Peter Ramsden
McMaster University, Anthropology, Adjunct
This paper lays out the evidence for contact between the Balsam Lake region in south central Ontario and the St. Lawrence valley, in the late 15th to late 16th centuries. An important issue is the variability in the nature and scale of... more
This paper lays out the evidence for contact between the Balsam Lake region in south central Ontario and the St. Lawrence valley, in the late 15th to late 16th centuries. An important issue is the variability in the nature and scale of contact over this time period, ranging from individual trade partnerships in the late 15th century, to adoption of St. Lawrence Iroquoian families into Huron-Wendat households in the late 16th century. It is also suggested that this contact was initiated by Algonkians living at the north end of Balsam Lake, but ultimately came to include the Huron-Wendat living around the southern end of the lake.
Research Interests: Northeastern North America (Archaeology), Ontario Archaeology, Archaeological Theory, Ethnicity, Southern Ontario prehistory, and 12 moreHuron Archaeology, Iroquoian Archaeology, Ancient Trade & Commerce (Archaeology), Great Lakes Archaeology, Culture Contact, Prehistoric economies, St. Lawrence Iroquoians, European Contact Americas, Prehistory of the Great Lakes region, Protohistoric Archaeology, Huron-Wendat, and Huron-Wendat archaeology
Recent revisions to the radiocarbon dating of the Thule/Inuit occupation of the Canadian Arctic, and a review of available carbon dates for Thule/Inuit sites in Labrador, lead to the conclusion that the Inuit settlement of Labrador was... more
Recent revisions to the radiocarbon dating of the Thule/Inuit occupation of the Canadian Arctic, and a review of available carbon dates for Thule/Inuit sites in Labrador, lead to the conclusion that the Inuit settlement of Labrador was prompted partly by the collapse of the Greenland Norse colonies in the late 15th century, and partly by Inuit desire to find new sources of European technologies, primarily metal goods.
Research Interests:
Evidence from house structures, artifacts and fauna are used to infer political and economic changes at the Benson site, a late sixteenth century Huron village near Balsam Lake, Ontario. It is suggested that one household acquired trade... more
Evidence from house structures, artifacts and fauna are used to infer political and economic changes at the Benson site, a late sixteenth century Huron village near Balsam Lake, Ontario. It is suggested that one household acquired trade links to Europeans in the St. Lawrence valley, and as a result became the largest and most prestigious household in the community. Subsequently, a second household expanded to a comparable size, but did so in opposition to the first house, and represented the “traditionalist” faction. Ultimately, the traditionalist faction prevailed, and the more progressive house was dismantled, and its inhabitants moved elsewhere.
Research Interests: Archaeology, Prehistoric Archaeology, Anthropology, Northeastern North America (Archaeology), Archaeological Method & Theory, and 11 moreMicrohistory, North American archaeology, Social Organisation (Archaeology), History of Everyday Life, Prehistoric Settlement, Household Archaeology, Huron Archaeology, Iroquoian Archaeology, Great Lakes Archaeology, Post processual archaeology, and Post-Processual Archaeology
The paper suggests multiple ethnic origins for the Iroquois of the lower Great Lakes, and advances the hypothesis that Iroquoian language was introduced into the Northeast through a process of contact-induced language change among groups... more
The paper suggests multiple ethnic origins for the Iroquois of the lower Great Lakes, and advances the hypothesis that Iroquoian language was introduced into the Northeast through a process of contact-induced language change among groups of indigenous Late Woodland Algonkian speakers.
Research Interests:
A compilation of known sites from the upper reaches of the Trent valley and the Gull River extending into the Haliburton Highlands indicates that throughout much of prehistory the area witnessed little, if any, human occupation. Two... more
A compilation of known sites from the upper reaches of the Trent valley and the Gull River extending into the Haliburton Highlands indicates that throughout much of prehistory the area witnessed little, if any, human occupation. Two episodes of significant occupation are the Middle Archaic and the Late Iroquoian period. The Middle Archaic is represented by a number of early Laurentian occupation sites and later Laurentian find spots, suggesting a brief colonization of the area during the earlier period, followed by a period of less intensive use. Parallels between the Archaic and Iroquoian episodes of occupation prompt the suggestion that while climate may have been a factor in both cases, other less archaeologically tangible factors are equally likely to have been at work.
Research Interests:
The basic unit of the Iroquoian village, and thus of the interpretation of Iroquoian prehistory is the household. An innovative approach to investigating household features at the Benson site reveals that life histories of Iroquoian... more
The basic unit of the Iroquoian village, and thus of the interpretation of Iroquoian prehistory is the household. An innovative approach to investigating household features at the Benson site reveals that life histories of Iroquoian houses are both specific and complex. By contrast, many interpretations have assumed a simplistic uniformity between Iroquoian households and communities and do not take into account the uniqueness of the individual house. By confronting this complexity on a smaller scale, i.e. through the lifecycle of the house, it becomes clear that larger scale analyses, including things like demography and village dynamics are equally complex and therefore must be re-evaluated.
Research Interests: Archaeology, Prehistoric Archaeology, Anthropology, Northeastern North America (Archaeology), Archaeological Method & Theory, and 8 moreNorth American archaeology, Social Organisation (Archaeology), Prehistoric Settlement, Household Archaeology, Southern Ontario prehistory, Huron Archaeology, Iroquoian Archaeology, and Great Lakes Archaeology
Research Interests:
"No abstract as such, but this blurb at the head of the chapter: "Peter Ramsden is an anthropological archaeologist whose primary research has been focussed on the culture of the Huron of Ontario. In the spirit of the new developments... more
"No abstract as such, but this blurb at the head of the chapter:
"Peter Ramsden is an anthropological archaeologist whose primary research has been focussed on the culture of the Huron of Ontario. In the spirit of the new developments in archaeological interpretation, he takes on here the task of making sense of death practices of the Huron. He finds, on introspection, that understanding the structure of Huron death and dying helps him to understand his own culture's attitude toward death. In this chapter, Ramsden proposes an analytical model of the relation between life/death and living/dying that may have very wide application."
There is no "References Cited" section in this pdf, since they were all together at the end of the book.
Note: David and Dorothy Counts were kind enough to allow me to participate in this conference they organized at McMaster, and to contribute this chapter to the resulting book. It might be useful to point out that the book was intended as much for professionals who deal with those who are grieving, as for academic audiences. Writing this paper required me to dive into a whole world of academic and clinical literature that I knew absolutely nothing about. The conference was quite a life-changing experience, and I have always been grateful to Dave and Dorothy for including me."
"Peter Ramsden is an anthropological archaeologist whose primary research has been focussed on the culture of the Huron of Ontario. In the spirit of the new developments in archaeological interpretation, he takes on here the task of making sense of death practices of the Huron. He finds, on introspection, that understanding the structure of Huron death and dying helps him to understand his own culture's attitude toward death. In this chapter, Ramsden proposes an analytical model of the relation between life/death and living/dying that may have very wide application."
There is no "References Cited" section in this pdf, since they were all together at the end of the book.
Note: David and Dorothy Counts were kind enough to allow me to participate in this conference they organized at McMaster, and to contribute this chapter to the resulting book. It might be useful to point out that the book was intended as much for professionals who deal with those who are grieving, as for academic audiences. Writing this paper required me to dive into a whole world of academic and clinical literature that I knew absolutely nothing about. The conference was quite a life-changing experience, and I have always been grateful to Dave and Dorothy for including me."