Conolly, James

This thesis critically engages with the historic site Sainte-Marie among the Hurons. The most visited historic site in Ontario anchors a vivid and pervasive story of early Canada while archaeological excavations and reconstruction have a history of their own. It is intertwined with the Martyrs' Shrine and regional sites of significance and pilgrimage in the Catholic world where veneration as saints of Jesuits collectively known as the Canadian Martyrs takes place. Through a panoramic perspective and participant-observer experiences within the sites, in present-day Wendake, Québec, and at a Jesuit mission in Chiapas, Mexico, dimensions of landscape, temporality, materiality, and identity are explored. Development of this history and place in relationship to Indigenous peoples, the Catholic Church, and the Canadian public are examined with consideration for findings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, advancement in archaeological knowledge, and ongoing tensions in the practice of archaeology in Ontario.

Author Keywords: Canadian Martyrs, Huron-Wendat, Jesuits, Landscape, Sainte-Marie among the Hurons, Truth and Reconciliation Commission

The objective of this thesis is to collect and analyse wild clay from the vicinity of previously identified and excavated archaeological sites near Pigeon and Rice Lakes, and comparing the characterized clay samples to archaeological pottery samples from the sites. The purpose of this research is to explore the resource exploitation in the landscapes around sites, and investigate the behaviours associated with resource exploitation and pottery manufacture. Through the application of X-Ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRF), each sample from four clay sources was analysed for its chemical composition, and compared to the chemical composition of Middle and Late Woodland Period pottery to investigate the similarities or differences between sources and finished items. The results demonstrated overlap between a source east of Rice Lake and pottery excavated from Chiminis-1 and Jacob Island-2.

Author Keywords: Clay Sourcing, Ontario Archaeology, Pottery, Resource Exploitation, Woodland Period, X-Ray Fluorescence Spectrometry

Recent work at the site of Tamsagbulag, Mongolia, suggests it predates both agriculture and herding in the broader region by more than 2000 years. These excavations showed a more intensive use than expected, consistent with a hypothesis of year-round sedentism alongside a primary reliance on large game. This is noteworthy because, while sedentary hunter-gatherers are known, they are often heavily reliant on plant foods and/or small prey such as fish. Based on the evidence, this thesis concludes that the dwellings are most likely seasonally used rather than year-round settlements. Studying patterns in artifact distribution can inform our understanding of relative length of occupation through a study of accretion and depletion as they relate to habitation, abandonment, and post-abandonment processes. This research utilizes spatial analyses to visualize level-specific patterns in artifact distributions within each excavated dwelling and identify specific clusters of artifacts that may hold insight into potential waste management practices.

Author Keywords: House floor assemblages, Neolithic, Seasonality, Sedentism, Site formation processes, Spatial analysis

This study examines the foraging strategies of Mesolithic foragers in the Central Balkans, particularly those employed by the occupants of Crvena Stijena, Montenegro. The Prey Choice Model, Patch Choice Model, and Marginal Value Theorem are used to interpret subsistence patterns. The data from the Crvena Stijena assemblages are compared to those from other Mesolithic sites in the region, along with an Upper Paleolithic assemblage at Crvena Stijena, to assess patterns of animal resource use throughout the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene in the region. Red deer (Cervus elaphus), roe deer (Capreolus capreolus), wild boar (Sus scrofa), and brown hare (Lepus europaeus) are the most commonly identified taxa in the assemblages. The analysis suggests that Mesolithic foragers at Crvena Stijena, and at many sites throughout the region, were primarily exploiting high-ranked prey types. There is evidence that Mesolithic foragers engaged in more intensive subsistence strategies than those of Upper Paleolithic foragers.

Author Keywords: Central Balkans, Early Holocene, Human Behavioral Ecology, Late Pleistocene, Mesolithic, Zooarchaeology

Understanding tissue turnover rate is crucial for isotopic analysis. Collagen, a main component of bone, is often studied in archaeology and paleontology, yet bone collagen turnover rates across various skeletal elements, remain underexplored. This study addresses this by assessing collagen turnover rates in multiple human skeletal elements using the bomb carbon dating method. Seven donors, aged 54 to 78, from the REST[ES] facility in Québec, were sampled. Turnover rates varied significantly among skeletal elements, ranked from slowest to fastest as follows: ulna, humerus, femur, rib, pelvis, and vertebra. It was shown that turnover rates are not consistent throughout life and are not averaged over a turnover period. For studies aiming to reconstruct temporal variation in life history, vertebrae and ulnae should be used due to their distinct turnover rates. This research provides the most comprehensive list of bone collagen turnover rates for various human skeletal elements.

Author Keywords: Bomb carbon dating, Bone collagen, Human physiology, Radiocarbon, Stable isotope analysis, Turnover rate

This study explores the connection between the historical occurrences and the landscape changes on Main Duck Island, located at the eastern end of Lake Ontario. This research is conceptualized within the framework of Maritime Cultural Landscapes (MCL) to understand the relationship between the landscape and Lake Ontario. To explore this relationship, the study integrates spatial and archaeological methods such as GIS-based paleoshoreline modeling to understand the landscape change over time, analysis of air photographs, visibility analysis (viewshed) to understand island mobility, archaeological reconnaissance survey to discover and rediscover archaeological sites on the island, and ceramic analysis of surface finds to identify decorative motifs to establish cross cultural similarities between finds on mainland Canada and New York. This study is significant in contextualizing historical events such as Indigenous and non-Indigenous migration with landscape changes and archaeological data. Ultimately, the study corroborates past environmental conditions that have influenced the island's morphology with contemporary ones.

