Mapping the past- Imagining the future: Reflecting on Non-Invasive Archaeology in Canada

Session Hosting Format: 
in-person session
Date/Heure: 
Samedi, avril 30, 2022 - 8:00am - 10:20am
(ADT)
Room: 
Turner Valley Room
Organizer(s): 
  • Kelsey Pennanen U of Calgary
  • Liam Wadsworth U of Alberta
  • Scott Hamilton Lakehead U
Contact Email: 
Session Description (300 word max): 

Over the past thirty years, archaeological practice has undergone significant transformation in part because of the development of increasingly powerful and accessible electronic technology. This computer-driven spatial revolution has provided new avenues for increasingly non-invasive investigation of known archaeological sites and their landscapes, monitoring sites at risk, and to search for significant places not yet known. This is coupled with a shift towards applied archaeology, driven by the need for more expedient, precise, and comprehensive heritage documentation within environmental impact assessments, and also research directed by engagement with Indigenous descendent communities. Canadian archaeology, however, has only begun to reflexively examine the use of non-invasive digital technologies shaping the ways we ‘do’ archaeology. To reflect on the possibilities and consequences of a technologically based archaeological future, this session explores the trajectory of changing professional practice in Canada by reviewing methodological innovations, limitations, and implications of non-invasive technology. This includes important and deliberate reflection on how perspectives and priorities shift when conducting community-engaged research with Indigenous partners.

Présentations
08:00 AM: Non-invasive archaeology: identifying and addressing ambiguity.
Format de présentation : In-Person
Auteur-e(s) :
  • Scott Hamilton - Lakehead University

Geophysical and aerial remote sensing methods are becoming better known and more widely practised in Canadian archaeology. Superficial consideration focuses on comparatively low cost and non-invasive capacity but downplay methodological limits and interpretative ambiguity. Also undervalued are validation tests of the output.

These challenges are addressed with reference to aerial mapping of the Fort Ellice 1 and 2 sites (Hudson’s Bay Company, 1831-1890), located in southwestern Manitoba. Both are in comparatively undisturbed prairie, with a rich archival record. The work was triggered by proposed development of cultural heritage walking trails and signage. Since they are registered heritage sites, provincial approval requires demonstration that the archaeological deposits will remain undisturbed. It was thought that aerial remote sensing might be effective to identify the fort ruins, thereby ensuring that the interpretative facilities avoided them.

Investigations involve integration of archival description and imagery with georeferenced digital data (orthophotos, satellite and LiDAR imagery, NTSB shapefiles and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) mapping output). Critical considerations involve the precision and accuracy of the various data sources, its interpretative resolution, and the limits to effective digital integration. Since no subsurface validation was permitted, the efficacy of non-invasive ‘ground truthing’ is also considered.  

08:20 AM: Remotely-Piloted Aircraft (RPA) Technologies for the Investigation of Persistent Places in the Canadian Arctic
Format de présentation : In-Person
Auteur-e(s) :
  • Samantha Walker - McGill University

Canadian Arctic archaeology has recently seen an influx in the use of remotely-piloted aircraft (RPA) technologies as a non-invasive means of detecting, mapping, and monitoring archaeological sites. In this paper, I discuss how RPA technologies can support moves beyond site-based research in Canadian Arctic contexts by helping us investigate new questions about past landscapes. I outline some of these affordances using examples from my research on three persistent places in Amittuq (Northern Foxe Basin), Nunavut. These include the use of RPA technologies to expand and intensify archaeological survey, to orthorectify geographic datasets, and to identify patterned relationships between archaeological materials and biophysical landscape elements. The interpolation of RPA datasets with satellite-based digital elevation models has also provided a baseline for paleotopographic reconstructions that help elucidate how place-community relations in Amittuq have changed over millennia. When paired with alternative lines of historic evidence, such as spatialized data derived from Iglulingmiut oral testimonies, the modelling of RPA survey data facilitates new, unexpected ways of engaging with archaeological landscapes.

