Blog Contest- The Rusting Hulk of History.

Question 1 - Where is this wreck?

Question 2 - What does it represent?

Question 3 - When was it built?

Question 4 - What has it been used for?

Answers must be posted as comments to this post prior to our next members meeting June 9th.  First complete response with citations will be judged the winner. Contest is open to members and non members alike. Anyone can post on this blog.

Winner will be awarded a 1 year membership at the Huronia Museum - Midland, Ontario.v

Huronia Trails, Bryan McKell - May 12th Chapter meeting

12 May 2011 at Huronia Museum in Midland

Huronia Trails

Bryan MacKell spoke to the members of the Chapter on the existing and [potential trail routes across Simcoe County. He stressed that he is trying to help all 16 local municipalities with funding to provide “connecting links” to already existing trails. The region already has 225km of existing municipal trails many from abandoned railways. However, due to a number of factors this network has a number of gaps. So the County has developed a Simcoe County Trails Strategy to enable these gaps to come together into an inner-connected trails system.

Older and historical connections such as the Nine Mile Portage, the Penetanguishene and Coldwater Roads may in time provide local municipalities with additional opportunities.

Bryan stressed that the current 200,000.00 in grants will be used to encourage the linking of existing trails and then to develop a marketing strategy to get people using the trails in order to attract tourism.

A number of questions were fired off to Bryan such as how the Chapter might play a role and how archaeological and historical sites which lie along many of these trails might provide useful and interesting playing and exhibit opportunities. But for now it appears the County thrust is to create that integrated trails network-and then start building specialized components along its routes in conjunction with each municipality that wants to create other venues along the route. Bryan was thanked by Jamie Hunter who presented Bryan with a framed thank you and a membership in the Chapter for the coming year.

Thank you very much Bryan.
Jamie Hunter

L. Bryan McKell and R. Jamie Hunter

Blog Contest

From time to time (at least once a month I hope) we will post a photo or some other iconic image or statement and ask that it be identified. The most complete and or best answer posted as a comment on the Huronia Chapter blog post will be selected and a prize of a one year membership in the Huronia Museum will be awarded at the next members meeting.
I will make the first contest post soon.
Keep checking back and watch for new posts and comments.
Good luck, and remember, any chapter member can make a post and anyone who reads the blog can place a comment, member or not.

Good News from David Lamb

Hi Jamie Bill & John,

Whew that was too close…It is now Friday and I am at home.
Last Sunday evening I experienced the onslaught of a full stroke. Speech motor skills brain function and use of limbs were declining quite rapidly.
Thanks to my wife Mary I was rushed to RVH in Barrie where I was administered the drug TPA (clot buster) apparently, I had arrived within the critical time allowance of four hours for the drug to be successful.
Obviously I cannot thank RVH staff enough for what they have done, for I am completely healed and have made a remarkable recovery.
I do have rehabilitation ahead, a slight loss of vision in one eye which will return to normal as the brain heals. As for my big Dodge, well it will have to rest for a few weeks as I cannot drive.
On a more pleasing note,
I attended the presentation given by Charles Garrad “Journey of the Souls” in Craigleith it was wonderful to say the least.
Little did I know the best was yet to come.
Last Saturday we did an archaeological walk to several Petun sites within the Blue Mountains one being the main Petun site of 1649 were the Huron refugees arrived at the Petun village.
Softly we walked through a beautiful ravine, the sound of a spring stream trickled amidst hills covered in beautiful white trilliums revealing a large plateau nestled within the shadows of the Blue Mountain and to the North lay the panoramic view of Lake Huron.
At a point above the ravine we stopped at the edge of the plateau, Charles informing us that we now stood at the entrance to the Petun village. I felt chills and such honour to be there; sincerely regretting I did not bring my tobacco.
An hour seemed like five minutes as it was filled with eager and inquisitive questions, and Charles, as usual, responded like a history book.
And then it was time to go.
I began to climb the ravine ahead when Charles suddenly said; “do you feel like you have been here before?” his direction pointed to a beautiful native lady standing atop the ridge facing the Native Village. Her eyes seemed to be lost in time as she softly replied “yes”
THE moment and entire experience was not only a joy but also the pinnacle of a long journey for me which began when I was about 14 years old in Liverpool England.
I will not forget this day for a long time.
Hope all is well and I look forward to attending the next meeting
Regards
Dave

Google news search save function

If you want an easy way to receive news articles from Google on Archaeology, use the saved search function availabe in the Google search page. You provide an email and it will send you digests and links.

below is an example of my Google alert for Archaeology.

