Abstract:

The Peace Bridge site (AfGr-9) is a very large multi-component site situated at the head of the Niagara River in the Town of Fort Erie, Ontario. On-going archaeological investigations have documented occupations from the Late Archaic period (circa 3,580 B.P.) through to the present. Archaeological deposits, sediments, and paleosols exposed through construction activities, bore holes, test pits, and archaeological excavations, reveal the evolution of this riparian landscape and its colonization by Aboriginal peoples. This paper reviews the geoarchaeological investigations of the site and outlines the implications of this work for reconstructing the paleoenvironment and interpreting Aboriginal land-use trends.