Nov. 10th meeting - Jamie Hunter on Beads from the Ball Site

Jamie Hunter, curator of the Huronia Museum, will present a slide show of beads from the Ball Site, explaining the type of beads and the metaphorical and symbolic meaning of the colours for the Huron/Wendat.

Huronia Museum, 7 PM Thursday November 10th, 2011, Midland, Ontario

The presentation portion of the chapter meeting, Hunter's talk, is open to the public.  It will be followed by the chapter's business meeting which is open only to chapter members.

 

AIA National Archaeology Day Oct. 22nd

Archaeological Institute of America - National Archaeology Day
National Archaeology Day is a celebration of archaeology and the thrill of discovery. Throughout the month of October and on October 22 in particular, the AIA and its societies throughout the United States and Canada will present archaeological programs and activities in over 100 cities for people of all ages and interests. Whether it is a family-friendly archaeology fair, a guided tour of a local archaeological site, a simulated dig, a lecture or a classroom visit from an archaeologist, the interactive, hands-on programs presented by the Institute and our societies will provide you with the chance to indulge your inner Indiana Jones.

Supporting Organizations: African Burial Ground National Monument, American Anthropological Association, American Research Center in Egypt, American Schools of Oriental Research, Bowers Museum, Council for Northeast Historical Archaeology, Florida Public Archaeology Network, Getty Villa, Google Earth, Society for American Archaeology, Society for California Archaeology, Society for Historical Archaeology, Study Egypt Events, Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest, World Archaeological Congress

http://www.archaeological.org/NAD

photography accessory - might be useful and not too pricey

Getting your camera in close to photograph small artifacts or small areas of the ground or area of an excavation can be difficult and when really close you can create a shadow from the camera itself.  Ring lights have been around for awhile going back to the good old film days.  Recently I have been trying to improve my macro photography bag of tricks especially for photographing very small objects like glass beads.  In poking around the net looking for macro lenses of the AF kind I found this item on Amazon.ca:

Studying old bones — preservation or perversion? Toronto Star

link on next line

Studying old bones — preservation or perversion?

"The Huron-Wendat Nation is demanding that Louisiana State University return the “stolen” remains of about 200 people. They say researchers improperly gathered the bones from an Ontario ossuary to use for unauthorized student research."

this article is worth a reading since it deals with the following topics:

• Poole-Rose ossuary near Cobourg 

• repatriation of remains 

• Ontario Cemeteries Act 

• The Feast of the Dead 

• University of Toronto

• The newsletter of the OAS is cited in the article as well. 

Toronto Star article on archaeology and development in Mexico

Earthscraper article by Leslie Scrivener

• Mexico
• land development uncovering Aztec artifacts
• museums built to house artifacts
• design innovation to build down rather than up, 300 metres down "earthscraper" rather than a skyscraper, which has captured architects' interest around the world.

Agatha Christie quote "archaeologist"

 Every woman should marry an archaeologist because she grows increasingly attractive to him as she grows increasingly to resemble a ruin.

Huronia Chapter’s Presidents Report for OAS Symposium in Ottawa October 13th – 16th 2011

As in previous years the Huronia Chapter membership has fluctuated between 25 – 30 members with about 50% overall participation in various chapter activities.

We have had 8 members meetings so far this year including a review of our priorities in at the first of the year and as a result put our Champlain Project over to a committee. We had presentations from Dr Alicia Hawkins on the Thompson/Walker Huron village site, Jamie Hunter on Council Rock, Rudy Fecteau on Plants in Archaeology, Bryan MacKell regarding Simcoe County’s trails master plan, Catherine Sutton on Dr C J Tache’s work in Huronia, Janet Turner on the Mnjikaning Fish Fence Circle. We also held a pool party, BBQ social in July and have our AGM/election slated for December. In addition to our regular activities Laurentian U conducted a field school at the Ellery site and Alicia was kind enough to host an open house to which our members were invited to attend. We also attempted to host a public archaeology day but this was not possible due to time constraints and the bureaucratic red tape seemingly unavoidable in such endeavours.

In support of our members and their activities we publish a quarterly newsletter titled “The Pot” along with the occasional update called “The Sherd”. We also have a webpage courtesy of the OAS doing the web hosting. Our blog has continued with less member’s participation than we might have hoped for but none the less gives us a presence online and has stimulated some public inquiries and information sharing.

Last year's focus on Champlain and the villages he visited in Huronia in 1615 has been formulated into a funding request that has been submitted to a local francophone organization that has a mandate to promote the Champlain commemoration events slated for 2015. This is also the year that we have committed to host the OAS annual symposium.

As a result of our networking with the First Nations community we were asked to become involved in some community consultation regarding the installation of a Bell Mobility communications tower that was proposed in an area rich with archaeological and historical resources (the Ossossane sites). As a result Bell Mobility agreed to do an archaeological assessment even though not required to do so by Industry Canada who acts as the regulating body for these tower installations. We were also reminded that even though these sites are designated as National Historic sites, this affords them no protection from intrusion and or destruction. Communities across Ontario have been asked to develop a protocol regarding communication towers but seem to be discouraged from asking for serious community consultation and from what I can see ignore cultural landscapes and any question of archaeological assessments. These issues might well be considered for action by the OAS advocacy committee in an effort to further the protection of archaeological sites in Ontario. We have also been asked for comment on an industrial site development that is close to some archaeological sites across the river from Ste Marie among the Hurons and visible from the Martyrs Shrine. This development was not asked to do an archaeological assessment and it would appear that the question of historical/cultural landscapes was never addressed.

Another project that we have been invited to become involved with is the Mnjikaning Fish Fence Circle and their project to build a bridge over and an interpretive centre at the Atherley Narrows. This is another National Historic site that is afforded no protection and is now being encroached by developments.

All in all this has been another good year with more potential projects in the works than active members to move them forward.

Respectfully Submitted;

John Raynor

President

Huronia Chapter of the Ontario Archaeological Society.