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The Ontario Archaeological Society
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With this issue of Arch Notes we settle intoour Fall schedule once again. At this timeI am pleased to announce the appointmentof the new editor of Ontario Archaeology,Dr. Alexander von Gernet, who will takeover his duties January I, 1994. OnSeptember 7 the Publications Committeemet with Dr. von Gernet to exchange ideasregarding the format of the journal and theformation of an Editorial Committee tointegrate all aspects of its production.Thanks are due to Dr. Peter Reid, who hasably served as Editor for over six years, andcontinues to forward manuscripts and othercorrespondence to us, smoothing thetransition from one editor to the next.
This summer has been busier than usual forthe Executive Director. In addition toorganizing the annual Bus Trip (see thearticle elsewhere in this issue), he led anine-day field school under the Passport-to-the-Past Program. Eleven peopleparticipated in this exercise, six of whomreceived certificates for attending at leastseven days. The majority had never beeninvolved in archaeological excavationsbefore. The age range was from seventeento eighty. Geographically, home-base forthese people ranged from the town ofCollingwood, near the site, to Montreal.The enthusiasm of the participants of thisfield school indicates the need for an on-going outreach program. Next year weshould have our own field manual, which isin the final stages of writing as thiscommunique appears.
The proposed new heritage legislationcontinues to be a major concern. Duringthe summer, copies of the Draft Act weredistributed to interested parties, particularlythose individuals and organizations whichparticipated in the Minister's Advisory
Committee (MAC). A meeting of the MACwas held September 14, 1993 to review thisdocument. See Lise Ferguson's reportelsewhere in this issue.
To date, fifteen letters have been received inresponse to the Report of the StrategicPlanning Committee. A few people havenoted that the report is not a strategic planand contains too much detail. While thisdocument was produced by the StrategicPlanning Committee, it was meant to beonly the first stage on the way to a strategicplan. In order to find out what you (themembers) thought of these things, we havethrown "the whole ball of wax" at you. Theresponse has been tremendous! Most peoplehave no problem with the bulk of thereport. A few topics have elicited remarksfrom several respondents: OntarioArchaeology (alternate suggestions), thecharacter of newsletters, the office oftreasurer (mostly negative), foreign trips (allpositive). Individual letters have not beenpublished to date. An overview of specificconcerns is in process. With a better ideawhere the problem areas lie, we expect theStrategic Planning Committee will be ableto produce a first draft for a succintstrategic plan before the Annual BusinessMeeting.
The next major event is the AnnualSymposium. This year it will be held inNiagara Falls, Ontario, and hosted by theLondon Chapter. For the first time at anOAS symposium, concurrent sessions arebeing offered; let us know your views onthis format after the meetings. By the timethis newsletter appears, you should havereceived a symposium package in a separatemailing. If you have not already done so,send your registration very soon. Hoping tosee you there.
OAS ANNIVERSARY SYMPOSIUMNIAGARA FALLS - OCTOBER 22-24, 1993
By now, most of you should have received your registration package for the upcoming symposium.A number of sessions and activities are planned that should allow everyone to have a good time.Sorry, we had to cancel the barrel-rides over the Falls. The following information is provided forthose of you who may not have received a registration package:SATURDAY SESSIONS
1. Paleo-Indian Investigations in the Great Lakes/Mid-West (C. Ellis, Chair) - C. Ellis, B.Barrish, R. Collins and B. Byrd, P. Storck, P. Julig, I. Morrow, 1. Jackson, K. Tankersley andJ. Holland, W. Engelbrecht and C. Seyfert, D. Simons, J. Mul.ler, P. Timmins, R. Gramly.
2. HistoricArchaeology/Archaeologyin Urban Cores - D. Doroszenko, I. Kenyon, R. Griffin-Short, B. Parker, V. Vaccarelli, C. Smardz, R. Williamson, M. Home.
SUNDAY SESSIONS
3. Middle WoodlandContinuities(R. Pihl, Chair) - R. Pihl, J. Wilson, S. Austin, R. Williamsonand R. Pihl, G. Watson, P. Wright and H. Daechsel, B. Ross.
4. CurrentResearch - Stuart Scott and P. Scott, D. Riddell and J. Wilson, W. donaldson and S.Wortner, T. Varney, M. Cook and R. Mayer, S. Kogon and R. Mayer.
HOTEL
The conference is being held at the Sheraton Inn, Niagara Falls (6045 Stanley Avenue). Conferencediscount rate for rooms (single or double) is $59.00 (plus taxes) per night. Conference-goers shouldbook their rooms directly: telephone the hotel (1-800-263-2566), ask to speak to Gail and indicatethat you will be attending the OAS symposium.
FRIDAY RECEPTION AND PRESIDENT'S MEETING
As always, a Friday night reception will be held for conference-goers. At the same time, the OASPresident's Meeting will be held in the Oak Room on the first floor of the hotel.
BANQUET AND DANCE
Saturday evening's banquet will be something a little different this year: a Hawaiian Luau--completewith roast pig! The dance followingthe banquet will shit things to the Caribbean, by featuring a steeldrum band. Plan to have fun! Banquet tickets are $30.00 per person.
BOOK AND DISPLAY ROOM
A book and display room will be set up for Saturday and Sunday. Table space is reserved on a firstcome, first served basis--so please contact the organizing committee if you want to reserve somespace.DAYCARE
The hotel will be providing supervised day care for conference participants. The cost is $10.00 perchild on Saturday and $5.00 per child on Sunday. There is limited space, so please book as soon aspossible.
REGISTRATION
Pre-registration of $30.00 ($25.00 students) will be accepted until October 17th. Registration at thedoor will be $35.00.
FURTHER INFORMATION AND REGISTRATION
Please contact the OAS organizing committee c/o the London Chapter, OAS, Grosvenor Lodge, 1017Western Road, London, Ontario N6G IG5, telephone (519) 433-8402.
I am very happy to report that there has beensome progress in the process towards a newOntario Heritage Act. It has been one fullyear since the Minister's Advisory Committee(MAC) submitted its Report on new heritagelegislation. As a result, we now have adocument which is a Working Draft of thenew Act. The basic concepts within thisdocument will some day be law, if all goeswell.
In general, I am satisfied with the WorkingDraft. It has adopted the bulk of ourrecommendations from the Report. Thefeedback 1 have so far received from otherOAS members has also been positive, and afew items and queries about specifics havebeen brought to my attention, which Iappreciate.
The following are a few highlights from theDraft Act: archaeological sites areautomatically protected; there are very strictpenalties, including large fines andimprisonment, for violators of the Act;artifacts from sites are included under "heritageobjects" and are well protected; the "hook" isin the Act stating that the issue of licensingwill be addressed through Regulations.
On September 14, Christine Caroppo and Iattended a special MAC meeting to discuss theWorking Draft. There will be another MACmeeting within the next few weeks. I amhappy to report that, although there were manyrelatively minor issues and a few major ones,there was a general acceptance of thedocument. Ministry staff were congratulatedon a job well done. The Minister of Culture,Tourism and Recreation, Anne Swarbrick,attended our meeting for over an hour and wewere interested to hear what she had to say.As well, she asked for input from the MACmembers, to assist her when she tries topromote the Act. She stated that she wanted
by Lise FergusonOAS Director and MAC Member
MAC members to have a continuing role inRegulations development. This will get startedvery soon. She said that, in spite of thenumber of changes in Ministers since thisprocess began, she continues the commitmentto a new Act. We were anxious to hear herviews on the likelihood of the passing of thisAct. She pointed out that there are manydifferent issues before the government for thefall session, including major documentsregarding health, social services, andeducation, all of which are huge ministries.Our Act is competing with some 86 otherpieces of legislation, and only about 13 arelikely to pass! The KEY to getting an OntarioHeritage Act proclaimed as law will be all-party support for new heritage legislation. Thegovernment has no time to debate an issue likethis for many days. If we have all-partysupport BEFORE this Act is presented, debateshould be quick. Long debate would probablymean the Act would not be passed! It takesthe efforts of all MAC member groups,heritage organizations, and all voting Ontariansto lobby MPPs to get this Act passed.
