Archaeology Alive brings Huron-Wendat history to life in Stouffville

Yorkregion.com
August 19, 2019
Simon Martin

In the past, the history of Whitchurch-Stouffville often began with stories of Mennonites Abraham Stouffer and Elizabeth Reesor Stouffer acquiring 600 acres of land in 1804. But the area has a much richer history involving the Huron-Wendat that is currently on display at the Archaeology Alive! exhibit at the Whitchurch-Stouffville Museum.

Between 2003 and 2005, archaeologists unearthed the largest and most complex ancestral Wendat-Huron village found in the Lower Great Lakes region.

The discovery was unearthed on seven acres of the Mantle family farm. Archeologists found 200,000 artifacts, including remnants of log houses and a walled-in settlement, pottery, tools and a piece of wrought iron.

Many of those artifacts are on display at the museum for the year, on loan from the Canadian Museum of History. Curator Stephanie Foley said the museum hasn’t been involved in exhibit this complex before. “We have been working to get this exhibit together for a while,” she said. “It’s especially important in terms of what is happening with reconciliation right now to share this information.”

While the exhibit is mostly compromised of ancient artifacts including pipes, pots, effigies and bone tools there is also a modern bent to the exhibit. A 3D virtual longhouse experience was created in partnership with Ryerson University.

Visitors can grab an Xbox controller and move around a virtual recreation of the Jean-Baptiste Laine Site. “The detail is extraordinary,” Foley said. The palisade walls, the sounds of coughing, the fires in the longhouse with meat hanging above evoke powerful images of what life was like on the land we now call Stouffville in the 1500s.

Whitchurch-Stouffville Mayor Iain Lovatt said the exhibit is incredibly important for the community. “For the first time since the discovery of the since the discovery of the largest Huron-Wendat settlement in the great lakes area in 2002, Whitchurch-Stouffville has the opportunity to honour our Indigenous heritage,” he said.

“I highly recommend this exhibit for everyone in town. It’s a must see.”

In the 16th century, the large settlement was formed in response to increased conflict in the region. Many smaller villages merged to form a three-hectare settlement of 1,700 people, with more than 50 longhouses arranged around a central plaza, surrounded by a palisade, a ditch and an embankment as protection. The community later moved north to join the Huron-Wendat Confederacy in the lands south of Georgian Bay. According to exhibit, the Wendat abandoned the site after around two decades of occupation. It was believed that soil depletion and reduction of resources for clothing and shelter along with hostilities with the Haudenosaunee contributed to the abandonment of the area.

Through teeth analysis, it's estimated that more than 50 per cent of the community’s diet was corn. Enough sand and clay was available at the site for various ceramics to be made. These included vessel pieces, pipes, beads, gaming disks, marbles, and effigies.

Foley said the museum was in touch with Huron-Wendat officials throughout the process to make sure they were on board with the displays. Just over 96,000 ceramic artifacts were recovered from the excavations at the site.

The Jean-Baptiste Laine site, previously referred to the Mantle Site, was uncovered on the Mantle Farm during preparations for a subdivision. The site was excavated by 10 archaeologists from 2003-2005 and was funded by Lebovic Entreprises.