December 20, 2006
by Joseph Quesnel
First Perspective
The archaeology team has completed its field work for the season on the dispute Caledonia site in southern Ontario.
Ontario’s agreement to fund an archaeological re-assessment of the Douglas Creek Estates property was one of the commitments made by former provincial negotiator David Peterson to the Haudenosaunee/Six Nations. An earlier archaeological assessment of the Douglas Creek Estates property was completed by another consultant on behalf of Henco Industries.
This fall, a crew of field directors and field assistants from Timmins Martelle Heritage Consultants along with archaeological monitors and field assistants from Six Nations re-surveyed a portion of the property. The archaeological survey involved walking the plowed, ungraded portion of the property to look for artifacts on the surface. Artifacts that were found were marked and mapped and a sample of these was collected.
The crew also assessed top soil piles on the property to look for artifacts and conducted a detailed examination of the area that was graded fronting on to Argyle Street, including mapping the area and determining whether top soil was removed.
Test excavations were also conducted on two small campsites in the northwest corner of the Douglas Creek Estates property that were investigated during the previous archaeological work and date to approximately 3,000 to 4,000 years ago and 5,000 to 6,000 years ago.
Artifacts unearthed at the site are currently being catalogued and stored in a laboratory established at Six Nations.
No evidence of human burials has been found to date. More work is to be completed in the spring.