North America-Canada (Geographic Keyword)
26-50 (136 Records)
Interest in the past brings archaeologists and Indigenous people together. Archaeologists reveal the past through material remains, while Indigenous people remember the past and keep it alive through stories. Often the past for archaeologists is an object of scientific curiosity, while for Indigenous people storytelling is an essential part of their identity. Stories provide wisdom and strength to deal with challenges in the present and the future. Joint efforts of archaeologists and Indigenous...
Colonialism, nationalism and the appropriation of new landscapes: Consuming Old and New Worlds in historical Quebec City (Canada) (2015)
Since the Age of Discovery, Quebec City and its broader area have seen their lot of colonists and travellers, some of which chose to establish themselves in the region. Their relationship with this, initially new, landscape was transformed through time, following wider political events and social convictions. The nature of their attitudes and perceptions to the territory impacted their foodways by calling upon particular social networks. In doing so they reflected colonialist and nationalist...
Community Perceptions and Effects of the Bridge River Community Archaeological Project, 2012-2016 (2017)
The Xwisten (Bridge River) community has had an ongoing collaborative relationship with the University of Montana, exploring the archaeology of the Bridge River Village, site Eerl4. The latest series of inquiries at the Bridge River Village focused on the excavation of Housepit 54, a single, mid-sized, semi-subterranean pithouse with 17 anthropogenic floors from occupations spanning 1800BP-ca. 1850’s CE. The goal of this research is to explore the perceptions of the discipline of archaeology,...
The Complexity of (Un)charred Seeds: Unearthing the Taphonomic and Cultural Processes at a Stó:lō-Coast Salish Settlement in the Upper Fraser Valley (2015)
Many archaeologists overlook the presence of uncharred archaeobotanicals, specifically seeds, within excavated cultural contexts. Frequently assemblages of uncharred seeds receive little analytic attention due to the difficulty of differentiating taphonomic variables associated with their presence, including soil moisture, pH, and insect activity. Further confounding this methodological quandary, it is often difficult to distinguish between the "cultural" and the "modern" seed rain recovered...
Continuity and Change Between Late Prehistoric and Early Historic Periods: Visually Reconstructing Two Successive Occupations of Housepit 54 at the Bridge River Village Site, Mid-Fraser Region, British Columbia, Canada (2015)
The use of reconstruction illustrations, or artist’s renderings of the past, offers a unique and informed method of communicating continuity and change between two successive occupations of Housepit 54 at the Bridge River Village site, located in the Mid-Fraser Region of British Columbia, Canada. Based on archaeological data and analysis from recent excavations of the large, multifamily housepit, visual representations can effectively integrate a variety of information and interpretation...
CRM Archaeology and Collections Management - A Comparison between two Canadian Provinces (2017)
My CRM career has included positions in both British Columbia and Ontario, two provinces situated on opposite sides of the country. Working for the same consulting firm in both provinces, I have had the opportunity to manage the analysis and curative preparation of large precontact Aboriginal collections. This experience has resulted in the observation of strengths and weaknesses in current British Columbia and Ontario heritage legislation, archaeological permitting regulations, and collections...
Curating Indigenous Heritage: Addressing Intellectual Property and Material Culture Concerns (2017)
Significant differences exist between Western and Indigenous societies, and their respective knowledge systems, worldviews, modes of explanation, conceptions of time, and nature of material culture. Acknowledging these is essential to making sense of contemporary claims around Indigenous cultural property, especially in museum settings. For many indigenous peoples, cultural property was and is defined and enacted in daily life (objects may be animate), with distinct expectations and...
A Demographic History of Housepit 54, Bridge River site, British Columbia (2015)
Demographic change can have significant impacts on socio-economic and political strategies employed by complex foraging and fishing peoples. Recent research at the Bridge River housepit village, located near Lillooet, British Columbia, has demonstrated that two short periods of rapid demographic growth followed by a period of decline led to significant changes in food acquisition and storage, settlement arrangements, and social relationships. While these patterns are well understood on a...
