sign in sign up
<<
Home , Lake Temagami, Midewiwin, Petroform, Thunderbird (mythology)

White Dogs, Black Bears, and Ghost Gamblers: Two Late Woodland Aspects from

James B. Bandow Museum of Ontario Archaeology, University of Western Ontario

Introduction

Historians and ethnographers have debated the antiquity of the Midewiwin. Entrenched in historical discourse is Hickerson’s (1962, 1970) theory that the Midewiwin was a recent native resistance movement, a socio-evolutionary response to the changing culture patterns resulting from culture contact with Europeans. Other scholars view the Midewiwin as a syncretism, suggesting that a prehistoric component became intertwined with Christian influences that resulted in the ceremonial practices observed by ethnohistorians (Mason 2009; Aldendefer 1993; Dewdney 1975; Landes 1968). Recent critiques, however, provide evidence from material culture studies and center on the largely Western bias inherent in Hickerson’s diffusionist argument surrounding the post-contact origin of the Midewiwin. These arguments note structural similarities observed in birch bark scroll depictions, rock paintings and pictographs with historical narratives, ethnographic accounts, and oral history. These multiple perspectives lead some historians to conclude the practice was a pre-contact phenomenon (e.g., Angel 2002:68; Peers 1994:24; Schenck 1997:102; Kidd 1981:43; Hoffman 1891:260). Archaeological and material culture studies may provide further insight into understanding the origins of the Midewiwin. Oberholtzer’s (2002) recent overview of dog burial practices, for instance, compared prehistoric ritual patterns with the known historical practices and concluded that the increased complexity of the Midewiwin Society is an elaboration of substantive indigenous practices that must predate any European influence. This paper documents the archaeological continuity and syncretism of Mide symbolism observed from the Great region. Two Late Woodland and Proto-historic sites from Ontario are highlighted because of two unusual and previously undocumented structures which contain elements observed

40 White Dogs, Black Bears, and Ghost Gamblers 41

both in Midewiwin birch bark scrolls and historical descriptions, yet exhibit features observed elsewhere in prehistoric contexts.

Discussion

Archaeology can only deal with the tangible. Though it is possible to identify ritual behavior in the material record, observing specific Midewiwin practices cannot be done solely from archaeological data. It would be even more difficult to distinguish archaeologically the Midewiwin from the Waabanoowiwin. Ritual and ceremony are patterned, temporal, and repetitive behavior differentiated by degree of expression. The former is a reflection of a defined set of beliefs and the latter is a public expression of those same beliefs. To suggest that there is a “pure” expression of the Midewiwin, as suggested by Warren (1984:80), conveys a static view of the past and I use the term Midewiwin generally when speaking about archaeological contexts. Contextualizing ritual remains is often achieved by comparing the archaeological evidence with historical, ethnographic, and cross-cultural studies.

Continuity and Syncretism: Prehistoric Algonquian Iconography Some scholars now acknowledge the similarity of some portraits of Midewigaan ceremonies with the shape and spatial arrangement of prehistoric subsurface features and the continuity of portrayed symbols with those observed both on and winter counts. Howey and O’Shea (2006) explored the spatial relationship between and earthwork enclosures at the Missaukee Earthworks in central Michigan with the Mide origins narrative of Bear’s Journey recounted to Ruth Landes (1968:106–110; Fig. 2).1 If we accept that perhaps some Midewiwin origins scrolls, not unlike instructional scrolls, are schematic and not just cognitive in their depictions, this is certainly an avenue for future research.2 Artifactual evidence can be found in Robertson’s (2005) survey of Late Woodland Middleport Period and type ceramic pipes (ca. 1250–1400 AD) which revealed that the same two-dimensional anthropomorphic figures and triangular motifs

1. For an alternative perspective and critique see Whitely (2009) and Mason (2009). 2. Compare for example Dewdney (1975:119; Fig. 120) with earthwork features outlined in Abrams and Freter (2005). 42 James B. Bandow have “counterparts in the lexicons of rock art, the scrolls of the Midewiwin, or other forms of eastern woodlands graphic art” (Robertson 2005:51, Fig. 10). In Michigan, two clay ceramic figurines with representations of the bear and Mishibizhiw were uncovered from a Juntunen Phase (ca. 1000–1200 AD) component at the Johnson Site in Cheboygan County, Michigan. The artifacts displayed an unusual punctated orifice suggesting these figurines might have been mounted on posts (Lovis 2001:108–115). One pre-contact symbol observed on many artifacts, including Midewiwin birch bark scrolls and rock art, has been the subject of historical debate. The misinterpretation of the “cross symbolism” observed by Father Marquette for a Mide post erected in front of a Mide Lodge at the late seventeenth-century Miami–Mascouten village on the Fox River, in 1673 (JR:59:103). Rejecting Hoffman’s (1891:261) interpretation that the wood pillar was a midewaatig, a distinguishing marker of a Fourth Degree (sky) Lodge, he cites this wooden cross as evidence of early Jesuit relations (Hickerson 1970:54). Archaeologically, this “cross symbol” is observed at many Late Woodland sites throughout the northeast, southeast, and Mississippi drainage areas of . The motif conforms to fourth-degree midwinter charts and echoes images observed in the Denver Scrolls (Dewdney 1975:120, Fig. 119). These depictions often incorporate or overlay other motifs. Highly stylized painted or etched images are observed on , polished shell and copper pendants, slate and shell gorgets, and stone tablets. Late Woodland ornate shell gorgets, for example, depict the motif at the center of a circle or -shaped depiction with flaring edges representing a sun, star, or some other celestial metaphor. The earliest dated shell gorgets range between 1000–1175 AD (Brain and Phillips 1999:222–229). Rock carvings with this imagery are also found at the Site, an undisturbed Late Mississippian Village located in the National Forest. Here, the cross is depicted on rock slabs surrounding the village in association with a Great (Wagner et al. 2004; Wagner 1996). These motifs, therefore, could not possibly represent early European influences on the Midewiwin.

