The Moatfield site is situated immediately west of the brow of the scarp which overlooks the entrenched floodplain of the Don River east branch, on the south side of Deerlick Creek, a small tributary which flows easterly into the Don River. The site is about 12 kilometres from Lake Ontario at an elevation of 130 metres asl and about 55 metres above the lake (Figure 2.1).

The Quaternary deposits in the vicinity are predominantly clayey to silty Halton till. Overlying the till plain is a discontinuous veneer of glacio-lacustrine sediment, including both deep-water clays and shallow-water sands, laid down by...

The objective of this chapter is to provide a developmental framework for Iroquoian mortuary behaviour within which to consider the Moatfield ossuary. Not only is it necessary to assess the history of the practice of placing human remains from one or more communities in a common burial pit, but it is also important to evaluate the variation in the structures of those pits and the behaviours associated with the placement of the remains. Indeed, while separate burial traditions have been recognized for the various northern Iroquoian groups (i.e., Huron, Neutral and Five Nation Iroquois), there was considerable variability and complexity...

Once the instructions had been given by Six Nations Council to excavate the entire ossuary feature and to remove all of the skeletal remains, a small crew was selected to undertake the excavation. The core crew consisted of Andrew Clish, Beverly Garner, and Kathy Mills, aided on a regular basis by April DeLaurier, Glenn Penoyer, Susan Pfeiffer, Deborah Steiss, and Ron Williamson. The excavation commenced on September 26, 1997, and concluded on December 12, 1997. As the site was situated in a public park, 24-hour security was provided for the duration of the excavation.

The plan shape of the feature...

The goal of our study of the Moatfield human remains was simply to learn as much as we could about what their lives were like. As we learn from history, so we learn from our ancestors’ lives. There are special considerations and approaches that are associated with the nature of this study. We sought to approach the task in a manner that was both respectful and scientifically valid.

The term “osteobiography” is taken from a paper by Frank Saul (1976). He used the term to describe the “who,” “where” and “what” questions that we try to answer regarding a deceased...

The osteobiographic analysis of the Moatfield ossuary provided a window through which to catch a glimpse of life in the Don River watershed of late thirteenth-early fourteenth century southern Ontario. The age distribution and the life table analyses of the Moatfield skeletal sample provide a basis for comparison with other southern Ontario Iroquoian populations and the discernment of temporal and spatial trends in health. An important aspect of skeletal analysis is the determination of the age distribution of the people represented. Not only the total number of people, but also their ages and their sex ratio can help to reconstruct...

The description of paleopathological features of the bones of the Moatfield ossuary will necessarily be incomplete. Nevertheless, during our brief study of the bones and teeth, we tried to identify and quantify changes to normal morphology that might reflect the range and severity of illnesses within the group. As bones were identified and recorded in the spreadsheet, abnormalities were noted. As well, all of the unrecorded rib and vertebral fragments were examined prior to reburial, specifically to identify pathological features such as healed fractures, lytic lesions and periostitis. We focussed on conditions that are known to have existed in other...

For the purpose of this chapter, two questions are of paramount interest: What did the people of the Moatfield community eat and how did they obtain their food? The first approach to answering these questions is provided by analysis of the plant and animal remains recovered from the site (Williamson et al. Chapter 2, this volume).A second approach to answering the dietary question is provided by the human remains themselves. Inadequacies in the diet of the Moatfield people may have left some direct evidence on their skeletons. This includes the manner in which their bones gained mass during growth (Dupras,...

The teeth of past human populations are an important source of information about people's lives. Paleontological studies often emphasize the size and shape of the teeth, building on their strongly inherited characteristics. When the research questions focus on more recent remains, and the questions are about health and well being, the health and hygiene of the oral environment are the focus. The teeth and jaws of the Moatfield people were studied to ascertain their patterns of caries (cavities), abscessing, wear, and pre-mortem tooth loss. The expected pattern, which is based on decades of research among people from many areas of...

Infectious diseases are often transmitted by the airborne route. Inhaled pathogens that lodge in the upper respiratory tract may result in infectious diseases such as maxillary sinusitis. An estimated 14% of modern North Americans suffer from sinusitis, making it one of the most commonly reported infectious diseases in contemporary human populations. Clinical evidence suggests that if sinusitis is left untreated, the disease may affect the bone surrounding the sinus lumen, changing the appearance of that bone (Tovi et al. 1992). Both the daily life of the individual and the normal functioning of the community can be affected by the presence...

The analysis of non-metric skeletal variants can be used to establish biological relationships between individuals and populations in archaeological samples, and can be used to make cultural inferences about mating patterns and genetic divergence.

Subjects of interest in non-metric studies have been the internal structure of populations, their microevolution, and genetic affinities on a regional level to support models of status or social biases within populations, and interactions and genetic relationships between populations (e.g., Alt et al. 1997; Buikstra 1980; Konigsberg and Buikstra 1995; Ossenburg 1976, 1977). Within Iroquoian studies, the most comprehensive study of biological affinities based on non-metric...

Assessment of infant and juvenile remains from archaeological sites has sometimes been used to make comments about the health and longevity of past populations (e.g., Hoppa and Gruspier 1996; Hummert 1983; Pfeiffer and King 1983). The analysis of the infant and juvenile remains from the Moatfield ossuary can also be used to assess the relative health of this population. Ossuary populations are unique in that they are usually limited in time and space, and are thought to represent the surrounding population at that time. In most cases, ossuary burials contain commingled remains and it is often very difficult to make...

Among ossuary samples, the information provided from post-cranial remains is lessened because we are unable to identify discrete “individuals” within the sample. It is difficult to determine the age and sex of individuals solely from their isolated long bones. In spite of these frustrations, a significant amount of information can still be gathered from analyses of the long bones. We can estimate body mass and stature, determine sex with a reasonable level of confidence, and make observations that contribute to the reconstruction of both activity patterns and nutritional health. This chapter is devoted to summarizing information gathered from several bones...

The collaborative study of the Moatfield skeletal remains was an exercise in cooperation and interaction. While all of the collaborators would call themselves anthropologists, they represent distinct sub-fields of anthropological archaeology and biological anthropology. Researchers with differing tool kits and priorities shared information and urged each other to ask slightly novel questions, in the interest of reaching a clearer overall picture of the life and death of the ancestors. The Moatfield project was unique in many ways—the site had not been looted; it was excavated in a manner that maximized whole bone preservation and the potential for us to...