Developing dialogue: A developer, First Nation band member, and archaeologist discuss the role of meaningful consultation in CRM (2017)
As stated in the SAA’s Principles of Archaeological Ethics, "Responsible archaeological research [requires a commitment to] consult actively with affected group(s), with the goal of establishing a working relationship that can be beneficial to all parties involved". In the context of professional consulting archaeology, meaningful consultation with descendant communities is often held as a primary goal. However, CRM archaeologists are faced developers’ timelines and budgets, which can preclude...
Developing Minimally Destructive Protocols for DNA Analysis of Museum Collection Bone Artifacts (2016)
Ancient DNA (aDNA) analysis has revolutionized the field of archaeology with its ability to provide unique and otherwise unattainable information about the past. However, due to the destructive nature of current aDNA techniques many museum curators are hesitant to subject their collections to this kind of analysis. This poster presents a new sampling strategy for obtaining adequate amounts of bone powder from bone artifacts for aDNA extraction, while minimizing the damage done to the valuable...
Diet and mobility on the Canadian Plateau: Isotopic analysis of domestic dogs and other fauna from the Bridge River site (2017)
This study reports on carbon, nitrogen, and sulphur isotope analyses of dog remains and other fauna from the Bridge River site in the Mid-Fraser region of the Canadian Plateau. We discuss these results in relation to dietary variability and resource mobility through time and in the relationships between dogs and humans. While dogs are not a direct proxy for humans in dietary isotope studies, their diets are influenced by human dietary practices, and therefore indicative of human subsistence...
Differentiating Commingled Human Remains through EDXRF (Energy Dispersive X-Ray Fluorescence) (2017)
The ability to differentiate commingled skeletal remains is critical in the analysis of mass burials, archaeological sites and mass fatality events in forensic cases. The potential application of EDXRF (Energy Dispersive X-ray Fluorescence) to aid in differentiating commingled remains is being explored at the MAX Lab (McMaster Archaeological XRF Lab), expanding the lab’s research focus from solely obsidian sourcing to include bio-archaeological applications. There are numerous factors affecting...
Dog coprolites as a source of dietary and genetic information at the Bridge River Site, BC (2015)
DNA recovered from ancient coprolites can provide an important source of dietary and host information. In this study, ancient DNA techniques were applied to dog coprolites recovered from two pithouses at Bridge River, a complex hunter-gatherer village on the Fraser River, British Columbia. Dog mitochondrial DNA was targeted to assess the genetic relationship between the domestic dogs of Bridge River and other ancient and modern dog populations both locally and worldwide. Multiple Canis...
The Dogs of Housepit 54: A Taphonomic Analysis of Recovered Canine Remains at Bridge River, British Columbia (2015)
Since 2003 the excavations at the Bridge River site have exponentially expanded our understanding of the communities that inhabited the Fraser River Canyon over 1,000 years ago. The most current excavations at Housepit 54 have provided further evidence of the many facets of Fraser River life, among these is the role of dogs. The possession and use of dogs in the Fraser River Canyon is well documented through excavations and traditional knowledge. Remains of domesticated dogs in Bridge River...
Embodiment in animic rock art: an example from the Canadian Shield (2017)
Perceptions of self and of personhood are fluid within animic ontologies that tend to stress spiritual similarities between humans and non-humans. This fluidity is reflected in concepts of bodies. Bodies endow their owners with particular qualities, perceptual skills, behaviours and ultimately, identities. Beings can transform their bodily appearance, therefore what is perceived by an onlooker does not necessarily correspond to the being that is perceived. In the Canadian Shield, depictions of...
Engaging Tribal Relations and Tribal Collections (2017)
The use of museum collections by tribal researchers began as a result of cultural and political efforts. The combined movement of cultural resurgence and political expression culminated in the passage of NAGPRA which provided entrée for a variety of tribal researchers and practitioners to engage with cultural objects and archival information. Since the passage of NAGPRA, tribal researchers have primarily been focused on the eligible categories of museum collections for repatriation. However,...
Establishing provenance for chert from southern Baffin Island: a multi-scalar approach (2017)
Difficulties in physically or chemically distinguishing between chert from closely situated quarries have made a multi-scalar approach to chert provenance analysis necessary in some regions. We present the preliminary results of a multi-scalar chert provenance project focused on the eastern Canadian Arctic. On a regional scale, we examine ICP-MS trace element results for chert from two quarries and five archaeological sites on southern Baffin Island. Chert from the quarries and archaeological...
