The Excavation and Historical Identification of a Huron Ossuary

Abstract

The unusual opportunity of excavating a Huron ossuary presented itself to the Royal Ontario Museum of Archaeology in 1946. The fact that probably less than a half dozen such sites still remain, coupled with the possibility that the ossuary in question was the one which the French Jesuit, Jean de Brebeuf, saw in use in 1636, led the Museum to decide upon excavation. A special grant from the Province to the Museum for archaeological purposes enabled work to begin. The site was situated on a small sandy plain about one hundred acres in extent (Fig. 115), on the farm of Mr. Charles Daoust, in the north half of lot 14, concession 7, Tiny township, Simcoe county. The nearest stream is one-half mile to the west. Remains of historic Huron villages lie one mile north and one and one-half miles northwest of the site. When first seen by the writer, the ossuary was visible as a broad, saucer-shaped depression in the ground, whose maximum depth was about two feet, with a slightly elevated rim marking its borders. The owner said that he had long known the place for what it was, since he had once attempted to bury a sheep in itr but he believed it had not previously been disturbed. After finding human bones, and recovering them, he had not again touched the pit (Fig. 116).