Author Keywords: Archaeological Reconnaissance survey, GIS (Geographic Information Systems), Island Archaeology, Maritime Cultural Landscapes, Paleoshoreline Modelling, Viewshed Analysis

This thesis critically engages with the historic site Sainte-Marie among the Hurons. The most visited historic site in Ontario anchors a vivid and pervasive story of early Canada while archaeological excavations and reconstruction have a history of their own. It is intertwined with the Martyrs' Shrine and regional sites of significance and pilgrimage in the Catholic world where veneration as saints of Jesuits collectively known as the Canadian Martyrs takes place. Through a panoramic perspective and participant-observer experiences within the sites, in present-day Wendake, Québec, and at a Jesuit mission in Chiapas, Mexico, dimensions of landscape, temporality, materiality, and identity are explored. Development of this history and place in relationship to Indigenous peoples, the Catholic Church, and the Canadian public are examined with consideration for findings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, advancement in archaeological knowledge, and ongoing tensions in the practice of archaeology in Ontario.

Author Keywords: Canadian Martyrs, Huron-Wendat, Jesuits, Landscape, Sainte-Marie among the Hurons, Truth and Reconciliation Commission

The onset of the Natufian sees the unfolding of a lasting dietary shift: the transition from foraging to farming. To understand this transition, we have to identify the exploited plants and explain why they were chosen. To that end, I used use-wear and residue analysis to isolate wear patterns distinctive of specific plants. I conducted a series of six grinding experiments on wheat, barley, fenugreek, lentils, roasted wheat, and rinsed/soaked fenugreek. I then examined the tools under multiple levels of magnification using established protocols and descriptive criteria. To ensure that my descriptive criteria are reproducible, a blind test was performed. The experimental data are then compared to previous studies and residue analysis on the tools used to process wheat and lentils was performed. My results have expanded the experimental database and support the idea that there are distinctions between cereals and legumes and differences between types of cereals and legumes.

Author Keywords: Blind test, Cereals, Groundstone tools, Legumes, Starch analysis, Use-wear analysis

In the southern Levant, ground stone tools (GST) provide insight into early plant food exploitation, butchery, and cognition. Outside of these examples, GST evidence is scarce, particularly for the Middle Paleolithic. An extensive assemblage of GST recovered from Nesher Ramla, an open-air hunting camp in Israel, presents the unique opportunity to study the role of GST within Middle Paleolithic behaviour. Use-wear and residue analysis, together with replication experiments are employed to investigate GST function within a specific period of site use by focusing on GST from the Upper Sequence (Units I-II) which reflects a trend of decreasing site-use intensity. The results indicate that GST were employed for bone breaking and knapping during the final phases of occupation while comparison with Unit V suggests longer occupations involved more diverse and extensive use of GST. GST at open-air sites are also proposed to represent a strategy for intensive exploitation of location-specific resources.

Author Keywords: Ground Stone Tools, Hammerstones, Middle Paleolithic, Residue Analysis, southern Levant, Use-Wear Analysis

Central to wildlife conservation and management is the need for refined, spatially explicit knowledge on the diversity and distribution of species and the factors that drive those patterns. This is especially vital as anthropogenic disturbance threatens rapid large-scale change, even in the most remote areas of the planet. My dissertation examines theinfluence of land- and sea-scape heterogeneity on patterns of genetic differentiation, diversity, and broad-scale distributions of island-dwelling ungulates in the Arctic Archipelago. First, I investigated genetic differentiation among island populations of Peary caribou (Rangifer tarandus pearyi) in contrast to continental migratory caribou (Rangifer tarandus) and evaluated whether genetic exchange among Peary caribou island populations was limited by the availability of sea ice – both now and in the future. Differentiation among both groups was best explained by geodesic distance, revealing sea ice as an effective platform for Peary caribou movement and gene flow. With future climate warming, substantial reductions in sea ice extent were forecast which significantly increased resistance to caribou movement, particularly in summer and fall. Second, I assessed genetic population structure and diversity of northern caribou and deciphered how Island Biogeography Theory (IBT) and Central Marginal Hypothesis (CMH) could act in an archipelago where isolation is highly variable due to the dynamics of sea ice. Genetic differentiation among continental and island populations was low to moderate. In keeping with IBT and CMH, island-dwelling caribou displayed lower genetic diversity compared to mainland and mainland migratory herds; the size of islands (or population range) positively influenced genetic diversity, while distance-to-mainland and fall ice-free coastlines negatively influenced genetic diversity. Hierarchical structure analysis revealed multiple units of caribou diversity below the species level. Third, I shifted my focus to the terrestrial landscape and explored the elements governing species-environment relationships. Using species distribution models, I tested the response of caribou and muskoxen to abiotic versus abiotic + biotic predictors, and included distance to heterospecifics as a proxy for competitive interactions. Models that included biotic predictors outperformed models with abiotic predictors alone, and biotic predictors were most important when identifying habitat suitability for both ungulates. Further, areas of high habitat suitability for caribou and muskoxen were largely disjunct, limited in extent, and mainly outside protected areas. Finally, I modelled functional connectivity for two genetically and spatially disjunct groups of island-dwelling caribou. For High Arctic caribou, natural and anthropogenic features impeded gene flow (isolation-by-resistance); for Baffin Island caribou we found panmixia with absence of isolation-by-distance. Overall, my dissertation demonstrates the varying influences of contemporary land- and sea-scape heterogeneity on the distribution, diversity and differentiation of Arctic ungulates and it highlights the vulnerability of island-dwelling caribou to a rapidly changing Arctic environment.

Author Keywords: Circuitscape, connectivity, Island Biogeography, landscape genetics, population structure, species distribution models