The Association of Professional Archaeologists P.O
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THE ASSOCIATION OF PROFESSIONAL ARCHAEOLOGISTS P.O. Box 493 Port Hope, Ontario, L1A 3Z4 2006-02 Autumn Edition This newsletter is just in time for the APA’s glitches -- all went well. Between 40 to 60 General Meeting on November 25 th , 2006. people attended the session. The most Members who are present at the meeting will be irreverent, but most hard-hitting talk was able to pick it up then, and those who are not in Paul Racher’s concerning the state of CRM attendance will have them mailed shortly after the in Ontario (see below). meeting. In total, there were nine speakers, addressing BOARD OF DIRECTORS various archaeological issues from discussing President: Lawrence Jackson a Euro-Canadian military site, what happened Vice President: Scarlett Janusas to bones in the 19 th century, and to CRM Secretary: Peter Timmins issues. What follows is a brief exegesis of Membership: Penny Young each of the talks, listed in order of Director: Donna Morrison Director: William Ross presentation. Director: Lisa Merritt Treasurer: TBA 1) Dana Poulton & Christine Dodd : Grievance: Gary Warrick Military Life on a Victorian Frontier: The Newsletter: Jacqueline Fisher Framed Infantry Barracks in London, Ontario . ANNOUNCEMENTS Since 1995, archaeological work has been ___________________ conducted as part of the Victoria Park Restoration Plan. The park encompasses a The APA is compiling an Ontario Consultant’s List for the Ontario Archaeological community. Please see our 10 acre barracks of the former military web page (new address): reserve (73 acre) that was established following the Rebellion in 1837. www.apaontario.ca Excavations occurred in the soldiers’ privies ___________________ (1830s to 1840s) in the NE and NW corner of the bastion; the replacement privies are MAY CAA CONFERENCE -- REVIEW somewhere under the modern street. The CAA Conference was well attended this Transects were excavated through the spring when it was held in downtown Toronto. soldiers’ barracks, the officers’ barracks, and a stone-lined root cellar. The APA hosted as session on Saturday morning May 27 th , 2006. Peter Timmins did a great job of organizing this session; all the speakers were lively, there were no technical 1 2) Mike Henry : Feast on the Dead . site, the Second Bridge Site was located. This talk focussed on the use of bone as raw Artifacts recovered from the survey ranged material for various industries. The bone trade from 900 B.C. to the 20 th century, showing a in the mid to late 1800s rapidly expanded span of 2,500 years of occupation of the area. across the world as demand greatly increased. The artifacts are to be returned to the Bones were used as fertilizer, buttons, combs, community. creams, brushes and fans, but also were being utilized in large quantities in industries as a 4) David Slattery : CaGw-2 A Dodge Gone source of carbon (for steel & ceramic Wrong: A Huron-Nipissing Village production), and use in refining sugar. Other Destroyed ca. 1652. uses included tallow, as part of the bleaching process, in ink, make-up, and a leavening agent CaGw-2 was first discovered in 2001 in in bread. Restoule Provincial Park. The site has been excavated as part of a public archaeology Sources for the bones included the massive programme, and each of the three field numbers of buffalo skeletons found on the seasons has had 170 volunteers excavating on Plains in North America after their deliberate site. annihilation. As the larger sources of bone were used up other sources were found, such as The site was a Nipissing seasonal the dead from the Crimean war, the American encampment, and may represent a place of Civil war, and Egyptian mummies. refuge of Nipissing and Huron as they fled Archaeological sites, and cemeteries were the Iroquois. Severe destruction of the site (a robbed of skeletons to keep up with the burning layer), a profusion of lead shot, and demand of bone. The demand for all this bone the remnants of a bayonet suggests the site has implications for the analysis of was quickly abandoned. Some parallels may archaeological sites. Sites such as Head be drawn to the Frank Bay site on Lake Smashed in Buffalo Jump were mined as late at Nipissing. 1943 during WWII. Faunal analysis of some sites may be problematic. 5) Andrew Murray : Is the East Holland River Site the Lower Landing? 