Midewiigwaas and Mazinaakizon

Chief George Copway (Kahgegagahbowh) alludes to the presence of three ancient repositories for the Ojibway sacred records near the western shores of Superior. Known as Midiwiigwaas, these hieroglyphic records and symbols were recorded on birch bark scrolls, wooden plates, as well as White Dogs, Black Bears, and Ghost Gamblers 43 slate and copper tablets. The master narratives were entombed in large tree trunks filled with goose down, sealed with gum and buried underground or concealed in . Every fifteen years, the master narratives were examined, copied, divided, and redistributed among elders of the society. Decaying records were then replaced with exact facsimiles and reinterred (Copway 1850:127–133). Copway asserts that these hieroglyphics have twofold meanings representing both narrative text and religious symbolism that would allow a more cohesive tradition to be transmitted through generations over time. Over 150 years later, epigraphers would seem to agree. Vastokas’ (2003) linguistic investigation of Ojibway pictography distinguishes between iconic imagery and symbol as seen on rock art from the more structured narrative imagery observed on birch bark scrolls. She concludes that these birch bark scrolls should be recognized as a form of writing not unlike other forms of pictorial or semabiographic writing systems (Vastokas 2003:13–16). Archaeological remains of birch bark scroll fragments were uncovered from a site located at Burntside Lake, northwest of Lake Superior and east of Fort Francis, Ontario (Kidd 1965; Kidd 1981). Excavations revealed some 260 birch bark fragments with thirty-eight specimens exhibiting stitching holes suggesting that they had been bound together. Two specimens were actually still bound together by such stitching (Kidd 1965:481, Fig. 4; Kidd, 1981:41). A small collection of wooden fragments bearing a red was also uncovered. Carbon dating yielded a mean date of 390 +/– 70 BP (ca. 1560 AD). Birch bark fragments and artifacts indicative of “curing rites” were also observed at the Rainy River Group in Northwestern Ontario (Kenyon 1986; Kenyon 1970; Noble 1984). These mounds contain both primary and secondary interments and they are almost identical in structure and inclusions to features excavated on the Little Fork River and Red Cedar Rivers and are very similar to sites in , Michigan, and Ohio (Johnson and Ready 1992). Two Mounds are of interest to this discussion: Hungary Hall Mound One and the Armstrong Mound. Kenyon’s excavations of the Armstrong Mound reveal an unusual empty circular ; a rectangular collapsed structure with associated Laurel and a pair of “sucking tubes” made of orthoclase and quartzite. A small poorly visible birch bark scroll fragment was reported from this mound. White pine fragments yielded a carbon date of 1010 +/– 100 BP (ca. 957 AD) (Kenyon 1970:78; 1986:64). It is still unclear whether the scroll fragment was associated with the subsurface features or represents a later intrusive event. 44 James B. Bandow

Similar features were also uncovered at the Hungry Hall Mound One Here, a “status” individual wearing a clay buffalo mask was interred in a slate stone lined shaft or pit. Located at the bottom of this pit was a steatite sucking tube (Kenyon 1986:45, Plate 50A).3 These tubes are much more elaborate in their form and manufacture suggesting a more ascribed or even inherent status than their historical counterparts. Fragmentary remains of infants and sub-infants wrapped in birch bark were also recovered from this mound. Towards the upper level was another empty circular pit containing remnant birch bark lining as well as birch bark and wood fragments. These fragments, however, exhibited no visible motifs. The recovery of Black Duck Pottery and a carbon date of 1130 +/– 65 BP place the Mound firmly in the early Late despite the similarity to earlier Adena structures. Both these structures appear to have been modified or reused as evidenced by exhumed shafts, intrusive matrix, and secondary internments. This overlap between secondary use-related activities, prosaic subsistence activities and ritual or ceremonial actions is consistent with observations by other researchers. (Robertson 2001; Kenyon 1986; Noble 1984; Johnson 1968). It would be premature at this point to interpret the archaeological features of these prehistoric mounds as the tomb for a prominent Ganawenjigewinini, ‘(Mide) record keeper,’ or Nenaandawi’iwed ‘(sucking bone) doctor,’ as a location for a Midewiwin ceremony or a repository for mazinaakizon. Though archaeologists observe continuity within a growing body of consistent material evidence as well as historic Midewiwin scrolls and pictographic evidence, only recently has a prehistoric counterpart to historically documented Midewigaan been unearthed.