As with our Postcard Campaign of last year, Iam again asking for your support by contactingyour MPP amd the opposition critics to garnersupport for the passing of this Act. MPPs willbe asked to support, in principle, the basicconcepts contained within the Draft Act, as itis a "draft", although the final Act will beessentially the same. This is normalprocedure. By telephone, fax or letter, youshould emphasize the importance of gettingthis Act on the order paper for the fall sittingof the House. It is best to be positive! Askfor the support of your MPP for a new OntarioHeritage Act, because you are concerned aboutpreserving Ontario's Heritage. You may wantto point out that this is essentially a "good
As increasing numbers of excavated prehistoricIroquoian structural patterns' have becomeavailable, examples of "ultra-large"longhouses, often extending over 100 metres,have been reported and various explanationsoffered. These explanations have ranged fromthe presence of successful war chiefs (i.e.Finlayson 1985, Warrick J 984) or traders (i.e.Hayden 1978) through the evolution of controlof resources by individual lineages (i.e.MacDonald 1985). Most explanations of largelonghouses, however, usually involveincorporation of immigrant populations (i.e.Fitzgerald 1992, Ramsden J 989). In this papera mechanism for larger longhouses, resultingfrom in situ population growth as suggested byWarrick (1990, 1993 in press), stimulated byimproved diet and control over local resources,specifically agricultural fields, is offered. It issuggested that, while the alternate explanationsmay hold in some cases, these should be heldin abeyance until more reliable evidence isproduced in support of them.
Before proceeding with this discussion, it isnecessary to define which structural patternsare considered relevant. First, I wish toconfine this discussion to the period followingthe 13th century and prior to the 16th century.This would correspond with the Middle andearly Late Stages of the Ontario IroquoisTradition (Wright 1966). This is the periodwhen houses reached their maximum sizes(Fitzgerald 1992, Warrick 1990:309-310) withgradual decline in the following periods. It isalso noted that the periods prior to the 16thcentury generally produce little evidence offoreign influence. Specifically, while exoticrimsherd sty les can be used to infer theincorporation of immigrants on some later sites(i.e. Nasmith-Ramsden 1989, Damkjar 1990),this is not the case for the periods whenhouses reached their largest sizes.
Extra large longhouses have been reported ina number of non-village contexts. TheSouthdale site contains an unusually longstructure not directly associated with a village(Timmins 1990). Timmins suggests that thesite may have served as a council houseconstructed on neutral ground betweensurrounding allied villages.
The house at the Slack-Caswell quarry site(Jamieson 1979) is reported at 90 metres inlength but appears to have been the onlystructure at a site that was primarily gearedtowards lithic extraction. It is possible thatoccupants of this occupation followed similarresidence rules to those of villages but only forshort periods of time. Alternately, it is alsopossible that different residence patternsapplied than those which operated withinvillages. It might be, for example, thatresidence was reserved for related flint-knappers sharing in rights to the chert sourceor belonging to a structured flint-knappingtradition. Finally, it may have been that theresidents were not related in any way andsimply built a larger house for expediency.
While it is beyond the scope of this discussionto evaluate the merits of any of thesehypotheses, it is important to note that, indifferent settings, different factors may lead tothe erection and occupation of unusually largelonghouses. This discussion, however, is to beconfined to the larger houses reported forvillages of the 14th and 15th centuries whenthere is little or no evidence available ofimmigration into communities.
Warrick's reconstruction of the populationhistory of the Huron-Petun (1990)demonstrated a dramatic increase in populationin the 14th and 15th centuries as evidenced byincreases in house and village sizes. Thispopulation growth is seen to have beenprimarily the result of increased reliance on
corn horticulture and the addition of squashand beans to the diet at this time (Fecteau1985). One direct impact of this change forlroquoians is proposed to have been a decreasein infant mortality and an increase in lifespan(Warrick 1990). Additionally, it is possiblethat female infanticide, if it occurred, mayhave decreased, especially with the increasedimportance of females in food procurement(c.f. Tooker 1967:122).
The effects of this demographic change, then,would have been two-fold and fairly obvious.First, increased numbers of children wouldhave survived to maturity and, secondly, atleast some individuals could have survivedlong enough to see additional generations ofdescendants, relative to earlier times, matureand begin families of their own. These twofactors alone could have had an enormousimpact on the number of people living in along-house under a unitary residence rule and,indeed, could easily account for even thelargest houses so far reported. Matriarchsreaching the age of eighty could see threegenerations reach maturity and beginningfamilies of their own, each family requiring aseparate living area within the longhouse.
One of the largest houses so far recorded inOntario, House I at the Coleman site, isreported to have had II hearths, providingroom for 22 families (MacDonald 1985). Ifeach generation had two females reachmaturity, start families of their own andremain within the same house, then survival ofthe "reigning" matriarch to see greatgranddaughters start families would involve 15families living together. Obviously,generations where more than two femalessurvived to maturity or cases where offspringof a sister of the matriarch were added to thehousehold, could dramatically increase the sizeof households beyond that recorded for anysite so far. The addition of a third daughter ofthe matriarch, for example, with twosucceeding generations of pairs of survivingdaughters from this additional secondgeneration mother, would increase the familycount to 22, that suggested for House I of theColeman site.
As suggested by others, internal stresses make
cohesion of large groups like these difficult.Generally only a small number of houses in avillage reach the larger sizes recorded. Whileit is possible that these variations in house sizeare a result of fluctuations in survival rates ofoffspring, it is also likely that internal stressesoperated to keep household sizes down,probably through fission. Given that internalstresses would have operated to keephousehold sizes down, the problem becomesone of accounting for why some of the housesescaped these stresses.
As noted by Finlayson and Smith (1987), thereis a distinct tendency for the longer houses ina village to have greater densities of wall postsand features, suggesting greater occupationspans. Finlayson's hypothesis is that thesehouses may have been the first to occupy anarea, as relatively isolated or small groups ofcabins at the periphery of cultivated fields.Presumably, the remainder of the villagejoined these isolated segments when it cametime to relocate. Since these first occupants ofthe new village would have been the first toselect and clear land for horticulture, theywould undoubtedly have been able to selectthe closest, largest and most desirable plots forcultivation. Further, since control of the landseems to have remained with the clearer, thematriarch or lineage sponsoring the clearing(Heidenreich 1971: 168-171, Tooker 1967:60),there would have been strong incentive toremain within the same structural unit in orderto share access to this land.
Following this line of reasoning, the laterdecline in house sizes may have occurred afterother mechanisms for the distribution of landwere developed which did not require familiesto live under the same roof in order to beeligible to share use of the land.
While the foregoing must remain somewhatspeculative, it is offered as a hypothesis inorder to avoid some of the problems inherentin some of the other hypotheses offered. First,this hypothesis avoids the invocation of eithertrade or warfare as a prime mover in housesize during periods when neither factor appearsto be well represented in the archaeologicalrecord. Further, this hypothesis avoidsinvoking male influence in a sphere of
domestic life which was historicallydocumented to have been under the control ofwomen, indeed, a tenet of lroquoian culture.Additionally, citing the adoption of largenumbers of immigrant families should requiresome evidence in the form of the appearanceof non-local decorative styles (i.e. Damkjar1990, Nasmith-Ramsden 1989) and impliesthat refugee families could push the capacityand resources of the most influential lineagesin the village beyond their normal tolerancelevels. During the historic period, when weknow of the incorporation of large numbers ofimmigrant families through historicdocumentation and the appearance of exoticceramic styles, there is no evidence of houseexpansion. Finally, as mentioned above, thetiming of these house expansions appears tocoincide with the overall population increase,shortly after the addition of beans to the diet.The picture which may be emerging is one ofa form of cultural inertia where people areattempting to strictly follow previousmatrilineal post-marriage residence patterns,perhaps with greater vigour due to theincreased importance of female cooperation insubsistence pursuits, but prior to thedevelopment of mechanisms to allow thesegoals to be realized without requiring so manypeople to live under one roof.
Note 1 - The term "structural pattern" ispreferred, as "settlement pattern" implies theconsideration of all residue from settlements,including material culture while this study onlyconsiders surviving structural features.
Acknowledgemen ts
Dr. G. Warrick read and commented on earlierdrafts of this report.
References Cited
Damkjar, E. R.
1990 The Coulter Site and LateIroquoian Coalescence in theUpper Trent Valley.Occasional Papers inNortheastern Archaeology No.2. Copetown Press, Dundas.
Fecteau, R. D.
1985 The Introduction and Diffusionof Cultivated Plants inSouthern Ontario.Unpublished M.A. Thesis,Department of Geography,York University.
Finlayson, W. D.
1985 The 1975 and 1978 RescueExcavations at the Draper Site:Introduction and SettlementPatterns. National Museum ofMan, Mercury Series,Archaeological Survey ofCanada, Paper No. 130.
Finlayson, W. D. and D. G. Smith
"lroquoian Culture History,Settlement and Demography inthe Crawford Lake Region ofSouthern Ontario." Paperpresented at the 52nd AnnualMeeting of the Society forAmerican Archaeology,Toronto, Ontario.