The Evolution of Cooperative Labor within a Long-lived Housepit at the Bridge River site in British Columbia (2017)
At the Bridge River site, British Columbia, evidence for intra-household cooperation appears to center within a time of village growth during late Bridge River 2 (ca.1500-1300 cal. BP) before collapsing into familial-based competitive behavior during Bridge River 3 (ca. 1300-1100 cal. BP). This shift from cooperation to competition occurs in tandem with a rise in inequality as the community experienced a Malthusian ceiling. Building on previous multivariate statistical approaches, further...
Excavating the Intertidal at Hup’kisakuu7a, a Summary and Artifact Analysis (2017)
The Barkley Sound region of Vancouver Island has a rich archaeological record that is important to the Nuu-chah-nulth people. Due to changing sea levels, places that were once exposed are now underwater, meaning that the earliest possible occupations cannot be excavated. We excavated in the intertidal at Hup’kisakuu7a because of the possibility of finding evidence of human occupation between 5500-7000 cal years BP when sea levels were just a few meters below modern. From the excavations...
Exploring the Archaeological Applications of ITRAX XRF Soil Analysis in Southern Ontario (2017)
Prehistoric human occupation in Southern Ontario, Canada spans the gamut of ephemeral hunter-gatherer usage to intensive Iroquoian village settlements. ITRAX core scanning has the capacity to explore some of this rich history. Initially developed for environmental core analysis, ITRAX technology can highlight differences in culturally generated chemical signatures between intensive and ephemeral occupations. This automated, non destructive x-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis has the potential to...
Exploring the Status of a Roasting Feature Complex along the Mid-Fraser Canyon, Bridge River Site, British Columbia (2017)
Roasting features were developed by First Peoples throughout North America to prepare and preserve food for winter storage during the mid to late Holocene. On the Interior Plateaus of British Columbia, Washington, and Oregon, these complexes are found at upland root harvesting sites and, to a lesser extent, in association with winter villages. This poster focuses on the interpretation of a dense complex of roasting features within a housepit at the Bridge River site, located on the Mid-Fraser...
Finding Skeletons in Our Closets: Legacy Collections and Repatriation. (2017)
Contemporary standards of collections management ensure that materials collected during archaeological fieldwork are well-documented, provenienced, and catalogued within a database for future research purposes. These standards have come to be crucial to contemporary archaeological practice, however, this was not always the case. Historically, certain objects were often considered more important than a collection as a whole. This resulted in poorly documented collections, with mis-cataloged,...
Foxy Ladies: investigating human-animal interactions at Agvik, Banks Island (2017)
Outstanding organic preservation at many Arctic sites gives archaeologists access to large artifactual and faunal assemblages through which to examine human-animal interactions. However, much of the research focused on these interactions conceives them not only in ecological/economic terms, but also examines them at the level of entire communities (e.g. zooarchaeological studies of subsistence) or focuses on the predominantly male realm of hunting. The Arctic ethnographic record reflects a...
Fragile, Organic Artifacts from Alpine Ice in the Athapaskan Homeland, Southern Yukon, Canada (2017)
Since the late 1990’s, a significant collection of fragile, organic artifacts has been collected from melting alpine ice patches in southern Yukon, Canada. The ice patch study area is in the Athapaskan homeland, and was an area strongly impacted by the White River Ash event, ca. 1200 yBP, which possibly triggered southward migrations of some Athapaskan speakers. This paper will present an overview of the Yukon ice patch project and will include a description of organic hunting artifacts...
From Biochemistry to Bone: Exploring the Stress Response in Archaeological Skeletal Remains (2017)
Bone is the foundation of the human body. In an archaeological context, the skeleton is the primary piece of evidence with which to explore past peoples and cultures. Because the skeleton adapts and changes over the life course, bone acts as a record-keeper, capturing specific periods of skeletal disturbance that we are able to observe and interpret. While the research potential using skeletal remains seems limitless, the primary challenge is that changes associated with poor health take time to...