The Archaeology of Wetlands, Weirs, and Waterways in the Kawartha Lakes Region, Ontario

Summary

This is an abstract from the "The Archaeology of Wetlands" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

I provide an overview of the relationship between Archaic through Middle Woodland peoples and the ecologically heterogenous wetlands and waterways of the Kawartha Lakes region of south-central Ontario. I focus on our research group's survey of submerged shorelines which has revealed a substantial underwater archaeological record that demonstrates a longer history of waterway and wetland use than the terrestrial record alone provides. Paleoecological reconstruction provides evidence for the importance of shallow water taxa, including wild rice, for strategic positioning decisions; and this in turn has strengthened our working proposition that areas of localized abundance emerged as drivers for long-term habitation histories, ritual investment, and social interaction that were the nodal places in the wider territorial landscape of this hydrologically complex landscape.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• The Archaeology of Wetlands   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 37900.0