Minimally invasive and non-destructive analytical approaches are effective at addressing many aspects of the Woodland archaeological record in the Northeast. Encompassing everything from use of legacy data to archaeometric applications, such as micro-computed tomography, these studies have in common an effort to learn from existing collections while altering them as little as possible. In this proposed on-line session, we highlight some of the insights arising from such studies.
From answering fundamental research questions about subsistence and diet, to untangling interregional exchange networks, interdisciplinary scholars are gleaning new insights from the archaeological record, emphasizing the importance of curated archaeological materials for future research.
Some of the earliest work (ca. 1970s) developing and testing the principles of biomolecular approaches to major archaeological questions, such as the spread of agriculture, was done in Woodland archaeological contexts. In the intervening 45 years, biomolecular techniques, including stable isotope and ancient DNA analyses, have demonstrated great potential to shed light on patterns and diversity in past human experience as well as ecological processes, with relevance to addressing questions about increasingly pressing environmental change. Over the same period, methodological improvements mean that these techniques (individually or in tandem) can often be applied using very small sample sizes, making them minimally invasive to the physical integrity of specimens and, in turn, opening up a wider range of potential research questions. In this presentation, we explore the kinds of research questions that can be addressed using biomolecular analyses of Woodland period animal remains to generate ecological baselines useful for contextualizing some of today’s environmental challenges.
Biomolecular archeology is a growing field of study that revived material culture research and unveiled a range of perishable organic products once inaccessible to archaeologists. The extraction and characterization of organic molecules deposited by human activity on the surface or inside ancient ceramics, for example, allow unprecedented possibilities for the reconstruction of foods and foodways in the past. In this presentation, some basic principles of lipid residue analyses applied to archeology are discussed through two case studies. The first sheds light on the motivations behind the adoption of pottery in Early Woodland northeastern North America, while the second reveals variability in Late Woodland culinary traditions. These two studies illustrate not only the contributions and promises of biomolecular archaeology, but also its limits and the challenges that this emerging field of archaeometry will face in the years to come.
ZooMS (Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry) collagen fingerprinting is increasingly applied on prehistoric faunal collections - especially highly fragmented and/or altered ones – to tackle questions regarding diet, subsistence, and hunting strategies. Using a mass sampling strategy (i.e., hundreds of bone fragments), the ZooMS is a powerful tool to improve overall taxonomic identification of the indeterminate fraction of faunal assemblages. Question-oriented sampling strategies can further help improve specific dimensions of our reconstructions about past subsistence behaviours. In addition, with collections showing poor collagen preservation, using a portable FTIR instrument can be an effective and cost-efficient in-field pre-screening method for ZooMS.
We present here preliminary zooarchaeological results on taphonomically challenging faunal collections recovered in the Hautes-Laurentides region of Québec between 2015-2021 informed by this integrated approach. Building on a case study focused on heavily fragmented assemblages in northwest Italy, we refine that methodology to further explore the applicability of these minimally invasive techniques in NE North America.
More than a century of archaeology in Ontario has produced a massive quantity of archaeological collections and associated data sets, a large proportion of which have been subject to relatively limited analyses. For several years, we have been working to (re-)analyze legacy faunal collections and to pull together legacy faunal data that have resulted from past research and compliance archaeology activities. Drawing on this growing database of newly generated and legacy zooarchaeological data, our collaborative research team has been turning to large-scale, GIS-based meta-analyses to explore broad trends across various aspects of the archaeology and historical ecology of the Lower Great Lakes region through roughly the past 1000 years. In this paper, we examine both the vast potential of such an approach and some of the challenges we have been faced with, and continue to grapple with, in our ongoing attempts to meaningfully synthesize and interpret faunal data of varying resolution and quality. Despite these challenges, our research is already providing fascinating insights into past human interactions with high-trophic-level fishes (salmonids and Sander) and the now-extinct passenger pigeon, highlighting the potential of large-scale meta-analyses to more broadly contribute to our understanding of human–animal and landscape interactions in the Northeast.
