Contamination of Living Floors under Longhouses at the Draper Site

We now delve into the challenges of recognizing the potential contamination of living floors under the longhouses. The excavations of Houses 2 and 5 at Draper provide a cautionary tale that if we are to explore the living floors of undisturbed longhouses, we must be aware of the possibility of contamination of these deposits from activities of earlier occupations. This work and the accuracy of it is paramount to us continuing to learn more about our Ontario history and those who lived here before us.

Digging Middens on the Draper Site

An important goal of our investigations was to excavate the middens (garbage dumps) located across the Draper site, where we found significant quantities of artifacts.

Digging for Houses and Palisades at the Draper Site, Part 1

There were two major kinds of archaeological deposits at the Draper site that we had to investigate: settlement pattern data (longhouses and defensive structures) and middens (garbage dumps with many artifacts).