Abstract

This paper highlights changes to the subsistence patterns of Huron groups in south central Ontario during the prehistoric, protohistoric and historic periods. An analysis of the faunal material from a group of Huron sites from the Trent River Valley, Victoria County, has revealed that changing subsistence strategies can be related to the arrival of Europeans and the dispersal of the St. Lawrence Iroquoians. These sites range in date from AD 1450 to 1615 and include both village and associated resource exploitation sites. Relating the changes in Huron subsistence strategies through time to the cultural forces/changes that motivated these shifts creates a more complete picture of the Huron confederacy at the time of European contact and in the periods preceding this contact.