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New studies by two Ottawa researchers suggest the National Capital Region was an important “economic and spiritual centre” for native peoples for thousands of years before the arrival of European explorers in the early 1600s.
Jean-Luc Pilon, an archaeology curator at the Canadian Museum of History, and Randy Boswell, a journalism professor at Carleton University, have co-authored two studies published in this month’s Canadian Journal of Archaeology.
The studies are based on Boswell’s decade-long quest to find conclusive evidence about the location of the region’s most significant ancient aboriginal burial ground.
By scouring 19th century newspapers and scholarly journals, Boswell, a former Citizen reporter, was able to pinpoint the location of the site, first examined by an amateur archaeologist, Ottawa’s Dr. Edward Van Cortlandt, in 1843. The exact location of the burial place had been lost to history until Boswell unearthed old descriptions of the site, including three by Van Cortlandt himself, which placed it at Hull Landing — the present day site of the Canadian Museum of History.
“He (Boswell) just kept at it, like a dog with a bone,” said Pilon, “and when he found those articles signed by Van Cortlandt, it eliminated any doubt.”
Pilon said Boswell’s work forced him to re-examine the region’s archaeological record with a view toward better situating the burial ground within it.
The result is the journal article, Below the Falls: An Ancient Cultural Landscape in the Centre of Canada’s National Capital Region.
It argues that the burial place, on the north shore of the Ottawa River, was part of an “ancient cultural landscape” for native peoples, who met, traded, fished, hunted, and buried their dead along the shores of the river within the city limits of today’s Ottawa and Gatineau.
The burial ground is one of seven important archaeological sites in the National Capital Region that have helped to document ancient aboriginal life and death in the Gatineau River delta.
Pilon said his re-examination of that record led him to the conclusion that the Hull Landing burial site was “the anchor” of the area’s aboriginal activity. There’s evidence, he said, that people came to the area “over and over and over again” on a seasonal basis for thousands of years.
“From what we now know, it seems pretty clear that the landscape between the mouth of the Gatineau River and the Chaudière Falls was a special place,” he said. “People came from near and far to meet, exchange and trade.”
An old portage route around the Chaudière Falls began at Hull Landing. “It seems they located the burial place there because they knew people would be passing,” Pilon said, “and it’s also close to the falls, and the power of that place.”
The release of studies, which paint a picture of Ottawa-Gatineau as a profoundly important place for aboriginal people, is expected to fuel the controversy that surrounds the proposed development of the Chaudière Islands. Windmill Development’s plan for the 15-hectare site has drawn fire from some aboriginal groups, including the Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador and the Algonquins of Kitigan Zibi, who consider the area sacred.
Boswell began his search for what was popularly known as Van Cortlandt’s ossuary in 2002, after learning that the location of the aboriginal burial site was one of the city’s most enduring archaeological mysteries. Van Cortlandt excavated the site in 1843 — only a few artifacts remain in existence — but he was vague about its location, which led to more than a century of confusion.
Boswell ended that confusion with a painstaking search of archived newspapers and scientific journals. He first found an 1843 news article in the Citizen that identified the location of the burial site, but it wasn’t enough to satisfy academics like Pilon. So he kept digging until he found articles by Van Cortlandt himself, published in the Citizen, Globe and The British American Journal in 1860, about a second burial site discovered in the same location, at Hull Landing.
Van Cortlandt documented both individual and communal burial pits on the site: one contained the remains of more than 20 people and another showed evidence of cremations. The remains were estimated to be 4,000-5,000 years old.
Boswell said he’s happy that newspapers helped solve the mystery: “To me, it validates the work that schmucks like me were doing back in 1843 and 1860: to document what was going on in their communities. As it turns out, this information has become very valuable in retelling the story of Ottawa’s history.”
查看原文...
Jean-Luc Pilon, an archaeology curator at the Canadian Museum of History, and Randy Boswell, a journalism professor at Carleton University, have co-authored two studies published in this month’s Canadian Journal of Archaeology.
The studies are based on Boswell’s decade-long quest to find conclusive evidence about the location of the region’s most significant ancient aboriginal burial ground.
By scouring 19th century newspapers and scholarly journals, Boswell, a former Citizen reporter, was able to pinpoint the location of the site, first examined by an amateur archaeologist, Ottawa’s Dr. Edward Van Cortlandt, in 1843. The exact location of the burial place had been lost to history until Boswell unearthed old descriptions of the site, including three by Van Cortlandt himself, which placed it at Hull Landing — the present day site of the Canadian Museum of History.
“He (Boswell) just kept at it, like a dog with a bone,” said Pilon, “and when he found those articles signed by Van Cortlandt, it eliminated any doubt.”
Pilon said Boswell’s work forced him to re-examine the region’s archaeological record with a view toward better situating the burial ground within it.
The result is the journal article, Below the Falls: An Ancient Cultural Landscape in the Centre of Canada’s National Capital Region.
It argues that the burial place, on the north shore of the Ottawa River, was part of an “ancient cultural landscape” for native peoples, who met, traded, fished, hunted, and buried their dead along the shores of the river within the city limits of today’s Ottawa and Gatineau.
The burial ground is one of seven important archaeological sites in the National Capital Region that have helped to document ancient aboriginal life and death in the Gatineau River delta.
Pilon said his re-examination of that record led him to the conclusion that the Hull Landing burial site was “the anchor” of the area’s aboriginal activity. There’s evidence, he said, that people came to the area “over and over and over again” on a seasonal basis for thousands of years.
“From what we now know, it seems pretty clear that the landscape between the mouth of the Gatineau River and the Chaudière Falls was a special place,” he said. “People came from near and far to meet, exchange and trade.”
An old portage route around the Chaudière Falls began at Hull Landing. “It seems they located the burial place there because they knew people would be passing,” Pilon said, “and it’s also close to the falls, and the power of that place.”
The release of studies, which paint a picture of Ottawa-Gatineau as a profoundly important place for aboriginal people, is expected to fuel the controversy that surrounds the proposed development of the Chaudière Islands. Windmill Development’s plan for the 15-hectare site has drawn fire from some aboriginal groups, including the Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador and the Algonquins of Kitigan Zibi, who consider the area sacred.
Boswell began his search for what was popularly known as Van Cortlandt’s ossuary in 2002, after learning that the location of the aboriginal burial site was one of the city’s most enduring archaeological mysteries. Van Cortlandt excavated the site in 1843 — only a few artifacts remain in existence — but he was vague about its location, which led to more than a century of confusion.
Boswell ended that confusion with a painstaking search of archived newspapers and scientific journals. He first found an 1843 news article in the Citizen that identified the location of the burial site, but it wasn’t enough to satisfy academics like Pilon. So he kept digging until he found articles by Van Cortlandt himself, published in the Citizen, Globe and The British American Journal in 1860, about a second burial site discovered in the same location, at Hull Landing.
Van Cortlandt documented both individual and communal burial pits on the site: one contained the remains of more than 20 people and another showed evidence of cremations. The remains were estimated to be 4,000-5,000 years old.
Boswell said he’s happy that newspapers helped solve the mystery: “To me, it validates the work that schmucks like me were doing back in 1843 and 1860: to document what was going on in their communities. As it turns out, this information has become very valuable in retelling the story of Ottawa’s history.”
查看原文...