Two Late Woodland Midewiwin Aspects from Ontario

The Witch Point Site, Lake , Ontario Excavations at the multi-component Witch Point Site, located on Witch Bay, Lake Temagami, revealed structural and ceremonial features not

3. In 1789 Edward Walsh observed a Delaware medicine lodge describing the Mide as wearing a conjuring cap constructed with a buffalo forehead. Motifs observed on scrolls and rock art often depict “horned” shamans. The Mide was also described as wearing a buffalo robe “inside of which was worked in figures of sun, moon, stars, and other hieroglyphics” (Belue 1996:152). White Dogs, Black Bears, and Ghost Gamblers 45 previously encountered at any other Lake Temagami sites. The site exhibits a stratigraphic sequence containing Late Archaic, Late Woodland, as well as nineteenth- and twentieth-century seasonal occupation. The Late Woodland (ca. 900–1450 AD) occupants, however, spent considerable time and effort in the collection and transportation of cobble-sized stones to the top of the four meter high sandy esker where the site is located on the bay. Though Late Woodland components do contain some Laurel and Black Duck ceramics, the dominant pottery design motifs appear to be Huron, an observation that Late Woodland Algonquian pottery manufacture elsewhere in Ontario (Fox and Garrad 2004). Several vessels resemble but are not identical to late fifteenth- and early sixteenth-century Sidey Notched Pottery vessels. Of particular note to this discussion was the discovery of a rectangular rock structure. The occurrence of both yellow and red ochre nodules, red ochre paste pottery, triangular copper , clear quartz crystals, and a dog burial suggest ceremonial or ritual activities (Gordon 1994a 1994b; Conway 1982).

Dog Burial

Excavations in 1993 revealed a complete dog skeleton situated just west of what appears to be a rectangular rock structure. In that same summer Carscallen (1995) excavated a similar dog burial that dated to the thirteenth century AD based on associated ceramics for the Lake Temagami Site. Carscallen speculated on the possibility of a White Dog Ceremony by the presence of these burials but ethnographic evidence would seem to negate this hypothesis. White Dog rites often involved the careful killing of the animal prior to the ceremony followed by public feasting. Ritual dog feasting occurs for several reasons: Dogs were served to both initiates and war captives; as sacrifice to Mishibizhiw to ensure calm waters for safe passage, good fishing, or as payment for copper; as a gift or appeasement to the Gichi-manidoo; as tribute for initiation into the Midewiwin; and for gastronomic consumption during ongoing feasts or public ceremony (Oberholtzer 2002; Angel 2002:167; Densmore 1929:121; Kohl 1985:60; Long 1791:73). The expected archaeological observations would be disarticulated bones exhibiting signs of burning, butchering and perhaps boiling. Local examples are observed at the Frank Bay Site, Lake Nipissing, Ontario (Brizinski and Savage 1983; Brizinski 1981), and Whitefish Island, 46 James B. Bandow

Sault St. Marie (Conway 1977). Excavations at the Frank Bay Site, revealed five disarticulated dog remains associated with Black Duck and Pickering ceramics within one feature that was radiocarbon dated between 955 +/– 50 BP and 1065 +/– 65 BP years ago. The presence of charred birch bark underlying two of the skeletons suggests that they were bundled in containers. Alternatively, some dog burials exhibit articulated bone with a correct alignment. Such examples are also seen at Frank Bay (Brizinski 1981; Brizinski and Savage 1983) Lake Temagami (Carscallen 1995), Witch Point (Gordon 1994a, 1995) and at the Lone Tree Cove Site, Isle Royal National Park, Michigan (Clark 1990). Dog Burial #2 at Frank Bay, however, which is similar to the Witch Point and the Lake Temagami dog burials, exhibits no evidence of butchering and was buried near a feature identified as a . Of interest also is the placement of two large posts, approximately 20 cm in diameter, outside the longhouse beside two interments. These two dog burials were associated with Pickering-Mickin pottery, placing them at Black Duck or Middleport age at least (Brizinski 1981:140–142). By comparison, the Witch Point dog burial contains the same elements: a near complete skeleton placed at the edge of a defined structure.

Rock Structure

In historically observed Midewiwin ceremonies, a killed dog is placed at the entrance of the Midewigaan. The number of dogs required is relative to the degree being sought by the initiate (Densmore 1929:92). Other ceremonies require a bear to be placed at the entrance but sometimes a dog substitutes for bear (Angel 2002:183–184; Landes 1968:118). At Witch Point, Gordon (1994b) uncovered a series of three concentric circular forms consisting of large cobble- and boulder-sized rocks overlaying a rectilinear stone pavement of cobble- and pebble-sized stones. This structure measured six by four meters with an opening at both east and west ends of the feature located near the eastern edge of the clearing. South of these stones was found a very black organic soil containing predominantly Late Woodland Sidey Notched Pottery ceramics. Two major post holes were reported by Gordon (1994b) but their proximity to a Ministry of Natural Resources concrete structure cautioned against making a definitive association with the black anthropogenic soil or the stone structure. Just south of the White Dogs, Black Bears, and Ghost Gamblers 47 burial are Conway’s (1982) contiguous units which produced almost half a kilogram of red and yellow ochre pigment, clear quartz scrapers, and a pre-contact copper . This structure has a striking resemblance to Mide scroll images of spring hunting ritual or initiation ceremonies and other enigmatic scrolls (Dewdney 1975:150).4 The use of stone in the construction of this “Midewigaan” is unique when compared to the nineteenth-century narratives (Hoffman 1891; Kohl 1860; Copway 1850) and early twentieth- century descriptions (Densmore 1928; Hickerson 1970; Landes 1968). No burials were detected or uncovered at this site.