08:40 AM: Breaking Open the Black Box: Next Steps for Non-invasive Archaeology in Canada
Format de présentation : In-Person
Auteur-e(s) :
  • William Wadsworth - University of Alberta

Recently, Canadian archaeologists have been called upon by Indigenous communities to provide more expedient and non-destructive heritage management solutions compared to traditional archaeology. Although not limited to the geophysical detection of unmarked graves, the recent findings at former Indian Residential Schools have punctuated the urgency for archaeologists to adopt non-invasive approaches. Within archaeological remote sensing, it was recently noted that the popularity of these techniques had begun to exceed the technical training of their users. As a result of the diverse backgrounds of users in non-invasive archaeology, there remains great variation in how these techniques are employed and what results are produced. To avoid “black box” approaches, now more than ever archaeologists need new resources to avoid potentially traumatic situations that follow uninformed data processing and interpretation. In this paper, I will propose reflexive considerations regarding the state of non-invasive techniques in Canadian archaeology, specifically highlighting training and access to equipment and software as key problems. I will also review possible open-source software and materials already available for training, data processing, and report generation as possible strategies to mitigate these issues. Finally, a call will be made for the establishment of future training opportunities for the non-invasive archaeologist.

09:00 AM: Five Years Later: Reflecting on the Alberta Digital Heritage Archive
Format de présentation : In-Person
Auteur-e(s) :
  • Madisen Hvidberg - University of Calgary
  • Christina Robinson - University of Calgary
  • Peter Dawson - University of Calgary

In 2017 the Digital Heritage Research group at the University of Calgary launched the province’s first online Digital Heritage Archive (https://alberta.preserve.ucalgary.ca/). The archive combines 3D site replicas derived from terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) and drone photogrammetry with historic information and photographs to create a centralized repository for heritage resources within Alberta, which is publicly accessible online. At the inception of the archive, it was an academically funded and focused project dedicated to exploring how digital technology can be used to preserve, protect, and mobilize knowledge about Alberta’s diverse heritage resources. However, in the last five years our team has learned many lessons that have grown and expanded the archive into a community-based, grassroots heritage preservation program.  In this paper, we will be reflecting on the last five years operating the archive, the developments it has seen, and the directions we hope it will continue to grow into the future. 

09:20 AM: Applying statistical and geospatial methods to boreal forest archaeology in Central Newfoundland
Format de présentation : In-Person
Auteur-e(s) :
  • James Williamson - Memorial University Newfoundland and Labrador

The Beothuk, an indigenous people of Newfoundland, lived in the Exploits River Valley in Central Newfoundland and built semi-permanent houses there between AD 1600 and AD 1829. Their dwellings, otherwise known as house-pits, have generally not been recorded using detailed survey techniques, and there is only one overarching study of their residences. Using current survey data and statistical analyses, I hope to show the relationships between different house-pits to discuss whether the temporal or demographic relationships of the Beothuk using them. In this presentation, I will be reviewing the method and the preliminary results of the numerical analysis. Modern surveying methods make offsite interpretations possible and allow more complex geospatial analyses, while prior discussions primarily used traditional, very low-resolution survey methods. I have applied computational methods to glean information from the surface morphology of these features about their society. I used drone photogrammetry to record these house-pits and interpreted them using GIS tools. I am now using R to analyze the similarity of specific house-pits based on their internal features. I will discuss my preliminary results and their implications for understanding the Beothuk house-pits in the Exploits River Valley.

09:40 AM: Aerodrome Archaeology of World War I Canada
Format de présentation : Online - pre-recorded
Auteur-e(s) :
  • Michael Deal - Memorial University
  • Henry Cary - Mount Allison University
  • Maria Lear - Memorial University
  • Bryn Tapper - Memorial University

Camp Rathbun in Deseronto, Ontario, is one of a handful of aviation facilities built in Canada during the First World War. Established as a flight school for Royal Flying Corps/Royal Air Force (RFC/RAF) personnel, Camp Rathbun was an extensive aerodrome complex of hangars, barracks, magazines, and other support structures and features. Though dismantled after the war, the site is relatively undisturbed and has unparalleled potential for revealing what life was like for RFC/RAF trainees in the formative years of aviation. In September 2021, the lead author and a crew of three archaeologists and eight volunteers conducted a preliminary assessment of the site, which included targeted geophysical survey. Our goals were to comprehensively map the site, document the standing buildings (including hangars relocated offsite) and surface collect from a surviving dump behind the camp barracks. This paper describes the historical research, field work, and preliminary artifact analysis, as well as how the investigation has contributed to an understanding of Camp Rathbun’s archaeological and heritage significance. It will also outline how this understanding will inform recommendations for future research, management, and protection of the site.