A St. Lawrence Iroquoian Village

STEWART: MCKEOWN SITE 17 Faunal Findings from Three Longhouses of the McKeown Site (BeFv-1), A St. Lawrence Iroquoian Village. Frances L. Stewart The 4,536 faunal specimens excavated from three sub-samples from the individual houses were kept houses of the McKeown Site, a St. Lawrence separate to allow a comparison of animal usage Iroquoian village near Maynard, Ontario were between the houses. Related to this was the testing of studied to determine the subsistence pattern of the the hypothesis that foodstuffs might have varied over people living there around 1500 A.D. time. Unusual occurrences in the material were noted From the remains from seven classes of animals, and explanations were offered for the faunal findings, the seasonal exploitation pattern of the villagers was with comparisons to other Iroquoian sites. reconstructed. Of significance to faunal analyses in This paper begins with brief descriptions of the general was the variation in the faunal refuse among techniques of excavation, the site and its the three houses. Of specific interest to Iroquoian environment, and the methods of faunal analysis. studies was the scarcity of dog remains and the After the presentation of the faunal data the results relatively high number of black bear elements. are discussed. The faunal details are ordered from most to least frequently identified remains. The paper ends with a few concluding remarks. Introduction Excavation of exploratory trenches revealed the village's palisades and associated ditches and The McKeown Site (BeFv-1), located on Lot 11, removal of the plough zone with bulldozers and Concession 2, Augusta Township, Grenville County, shovels uncovered twenty-three longhouses. Trowels is south of Ottawa and just north of the St. Lawrence were used to excavate these houses. Screening River (Fig. 1). Although this prehistoric St. through a 1/4 inch mesh and flotation were begun in Lawrence Iroquoian village site has been known to the field but due to time constraints the latter had to archaeologists since the 1930s (Wintemberg be discontinued. (See Wright and Wright 1990 for 1972:121 cited in Pendergast 1988) it did not receive information on the sorting of about twenty-seven tons much attention until the summer of 1987 when it was of matrix from the house features.) The faunal excavated by Dr. James Pendergast as project samples originating in the features of three houses director with Dawn M. Wright as field director (Fig. were selected for study; material from the plough 2). A preliminary report on the site has been zone was excluded and the floated material has not published (Pendergast 1988:1-13) as has a short yet been analyzed. paper on the faunal remains (Stewart 1989) and a news item on an awl (Wright and Wright 1990). Pendergast has made some preliminary Jamieson has completed a study of the artifacts made interpretations concerning the site. Analysis of the from skeletal elements and shells (Jamieson n.d.). settlement data led him to conclude that "the core Two unpublished research reports on the faunal village population was augmented in two phases" remains (Ostéothèue de Montreal Inc. n.d. and with the second influx of population being the larger Stewart n.d.) provide the data for this article. one (Pendergast 1988:4). From an examination of the artifact assemblage, particularly the ceramics, The main purposes in studying the faunal sample Pendergast concluded that this 1.6 hectare site was a were to determine subsistence and to establish, as far St. Lawrence Iroquoian village dating to around A.D. as possible, the inhabitants' seasonal activities 1500. The finding of an European iron awl may related to animal exploitation. In addition the faunal indicate a slightly more 18 ONTARIO ARCHAEOLOGY NO. 54 recent date but because there were no other trade sparsely inhabited until after the fall harvest and goods, the site should still be considered as dating to hunt were complete." (Pendergast 1988:5) "sometime in the first half of the 16th century" (Wright and Wright 1990:4). In addition to farming villages like the McKeown It was assumed that the McKeown Site was occupied year round in all three construction phases Site, the St. Lawrence Iroquois also had although the population likely fluctuated with the marsh/swamp habitations and fishing stations (Pendergast 1984:58) for the exploitation of specific seasons. animals or groups of animals. The Steward Site, for example, was a prehistoric St. Lawrence Iroquoian "By far the majority of the pits excavated were fishing station specializing in the exploitation of the located in the longhouses. Indeed, the areas American eel (Anguilla rostrata) in the fall (Junker- between the houses are relatively undisturbed. Andersen 1988). Likely, however, most of the This pattern is attributed, in part at least, to a animals procured at such special collecting camps village life style