Hunter’s Point, Bruce Peninsula, Ontario Further structural and iconographic associations of Mide ritual are observed at the Hunter’s Point Site, located on the eastern Bruce Peninsula, near Hope Bay, Ontario. Discovered by William Fox, the site was originally thought to be a late seventeenth-century fishing station. After three seasons of excavation by Molnar (1993a,b) and continued investigation by Fitzgerald (Fitzgerald and Romanoski 1996), Hunter’s Point proved to be anything but a fishing station. The site contains the remnants of several structures that are quite different from those uncovered at other local village sites such as the Providence Bay Site and the Shawano Site, both small seasonal Algonquian villages located on Manitoulin Island (Conway 1982, 1987). Chronological dating was based on ceramic serration of several “Iroquoian like” pottery styles. These include Huron and Lawson Incised, Alone High Collar, and Sidey Notched pottery. These designs are well documented and suggest continuous intermittent prehistoric occupation of the site sometime between 1200–1600 AD (Molnar 1993a, 1993b). Middle Woodland Period (200BC–800AD) occupations may also be present based on the presence of cord wrapped-fabric impressed, pseudo-scallop shell and dentate stamped pottery sherds. Deploying relative chronology from southern Ontario archaeological sequences may be problematic, however, due to conflicting chronological models between northern and southern Ontario pottery taxonomy and other culture sequences (Cote 1996; Wright

4. The structure closely resembles the –Ojibwa scroll in the Lower Fort Gary Museum, from Grassy Narrows, Ontario. See Dewdney (1975:150, Fig. 157). 48 James B. Bandow

1968). It should be noted that these Middle Woodland designs do occur later in the archaeological sequence of northern Ontario and the inclusion of at least one Juntunen vessel with these materials might support that hypothesis (Molnar 1993a:23, Plate 8). Proto-historic occupation is dated between 1580 and 1650 based on the seriation of trade and glass beads (Kenyon and Kenyon 1987, 1983). Evidence of ritual or Mide behavior is observed at Hunter’s point as suggested by several features, aspects, and diagnostic artifacts. Though structures observed at Hunter’s point are different than the structure at Witch Point, Lake Temagami, these features also conform to structural elements depicted on birch bark scrolls, historical descriptions and twentieth-century accounts. One of several structures observed at the site was uncovered during the 1991 and 1992 excavation seasons. This rectangular shaped dwelling measures six meters in length and two meters in width with a north-south orientation. Excavation revealed a 5-cm high mound of sand in the center of the structure outlined by multiple 5 to 10 cm postholes. At the north end of the structure is a lens of sand and a hearth containing several granitic fire-cracked rocks. The mounded near the center of this structure, which exhibits multiple posthole remnants, is reminiscent of ethnohistoric descriptions of some structures associated with Mide curing and sweat lodge sessions at the Reserve near Emo, Ontario (Landes 1968:118). South of this structure, bear skeletal remains were uncovered clustered with red ochre, a red paint stone, a quartzite and several unidentified pottery sherds (Molnar 1993b:15). Though the spatial relationship is not conclusive, spatial patterning does mimic the initiation rites depicted on many Ojibwa birch bark scrolls (Dewdney 1975).

Pits and Burials

One of the most spectacular aspects of Hunter’s Point is the presence of dozens of subsurface features misidentified as “pukaskwa pits.” Over seventy-three of these features were documented. Most pits are bowl shaped with a diameter of 1.25 meters and a depth of between 30 and 60 cm. A flat dolomite ‘cap stone’ is either still in place or removed and leftin proximity to the empty feature. Many unsatisfactory explanations have been proffered about the function of these features. These would include storage pits, , ambush pits, habitation, or vision quest (McIlwraith 1958; White Dogs, Black Bears, and Ghost Gamblers 49

Dawson 1981; Carruthers 1982; Carmichael 1979; Arthurs 1981). Champagne (2007) has addressed the key problem with an understanding of the pukaskwa phenomenon: archeologists have failed to discern typology from function. In essence, a single typology has been applied universally to multiple features. Most of these documented features exhibit few if any material remains. Molnar (1993b) excavated one unusual pit containing numerous artifacts including bone fragments and Late Woodland Black Necked and Huron Incised Pottery, which would date this pit to sometime between the late fifteenth- and middle sixteenth-century AD. The upper section of this pit also contained a smashed pot, corn kernels, beaver elements, and fish bones. Beneath this section was another lower chamber containing two complete ceramic vessels, more fish remains, and an unidentified raptor tail bone (Molnar 1993b:8; Figure 8).5 The unit was lined with stone dolomite slabs supported by large cobbles, a feature resembling earlier Late Woodland structures uncovered and described by Kenyon (1986, 1970) at the Rainy River Mound Group. Clearly, this structure does not resemble any of the classifications proposed by Dawson (1981) from his shoreline survey of Pukaskwa Park nor does it resemble any of the other features on the site.

Proto-Historic Jiibay Midewigaan?