May 12th Chapter Meeting - Bryan McKell - Huronia Trails and History

Bryan MacKell, MCIP, RPP
Director of Planning, Development and Tourism
County of Simcoe

Bryan will be discussing future recreational trail routes that the county would like to start implementing in the next few years. Included in this are the possible First Nations routes that existed in the past.
Bryan will be looking for input from us and how we might engage in the process of identifying the ancient thorofares of Huronia.
May 12, 2011 - 7 PM at the Huronia Museum, 549 Little Lake Park, Midland, Ontario.

Wendat and Wyandot Studies Conference

EONYWA'NDIYONHRATEHKWIH CHIA' EKWÄA'TATEHKWIH Nos esprits et nos corps sont et seront toujours présents
Our minds and bodies are and forever will be present 1
Wendat and Wyandot Studies Conference st Call for Papers Wendake, June 13-16, 2012 Project Yawenda, the Huron-Wendat Nation and the Yawendowänenh Society are pleased to announce the first Wendat and Wyandot Studies Conference, in Wendake (Wendat Territory, Quebec, Canada), from June 13 to 16, 2012.
The theme of the congress will be: "Wendat and Wyandot Continuities". The conference aims at bringing together researchers and practitioners, from both native communities and academia, who are interested in the Wendat and Wyandot(te) peoples from Quebec, Oklahoma, Kansas, Michigan, and elsewhere. Special focus will be given to expressions of these nations’ history, culture, language, society, as well as the assertion of their rights.
Presentations will attempt to illustrate how continuity has been maintained between the Wendat and Wyandot of today and their ancestors, without preventing the former from being fully integrated into the contemporary world.
Thematic sessions as well as individual communications might, for instance, deal with the fundamental rights pertaining to Wendat or Wyandot citizenship, sovereignty and territory, as well as with these nations’ knowledge, traditions, language, history, archeology, artistic and literary activities, contemporary territory, material culture, and the various types of services they offer their members (in terms of education, health, justice, economic development, etc.). Any proposal for a presentation on a Wendat-Wyandot theme, grounded in solid data, will be seriously considered by the congress’s scientific committee and by its organizers.
The conference will be held under the honorary presidency of the philosopher, historian and anthropologist Dr. Georges E. Sioui, the dean of Wendat intellectuals. It will also aim at honoring the memory of ethnologist Marius Barbeau, as we celebrate the centennial anniversary of his fieldwork in Wendake and Wyandotte, Oklahoma, during 2011-12.
Individuals or groups willing to organize a thematic session (composed of 3-6 papers) or to present an individual communication are asked to send by e-mail (at the address below) the title and a short abstract (10 lines maximum) of their proposal, including, of course, their name, e-mail address, scientific domain or field of interest, and professional or academic affiliation, and this before June 30, 2011. Participants in the conference are expected to pay for their own travel and subsistence expenses, but if at all possible, partial scholarships might be available to student presenters and those in need of financial assistance.
Instructions for participating in the conference (registration forms, information on accommodations, etc.) will be available at a later date through the website of the Interuniversity Center for Aboriginal Studies and Research (www.ciera.ulaval.ca). Registration fees should not exceed $100 CDN; there will be reduced rates for students and members of the Wendat and Wyandot(te) nations.
Please send your proposals for thematic sessions and individual papers, as well as any query about the conference, to: yawenda@hotmail.com.
Organizing Committee
Wendat and Wyandot Studies Conference
May 1st, 2011

Champlain Cross Still Supported as Site for Toanche.

The following article appeared in one of Midlands local newspapers. It is clear that some will not give up on the notion that Champlain landed in the North West basin of Penetang Bay.
Do we as an archaeological community have any responsibility to educate the community in an effort to encourage historical integrity by insisting on archaeological evidence in support of claims like those made in this article or do we adopt T F McILwraith position "As a matter of cold hard logic, the identification of an historic site is a matter of little importance." - (Royal Society of Canada, May 1947)

5 May 2011 The Free Press (Midland) 2015 - will it be a missed opportunity?
As a committee of concerned and interested citizens who attempted to develop and enhance the Champlain Cross and its site on Penetanguishene Bay for several years now, we wish to recognize the efforts of the pastor of Ste. Anne’s Church, whose parish owns the said property, for singlehandedly forging ahead and rebuilding the present, dilapidated cross. We are, nevertheless, very disappointed that Father Asadoorian completely ignored and disregarded the plans that had been prepared for the complete renovation of the site.

Scottish project encourages surveying by amateur archaeologists

Professional surveyors and archaeologists in Scotland have made a series of videos aimed at showing amateur archaeologists how to make use of modern surveying equipment to record the country’s multitude of historic rural settlements.

article 

Scotland Rural Past