Abstract

After three decades of intensive research, the lifestyle choices of the members of the Western Basin Tradition (WBT), who occupied southwestern Ontario during the Late Woodland period (ca. A.D. 500 to 1600), remain somewhat of a mystery to archaeologists. To date, the material cultural evidence recovered from these sites has been rather sparse in comparison to their Ontario Iroquois Tradition (OIT) neighbours in the southeast. Current interpretations of Western Basin subsistence and settlement patterns are based on a combination of ceramic, lithic tool, subterranean feature, and postmould data. This paper adds another element to our understanding: an examination of the hunting, processing, transport, cooking, and discard practices of these groups through the analysis of the faunal remains recovered from their sites. Data synthesized from a number of Western Basin zooarchaeological reports prepared over the past three decades were combined with new data collected during the past year. The results provide greater insight into: Western Basin seasonal activities and overall mobility, the animal species of dietary, economic, social, and spiritual importance, the microenvironments that were preferentially exploited and occupied, and whether the adoption of maize horticulture by these groups affected the timing and location of animal procurement and settlement locations.