Plus d'un siècle d'archéologie en Ontario a produit une quantité significative de collections archéologiques et d'ensembles de données associés, dont une grande partie a fait l'objet d'analyses relativement limitées. Au cours des dernières années, nous nous sommes intéressés à (ré)analyser des collections fauniques découvertes il y a longtemps. Le but était de rassembler des données sur la faune issues des recherches et d’activités de gestion des ressources culturelles passées. En s'appuyant sur cette base de données zooarchéologiques nouvellement générées et obtenue par ces collections, notre équipe de recherche collaborative s'est tournée vers des méta-analyses à grande échelle, basées sur un SIG, pour explorer les grandes tendances de divers aspects de l'archéologie et de l'écologie historique de la région des Grands Lacs qui se sont déroulés depuis environ les 1000 dernières années. Dans cet présentation, nous examinons à la fois le vaste potentiel d'une telle approche et certains des défis auxquels nous avons été confrontés, et continuons à être confrontés, dans nos tentatives de continuer à synthétiser et d'interpréter de manière significative des données fauniques de quantités et de qualités variables. Malgré ces défis, nos recherches fournissent déjà des informations fascinantes sur les interactions des humaine du passé avec les poissons de niveau trophique élevé (salmonidés et Sander) et avec le pigeon voyageur, aujourd'hui disparu, soulignant ainsi le potentiel des méta-analyses à grande échelle pour contribuer plus largement à notre compréhension des interactions homme–animaux et paysage dans le Nord-Est.
Can investigations of legacy collections act as a sustainable means to provide meaningful knowledge of Indigenous practices without the need for further destructive archaeological analyses? Here, we used legacy collections from the Ellery site and non-destructive osteometric methods to examine Wendat fishing practices/resource management from 1550-1640 AD. Yellow perch (Perca flavenscens) elements from pre- and post-contact occupations were compared for changes in size. Previously established regression equations were used to estimate fish size based on measurements of the frontal, operculum, quadrate, dentary, angular/articular, and maxilla. Differences could arise from the impacts of European colonization, changes in water bodies accessed, the nature of fishing technology, or climatic differences.
Abstract coming soon!
Archaeologists are faced with difficult ethical debates when choosing to work with privately held collections. Private collections are common and can be important sources of information about the past. However, disputes over illicit recovery and ownership, often the lack of systematic recovery and/or substantial provenience, and their private nature making them inaccessible are but a few of the associated pitfalls. In Ontario, artifacts held in museums or private hands that were collected prior to the Ontario Heritage Act (1974) remain the property of the museum or individual. As time passes, risk of damage and loss of privately held collections is inevitable. We present a case study involving a large private collection from a 17th century Huron-Wendat village site located in southern Ontario, illustrating the region’s history of engagement with collectors and how conditions of cooperation have changed. Our hope is to broaden collaboration between collectors and archaeologists, creating an open dialogue with an eye to innovative approaches to re-engagement with private collections and defining the role of private collections in archaeological research and education in Ontario.
In 2014, ASI reached an agreement with Charles Garrad to assume curatorial responsibility for his archaeological collections, which represent his life’s work as an avocational archaeologist in the Collingwood area of Ontario. The collections are derived from 47 Tionontaté sites that date roughly from the 1450s to 1650. In the fall of 2017, a volunteer project was undertaken by ASI staff to document the ceramic assemblages within Garrad’s collections. The ceramic collections were previously broken down by typology, but a detailed analysis of all the ceramic artifacts had never been done. Our new work is revealing subtle changes in how Tionontaté potters decorated their vessels over time, and the large selection of sites is providing a new appreciation of these trends. Working with legacy data on this scale has its challenges, but it is helping us to refine our ideas about how ceramics evolved from early Tionontaté migration to the Collingwood area to the approximate arrival of Samuel de Champlain.
In this collaborative study, we use minimally invasive or non-invasive materials science techniques to explore possible links between Indigenous sites in Ontario and Québec, Canada. Our goal – to explore the technological practices associated with Late Woodland pottery manufacture – required analytical methodologies rarely used in this region. Petrographic and micro-CT analyses were carried out on extant archaeological collections. Our results demonstrate that using petrography and micro-CT together in a complementary manner allows us to gain insights into ceramic production that neither technique can provide alone. In addition, micro-CT can be used to examine some of the same elements of ceramic technology as petrography; in this way we can minimize the use of destructive analyses. Through observations made using both techniques, we can examine the technological choices and gestures of potters made during the manufacturing sequence; we can also relate them to communities of practice situated within the landscape. Our findings also suggest that, as a discipline, we should re-evaluate our reliance on pottery decoration to infer ethnicity; if we wish to address research questions proposed by our Indigenous collaborators, we must shift our focus toward other avenues of inquiry, one such avenue being ceramic technology.