1978 "Bigger is Better?: FactorsDetermining Ontario IroquoisSite Sizes." Canadian Journalof Archaeology 2: I07-116.
Heidenreich, C.
History andof the Huron1600-1650.
and Stewart Ltd.,
Huronia: AGeographyIndiansMcClellandToronto.
Jamieson, S. M.
1979 The Slack-Caswell Quarry andWorkshops (AjHa-I): SomeOrganizational Implications.Unpublished licence reportsubmitted to the O. H. F.
"Evolution of the lroquoianLonghouse." in People WhoLive in Large Houses. G.Coupland T. Banning, eds. InPress. University of ArizonaPress, Tucson .•
MacDonald, R.
1985 "The Coleman Site SettlementPatterns: IroquoianArchitecture in the WaterlooRegion." Paper presented atthe 1985 Annual Symposiumof the Ontario ArchaeologicalSociety, London, Ontario.
Nasmith-Ramsden, C.
1989 The Kirche Site: A 16thCentury Huron Village in theUpper Trent Valley.Occasional Papers inNortheastern Archaeology No.I: Copetown Press.
Ramsden, P. G.
"Palisade Extension, VillageExpansion and Immigration inTrent Valley HuronPrehistory." Canadian Journalof Archaeology 12:177-183.
Timmins, P. A.
Southdale: A Multi-ComponentHistoric and Prehistoric Site inLondon, Ontario. Museum ofIndi:m Archaeology, ResearchReport 20.
Tooker, E.
1967 An Ethnogrphy of the HuronIndians 1615-1649. TheHuronia HistoricalDevelopment Counci I:Midland.
Warrick, G. A.
1984 Reconstructing OntarioIroquoian VillageOrganization. NationalMuseum of Man, MercurySeries, Archaeological Surveyof Canada, Paper No. 124:1-180.
1990 A Population History of theHuron-Petun, A. D. 900-1650.Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis,Department of Anthropology,McGill University.
continued from page 5
news" Act, long overdue, and worthy of beingpassed into law. The present Act is now 19years old and pressures on archaeologicalresources have increased dramatically since1974. The new Act goes a long way towardsaddressing these issues.
lfyou do not know who your MPP is, you cancall (416) 321-3000. It is also essential thatthe Culture critics be lobbied for all-partysupport: Ted Arnott (P.C.) (416) 325-3880 andDr. Jim Henderson (Lib.) (416) 325-6204.The House Leaders need to be contacted aswell: Ernie Eves (P.C.) (416) 325-7747 andMurray Elston (Lib.) (416) 314-4676. AnneSwarbrick recommended talking directly to theindividual whenever possible, although youcan also write to them at Legislative Buildings,Queen's Park, Toronto M7A 1A2. I aminterested in receiving a copy of any reply youmay receive. Thanks to those of you whohave sent me these copies over the last year;they are invaluable to me when talking aboutall-party support at meetings .•
continued from page 23Ndoro and his co-workers are redesigning theexhibits at Great Zimbabwe, presentinginformation about the ruins in the native Shonaand Ndebele languages. They also areincorporating local myths and traditionsconnected with the site.
Jean-Aime Rakotoarisoa, an archaeologist fromMadagascar, likened ignoring the past to tryingto harvest fruit from a tree without knowingabout its roots and cultivation. "Archaeologyis the root of national identity," he said. "Myidea is to go to the root and try to find out,what is this people?"
from The Detroit News, 7 March 1993 •
Visit to digputsyouin the dumps
Grant McKenna, a teacher from UpperCanada College, checks his measurements.
By Lois BrowneSPECIAL TO TIlE STAR
Digging up a garbage dump isn't ev-eryone's idea of a vacation but that'swhat a group of volunteers - aged 17to 80 - were doing recently in a farm-er's field near Collingwood under thewarm August sun.
We were spending the week excavat- •ing a midden, the archeological termfor a garbage dump, in this case, a 17th ~century dump used by bands of Indians .:
whom SamuelChamplain dubbedthe "Petun," or Tcrbacco People, whenhe visited the areain 1615.
The Petun hadmoved into the riv-er valleys south ofGeorgian Bay inthe late 1500s,
searching for a supply of high qualitybeaver whose pelts they could trade tothe Europeans for goods like copper,iron axes and glass beads.
Within 75 years the Petun villageswere gone and today the exact sites ofthose that Champlain visited are debat-ed. The only records, writings byChamplain and later Jesuit missionar-ies who lived among the Petun, don'tsolve the mystery. We were there tohelp Charles Garrad, executive directorof the Ontario Archaeological Society,find out whether this site was likely inuse around the time of Champlain'svisit.
Garrad, an angular transplanted En-glishman in his early 60s, has beenstudying the Petun for more than 30years and has become the acknowl-edged expert. He shares his knowledgewillingly and during the dig we hadplenty of opportunity to learn all aboutwhat is known and what is disputedabout the Petun.
During the week-long excavationthere were many cries of "Look what Ifound" as someone unearthed a pieceof rolled copper, the one lone arrow·head found during the dig, or a particu-larly handsome piece of pottery cutwith an elaborate design. The copper,rolled into small cylinders for ease ofcarrying, was a clue that the Petunhere had been trading with Europeans.We also found potsherds by the fistful,bits of bone from all sorts of animals,and stone jewelry, but there was nohint of a particular artifact we hadhoped to find - glass beads.
Our interest in glass beads was notwhimsical. To the Petun the gIassbeads brought by the Europeansseemed to hold colors that had rell·
CLOSER LOOK: Tama Ward, a Baptist minister from Oshawa, examines a finddone since the early 1900s, a largenumber of artifacts have been accumu-lated. The Collingwood Museum,housed in the old railway station, hasroom to display only a small part ofthem, but their exhibit includes frag-ments of fmely worked stone pipes thePetun made and ritually destroyed.
Visitors to Collingwood can also seethe Standing Rock, Ekarenniondi,which is reputed to be the point pastwhich the Petun dead walked to enterthe afterlife. Today, it is part of a pri-vate attraction just west of Colling-wood called the Scenic Caves, naturalrock formations on the Niagara Es-carpment with a panoramic view of thetowns and farms edging Georgian Bay.
You'll particularly enjoy visiting thespot on a hot day. The "caves" are ac-tually deep fissures in the rock that youcan explore, and drafts of cold air frominside the escarpment keep tempera-tures in the fissures astonishingly cool.
Be warned, however, that you haveto overlook the fanciful legends aboutthe Petun made up by locaIs. Most ofthe information, while entertaining,has no basis in fact, according to Gar-rad.
Collingwood, the headquarters for much of Petun research and artifacts,can be reached by car or bus via Highway 400 from Toronto and east on High-way 26 at Barrie. It's about a two-hour drive , ..from Toronto. \ QU.KBFC
VIsitors can get more Information about ON'l'ARIO \. :u ..accommodation and things to see In Huronia "',-from the Georgian Triangle Tourist Associa- '''''l _tion at (705) 445-n22. .
The Ontario Archaeological Society Is Georguzn Bay'based In Toronto and can be reached bycalling 730-0797. Annual membership feesare modest Benefits Include monthly educa-tional meetings, a newsletter and regular re-ports on Ontario archeological research.
Members can Join the OAS's Passport to the Past program, Which putsvolunteers In touch with Ontario field archeological opportunities that may lastanywhere from a day to a few weeks.
gious significance for them. Each year18 a new supply was imported for trade!and records still exist that tell the yearj they were manufactured. As a result,
glass beads can help to determinewhen a site was occupied.
No one is sure why the Petun com-munities disappeared from the area,whether the New York Iroquois whoattacked them coveted the better quali-ty beaver pelts or whether they wantedcaptives to adopt to increase the Ira-
quois' dwindling numbers. That wasanother mystery our efforts weren'table to solve.
This month, more volunteers will be-gin excavating the nearby village thatlikely created the midden we workedon. And every year the Ontario Archae-ological Society's Passport to the Pastprogram provides opportunities forother amateur archeologists to takepart in illuminating Ontario's past.
As a result of research on the Petun
Divers Find Ancient Submerged Forest
The remains of a forest nearly 8,000 years oldhave been discovered beneath the waters ofGeorgian Bay along the shore of the BrucePeninsula.
The stumps of eastern white cedar have beenthe playground for a choice few scuba diversfor more than a decade. No one else knew itexisted. But none of the divers knew of itsimportance. It wasn't until this past springthat one diver chanced to hear a radio newsreport of a search by University of Guelphscientists for ancient submerged forests.Weekend diver Gary Ritchie stunned Guelphbotanist Doug Larson when he called and saidhe knew of just such a forest.