Most pits examined were circular depressions devoid of any support structures but were “capped” with stone dolomite or limestone slabs, an uncommon tradition of burial that is first observed in the Early Woodland Period (Noder et al. 2003; Cook et al. 1998). Later analysis revealed that some of the small unidentifiable faunal bones recovered from these units were sub-infant . Human small bones were already documented on the site (Molnar 1993b:15). Fitzgerald and Romanowski’s (1996) survey and excavation of later Proto-historic and historic components on the site would also reveal several primary interments. This radically altered the interpretation of the site. The presence of eagle feathers suggests ritual behavior as these spirits were often viewed as messengers. Prehistoric and historic modes of interment and diagnostic artifacts conveying Midewiwin

5. The effigy might also indicate second-degree initiation in a sky lodge. (Densmore 1929:92). 50 James B. Bandow

iconography would infer the presence of a second degree Midewigaan but perhaps more likely a Jiibay Midewigaan (Ghost Lodge) given the North to South orientation of the structure. Eagle bone was known to be worn by the Jiisakiiwininiwag.6 It is now clear that the alleged pukaskwa pits outlined at Hunter’s Point are more likely primary or secondary burial vaults. Could this perhaps link the Midewiwin with the Feast of the Dead? Premature death prevented both soul and spirit from departing without the appropriate rites (Landes 1968:118). Hoffman (1891) describes the Ghost Lodge Ceremony conducted for children who had died before reaching the age of puberty, for their chosen adult “stand-in” for initiation into the Midewiwin, and the associated rites of passage for the dead. The deceased would then be freed from a shadowy limbo, safe from the “ghost gambler” and could then continue on their journey (Hoffman 1891:261; Angel 2002:191). If the Ghost Lodge Ceremony frees souls, then presumably, the deceased could then be exhumed and transported to another locality for their final interment. Many of the seventy-three pit features observed were open, the capstones removed and placed alongside of the feature. Human skeletal remains found in association with the pits were small bones and this would be consistent with the kind of remains lost after exhumation, bundling, and transportation of the deceased sometime after the initial interment.

Diagnostic Artifacts

Several diagnostic artifacts further document proto-historic and contact period Mide behavior. These devotion items include inscribed fragmented shell gorgets, red paint pottery and stones, red ochre, quartz crystals, inscribed and polished shells (miigis), native copper rings, and a brass bracelet with mirrored depictions of the “Horned Serpent” (Molnar 1993a; Fitzgerald and Ramlukan 1995; Fitzgerald and Romanowski 1996). Other bracelets of native copper effigy of Mishibizhiw have been unearthed in Ontario and Wisconsin. The Lake Michigan and Ohio highlight the relationship between Mishibizhiw, copper and later brass, with life and death narratives (Fox 1992:5–8).

6. Jiisakiiwininiwag is a class of Mide. They are powerful and can communicate or even do battle with the . White Dogs, Black Bears, and Ghost Gamblers 51

Summary

The Witch and Hunter’s Point sites both contain aspects of pre-contact Midewiwin behavior and a structural similarity to narratives depicted on historic instructional or initiation birch bark scrolls. These include the ritual use of bear and dog, the orientation of structures in relation to the four cardinal directions, pre-contact ceramics, spatial relationships, and artifacts known to be associated with the Midewiwin during the historic period. Ironically, the archaeological examples more closely resemble the thematic depictions on birch bark scrolls than do their historical counterparts. Both archaeological aspects are dated as early as the Late Woodland Period. Hunter’s Point, however, shows continual use as a ritual location and cemetery until the early twentieth century (Fitzgerald and Romanowski 1996; Fitzgerald and Ramlukan 1995).7 Whether these archaeological aspects convey the same meaning or association with corresponding sacred or secular texts recorded from the seventeenth century to the present is open to debate (Mason 2009; Howey and O’ Shea 2007; Lovis 2001). Both of these archaeological sites, for instance, are quite insular in their settlement pattern when compared with most historical narratives, yet they appear to be located in proximity to known habitation sites. Several scholars (Angel 2002; Peers 1994; Hickerson 1970; Landes 1968) have documented Midewiwin ceremonies being held at large public gatherings. Hickerson (1970, 1962) viewed the Midewiwin as a native social movement resulting from culture contact, in essence a form of passive resistance. Thus, “ancient rituals” were transformed into “public ceremonies” that symbolized Algonquian membership, group affiliations, social identity, and spiritual power. Supporting this conclusion are the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century descriptions of elaborate Mide ceremonies conducted in large ceremonial lodges at the center of trade villages. Warren (1984:100) refers to such ceremonies at La Pointe where the village had a “medewiwin lodge at the center of the village.” Likewise, Boutwell (1833–1837) records an 1834 event in his journal at Leech Lake, Minnesota in which the entire population of the lake, about 800 people, attended the ceremonies (Hickerson 1970:55). These

