Presenter:  ADRIAN L. BURKE PhD

Dr. Adrian L. Burke is an archaeologist and professor in the Département d’anthropologie at Université de Montréal.   He is a specialist in the pre-contact archaeology and history of the Indigenous people of northeastern North America.  His research focuses on stone tools and personal adornments, and in particular on the exploitation in the past of rocks and minerals used to make tools. He worked as an archaeologist in Quebec for 30 years. His fieldwork is primarily in Canada and the USA, but he has also participated in archaeological projects in Italy, Ireland, Mexico, and Portugal.  Since 2014 he has worked actively on the training of Indigenous archaeologists and participated in collaborative projects with several Indigenous communities.

TITLE OF TALK:  What can we learn about Hudson’s past from Archaeology?

DESCRIPTION OF TALK:

Archaeology allows us to learn about past societies by studying the artifacts and constructions that they left behind. Archaeology is particularly useful for understanding the daily lives of common people and of those groups that are not represented in written documents. Hudson and its immediate surroundings have a long history of human occupation that in many cases only archaeology can reveal and reconstruct. Archaeological sites in the area provide evidence for at least 6000 years of Indigenous occupation and use of the Ottawa River Valley. Hudson itself has at least two known pre-contact archaeological sites on the river.  Hudson also has some fascinating recent archaeological sites, primarily relating to the three glass works that were located in Hudson-Como. This talk will provide an overview of what we know archaeologically about the Hudson region, and provide an in-depth look at recent discoveries of Indigenous occupations at Sandy Beach as well as archaeological excavations at the 19th-century Ottawa Glass Works site in Como.