Abstract:

Excavations at a remote, seasonal hunting camp in the Madawaska Highlands of Eastern Ontario have yielded an unusually well-preserved inventory of ceramic, stone and bone artifacts, faunal elements and botanical remains. A brief description of the site and recovered material is followed by a discussion of whether the inhabitants were Iroquoians or Algonquians. While the material culture suggests a Huron presence, the spatial and temporal contexts, cartographic evidence and ethnohistoric documentation all point to an Algonquian affiliation. This has generated serious questions about the common propensity to equate material culture with ethnicity. It is suggested that there were fewer cultural differences between Late Woodland Amerindian groups in Ontario than archaeologists have hitherto acknowledged.