7. In the year 2002, Hunters Point was designated as a cemetery under the Ontario Cemeteries Act (R.S.O. 1990). 52 James B. Bandow historical descriptions echo back to the Frank Bay Site, Lake Nipissing. Unlike historically documented ceremonial lodges, however, the structures at Bruce Peninsula and Lake Temagami remained quite small. Cross-cultural studies by Hayden and Adam (2004), for instance, have revealed that small remote structures are more likely to have been used for ritual and feasting purposes, a pattern which is consistent with the emergence of special ritual structures in trans-egalitarian societies. This pattern is also observed in the historic record. Father Gabriel Sagard’s seventeenth-century narrative described an unusual lodge “erected in Algonquian fashion” at an island fishing camp north of Huronia (Sagard 1939:185). He described the lodge as being rectangular and having four corners with two . The lodge could only accommodate eight individuals yet was utilized for communal feasts. Likewise, Kohl’s (1860:41) description of a “temple ,” built on “a sandy promontory which jutted out onto the lake,” located two miles from the village mirrors the site location preferences observed at Witch Point and Hunter’s Point. It would be interesting to learn historically which Mide ceremonies were held within the community and which were held at a distance. This might provide further insight into the nature of the archaeological data surrounding these aspects. Hamell (1987) has proffered that pre-contact Indian mythical reality served as the paradigm for the Indians’ contact behavior and that it was these continuities and syncretisms that allowed for the technological and social manipulation of European trade goods in the context of their cosmology and worldview. Logically, this idea should not just apply to Native and European discourse but to Algonquian-Iroquoian interactions as well. Hence, the more elaborate ceremonial Midewigaan described in late eighteenth- and nineteenth-century accounts might not exist in the Late Woodland Period. These lodges may have developed, or perhaps re-developed, to facilitate group membership, social identity, political and trade alliances through public ceremony during the late seventeenth century; a time of increased competition for trade during the years of the “beaver wars” (Schmaltz 1991). Identifying Algonquian ceremonial lodges from the archaeological record of Ontario is problematic. The Late Woodland paradigm in southern Ontario is by definition “Iroquoian”; be it Huron, Petun, or Neutral. Algonquian groups residing in Iroquoian towns and villages would be trading or manufacturing Huron type ceramic vessels. From the fourteenth century onward, many southern Algonquian groups, at least during parts of the year, were resident in longhouse structures and palisaded villages not unlike their White Dogs, Black Bears, and Ghost Gamblers 53

Iroquoian neighbors (Fox and Garrad 2004; Conway 1987; Brizinski 1981). Likewise, northern Late Woodland settlements, especially trading villages such as Frank Bay Site near Lake Nipissing, Ontario, show an almost exclusive use of Huron ceramics beginning in the late sixteenth century (Brizinski 1981:168, Table 38; Ridley 1954:48–49, Fig. 25). The resulting archaeological invisibility of many Algonquian groups in Ontario, especially south of the , highlights this problem when researchers juxtapose the archaeological paradigm with the historical reality. Recent research by Fox and Garrad (2004) highlights this problem and recognizes that material culture and language do not necessarily correlate. They emphasize the very subtle degree of material culture, not necessarily the kind of material for discerning Algonquian behavioral aspects from the “ ‘noise” of the dominant material expressions. Emblem expression would be predicated on the density of social relations between defined cultural or ethnic identities. From their observations of both continuous and syncretic aspects of Late Woodland material culture, they concluded that the inhabitants of the Plater–Flemming village site, for example, were Algonquian and not Iroquoian people as was previously thought. This breakthrough research opens future avenues of research into discerning Algonquian ceremonial structures from Iroquoian material culture contexts.

Midewiwin Development: A First Approximation

It has become increasingly clear that the Mide iconography associated with ethnographic and historically documented Anishinaabeg has temporal affiliations with archaeological aspects dating to the Late Woodland Period. An examination of both the relative and absolute dates compiled here requires consideration. Kidd’s (1981) date of 390 +/– 70 BP (ca. 1560 AD) is a good starting point by which to evaluate the development of the historically known Midewiwin. Clearly, the practice was already an institution at that time. The chronology of associated prehistoric artifacts, features and anthropomorphic figures provide a date range between ca. 987– 1650 AD for the proposed development or revival of the Midewiwin. Taking a conservative approach to error rates of radiocarbon assays and the seriation of know ceramic sequences, I would approximate the development of the prehistoric Midewiwin to encompass the Juntunen Phase in Michigan, the Middleport and Black Duck sequence in Ontario, and the Late Mississippian and Fort Ancient phases south of the Great Lakes. A conservative date of 54 James B. Bandow

1200 AD terminus a quo is suggested here for the introduction of this ritual aspect. This would coincide with the extension of Late Mississippian influences into the Great Lakes and the expansion of the Black Duck phenomenon in northwestern Ontario.

References

Abrams, Elliot, and AnnCorrinne Freter, eds. 2005. The emergence of the moundbuilders: The archaeology of tribal societies in southeastern Ohio. Athens: Ohio University Press. Aldenderfen, Mark. 1993. Ritual, hierarchy and change in foraging societies. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 12:1–40. Angel, Michael. 2002. Preserving the sacred: Historical perspectives on the Ojibwa Midewiwin. Winnipeg: University of Press. Arthurs, David. 1981. The mysterious structures on Thompson Island. Arch Notes 81.2:25–28. Belue, Ted Franklin. 1996. The long hunt: Death of the buffalo east of the Mississippi. New York: Stackpole. Brain, Jeffrey, and Philip Phillips. 1999. Shell gorgets: Styles of the late prehistoric and protohistoric southeast. Cambridge, MA: Peabody Museum Press, Harvard University. Brizinski, Morris, and Howard Savage. 1983. Dog sacrifices among the Algonquian Indians: An example from the Frank Bay Site. Ontario Archaeology 39:33–44. Brizinski, Morris. 1981. Where eagles fly: An archaeological survey of Lake Nipissing. MA thesis, Department of Anthropology, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario. Carmichael, Patrick H. 1979. The site (EgKx-15): A prehistoric site in Manitoba. Papers in Manitoba Archaeology Final Report No.6. Carruthers, Peter. 1982. Life in the pits: Semi-subterranean houses in the Great Lakes area. Arch Notes 82.2:10–11. Carscallen, Charlton. 1995. Excavations at the Lake Temagami Site, Temagami, Ontario. Annual Archaeological Reports Ontario 5:116–121. Champagne, Nancy. 2007. Pukaskwa pits: Rethinking the vision quest hypothesis. Arch Notes 12.5:17–21. Clark, Caven P. 1990. A dog burial from Isle Royale, Lake Superior: an example of household ritual sacrifice in the Terminal Woodland Period. Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology 15.2:265–278. Conway, Thor. 1977. Whitefish Island: A remarkable archaeological site at Sault St. Marie, Ontario. Toronto: Ministry of Culture and Recreation, Historical Planning and Research Branch, Research Manuscript Series No. 310. ———. 1982. A preliminary report on the Witch Point Site, Lake Temagami. Unpublished Report, Heritage Branch, Ministry of Culture, Government of Ontario. ———. 1987. The Providence Island Site: An early historic Ottawa village on Manitoulin Island. Toronto: Heritage Branch, Ministry of Culture, Government of Ontario. White Dogs, Black Bears, and Ghost Gamblers 55