"They'd been bumping into these things foryears. It was a curiosity. They used to taketheir friends out and show them," Larson said.
Ritchie, a 51-year-old Bruce nuclear plantemployee from Lucknow, and Alan Givens,the owner of a Wiarton dive shop, collectedsmall samples from the forest in June.
"They were spongy and soft, like really hardlello. You had to handle them delicately,"said Larson.
Radiocarbon testing at the University ofToronto determined the samples were 7,660years old with a margin of error of 50 yearseither way. The stumps rooted into thelimestone bedrock are about 60 centimetres (2feet) tall. They cover an area about the size ofa football field near the mouth of ColpoysBay.
"They look like little volcanoes," said Ritchie."Or a moonscape. Actually, they're quitepretty."
The brown stumps are interspersed withlengths of 2-metre (6-foot) logs, some stillcovered in bark but without branches orleaves. Larson, a non-diver, originally feared
it might not be a forest at all.
"1 expected it was driftwood about 200 yearsold. I was expecting the worst. I got thebest."
It was the first drowned ancient forest find inGeorgian Bay. Similar discoveries have beenmade in Lake Michigan near Chicago and atthe top of Lake Huron on the U.S. side. Theunderwater forest bears remarkable similaritiesto the cliff-edge forests still growing along theNiagara Escarpment, Larson said. Some of theexisting slow-growth cedars are more than1,000 years old.
The Georgian Bay discovery will contribute toscientists' ability to reconstruct the history ofGreat Lakes water level fluctuations, Larsonsaid.
It is believed the drowned forest grew at atime when glaciers were retreating and blockedthe flow of water to the Great Lakes. Waterlevels dropped more than 30 metres (100 feet)below the current level. The forest becamesubmerged when the Great Lakes basinrefilled.
Between 7,000 and 3,000 years ago the lakesrose to their highest level yet--about 12 metres(40 feet) above the current level, Larson said.
from The Toronto Star, 8 September 1993
New Angle on Pyramid Builders
The workmen who built the Great Pyramids ofEgypt were mustached, beer-drinking, bread-and-garlic caters who generally died in their30s from cancel', industrial accidents andparasitic diseases, according to newarchaeological evidence presented in Ottawayesterday.
Zahi Hawass, director-general of the GizaPlateau and Saqqara Archaeological sites, saidin a telephone interview that excavations of630 tombs at a recently discovered site nine
kilometres from downtown Cairo disproveprevious contentions that the Great Pyramidswere constructed by anything other thannative, free-born Egyptians.
"The builders of the Great Pyramids did notcome from outer space, as has been said in200 books," he said. "They were not blacks,and they were not slaves."
The tombs, which date to about 2600 BC,appear to be the final resting place of thefamilies of the manual labourers, artisans andoverseers who constructed the three GreatPyramids. While Mr. Hawass had beenlooking for the site of the workmen's villagcfor a number of years, the three-kilometre-square town was discovered only in 1990,when the leg of a horse went through the roofof one of the tombs. The excavations havesince revealed that the supervisors whooversaw construction of the Great Pyramidsscavenged bits of limestone, basalt and graniteto construct their own pyramid-shaped housesof the dead.
Workmen used clay to build their tombs.Representative statuary found in tombs showedthe workers, unlike the ruling class at the time,seem to have worn mustaches. Inscriptionsalso indicate that beer, bread, garlic, andoccasionally pork and mutton were staples inthe pyramid builders' diets. A menu on onetomb wall suggested that even at this earlydate the Egyptians had learned to brew fivetypes of beer and made 12 varieties of bread.
While none ofthe bodies were mummified, theskeletons found in the tombs appear to beethnically identical to the Egyptian kings andother nobles who were found buried during thesame time frame, said Mr. Hawass. The factthat the dead were buried according to theprecepts of the Egyptian religion of the timeindicates that they were freemen and notforeign slaves.
An analysis of the bodies indicated that mostdied in their middle to late 30s. Six hadperished from industrial accidents thatarchaeologists believe took place on theconstruction sites. One died from whatappears to be the earl iest case of cancerdiscovered in Egypt. Most seemed to have
been afflicted with bilharzia, a parasitic diseasethat eventually kills people by destroying theirliver and other organs. The new findingsrepresent a first-time effort to understand thelife of common people who lived around thetime of Egypt's First Kingdom.
"Up until very recently digs tried to stay awayfrom domestic quarters," said John Holladay,a University of Toronto Egyptologist and NearEast expert who described the Hawassexcavation as very interesting.
In addition to lifestyle, the undisturbed tombsof the pyramids' builders are also yieldingsamples of the tools they used to construct theGreat Pyramids, and especially the largepyramid of Cheops. Archaeologists believethat more than 100,000 men worked for 20years to build what was then a I46.6-metre-tallstructure. [t has been estimated that 2,300,000blocks weighing 2.5 tonnes each went intomaking the pyramid. Mr. I-Iawass believes thewealth of material he is finding may ultimatelyhave as great an impact on our understandingof ancient Egypt as the discovery in 1922 ofthe largely undisturbed burial place of KingTutankhamen.
"King Tut's grave gave the world gold andjewels, but these tombs give you history," hesaid.
from The Globe & Mail, 23 April 1993
Archaeologists Strike Gold in Egypt
Archaeologists exploring a ghost town in theremote eastern desert of Egypt have discoveredthe remains of what almost certainly was amajor gold-mining operation for the ByzantineEmpire. The stark granite cliffs surroundingthe town were the source of a rich supply ofthe metal that gilded the icons and lavish art ofearly Christianity.
The site, called Bir Umm Fawakhir, shouldgive scholars a rare look at the conditions ofordinary people in Byzantine Egypt, a poorlyunderstood period from AD 330, when controlof the Roman Empire shifted toConstantinople, until the Muslim conquest in642. Archaeologists have generally neglectedthe period, concentrating instead on thetemples, tombs and other splendours of the
ancient pharaohs. Historians studyingByzantine Egypt have had to rely on tax rolls,legal and religious documents, textiles, art andchurches, which give a limited view ofpeople's lives.
In announcing the discovery, Carol Meyer, anarchaeologist at the Oriental Institute of theUniversity of Chicago, said that Bir UmmFawakhir was one of only two Byzantinevillages known in Egypt, and by far the better-preserved one. The partial walls of granitecobbles are still standing, and they outline theru ins of more than 200 houses in the centralvillage. There remain wells, streets andquarries, as well as outlying settlements, somewith more than 40 structures.
Pottery fragments show that the site, about 95kilometres east of Luxor, near a road betweenthe Nile River and the Red Sea, was an activesettlement of miners and other workers in thefifth and sixth centuries. Some of the designsincluded Christian crosses. Labels painted inred on wine jars were in Greek. One of thefirst words the archaeologists deciphered wasthe Greek word for sweet, presumablyreferring to the quality of the wine.
The ruins lie on the hot, sandy floor of anarrow, isolated valley, a bleak and aridmoonscape surrounded by steep granite cliffs.The sides of the cliffs are pitted with goldmines, usually shallow shafts or trenchesfollowing a vein of quartz containing gold.
Among the artifacts found in explorations lastJanuary was a granite pounding stone that hadbeen used to crush gold-bearing quartz.Written accounts of mining practices at thetime describe workers using mills to grindstone into a powder from which gold was thenwashed.
"It was a wonderful find," Ms. Meyer said."The pounding stone was surrounded bychunks of white quartz that a worker hadcrushed and then just walked away from. Itwas sitting there just as it had been left morethan J ,000 years ago."
The site had not been entirely unknown. Thearchaeologists noted that looters had gonethrough a cemetery. Earlier travellers had leftbrief descriptions of the ruins, which were
thought to be from the Roman period. Theremains of a Roman watch tower are stillstanding, and some old accounts mention aRoman-period temple, which the archaeologistshave not identified. But scholars weresurprised to find flourishing Byzantinesettlements, because they had assumed, basedon Byzantine accounts, that there were nolarge post-Roman settlements in the easterndesert, only some nomadic tribes.
The wonder is that there was any town at allin this desert, where there is no vegetationexcept some thorn bushes, and summertemperatures regularly reach 49 degrees. TheRomans dug wells that still provide water, buteverything else needed to keep a communitygoing had to be hauled in from the NileValley.
