducted with graduate students on the pottery and settlement pattern data recovered from the Keffer site.

  Keffer is an ancestral Wendat village situated in the Upper Don River Valley. It was completely excavated as a CRM project by the Museum of Indian Archaeology (now the Museum of Ontario Archaeology) in 1985 and 1988. The settlement pattern data reveal a very complex village history. The pottery decoration is characterized by a sophisticated use of plane pattern symmetry, and by a unique set of hybrid forms that indicate social networking with other Iroquoian traditions in the Northeast.

  We encourage all interested persons to attend Toronto Chapter meetings free of charge and invite you to become a member of the OAS and the Chapter. Bring a friend!

  
  
  

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• Ottawa Chapter - INSIGHTS INTO VICTORIAN GARRISON LIFE: THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE FORT WELLINGTON LATRINE

  • When
    February 21, 2019
  •  
    7:30 PM
  • Location
    Routhier Community Centre, 172 Guigues near Cumberland

  Speaker: Joseph Last
  Topic: INSIGHTS INTO VICTORIAN GARRISON LIFE:
  THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE FORT WELLINGTON LATRINE
  

  Excavating the Fort Wellington latrine at Prescott, Ontario, provided intimate insights into garrison life of the Royal Canadian Rifle Regiment stationed there between 1843 and 1854.  Contained within the small structure was the very essence of barrack life. From hair clippings to soldier's boots, the cesspit possessed far more than accumulation from Nature’s call.  As a result, a fascinating story is revealed.  It is a tale of rank and privilege, women and children, regimentation and communal life.

  This presentation summarizes the four-year latrine investigation.  It discusses the interactive nature of fieldwork and our evolving understanding of 19th century military life.  It also explores meaning and context and why latrine excavations are a powerful avenue for archaeological inquiry.

  Joseph H. Last holds a Masters of Art Conservation degree from Queen’s University and a M.A. in Anthropology (specializing in Historical Archaeology) from the College of William and Mary.  His total professional career has been with Parks Canada, working as an artefact conservator and then as the Project Archaeologist for Military Sites, Ontario Region.  From 1998 until his retirement in 2011, he served as Senior Archaeologist for Military Sites for Parks Canada Ontario Region.  His primary research focus has been on 19th century British fortifications in Canada and elsewhere.  Major interests include archaeological method and theory, military engineering, architecture, relationships of fort and community (both past and present), cultural resource management, and site interpretation.

  
  

  
  

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• Peterborough Chapter - Stealing Away Home: Archaeology and the Underground Railroad in Ontario

  • When
    February 26, 2019
  •  
    7:00 PM
  • Location
    Lions Centre, Burnham Street

  Topic: Stealing Away Home: Archaeology and the Underground Railroad in Ontario

  Speaker: Dr. Karolyn Smardz Frost

  The Peterborough Chapter of theOntario Archaeological Society and The Peterborough Historical Society are pleased to announce a joint public presentation in recognition of Black History Month:

  The presentation, by noted historian and archaeologist Dr.Karolyn Smardz Frost, will acknowledge and bring recognition to the history of Underground Railroad sites in Ontario. Her topic is "Stealing Away Home: Archaeology and the Underground Railroad in Ontario." This event will take place at the Lions Centre on Burnham Street on February 27th at 7 pm.

  Both an archaeologist and an historian, Karolyn Smardz Frost explores our nation's rich African Canadian heritage, and specializes in studying and teaching about Canada's role as the main terminus of the Underground Railroad. She is an adjunct professor at both Acadia and Dalhousie Universities, and is also an accomplished author of lively and intriguing narrative non-fiction. In 2007 Karolyn won the Governor General's Award for I've Got a Home in Glory Land: A Lost Tale of the Underground Railroad. 

  Karolyn's newest volume, Steal Away Home (HarperCollins Canada 2016) tells the story of Cecelia Jane Reynolds, who at the age of fifteen fled her Kentucky by way of the Cataract House hotel at Niagara Falls NY. Reaching Toronto she learned to write and began a correspondence with Fanny, the woman who had once owned her body, asking the price of her own family's freedom. Thus began a twenty-year correspondence between a freedom-seeker and her former mistress that has no parallel in the annals of American slavery. The most exciting news yet is that Steal Away Home has been optioned for a five-part mini- series by Conquering Lion Pictures, which produced the Book of Negroes for television! 

  Karolyn's work on this book was informed by her access to the archaeological site of Cecelia's 19th century home in Toronto. Infrastructure Ontario and Timmins Martelle Heritage Consultants uncovered the foundation on Centre Street during work on the massive project to excavate St. John's Ward before construction of the new provincial courthouse. Copies of Karolyn's book will be available for sale. 

