Northeast Subsistence-Settlement Change: A.D. 700 –1300

Arboretum site (AhGx-8) is located on a terrace on the
north shore. Smaller sites are located on both Hickory
Island (AhGx-11) and Rat Island (AhGx-7) and, finally,
two very small sites, Bull’s Point (AhGx-9) and Bull’s
Cove (AhGx-365), are situated at the water’s edge in
glacial ravines on the northwest side of Bull’s Point.
The 1995 and 1996 research was focused on the environs
of Bull’s Point (Figure 5.5). Bull’s Point is another
peninsula jutting into Cootes Paradise, but unlike
Princess and Sassafras Points, it is a plateau of land
about 25 m above the water. It is surrounded on three
sides by steep banks cut by glacial ravines. Test pit survey
was conducted on the heights of Bull’s Point, with
negative results. Survey in glacial ravines relocated the
Bull’s Point site, originally found by Stothers in 1969; in
addition, three other sites were discovered. Two of the
new sites produced chert flakes only, while the third,
Bull’s Cove, yielded Early Ontario Iroquoian pottery.
Excavations were conducted at the Bull’s Point site
in 1995 and 1996, and test excavations at Bull’s Cove in
1996. Each site is situated at the bottom of a glacial
ravine, beginning at the water’s edge and running
inland up a relatively gentle slope. At Bull’s Point cultural
material extends at least 30 m upslope from the
shoreline of Cootes Paradise, whereas at Bull’s Cove
deposits are more limited in amount and appear to be
concentrated within 5 - 10 m of the water. Thirty-four
square meters were excavated at the Bull’s Point site,
yielding a sample of artifacts including rim sherds
from 11 vessels, chipped lithic artifacts including cores,
utilized flakes, and debitage, and fire-cracked rock.
Almost no faunal material was recovered. All but one
of the rim sherds is decorated with distinctive Princess
Point cord-wrapped stick motifs. One rim sherd is decorated
with a linear stamp motif and may indicate a
later Iroquoian presence at the site. Several shallow features
were uncovered in the excavations, but none
yielded any artifacts. Over 80 post molds were discovered,
and likely trace the outline of a small structure 4
by 3.5 m in size (Smith 1996c). Ongoing analysis of
flotation samples has yielded one carbonized maize
fragment. Twelve square meters were excavated at the
Bull’s Cove site, yielding a very small amount of pottery
and chipped lithic material. No rim sherds were
recovered, but other sherds show linear-stamped decoration.
As was the case for the Bull’s Point site, almost
no faunal remains were recovered from Bull’s Cove.
Because information is so limited, it is difficult to
interpret the Princess Point occupation at Cootes
Paradise, although exploitation of the wetland was
likely quite intensive. The large sites at Princess and
Sassafras Points may have been relatively large habitations,
but it is impossible to say whether they were
occupied on a seasonal or year-round basis. They may
have been seasonal sites occupied repeatedly over a
long period of time by small groups of people.
Stothers’ interpretation of Princess Point settlement
pattern argued for seasonal occupation of large macroband
encampments on large bodies of water during
the late spring and early summer, and small microband
camps in upland environments during the fall and
winter. Applied to the Cootes Paradise situation, this
model suggests that the Princess and Sassafras Point
sites, and perhaps the Lilac Gardens and Arboretum
sites, were spring-summer macroband habitations. The
site locations on Hickory Island, Rat Island and Bull’s
Point remain unexplained because they are not in
upland settings. We have questioned Stothers’ model,
however, and have raised the possibility that the large
Princess Point sites may have been occupied yearround
(Crawford and Smith 1996; Crawford et al.
1997b; Smith and Crawford 1995). Alternatively,
Princess Point and Sassafras Point may have been base
habitations that were occupied for all or most of the
year. Other areas of Cootes Paradise were then exploited
by smaller groups of people at various times of the
year. The data from the Bull’s Point site suggests that it
was a short-term camp for a small number of people,
perhaps multicomponent, that may have been
employed as a base for collecting plant food in the
autumn.
UPDATES
This research, although in its early stage, offers a
basis for revisiting a number of issues pertaining to
Princess Point. The following discussion updates our
thinking on the classification of Princess Point, its geographical
distribution, chronology, material culture,
settlement pattern, subsistence, and crop diffusion. We
are currently continuing to evaluate many of the issues
outlined.
Cultural Classification
Since its inception, Princess Point has been referred
to as an archaeological “complex” (Crawford and
Smith 1996). A review of the classification is due. The
period of transition from Middle Woodland to Late
Woodland in southern Ontario is difficult to characterize
for a number of reasons. Research has been sporadic
in its intensity and variable in its geographic coverage.
In addition, no consistently accepted culture-
108 Smith and Crawford