Terence Wilfong, an Egyptologist at theOriental Institute who accompanied theexpedition, said the effort to exploit the desertgold "implies there must have been anenormous need occurring at this time". Onepossible reason was that insurrections andother upheavals were apparently interferingwith goldmining in Nubia, the more usual andaccessible source for the Egyptians. Anotherreason, Mr. Wilfong suggested, was that withthe rise of Constantinople as the centre ofChristendom came a flourishing of religiousart. Egypt was one of the major sources ofgold to embellish this art.
From the preliminary survey, Ms. Meyer said,most of the houses in the settlement were two-and three-room dwellings, with some clusteredto form complexes with as many as 19 rooms.Many rooms had stone benches. In futureexcavations, the archaeologists want to samplediscarded material buried beneath the floors ofthese houses or in the mounds of trash outside,searching for evidence of what it was like tolive and toil in a gold-mining village ofByzantine Egypt.
from The Globe & Mail, 6 June 1993
Archaeologists' Dilemma: To Dig or Not toDig
MOMBASA, Kenya When Kenyanarchaeologist George Abungu made a routinetrip last Deceember to Galu, a ruined 16th-
century town a fcw miles south of herc, hewas dismayed. In the months sincc hisprevious visit, local landowners haddemolished the old town wall and carried offthe stones to use for building beachside hotelsand villas. In doing so, they destroyed one ofonly two intact ancient town walls on Kenya'sIndian Ocean coast.
As curator of the country's coastal ruins, thereis little Abungu can do to stop such acts eventhough they are illcgal. "Even if you findsomebody breaking the monument, you cannotarrest them," he told a January meeting of theWorld Archaeological Congress here.
His problem is only one of many facingAfrican archaeologists as they race to recordand portect the fragile remains of theircontinent's past. Working against them arerapid political, social and economic changes,including civil wars, uncontrolleddevelopment, rising population, changing landuse, and environmental threats such aspollution and urban sprawl. Researchers mustalso contend with the history of their scienceon the continent and a general lack of publicawareness of archaeology.
Until about the past decade, archaeologicalresearch in Africa was performed almostexclusively by foreigners or colonists. Thedata were fitted to foreign theories and theartifacts presented to appeal to foreign tourists.For instance, at Great Zimbabwe NationalMonument in southeastern Zimbabwe, thelargest set of prehistoric stone structures insub-Saharan Africa, all of the texts andcaptions used in explanatory exhibits are inEnglish. But nearly three-quarters of thearea's residents cannot read English, saidWebber Ndoro, the site's monuments-programcoordinator.
"The idea has been that the site is unique andmysterious and can on Iy appeal to a foreignvisitor," said Ndoro. "We feel that, ifindigenous people are going to benefit, thenthey must have access to the information."
Ndoro and other young archaeologists aretrying to create such access. The Januaryconference was the culmination of a five-yearproject funded by the Swedish Agency for
Research Cooperation to provide training andscientific assistancc to archaeologists in ninceast African countries.
With help from European and Americancolleagues, African researchers are challengingold interpretations and looking for ways tomake the continent's past more meaningful toits own citizens. The issues that confrontNdoro and other researchers studying the ruinsat Great Zimbabwe are typical of thoseelsewhere in Africa.
The site contains intricate mortarless stonewalls, conical towers and house foundationsthat are the remains of a city thought to havecontained between 12,000 and 18,000 peopleduring its 12th-century heyday. The most-visited archaeological site south of the Sahara,it attracts 98,000 tourists a year, mainly fromSouth Africa.
Ndoro said that archaeologists have knownsince the 1930s that Great Zimbabwe was builtby Bantu people, the ancestors of the present-day Shona tribe, between about 1100 and 1500AD. It arose as a cattle-raising centre andlater grew wealthy by supplying gold frommines in Zimbabwe's interior to Swahilimerchants on the east African coast.
But the British colonial government that ruledthe country until 1980 "didn't like the idea thatAfricans built a town," Ndoro said.
He said that, until about five years ago, touristbrochures and popular literature about GreatZimbabwe put forth theories that Phoenicians,Greeks, Arabs, Egyptians or Jews might havebuilt the stone structures, and alwaysconcluded that the site's origin was a mystery.Local inhabitants held Great Zimbabwe sacredas a place of contact with the spirits of theirancestors, and regularly visited a cave in a hillthere to perform rituals, Ndoro said.
He said that in the 1960s and 1970s, duringZimbabwe's struggle for independence, GreatZimbabwe became a political symbol becauseof the colonial government's attempts tosuppress both the religious rituals and thearchaeological facts.
Sep/Oct 1993
Dear Sir:
In October, as part of the United Nations' yearof aboriginal peoples, I will be coordinating aunit at my school to celebrate Canada's FirstNations. The entire student body of 540students in grades JK-8 will participate insome manner in the theme which will becurriculum-based.
To help us make the program a meaningfullearning experience for the children, I wouldappreciate any posters, maps, brochures, books,etc., that you believe would be helpful to us.If you have some programs you feel havesome value for this theme, I would like toknow about them as well.
Thank you, in advance, for any help you cangive us.
Yours truly,Ann GoodinTeacher-LibrarianQueen of Heaven School11198 Alexandra BoulevardMississauga, Ontario, L5E 2A5
Dear Sir:
I read with interest the "Equipment Wanted"advertisement in Arch Notes (May/June 1993).It asks for donations of buckets, trowels, etc.for a so-called "simulated dig" for children.This type of activity concerns me a great deal.While I applaud the effort to offer informationon archaeology, especially to children, 1 amagainst this sort of "pseudo-dig" because itgives a bad, and false, impression of whatarchaeology is all about. A simulated digfocusses on objects, and finding objects, and itde-emphasizes the less attractive and lesstangible (methodological) aspects of
archaeology which are the key elements in thescience. I worry that this type of activityhelps breed the "pot hunters" of the future.The basic concept that needs to be taught isthat an archaeologist's main job is not to findthings, but is to find out information. I don'tthink simulated digs can accomplish this.
Yours truly,Lise FergusonToronto
Dear Norma:
I would like to make a couple of comments onthe report of the Workshop of the StrategicPlanning Committee which appeared in theMay issue of Arch Notes.
I. Management Consultants:
I am not questioning the hiring of aManagement Consultant to look at thestructure, organization and governance of theO.A.S., and I agree that $1,000 per sessionappears an exorbitant amount to pay, especiallyfor an organization as cash strapped as theOAS. is. (By the way, did anybody docomparison shopping in this regard?) I do feelhowever, that having decided to forgo thiscompany's services, it defeated the wholepurpose of the exercise for the O.A.S.Executive to take it upon themselves to do thejob. (The fact that non-executive memberswere on the team does not matter, they werestill O.A.S. members). The whole purpose ofmanagement consultants is that they areobjective outsiders who take information fed tothem which they then review, analyze andreflect back to the organization in question.Frequently they reiterate what many membersof the Board or organization think or say inprivate, however, coming from an outsider
with no particular axe to grind, thesecomments or views are legitimized.
2. The comparison between Kewa and Profile:
I feel the committee (or whomever reviewedthe various newsletters and their structure)missed the point.
The O.A.S. is served by four differentpublications, Monographs, GA, Arch Notes andvarious chapter newsletters. These publicationshave completely different functions andpurposes. The first two are serious academicjournals. Arch Notes, although a newsletter, isalso a forum for reporting to the ENTIREmembership research, progress reports, eventsand society doings for the whole of Ontario.Chapter newsletters are primarily a vehicle tokeep chapter members informed of the localscene. Should the chapter newsletter receive anarticle or research report it is a BONUS. Anexample of provincial/local newsletter split isthe Bruce Trail Society whose mainpublication carries articles that appeal to thewhole of the membership whilst Footnotescarries news about hikes, members activitiesbarbecues, etc. for the Toronto area. '
I understand that Arch Notes has problems infinding contributors on a continual basis.Chapter newsletters should not siphon offsuitable reports from the official provincialnewsletter. Jt does a disservice both to themembership which is denied the report, and tothe author who finds that his readership islimited.
As a previous editor of Profile I attempted tomake each issue interesting and useful.However one can only work with what onehas. If nothing was happening in the area or ifit was happening but the field director chosenot to write a report for whatever reason (eg.client/project confidentiality, not enough time,or preferring to put the article in a differentpublication) there was nothing I could doabout it. I might beg, plead, attempt to bribe,but I could not write the article myself.
Yours truly,Jane D. Sacchetti723 Manning Ave.Toronto, ON M6A 1C3
Sep/Oct 1993
NOVEMBER LAUNCH FOR NEWFOUNDATION
The Canadian Foundation for the Preservationof Chinese Cultural and Historical Treasuresformed to strengthen and advance th~appreciation and involvement of Canadians inrecognizing the educational and culturalimportance of preserving Chinesearchaeological and cultural treasures, will beofficially launched on November 17 inToronto.