in which the greater part of the were transported back to the main village, at least in village activity occurred during the winter part if not as entire carcasses, to be consumed there. months when the weather confined villagers to Consequently, their remains would be added to the their longhouses. With the arrival of spring the village refuse. More significantly, it is important to people left the village for their spring fishing remember that most of the food consumed by these stations on the St. Lawrence River and the farm people was obtained from their crops, primarily corn lands to prepare them for planting. Over the and beans (see Heidenreich 1971:159). Although the summer months they occupied a variety of necessary protein could have been supplied by the locations, some remote from the village, each of beans-corn combination it is apparent from the which contributed to the seasonal food supply. faunal refuse that meat and fish were important As a result the village remained Figure 1. A sketch map showing the location of the McKeown Site and the major river systems. STEWART: MCKEOWN SITE 19 . Figure 2. Pendergast's Map of the McKeown Site. 20 ONTARIO ARCHAEOLOGY NO. 54 sources too and that a wide variety of animal species site's construction (Figures 2 and 3). House 13, was utilized. thought to have been one of the first constructed, was selected from the original core area. It was one of two houses demolished to make room for the four houses built in the first phase of expansion. House 10 was The Environmental Setting selected from these four. House 2 was chosen from The McKeown Site is situated in an area of the last phase of village growth (Figures 2 and 3). considerable natural diversity which presents its These specific houses were chosen because they were human inhabitants with a wide range of resources for large and had produced greater samples than the other exploitation. Running in a northeasterly direction houses. At the least they would provide the largest throughout Grenville County "from its source a few quantity of data available for a comparison of the miles north of Brockville to its confluence with the fauna discarded by different households and for Ottawa (River)" (Rowe:1959:106-7) is the South determining the seasonality of subsistence activities. Nation River. It drains an almost flat plain with many By selecting one house from each of the three periods swampy depressions and some peat bogs. This river of village occupation, it was hoped that changes or is noted for its recurring annual floods which are consistency in the exploitation of the various animals particularly voluminous in the spring. It is fed by over time would become apparent. It was realized that many small tributaries most of which, like the main information about the houses' periods of existence river, are very sluggish. In contrast, the St. Lawrence was only relative and very general: House 13 River, "in its natural state ... was marked by definitely preceded House 10 and they did not co- numerous rapids" (ibid.:201). Different aquatic exist; House 2 was built after both of the others but it species lived in these diverse habitats. Between the may have been partially contemporaneous with House South Nation and St. Lawrence Rivers were swamps 10. Unfortunately it is not known how long the and bogs which provided suitable habitats for other village remained at any of its three sizes. These three combinations of plant and animal species. The site is houses were not necessarily nor even probably used centrally placed for three distinct soil zones. It is at for the same number of years. Presumably the the western edge of a sand plain and about two duration of occupation would affect the number of kilometres further west there is a till plain. Two animals or parts of animals brought inside these kilometres to the north a clay plain exists. The people houses and thus possibly determine the numbers who live here are favourably situated on sandy soil recovered by archaeologists. This is a limitation good for growing corn but also close to other soils which cannot be overcome at present. It means that and their resources. In the 1500s both coniferous and comparisons of faunal exploitation over time at the deciduous forests stood about ten kilometres or less McKeown Site can not be as precise as one would away, although the initial extensive clearing for farm wish. land and the continual collecting of wood for Village growth created other problems for the construction and for feeding the numerous hearths archaeologists. The construction of new buildings would have meant travelling greater distances as the resulted in the overlapping of the post stains of many period of habitation at the village lengthened. The house walls, making difficult the assignment of some site is therefore in a region of diverse soils cut by of the interior features to their specific houses (Fig.

Load more