Applying Archaeology

Session Hosting Format: 
in-person session
Date/Heure: 
Vendredi, mai 3, 2024 - 8:00am - 10:00am
(CST)
Room: 
Naples
Organizer(s): 
  • CAA 2024
Contact Email: 
caa2024@thesas.ca
Présentations
08:00 AM - 08:20 AM: How Western in northwestern Ontario? Excavations at Dogrib Rapids, Berens Lake Ontario
Format de présentation : In-Person
Auteur-e(s) :
  • David  Norris - Woodland Heritage Northwest

Excavations at the Dogrib Rapids, at the north end of Berens Lake have been the result of a proposed development of an all-weather road and bridge at the north end of Berens Lake in northwestern Ontario. During the summer of 2023, approximately 1500 units were excavated on the western side of the rapids, while approximately 650 units were excavated during the summer of 2022. Recoveries from the western side were a completely lithic dominated assemblage, with small amounts of copper but no pottery. The absence of pottery is a mystery as some of the projectile points appear to be Plains/Prairie side-notched, with affiliations to groups that would have utilized such technology.  The eastern side of the rapids saw recoveries of pottery, stone tools, and copper. Perhaps the distinction between the two sides of the rapids, regarding artifact assemblage is a matter of site use rather than occupancy? The goal of this presentation is to provide a brief overview of the project, provide some archaeological context to the excavations and highlight stylistic attributes of the projectile points that might indicate ties between northwestern Ontario and the western Plains.

08:20 AM - 08:40 AM: Lost (?) civilizations: Archaeologies of resurgence from beneath the rubble of dead massively multiplayer online games
Format de présentation : In-Person
Auteur-e(s) :
  • Madelyn  Hertz - Western University

While videogame preservation is challenging as we transition from brick-and-mortar stores to virtual storefronts, massively multiplayer online (MMO) games are at a heightened risk of being completely lost to time when they are no longer supported by their creators. MMOs, unlike many game genres, are completely reliant on online servers outside of players’ control. Unsupported, or dead MMOs, as meeting places and points of connection alongside their (digital) material culture, represent entire virtual landscapes, cultures, and perhaps civilizations that have been left without so much as ruins to visit; when servers go down, these virtual worlds are near impossible to access by a regular user. While many MMOs have been lost to time, some have been subject to grassroots revitalization efforts, largely through the creation of private servers and the reconstruction of game files scattered across the internet. These labors of love are often unappreciated by their games’ original creators, who regularly approach private server organizers with lawsuits or cease and desist letters. This presentation navigates the relationship between ‘grey area’ games revitalization efforts and the games industry regarding approaches to heritage preservation and ownership, as gaming corporations litigate against those trying to bring these worlds back to life.
08:40 AM - 09:00 AM: Ethnoarchaeology needs a mulligan.
Format de présentation : In-Person
Auteur-e(s) :
  • Jerimy Cunningham - University of Lethbridge

The notion of a “mulligan” is believed to originate in the tendency of a Canadian golfer, David B. Mulligan, to hit a second ball after mishitting his tee-shot. The term thus refers to a do-over in its broadest sense – a restart to address a mistake. In this presentation, I argue that ethnoarchaeology needs a mulligan.The aspirations behind the development of ethnoarchaeology are laudable: ethnoarchaeology was designed to address interpretive limitations in archaeology by consulting with people who possess perspectives unrepresented in the discipline. Its mistake – one shared with archaeology, anthropology, and modernity at large – has been to believe human societies sort into the rational and irrational, the developed and undeveloped, and the modern and traditional. Consequently, archaeologists tend to believe their positioning within “modernity” is what creates their primary interpretive challenge, and they expand their interpretive lenses by consulting with those believed to follow coeval-but-traditional lifeways. I seek to disentangle archaeology and ethnoarchaeology from these temporal tropes. I call for a mulligan explicitly to repurpose ethnoarchaeology for a post-positivist epistemology as a form of standpoint critique that addresses the way intersectional identities impact the making of archaeological histories.
09:00 AM - 09:20 AM: Recherche et développement en archéologie : première phase du projet Innovation
Format de présentation : In-Person
Auteur-e(s) :
  • Marie-Anne Paradis - Artéfact urbain inc.
  • Joey Leblanc - Artéfact urbain inc.
  • Simon Paquin - Artéfact urbain inc.

Présentation du projet financé par Investissement Québec et Artéfact urbain dans le cadre du programme de Soutien aux projets d’innovation. Ce projet vise tout d'abord à une acquisition numérique sur le terrain, puis à une intégration des données brutes dans un environnement de réalité mixte (RM). Le projet consiste à expérimenter cette approche pour la compréhension et l'analyse d’un site archéologique. L'objectif principal est d'améliorer la recherche scientifique grâce à l'intégration de ces technologies, tout en développant des outils de médiation grand public immersifs.

Ce projet ambitieux prévoit également une collaboration étroite avec la Première Nation Wolastoqiyik Wahsipekuk et le parc national du Lac-Témiscouata (SÉPAQ). Une fouille archéologique sera menée à la fin mai 2024 dans le parc national pour récolter les données brutes nécessaires. Cette collaboration permettra de développer un référentiel nécessaire à l'analyse spécialisée des artefacts, tout en testant l'efficacité des procédés de RM dans ce contexte.

Ce projet de trois ans vise à repousser les limites de la recherche professionnelle en intégrant des technologies de pointe et en favorisant la collaboration avec les communautés autochtones, tout en assurant une approche durable et éthique de la découverte et de la préservation du patrimoine.

(Présentatrice : Marie-Anne Paradis)

 
09:20 AM - 09:40 AM: Archaeology and Ganaanaagajitoowad Aki: observing and studying the land, learning the past, present and future
Format de présentation : In-Person
Auteur-e(s) :
  • Kristian Sullivan - KGS Group
  • Bert Cantin - Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation

Since 2018, Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation (WLON) and KGS Group have developed a strong working relationship built on trust and mutual respect. Together, we have designed, implemented, and performed community information and consultation sessions, traditional knowledge studies, scientific youth camps, field environmental monitoring, data collection programs, and emergency environmental response plans. In 2023 we established Ganaanaagajitoowad Aki, a joint venture that formalizes this arrangement in the field of environmental consulting. We are committed to listening, learning, and merging the traditional and technical such that traditional knowledge is honored and respected, and that all scientific and technical requirements are fulfilled. 

This presentation will focus specifically on Ganaanaagajitoowad Aki’s participation in the Stage 2 Archaeological Assessment of Hydro One’s Waasigan Transmission Line, a proposed double-circuit 230 kV transmission line between Thunder Bay and Dryden, Ontario. Portions of this project are situated within WLON tradition territory. Ganaanaagajitoowad Aki is fortunate to be involved in the archaeological fieldwork for the project in 2023 and 2024. This presentation will illustrate how the joint venture is designed and managed, and how the archaeological workplan and fieldwork was organized and developed through a collaborative approach.