Cook, Meagan, Robert G. Mayer, and Jim Wilson. 1998. Osteological analysis of an Early Woodland Burial: MO (AnHq-20). Arch Notes 3.3:13–18. Copway, George (Kahgegagahbowh). 1850. The traditional history and characteristic sketches of the Ojibway nation. London: Charles Gilprin. Cote, Marc. 1996. of Abitibi–Temiscamingae. Daniel Clement (Editor), The Algonquins. Canadian Museum of Civilization, Mercury Series, Paper 130, pp. 5–40. Dawson, Kenneth. 1981. Prehistoric stone features of the relict north shore cobble beaches of Lake Superior. to medicine : Boulder structures in archaeology. Ed. by Michael Wilson, Kathie Road, and Kenneth Hardy, pp. 297– 312. Calgary: University of Calgary Press. Densmore, Frances. 1929. Chippewa customs. Smithsonian Institute, Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin No. 86, Washington: United States Government Printing Office. Dewdney, Selwyn. 1975. The sacred scrolls of the southern Ojibway. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. Emerson, Norman. 1960. The Pukaskwa pits and the religious alternative. Ontario History 52.1:71–72. Fitzgerald, William, and Camille Ramlukan. 1995. Accessing the supernatural: Algonquian devotion items from Hunters Point Site. Arch Notes 95.2:8–17. Fitzgerald, William, and Erica Romanowski. 1996. More than a good place to fish: The 1994 archaeological investigations at the Hunters Point Site (BfHg-3), Unpublished Report. Ministry of Culture, Heritage Branch, Government of Ontario, Toronto. Fox, William, and Charles Garrad. 2004. Hurons in an Algonquian land. Ontario Archaeology 77/78:121–134. ———. 1992. The serpent’s copper scales. Kewa 92.3:1–11. Gordon, Diana Lynn. 1994a. Report on the 1994 field season: Further excavations at the Witch Point Site CgHa-7 and survey of prehistoric and traditional native sites, Lake Temagami, northeastern Ontario. Unpublished Report. Heritage Branch, Ministry of Culture, Government of Ontario, Toronto. ———. 1994b. Rocks, water and a dog: Structural variation between the Witch Point Site (CgHa-7) and the Three Pines Site (CgHa-6), Lake Temagami. Paper presented at the Canadian Archaeological Association Meeting, Edmonton, , May 6, 1994. ———. 1995. Excavations at the Witch Point Site (CgHa-7), Lake Temagami, Northeastern Ontario. Annual Archaeological Report Ontario 5:121–127. Hamell, George. 1987. Strawberries, floating islands and rabbit captains: Mythical realities and European contact in the northeast during the 16th and 17th centuries. Journal of Canadian Studies 21.4:72–94. Hayden, Brian, and Ron Adams. 2004. Ritual structures in transegaliterian societies. In Complex hunter-gatherers: Evolution and organization of prehistoric communities on the plateau of northwestern North America. Ed. by Ian Kuijt and William C. Prentiss. pp. 84–109. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press. Hickerson, Harold. 1962. Notes on the post-contact origin of the Midewiwin. Ethnohistory 9.4:404–423. ———. 1970. The Chippewa and their neighbors: a study in ethnohistory. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston Inc. 56 James B. Bandow

