What is collaborative research? Working together to investigate Huron Wendat ceramic traditions.

Dr. Alicia Hawkins at work in Huronia

Please join us for a presentation by

Dr. Alicia Hawkins on –

What is collaborative research? Working together to investigate Huron Wendat ceramic traditions.

Huron-Wendat oral traditions clearly indicate a long-standing relationship between the Huron-Wendat people and places in eastern Canada. However, archaeologists have focussed on the Huron-Wendat presence in Ontario. While there are many basic similarities in material culture, subsistence and settlement across the lower Great Lakes and St. Lawrence valley, archaeologists have focussed on a few differences in material culture to define different "archaeological cultures."

 Our research project takes a different approach to investigation of the Huron-Wendat past. We examine ceramic artifacts from the perspective of "communities of practice," or groups of people who share knowledge and learning. Using a series of high-tech but minimally destructive or non destructive techniques, we consider the sources of clays, the recipes for making a workable clay body and the gestures used to produce pottery across a large swath of Ontario and Quebec before European contact. 

This project was conceived of by the Huron Wendat nation, and developed as a partnership between members of the Nation and archaeological researchers.

Co authored by - Alicia Hawkins, Louis Lesage, Amy St. John, Greg Braun, Joe Petrus

Our June 12th meeting starts at 7 p.m. in the Thompson Room of the North Simcoe Recreation Centre in Midland.

Open to the public at no charge.