New Course "Handling the Past: Analysis of Archaeological Finds"

I am excited to announce that we have enough students for the course which Sally Stewart and I have developed for the University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies (UofT SCS) "Handling the Past: Analysis of Archaeological Finds".

We are team teaching an artifact analysis course on the St George Campus in the Anthropology Lab of the University of Toronto.  During the course we will introduce students to the methodology of archaeology as practiced in Ontario and the assemblages one encounters.  Sally as the prehistorian of the two of us, will be the point person for the prehistory of Ontario and Toronto, and I (Meg) will handle the historic or post contact periods and materials.

The primary source for the prehistoric period materials to be handled during the course will be the Surma site, a rescue excavation carried out by Prof J.N. Emerson with field director Wm. C. Noble in 1965 for  the Anthropology Department of the University of Toronto in the soon-to-be-parking-lot of the Queen's Hotel owned by Mr and Mrs Robert Surma in Fort Erie, Ontario.  The prehistoric remains date to two main phases: the Archaic Period 2,000-1,000 BCE, and the Woodland Period 700-1350 BCE.  There is also an historic component of the site dating to 1812 CE.  For more information on the site, see the article in Ontario Archaeology Vol 9(1966) by Emerson and Noble:  http://www.ontarioarchaeology.on.ca/publications/pdf/oa9-5-emerson.pdf

Most of the historic materials which we will be handling during the course will derive from the two sites which have been excavated by the Anthropology summer field schools: the 315 Bloor Street West site excavated in 2010 and the Lime Ridge Memorial Site in 2011-2013.  The first took advantage of the renovations being carried out in preparation for making 315 Bloor Street West the Munk School of Global Affairs. Excavations were carried out around the front and sides of the existing building.  The second site lies on the East bank of Taddle Creek south of Hart House Circle around the Lime Ridge Monument, erected to honour UofT students who fell during that battle in 1866, sometimes known as the Battle of Ridgeway, the largest of the Fenian Raids.

We originally developed the course to dovetail with another course, an archaeology field school to be held at the Koffler Scientific Reserve at Joker's Hill, a property north of Toronto which was given to the University of Toronto by the Koffler family.  Unfortunately we did not get enough students for that course which was to be held in July 2013.  We were going to use it as a companion course to analyse the artifacts and materials found on at Joker's Hill, but through our sponsorship by the University of Toronto Archaeology Centre and the On-campus field school of the Anthropology Department, we have a wealth of material to draw upon and keep our students happy and busy.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Prof Michael Chazan, director of the University of Toronto Archaeology Centre for his support both logistical and intellectual, and the directors of the Anthropology Field School, Prof Ted Banning and Dr Sarah T Stewart for access to the materials from the 315 Bloor Street West Site and the Lime Ridge Monument Site.

Alison Terpenning of the UofT SCS has written a blog about the course which you can read at:
http://learn.utoronto.ca/life-at-scs/archaeology-course-offers-insight-into-ontario-history

The course starts on Tuesday September 17th, 2013 and classes will be held in the Anthropology Building  at 19 Russell Street on the St George Campus of the University of Toronto.  If you are interested there are still spots available so check the course out at:
 http://2learn.utoronto.ca/uoft/search/publicCourseSearchDetails.do?method=load&cms=true&courseId=24223528

UofT Fieldschool Revisited - YouTube Links

Check out the two videos which have been created by the Archaeology Centre of the University of Toronto, highlighting the LimeRidge Memorial site on the University of Toronto campus. Ted Banning is interviewed and speaks about the nature of the site in one, and the workings of the fieldschool in the other. They were filmed by Matthew Walls and Joanna Pokorny.
They can be found on the Canadian Archaeological Association's YouTube group canadianarchaeology. Look for:

Ted Banning Interview June 2011 UofT,
ANT 306 Field School UofT.mp4

Thanks to Mima Kapches of the Ontario Archaeological Society for directing me to these videos.

University of Toronto Fieldschool

Two weeks ago I visited my friends Sally Stewart and Ted Banning who were co-directing a fieldschool on the University of Toronto St George Campus. It was an Archaeological Methods and Theory course offered by the Anthropology Department and the Archaeology Centre. This year they were digging behind the Gerstein Library, on the western edge of Queen's Park just above the Taddle Creek.

This grassy knoll is the site of the Limestone Ridge Memorial Monument, commemorating the seven UofT students who died on June 2nd, 1866 in the Battle of Limestone Ridge, also known as the Battle of Ridgeway.

The Battle of Ridgeway was a victory for the invading Fenians, largely veterans of the US Civil War, against a Canadian force of largely inexperienced militia from Toronto and Hamilton. The monument was dedicated on July 1st 1870, a fitting Canada Day celebration as it was the first time that a fully Canadian force defended Canada from a foreign invader.

The 17 UofT students were trained in procedures in keeping with Ontario's Heritage laws and so did survey, mapping, shovel-shining, drilling and controlled stratigraphic excavation in one-meter squares. Amongst the finds were coins including a 1880's dime, pottery, and animal bones including a quantity of lamb bones in one square. A pipe stem fragment is decorated with a Mason's symbol. This is early in both the exploration of the site and in the analysis of the finds but the finds may represent a farmstead on the banks of the Taddle Creek, commemorative feasting in the vicinity of the monument or merely composting of gardens associated with the monument.

This is the second time that Ted and Sally have been able to dig on campus, allowing students to incorporate getting field experience with their regular lives. Hopefully they will be able to dig here again next year and further our knowledge of this intriguing part of the UofT St George Campus.