Hoffman, Walter J. 1891. The Midewiwin or “Grand Medicine Society” of the Ojibwa. Bureau of American ethnology seventh annual report to the Smithsonian Institution, 1885–1886, pp. 145–300. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press. Howey, Megan C. L., and John M. O’Shea. 2006. Bear’s journey and the study of ritual in archaeology. American Antiquity 71.2:261–282. Jenness, Diamond. 1935. The Ojibwa Indians of Parry Sound and their social and religious life. Ottawa: National Museum of , Anthropological Series, No. 17. Jesuit Relations (JR). 1896. The Jesuit Relations and allied documents. Ed. by Reuben Gold Thwaites. Cleveland: Burrow Brothers Company. Johnson, Elden, and Tim Ready. 1992. Ceramic funerary masks from McKinstry Mound 2. Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology 17.1:16–45. Johnson, Richard B. 1968. The archaeology of the Site. Toronto: Royal Ontario Museum. Kenyon, Ian, and Thomas Kenyon. 1983. Comments on seventeenth century glass trade beads from Ontario. Proceedings of the 1982 glass trade bead conference. Ed. by Charles Hayes, pp. 59–74. Rochester Museum and Science Center, Research Records 16. ———. 1987. The iron trade in Ontario, ca. 1580–1650: Exploratory data analysis. Kewa 87.7:10–20. Kenyon, Walter. 1970. The Armstrong Mound on Rainy River, Ontario. Ottawa: Canadian Historic Sites, Occasional Papers in Archaeology and History, No. 3, pp. 66–83. Kenyon, Walter. 1986. Mounds of sacred earth: Burial mounds in Ontario. Toronto: Royal Ontario Museum Press. Kidd, Kenneth E. 1965. Birch bark scrolls in archaeological context. American Antiquity 30.4:480–483. ———. 1981. A radiocarbon date on a Midewiwin scroll from Burntside Lake, Ontario. Ontario Archaeology 35:41–43. Kohl, Johann George. 1985. Kitchi-Gami: Life among the Lake Superior Ojibway. Minnesota Historical Society Press. [1860]. Landes, Ruth. 1968. Ojibwa religion and the Midewiwin. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press. Long, John. 1968. Voyage and travels of an Indian interpreter and trader, describing the manners and customs of the North American Indians. New York: Johnson Reprint Corp. [1791]. Lovis, William A. 2001. Clay effigy representations of Bear and Mishipishu: Algonquian iconography from the Late Woodland Johnson Site, Michigan. Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology 26.1:105–119. Mason, Ronald. 2009. Some comments on Howey and O’Shea’s Midewiwin paper. American Antiquity 74.1:189–192. McIlwraith, Thomas 1958. The Pukaskwa Pit culture. Ontario History 50.1:41–43. Molnar, James. 1993a. Hunter’s Point Site: Report for the 1990 season. Unpublished report, Ministry of Culture, Heritage Branch, Government of Ontario, Toronto. ———. 1993b. Hunter’s Point Site (BfHg-3) summary report. Unpublished report, Ministry of Culture, Heritage Branch, Government of Ontario, Toronto. White Dogs, Black Bears, and Ghost Gamblers 57

Noble, William C. 1968. Vision pits, and petroglyphs at Rock Lake, Algonquin Provincial Park. Ontario Archaeology 11:47–64. ———. 1984. A historical synthesis of the Manitou Mounds on the Rainy River, Ontario. Ottawa: Parks Canada (Volumes 1–4). Noder, John, Jane Eva Baxter, Russel Nelson, and John O’ Shea. 2003. Stone tombs and ancient ritual: Status marking and social roles in the early Late Woodland of southeast Michigan. Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology 28.2:145–174. Oberholtzer, Cath. 2002. Fleshing out the evidence: from archaic dog burials to historic dog feasts. The woodlands revisited: Proceedings of the 29th annual symposium of the Ontario Archaeological Society. Ed. by Susan Jamieson and Cath Oberholtzer. Ontario Archaeology 73:1–107. Peers, Laura. 1994. The Ojibwa of western Canada. Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press. Phillips, Philip, and James Allison Brown. 1984. Pre-columbian shell engravings from the Craig Mound at Spiro, Oklahoma. Cambridge, MA: Peabody Museum Press, Harvard University (Vol. I–II). Ridley, Frank. 1954. The Frank Bay Site, Lake Nipissing, Ontario. American Antiquity 20.1:40–49. Robertson, David. 2001. Mourning, curing, feasting, or ? The interpretation of the Quinte and Perch Lake Mounds. Ontario Archaeology 72:38–62. Robertson, David. 2005. Glimpse through the smoke: A survey of two dimensional figurative imagery on Woodland Period smoking pipes from southern Ontario. Ontario Archaeology 79:38–62. Rogers, Edward S. 1962. The Round Lake Ojibwa. Royal Ontario Museum, Art and Archaeology Division Occasional Paper No. 5. Schenck, Theresa. 1996. William W. Warrens’s History of the Ojibwa People: Tradition, history and context. In Reading beyond words: Contexts for Native history. Ed. by Jennifer S. H. Brown and Elizabeth Vibert, 242–260. Peterborough: Broadview Press. ———. 1997. The voice of the crane echoes afar: The sociopolitical organization of the Lake Superior Ojibwa, 1640–1855. New York: Garland Publishing. Schmaltz, Peter S. 1991. The Ojibwa of southern Ontario. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. Vastokas, Joan M. 2003. Ojibwa pictography: The origins of writing and the rise of social complexity. Ontario Archaeology 75:3–16. Wagner, Mark J, Mary R. McCorvie, and Charles A. Swedlund. 2004. Mississippian cosmology and rock art at the Millstone Bluff Site, Illinois. In The rock art of eastern North America: Capturing images and insight. Ed. by Carol Diaz-Grandados and James R. Duncan, pp. 42–64. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press. Wagner, Mark J. 1996. Written in stone: An overview of the rock art of Illinois. In Rock art of the Eastern Woodlands. Ed. by Charles H. Faulkner, pp 47–79. American Rock Art Research Association, Occasional Paper No. 2, San Migel. Warren, William. 1984. History of the Ojibway people. St Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press. [1885]. Whitely, David S. 2009. Comments on Howey and O’Shea’s “Bear’s Journey and the Study of Ritual in Archaeology.” American Antiquity 74.1:183–188. 58 James B. Bandow

Sagard, Gabriel. 1939. The long journey to the country of the Hurons. Ed. with an introduction and notes, by George M. Wrong, and translated into English by H. H. Langton. Toronto: The Champlain Society.