Mr Zhang of the Bureau of Relics will presenta relic to the Foundation on behalf of thepeople of China and His Excellency the RightHonourable John Hnatyshyn will present arelic from Canada.
The new Foundation will raise money forscholarly and technological exchange,excavation, and museum development.Canadians are welcome to participate inFoundation activities,
For further information call Caroline Walker,363-1141. •
continued from page 26
I was intrigued by the display of costumes,dance styles and the dance competitions. Withthe help of knowledgeable OAS members Ihave a better understanding and appreciation ofIndian crafts and culture. One of the moreinteresting moments was meeting the IndianChief who spearheaded (no pun intended) thevigil to reclaim the Indian Cemetery visitedearlier.
Once again we were on the bus, this timeheaded home listening to Max's selection ofmusic. He even sang to us. Anotherwonderful opportunity to catch some sleep.After a brief stop for dinner we continued onour way. At York Mills station we each saidour good byes and continued our individualpaths home.
What I remember most from this weekend isthe people I travelled with. They were awonderful group of individuals who made mefeel very welcome, made me laugh and enjoyevery moment of this weekend. 'I lookforward to future trips with the OAS .•
My archaeological background consists of anintroductory course offered by theArchaeological Resource Centre (DanforthAvenue) and participation in the Trinity-Bellwoods (Gore Vale) excavation (one day).Armed with this background I decided to jointhe OAS and my first chance to participatecame during the "Saugeen/Bruce" bus trip.
Saturday (August 14, 1993) began very earlyfor me. I met some OAS members at theYork Mills station and they told me all aboutthese weekend trips and what to expect. AfterMax picked us up in his big PMCL bus wesettled in for the long ride to Owen Sound. Ienjoyed listening to Max's selection of musicas we travelled.
Our first long stop (we made brief stops athistoric plaques) was a tour of the GreyCounty Owen Sound Museum. Here we wereintroduced to the local history by our Museumguide, Joan Hyslop. She found us so engagingshe decided to join us for the afternoon. Afterlunch we continued to the Indian cemeteryrecently reclaimed by Cape Croker band. HereI experienced my first photographicopportunity with the group. While many of uswere studying the site, an angry neighbourrushed into his house returning with a camerato snap our picture. We were so enthusiasticthat someone wanted a picture of us that weobliged by waving. I wonder if we made thelocal papers. I can see the headline "CrazedGroupies Visit My Quiet Neighbourhood".
Our next stop was the Hunter's Point Sitecurrently being studied by Jim Molnar. Ifound his tour to be extremely revealing andeducational. Many thanks to Jim for sharinghis findings with us. We also had the addedbonus of learning how to identify and stayaway from poison ivy. Many thanks to JackPoste, who showed up out of the woods and
provided the antidote. Then we were off tothe site at Sauble Beach - where did they sayit was? After scouting around we came upempty. We ended our day and headed ontoPort Elgin, our overnight stop.
Once we received our room assignments, wecleaned up for dinner. The majority of thegroup ended up in one restaurant. We enjoyedgood food, local beer. Our lively conversationranged from different styles of cooking,running households and buying potatoes, to thepadlock on the room I shared with Debbie (foranyone interested, they did not lock me in thatnight, however, wait until the next weekendtrip).
I chose to go on the optional Bruce NuclearPlant tour on the Sunday morning, as did mostof us. I found the presentation explained theconcept of nuclear energy in terms even Icould understand. Issues were raised - howmuch storage space remained for radioactivewaste ? - how were the sales to foreigncountries regulated ? - how much money wasspent on construction that remains idle?
Next, we visited the Bruce County Museum inSouthampton. Many thanks to StanMcClelland of Fathom Five National Park forhis interesting presentation. I never knewthere were so many shipwrecks in the area. Idid notice the slide presentation provided anopportunity for many to catch up on somemuch needed rest. Yes, I too fell into thiscategory - briefly.
We decided to have lunch at the SaugeenIndian Reserve and enjoy the selections offeredby the temporary tents and trailers serving theparticipants and spectators of the Pow Wow.I had never experienced anything like thisbefore.
TheONTARIOARCHAEOLOGICALSOCIETY
author of Stolen Continentsand Time Among th~Ma¥~>·reading fron}hj~~~~~::~·············.
An earlier translation of the name by FatherArthur E. Jones, as "The One Single WhiteCabin" or "The Lone White Cabin" (Jones
Name
Endarahy(Jones 1908:164-65)
Teanaostaiae(Jones 1908:173-78)
-r- to represent(Potier 1920:327)-1- to be full(Potier 1920:393)-8ast- to be beautiful(Potier 1920:318)
with-nnon- to take care of(Potier 1920:308)or
fhonatiria(Jones 1908:185-87)
-ill- to cut(Potier 1920:263)or-~- to be coloured(Potier 1920:180)-it- to embark(Potier 1920:398)
-ra- to put on top(Potier 1920:332)
There are many more examples.6
In his analysis of the word Scanonaenrat, Jonesclaimed that the two verb roots involved were-(,)enrat-'to be white' (Potier 1920:247; the -,-is dropped because the dialect involved isNorthern Bear) and +'to be one' (Potier1920:357). He felt that 'scat' 'it is one',shortened by him down to -sca-, was part ofthe word Scanonaenrat. Not only would this
1908:181) is an erroneous one. He made twofundamental errors in his analysis, both typicalof his work. First, he violated the rule thattwo verb roots cannot appear in one verb,unless the first one is converted into a nounstem through the addition of the nominalizer -ch-.\ This violation of Huron verbalmorphology is common in Jones' interpretationof Huron tribal and village names. Thefollowing illustrate this:
Jones' Interpretation
"A whole beaver-skin2-robepainted" or "The beaver-skin-robeall painted" (Jones 1908:165)
"The Guardian of the BeautifulLittle Rive~ or Spring"(Jones 1908: 175)
"The Beautifully shaped Cliff'(Jones 1908: 177)
"The Beautifully Co louredCliff'4 (Jones 1908: 187)"The Little (Hamlet) abovethe Loaded Canoes"(Jones 1908:187)
have two verb roots incorrectly in one verb,and have a verb root before the noun rootinvolved (another violation), but it would alsoentail a flawed method of shortening words,his second major error as we will see. The +of 'to be one' cannot be dropped.
Second, Father Jones used the noun root -nnonchi- 'house' in his interpretation of the
word. His explanation for the absence of -chi-involves one of the mistakes he regularlymakes in his analysis of Huron words. Helearned that in certain circumstances nounroots drop or alter final sounds whenincorporated into particular verbs. In a goodnumber of his translation of Huron words? heover-generalized the possibility of deletion toapply whenever he wished to eliminate asound that ran counter to his analysis.
The final -chi- of noun roots does get altered
when incorporated into verbs whose rootsbegin with -,- (as -,enrat- does). While thereis one recorded instance of the -chi- beingdropped that 1 know of (Potier 1920:240), wehave to look at the prevailing patterns, and,more importantly, at what happens when -nnonchi- is incorporated into verbs whoseroots begin with -,-. The noun root -nnonchi-follows the prevailing pattern in having the -chi- plus -,- become -~-, or exhibiting nochange at all. This can be seen in thefollowing examples:
Combination Meaning Verb Root Referenceatennonskate large number -,ate- Potier 1920:241
of houses,annonske such a -,e- Potier 1920:243
number houses,annonskenristi transport -,enrist- Potier 1920:248
a house,annonchia, a8i a house to -,a8- Potier 1920:336
smell niceti ,annonchia,enhiat top of a -,enhist- Potier 1920:244
house
Jones was correct in his identification of theverb root involved as being -(,)enrat- ' to bewhite'. The rest of the word is composed ofthe following parts. The -sca- represents therepetitive prefix, sometimes used to mean'very'S, in combination with the feminine-zoicpronominal prefix meaning 'she' or 'it'. The-nona- (which would be written in later worksas -nnona-) is a noun root (plus the -l!- thatcomes between noun and verb roots). In JesuitFather Pierre Potier's Huron-French dictionaryof the 18th century, he presents -nnona- ashaving the following meanings:
",annona Iefond de l'eau/the bottom or depthof the water/,annona abyme ...precipicelabyssor chasm precipice/, annona Iresor,manazin une peche/treasure,shop ...catchl,annona in comp...couture ...usage,moeurs/in composition ... custom, usage,manners or customs/,annona Ie dos/the backl"(Potier 1920:451; the initial -.J!- is thefeminine-zoic prefix).
