The Keffer Site (e-book)

The Keffer site, excavated in 1985 and 1988 remains one of the most significant Frontier Coalescent Ontario Woodland Tradition (OWT) Villages to be subject to salvage excavation in Northern Iroquoia. In this innovative body of work, Finlayson and Lerner provide a detailed study of the chronology, culture history, and settlement patterns of the Keffer site and 28 other Black Creek and Realignment Substage sites on the Don and Upper Rouge Rivers.

Keffer was a 1.8 ha village occupied by Iroquoians and Anishinabek between about A.D. 1526 and 1550. Results of this study propose a new sequence of the village’s growth during Construction, Initial, and Final Occupation Phases, and new perspectives on defensive strategies in the planning of the village throughout its occupation.

On a broader scale, Finlayson and Lerner define four communities of OWT peoples who occupied the Don and Upper Rouge Rivers during the Black Creek substage, before coalescing to create the Keffer site. The study further describes the significance of frontiers on the Duffin Creek and the Niagara Escarpment with a later frontier on the Humber River as key to understanding the OWT occupation of the central and western northern shore of Lake Ontario.

This study emphasizes the importance of using previously existing data in writing archaeological histories and the need to have a firm grasp on chronology, culture history, and settlement patterns before investigating problems of broader anthropological interest.

This data-rich volume examines the Keffer site, a frontier village of the Ontario Woodland Tradition, excavated by Finlayson during his tenure at the London Museum of Archaeology (now the Museum of Ontario Archaeology). Through the re-evaluation of legacy collections, the application of modern technologies, and the integration of Indigenous perspectives, the authors challenge traditional interpretations about ancestral Anishinabek and Iroquoian interactions, situating Keffer within a broader context of 29 archaeological sites along the Don and Upper Rouge River drainages. Featuring 48 tables of data and 228 full-colour maps, The Keffer Site lays a foundation for future research, offering multiple interpretations and fostering a shared understanding of the complex histories that continue to shape this region now recognized as the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) of southern Ontario. Rhonda Bathurst, PhD, Executive Director, The Museum of Ontario Archaeology.

This volume presents an analysis and interpretation of the Keffer site settlement patterns. The Keffer site, an early 16th century Huron-Wendat/Anishinabek village, was fully excavated as a CRM project almost 50 years ago under the direction of the senior author. This publication provides a detailed investigation of the site from a settlement pattern approach, covering ancillary structures (sweat baths), houses and palisades, settlement layout, and regional context. Data is laid out in a series of tables, graphs, and over 200 full-colour house and site plans. The Keffer site along with 28 other sites in the Don and Upper Rouge drainages in the Toronto region, dating to the late 15th and 16th century, are arranged chronologically in regional sequences, based on settlement duration, population, and occupational histories of individual sites. It offers the most current history of Huron-Wendat/Anishinabek interaction on the north shore of Lake Ontario ca. 1475-1550. This book will become one of the classic references for future research on the Indigenous landscape of 15th and 16th century southern Ontario. Gary Warrick, PhD, Wilfrid Laurier University, Professor of Contemporary Studies (retired).

This volume reports on the extensive settlement data from the Keffer site including detailed descriptions of longhouses, sweat baths, and ancillary structures including likely Anishinabek wigwams. An early chapter provides a history of investigation of the site and summaries of the numerous significant studies carried out by other scholars. The high-quality figures and tables will facilitate use by students and researchers for their own comparative purposes. However, this volume is far more than a site report. Comparisons are made between the Draper and Keffer sites, two contemporaneous sixteenth century coalescent villages located in the central north shore of Lake Ontario. Re-evaluation of existing data by the authors situates these sites in a rapidly evolving social and political landscape. Much is accomplished with this volume, not the least of which is laying the groundwork for future research. Anyone perusing this book will be struck by the myriad possibilities for future archaeological research in the province of Ontario and beyond. William Engelbrecht, PhD, Buffalo State College, Professor of Anthropology (retired).