3) Peter Timmins & Andre Polsky : An Archaeological Survey of the French River . The East Holland River site is located along the Bradford Bypass, as it crosses the East MTHC conducted a survey of a section of the branch of the Holland River. The site’s Voyageur Trail. The Trail is a historic portage location is along a major transportation route route for the French River, adjacent to Dokis from Lake Ontario via Lake Simcoe to Indian Reservation No. 9. The survey was Georgian Bay, and has been utilized by conducted prior to landscape and restoration Aboriginal groups in pre- and post-contact activities, and the Dokis First Nation was periods. Archaeological investigations on the involved in both community consultation and site have attempted to determine its function field work. At the east end, the Portage Dam and time frame. Site was re-discovered and at the west, a new 2 The Stage 3 investigations at the site resulted in Holly provide an overview of this poorly the excavation of 98 units, of which 13 units known time period in Aboriginal history, contained no artifacts. The stratigraphy of the dating to approximately 8,000 B.P.. Holly site indicated that flooding was not prevalent. discussed the cluster of four lithic scatters The lithics recovered indicated a wide from Paris and their relationship to each distribution, and included Hudson Bay other and the landscape. The Farrugie site Lowland chert and Flint Ridge chert. There was interpreted as a base camp, with three were no 17 th and 18 th century artifacts present. activity areas (Leschuk-Weisz being satellite The results were compared with historic camps around the base one. These sites over- documents as well as an 1815 painting look the Nith River and are near relic depicting the Lower Landing, and altogether channels and ravines. there is not enough information from the archaeology to prove or disprove that the site Holly also discussed the point type was the Lower Landing. classification in that they were from the transition from Early Archaic to Early Middle 6) Peter Timmins : A Buried Archaic Archaic, and shared characteristics from both Component in the Southeastern Lake Huron designations, and provide an example of a Basin . continuum of the point sequence. There was also some indication of heat alteration, but Peter discussed the discovery of a large lithic there was no selective artifact types for this scatter dating to the Middle Archaic, found on exposure and the alteration could have been a gently sloped, low sandy ridge in the Huron from post-depositional exposure such as from Basin. The excavation of the site (South Bend) grass burnings or forest fires. revealed a buried paleosol containing some 12,000 artifacts and faunal elements dating to 8) Dena Doroszenko & Sean Fraser : Sizing the Middle Archaic. up the Situation: Tools for the Protection of Archaeological Resources in Ontario . There were two projectile point types present: Dena & Sean provided a summation of the Group 1 artifacts were contemporary with the tools that archaeologists in Ontario may use Nipissing high water stage and resembled to protect archaeological sites. The legal Matanzas Side-notched points dating to 5,700 protection of sites comes in two forms: The to 4,000 B.P; and Group 2 resembling Heritage Act and the Environmental Act. Brewerton Eared and Otter Creek points, dating They also looked at short term and long term to 4,500 to 5,000 B.P. protection of sites. The authors provided a list of 17 ways of protecting sites, from site The presence of lots of turtle bones indicate a registration to commemeration (such as possible warm weather site, and a date taken plaquing at the Historic Places Initiative, the from a mammal bone resulted in the calibrated Ontario level and the Federal level). Other date of 2,740 +/1 110 years B.P. means of protection listed included securing a conservation easement agreement at the 7) Holly Martelle : Of Bifurcates and Burnt municipal level, or with the Ontario Heritage Chert: Two Early-Middle Archaic Sites in Trust (OHT) under Section 10 of the Ontario Paris, Ontario . Heritage Act. As well as utilizing the 3 Archaeological Zoning (site specific) under membership and have something meaningful, Section 34 of the Planning Act. Dena then rather than a lower fee that is based on proceeded to discuss New Tools that are volunteers, as they cannot provide the available to the archaeologist for site services to address all the problems. protection. The New Tools disc is available from the Ontario government on their web page at www.culture.gov.on.ca under Heritage, and After the APA session, a light lunch was look for the Ontario Heritage Tool Kit icon on provided and then an APA meeting was held the right hand side of the screen. Hard copies where members and non-members were are available at 1-800-668-9938. welcomed. Approximately 28 people, plus the APA board of directors were in attendance. 9) Paul Racher : Up from the Muck: Towards a Truly Professional Archaeology in Ontario . The meeting started with an introduction of During Paul Racher’s talk, he asked some fairly the board and a quick up-date on the status of poignant questions, but were delivered in such various concerns. Marg Hanna, the President a way that made for a memorable paper.