We may have five different noun roots here.However, it is more likely that there may besome linked meanings here, Potier having a
tendency to over-differentiate in his listing ofnoun roots. 'The bottom or depth of thewater' could be linked with the noun rootmeaning 'abyss, chasm or precipice'. Thosetwo may even be connected with 'the back'.
The place names of a people tend to followparticular themes or patterns. Navaho placenames, for example, as the people live in aridand semi-arid regions, typically feature somereference to water (e.g., to springs, streams,lakes and rivers). A good number of Inuitplace names refer to vital food sources such asbeluga, caribou, seal and fish. Huron villagenames have a strong tendency to reflectvisually prominent features of the landscape,particularly trees9
• Village name references tocliffs or precipices would fall within thatpattern. In An{n)onatea there appears to beanother Huron village name including the nounroot -n{n)on- (JRI3:188-189, 192-193, 206-207,210-211,222-223,246-247; 14:6-7, lO-11,12-15,44-47 and 48-51).
I feel that the most likely interpretation of theDeer village name of Scanonaenrat would be'very white precipice or steep cliff. A second
possibility, less likely, is that the name mightmean 'very white back', making an analogybetween the landscape and an animal's orhuman's back.
FOOTNOTES
1- An example would be"a. orachannen. ..etre frillewc, sensible,delicat au froid. ../to feel the cold, tobe sensitive to the cold/" (Potier1920:202). The verb roots involvedhere are -3 or- 'to be cold' and -nnen-'to be weak'.
The noun root he chose here was -&lli!- 'skin robe' (Potier 1920:455).
The noun root he chose here was -!h-'water' (Potier 1920:454).
The noun root he chose here was -nnon-, which as we have seen included'cliff' in its meaning.
The noun root he chose here was -hon-'canoe' (Potier 1920:447).
Some other examples are hisinterpretation of lahenhouton,Isiaragui, Ekaentouton, Anonatea,Teandeouiata and Khinonascarant (seeJones 1908, pp 146, 198, 200, 143, 194and 190 respectively).
Some examples are his changing Ts-iarak8a-oh8i to Tsiarak8i (Jones1908:198) and
I-ahonitira-aia to Ihonatiria (Jones1908:187).
REFERENCES CITED
Jones, Arthur E.
1908 "8endake Ehen" or "OldHuronia" , Fifth Report of theBureau of Archives for theProvince of Ontario, Toronto.
Fifteenth Report of the Bureauof Archives for the Province ofOntario, Toronto, C. W.James.
Thwaites, Reuben Gold (JR)
1959 The Jesuit Relations and AlliedDocuments New York, PageantBook Company .•
An example is esk8end8annen meaning'very large voice or word' (Potier1920:649 line 12).
Examples are the following: Arontaen'lying log', Oenrio 'where there is agrove of cedar, fir or spruce', Arhetsi,long mixed forest' and Onnentisati,surrounded by evergreens'.
The Nominating Committee will receivenominations of candidates for office asDirectors of The Ontario ArchaeologicalSociety during the business year 1994. TheCommittee members are: Bob Burgar (Chair),Bernice Field and Rick Sutton. Nominationsmust be accompanied by evidence that thenominee has given consent to be nominated.Written nominations may be forwarded to theNominating Committee in confidence care ofthe OAS Office, the envelope being clearlymarked "Attention - Nominating Committee".The Chairman of the Committee can bereached at home (519)853-4483. TheNominating Committee will present its slateand report to the Board of Directors andgeneral membership at the Annual BusinessMeeting in October, at which time nominationsmay be made from the floor before closure.An election, if necessary, will be held bymailed ballot accompanying the November-December 1993 issue of ARCH NOTES.
PASSPORT TO THE PAST PROGRAMUPDATE
The Program receives little feedback by whichto measure its success and so it was delightfulto receive the following letter from PaulaKennedy dated September 13:
Dear OAS:
I recently spent two weeks working on thePukaskwa Paleoenvironmental Project nearMarathon. This was my first Passport-to-the-Past experience and I enjoyed it thoroughly.The work was interesting, the leader was veryinformative, and the other "Passport to thePasters" were a lot of fun. We worked hardbut we had a great time.
Remi Farvacque was our leader and he wasexcellent at explaining the procedures as wellas answering any questions we had (whichwere many). He was also interested in ourideas and feelings about the site as there is notreally much known about the area we wereworking on so all ideas were valid. He wasconcerned too, that we had a good time as hefelt we were volunteering our time to help himso we should have fun at the same time whichwe certainly did.
It was such a good start for me that it reallyhas me keen for more. I hope this project willbe continued next year as I have becomeinterested in the work and would like to seehow it progresses. The people at PukaskwaNational Park were very good to us and werea very interesting group.
I also would like to know if there will be morework done in Northern Ontario. There seemsto be so much to explore and such beautifulcountry to do it in.
Sincerely,
Thank you, Paula.
Another successful Passport-to-the-PastProgram event was the Field School heldAugust 21-29, 1993. Although intended as anentry level experience for beginners, four ofthe twelve participants contributed considerableprior experience. Participants came fromCollingwood, Fergus, Midland, Montreal,Oshawa, Owen Sound, and Toronto and rangedin age from 17 to 80+, but quickly formed ateam resulting in many pleasant moments andprobably lasting friendships. Six of the twelvestayed for the minimum required seven daysand in addition to their Passport entries weregiven certificates and regarded as 'graduates'.These are George Clark, Elmond Glebe,
Louise Granofsky, Grant McKenna, DaveSmetana and Janet Turner. Another six stayedless than the seven days required to completethe course but all did excellent work andreceive 'commendations'. These are LoisBrowne, Liz Crummey, Gisela Curwen,Jeannie Kistemaker, Jacquel ine Sakellaropou losand Tama Ward.
A local newspaper was enthusiastic inreporting the dig with an unexpected resultedthat one of the crew members was recognizedand contacted via the O.A.S. office by an oldfriend who had lost contact over the years.The same member also published an article inthe Toronto Star, which appears elsewhere inARCH NOTES.
The support and assistance of the land-ownerwas so exceptional that the matter ofappropriate recognition was brought before theBoard.
The announcement carried in the last ARCHNOTES did not result in any offers so it isrepeated here. A volunteer surveyor withtransit and other necessary equipment iswanted to create a contour map of anarchaeological site near Collingwood on whichthe Passport-to-the-Past 1993 Field School anda later dig will be held. The work will takeless than a day but free overnightaccommodation and a tour of the area will beprovided for one or two people so that youmay have an enjoyable mini-vacation to theGeorgian Triangle area. Please contact theoffice.
1994 TURKEY AND GREECE TRIPUPDATE
A provisional departure date is now available,Friday September 16, with optional returns onOctober 3, 7 or 10. Prices and itinerary willfollow when available. If you wish to addyour name for more information as it developswithout obligation, please contact the O.A.S.office.
Dr. GARRY WARRICK TO SPEAK AT THEMUSEUM IN NEWMARKET
Dr. Garry Warrick of the Ministry ofTransportation will speak on the "Archaeology
of an Iroquois Village" at the Elman W.Campbell Museum, 543 Timothy Street,Newmarket L3Y IRI at 7.00 p.m., October15, 1993.
BIRTHDA Y CELEBRATED IN KITCHENER
We hear that Jack Redmond, foundingPresident of the Grand River WaterlooChapter, recently celebrated a Septemberbirthday, and a number of local friends andChapter members provided a surprise birthdayparty that befitted the occasion. Jack won'tsay the number and the ARCH NOTES staffwill never betray a confidence. We will justwish you all the best for the next fifty, Jack.
FINAL NOTICE TO LIFE MEMBER NOLACREWE: Several mailings to you at your lastreported address has been returned to the OASoffice marked "moved". The Society'sConstitution Article XVI.3 requires everymember to advise any change of address, andthat notice sent to the last known addressconstitutes sufficient service. Please beadvised that if this mailing is returned to theSociety similarly marked "moved", your LifeMembership will be suspended and mailings toyou will cease.
OHS RELEASES INDEX
The Ontario Historical Society has released an"INDEX TO ONTARIO HISTORY 1973-1992".This is in hard copy, card covers, 194 pages,and a companion to the Index prior to 1972.
Copies are $20 to subscribers, $25 to non-subscribers, at the Ontario Historical Society,5151 Yonge Street, North York, Ontario M2N5P5, telephone (416)226-9011, fax (416)226-2740, or by mail at no extra charge.