  This presentation is part of the Peterborough Chapter’s monthly Public Speakers Series, conducted with the support of the City of Peterborough and the Trent University Archaeological Centre. Members of the public are invited. There is no charge. Light refreshments are served. For further information contact the chapter secretary, Dirk Verhulst, at dverhulst@cogeco.ca.

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• Grand River Chapter - Salvaging on the Coast of Erebus Bay, King William Island: An Analysis of Inuit Interaction with Material from the Franklin Expedition

  • When
    March 12, 2019
  •  
    7:30 PM
  • Location
    PAS 1229 University of Waterloo

  Speaker: Dana Thacher, PhD Student, Dept. of Anthropology, McMaster University

  Topic: Salvaging on the Coast of Erebus Bay, King William Island: An Analysis of Inuit Interaction with Material from the Franklin Expedition

  
  

  Over the course of the 19th century, many European explorers sailed in search of a Northwest Passage through the Canadian Arctic. These journeys brought them into territory occupied by Inuit, who both traded with the explorers for various goods and interacted with the material that they left behind. I examined the remains of two ship’s boats from three sites on King William Island (NgLj-2, NgLj-3, and NgLj-8) that were abandoned by members of the Franklin expedition and subsequently found and altered by an Inuit sub-group called the Netsilik. This research demonstrates that Inuit utilized these boats in a manner that reflects (1) their environment, (2) what the material afforded, (3) their past experiences with Europeans and European material, and (4) their intended uses of the material. These alterations ascribed new meaning to the material and redefines the remains of the boats in Erebus Bay as simultaneously Netsilik and European material.

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• Toronto Chapter - Inuvialuit Architecture: Archaeology of Cruciform Houses in the Mackenzie Delta

  • When
    March 20, 2019
  •  
    7:30 PM
  • Location
    19 Russell Street, Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto, St. George Campus, 2nd Floor Boardroom, Rm. 246

  Speaker: Max Friesen, Professor of Anthropology, University of Toronto

  Topic: Inuvialuit Architecture: Archaeology of Cruciform Houses in the Mackenzie Delta

  Within the great range of house types occupied by northern peoples, a few stand out due to their size, complexity, or unusual form. One of the most spectacular is the cruciform semi-subterranean house occupied by Inuvialuit in the Mackenzie Delta region, Northwest Territories. These are known through the historic record as very large, carefully constructed driftwood-framed houses with three alcoves bordering a central floor area.

  Over the past 60 years, several archaeologists have excavated portions of cruciform houses, leading to gradually increasing knowledge about them. However, due to their great size, deep burial, and problems with permafrost, it has been difficult to excavate one fully.

  Dr. Friesen will report on the recent excavation of two large cruciform houses at the site of Kuukpak on the East Channel of the Mackenzie River. Following a brief overview of the ethnohistoric record, he will interpret aspects of the houses’ architectural form, construction techniques, and change over time.

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• Grand River Chapter - Using Micro Computed Tomography to explore Ceramic Rim Formation Practices on a Late Woodlands Borderland

  • When
    April 09, 2019
  •  
    7:30 PM
  • Location
    PAS 1229 University of Waterloo

  Speaker: Amy St. John, PhD Candidate, Dept. of Anthropology, University of Western Ontario

  Topic: Using Micro Computed Tomography to explore Ceramic Rim Formation Practices on a Late Woodlands Borderland

  
  

  Micro CT analysis offers a new perspective on pottery manufacture, augmenting traditional studies that focus on decorative and morphological aspects of ceramics. High resolution, three dimensional, micro CT images reveal different ways of forming vessels, identifying characteristic tendencies in motor habits and learned behaviours that are grounded in the specific contexts of learning and in the actions of ceramic manufacture. To explore this potential, I have scanned sherds from more than 60 vessels from a cluster of archaeological sites near Arkona, Ontario, with a focus on the rim portions of vessels. Mirco CT scans can help us better understand these contemporaneous and sequentially occupied sites (ca. 1100-1250 A.D.) in a borderlands area, between what have been known as the archaeological Western Basin and Ontario Iroquoian traditions.

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• Toronto Chapter - Shirley's Box: The Highgate Mastadon Story

  • When
    May 15, 2019
  •  
    7:30 PM
  • Location
    19 Russell Street, Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto, St. George Campus, 2nd Floor Boardroom, Rm. 246

  Speaker: Peter Russell, Curator Emeritus, Earth Sciences Museum, University of Waterloo

  Topic: Shirley's Box: The Highgate Mastadon Story

  All museums have wonderful donations from time to time. Some donations come with a label detailing their provenance, which may amount to a couple of lines or which may open the way to a fascinating history.

  Shirley’s Box, started as a simple box of fossils, which turned into a wonderful story, which can inform us about the pre-history of Ontario. No, we didn’t have dinosaurs roaming here but we did have giants of the ice age, mammoths, mastodons, giant beaver and more.

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