ONTARIO HISTORY is the journal of theOntario Historical Society, but it is obtainedby subscription rather than by membership inthe Society.
NOTICE TO TRILLIUM NETWORK USERS
The OAS has discontinued its connection tothe Trillium Network as of July last. Thelegend ••E-MAIL TRILL.OAS" will beremoved from the Society's letterhead at thenext printing.
WOW! GENUINE COMPUTER GLITCH!
Somehow in modifying our membershipdatabase we managed to erase a few characterson the ends of some of the longer names andaddresses. While "University of Massac" willprobably still get to Massachusets, we do notexpect that "apt 160" will reach the intended"apt 1608". What to do? Any mail thatcomes back to us "undeliverable" will bescrutinised for possible address error on theOAS' part and every effort made to correct theaddress.
Returned Mail
This month's missing members are below.Returned mail awaits them at the office.Some-body and respective Chapters must knowthese people and where they are. Please helpus find them.
CHISHOLM, Andrea, Peterborough "return tosender"CREWE, Nola, Toronto "moved"HOOPER, Brenda, Toronto "incompleteaddress"SCOTT, Meryn, Toronto "not at this address"SINCLAIR, Mary Jane, Ottawa "addressincomplete"THOMPSON, Karyn, Richmond Hill
Bell Canada's Toronto area "Big Split"approachesOn October 4, 1993, the area dialling code forthose members in the present 416 dialling codearea outside Metro Toronto will change to 905.The area dialling code for the OAS office andall members whose postal code begins with"M" will remain 416. Long distance zonesand charges will not be affected. The OASmembership database will be revised at thattime .•
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The Ontario Historical Society announces itsBoard of Directors for 1993-94
President:
Dr. Kenneth McLaughlin of Waterloo, Vice-President and Academic Dean of St. Jerome'sCollege, University of Waterloo
First Vice-President:
Janet Cobban of Kingsville, Curator, John R.Park Homestead, Essex County
Second Vice-President:
Judy McGonigal of Sault Ste.Curator/Administrator, Sault Ste.Museum
Treasurer:
James Clemens of Burlington, EducationOfficer, Ministry of Education
Secretary:
Rowena Cooper of Inglewood, ArchivistTechnician, Region of Peel Heritage Complex,Brampton
Directors:
Marie,Marie
Christopher Andreae of London, HistoricaResearch Limited, London
Donald Akenson of Gananoque, Professor ofHistory, Queen's University, Kingston
Mary Lou Fox, of West Bay, ManitoulinIsland, Director, Ojibwe Cultural Foundation,West Bay Reserve, Manitoulin Island
Everette Moore of Scarborough, ExecutiveDirector, Ontario Black History Society,Toronto
Paul Delaney of Penetanguishene, Teacher,Victoria Harbour Public School, SimcoeCounty
Jane Errington of Kingston, Professor ofHistory, Royal Military College of Canada,Kingston
Bruce Richard of Kitchener, Curator, YorkRegion Board of Education HeritageSchoolhouse, Markham •
Last issue we discussed the benefits of Life Insurance asa way to leave a bequest to worthwhile charitableorganizations like The OntarioArchaeological Society. A secondmethod of ensuring the OAS willstill exist for future generations isthrough a gift to the Society whenyou no longer need to rely on thefunds for living expenses, a bequestin your will.
We all enjoy archaeology in oneform or another - as a professional,an avocational or even as anarmchair archaeologist. And weknow what the OAS does forarchaeology and what it does for uspersonally - but the OAS cannot dothis without cost.
When you are revising your LastWill and Testament, remember thepleasures and achievements you haveenjoyed and do your part to ensuresucceeding generations also willhave something to remember. Askyour lawyer to include a bequest to:
THE ONTARIOARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY
INC.
The amount of your bequest will vary but all donationsare an important part of preserving the Society. Whether
a simple legacy, an endowment or acharitable trust, your contribution isimportant. In addition your bequestis:
The GAS Endowment Fundguarantees your immortality!Invest now in Archaeology's.future - (416)730-0797
1. Tax deductible in the year ofdeath to the extent that it does notexceed 1/5 of total income and anyunused deductions can be carriedback to the previous year.
2. Able to provide you with thewonderful feeling that "I made adifference" , you really will feel goodabout yourself.
If you would like to help by leavinga bequest to The OntarioArchaeological Society through yourlast will and testament please consultyour trust officer, lawyer or otheradvisor or the OAS for furtherdetails.
YOU CAN MAKE ADIFFERENCE
-------------------------------------------------------------------- CUT HERE ---------------------------------------------------------------I am interested in obtaining more information about
establishing a Personal Planned Giving Program.
I understand that this request for information doesnot place me under any obligation to establish a plan.
GRAND RIVER/WATERLOO President: Marcia Redmond (519) 894-5807Vice-President: Ken Oldridge Treasurer: Jack RedmondSecretary: Lois McCulloch, 23 Caledonia St.; Guelph, Ontario, NIG 2C4Newsletter: THE BIRDSTONE - Editor: John D. A. MacDonaldFees: Individual $7 Meetings: Usually at 8.00pm on the 3rd Wednesdayof the month, except June - August, at the Adult Recreation Centre, 185King Street W., Waterloo or the John F. Ross Collegiate, Guelph.
LONDON President: Pat Weatherhead (519) 438-4817Vice-President: Chris Ellis Treasurer: Harri MatillaSecretary: Lorelyn Giese, Grosvenor Lodge, 1017 Western Rd., London, N6G IG5Newsletter: KEWA - Editor: Neal Ferris Fax (519) 645-0981Fees: Individual $15 Meetings: Usually at 8.00pm on the 2nd Thursdayof the month, except June - August, at Grosvenor Lodge, 1017 Western Rd.
OTTAWA President: Ishtar Luesby (613) 789-5393Vice-President: Jim Montgomery Treasurer: Jack EarnshawSecretary: Lois King, Box 4939 Station E, Ottawa, ON KIS 511Newsletter: THE OTTAWA ARCHAEOLOGIST - Editor: Rachel PerkinsFees: Individual $15 Meetings: Usually at 7.30pm on the 2nd Wednesdayof the month, except June - August, at the Victoria Memorial Building,Metcalfe & McLeod Streets, Ottawa.
THUNDER BAY President: Frances Duke (807) 683-5375Vice-President: Scott Hamilton Secretary/Treasurer: Andrew Hinshelwood
331 Hallam St., Thunder Bay, Ontario, P7A lL9Newsletter: WANIKAN - Editor: A. HinshelwoodFees: Individual $5 Meetings: Usually at 8.00pm on the lastWednesday of the month, except June - August, in the Board Room, M.C.T.R.,1825 East Arthur Street, Thunder Bay.
TORONTO President: Duncan Scherberger (416) 463-1677Vice-President: Greg Purmal Treasurer: Eva MacDonaldSecretary: Annie Gould, Box 241, Station "P", Toronto, Ontario, M5S 2S8Newsletter: PROFILE - Editor: Valerie S0nstenesFees: Individual $10 Meetings: Usually at 8.00pm on the 3rd Wednesdayof the month, except June - August, at Room 561A, Sidney Smith Hall,St. George Street, Toronto.
WINDSOR President: Suzanne Gero (313) 393-9309Vice-President: Treasurer: Ilinka TemerinskiSecretary: Sandra Lesperance, 3461 Peter St. #507, Windsor, On. N9C 3Z6Newsletter: SQUIRREL COUNTY GAZETTE - Editor: Peter ReidFees: Individual $12 Meetings: Usually at 7.30pm on the 2nd Tuesday ofthe month, except June - August, at the Third World Resource Centre, 125 Tecumseh W.
126 Willowdale Ave., North York, Ontario M2N 4Y2Phone, Fax or Modem - (416) 730-0797
Mr. Michael W. KirbyP.O. Box 579
Markdale, OntarioNOC IHO
(519) 986-4026
Ms Lise A. Ferguson536 Glengrove Ave. W.
Toronto, OntarioM6B 2H4
Ms NORMA E. KNOWLTON
418 BOUCHIER ST.P.O. Box 13
ROCHES POINT, ONTARIOLOE 1PO
(416) 476-4747
Ms Ellen Blaubergs77 Quebec Ave. # 1233
Toronto, OntarioM6P 2T4
(416) 767-2393
Mr. Tony Stapells39 McKenzie Ave.Toronto, Ontario
M4W IKI
Mr. Andre Bekerman265 Waverley Road
Toronto, OntarioM4L 3T5
Mr. Stewart R. Leslie187 Delmar DriveHamilton, Ontario
