Unknown Ottawa Project
Unknown Ottawa (4000 BCE-1900 CE):
Curating the archaeology of Ottawa's riverine landscape
Schematic map showing the sites discovered in Leamy Lake Park (from Vaillancourt et al. 2008)
This project examines several inter-related archaeological collections from Leamy Lake Park, called Kabeshinàn in Algonquin, excavated and held by Ottawa’s National Capital Commission (NCC). This includes artefact assemblages from before European settlement (6000-500 BP) and from the colonial period. One large assemblage includes lithics and ceramics from a terrestrial survey undertaken by NCC staff and mapped, but never fully-studied. The study of these artefacts will aid in the better understanding of the location and chronology of sites along the shoreline, where continued erosion due to climate change and damming threatens their preservation and our ability to understand the nature of the early occupation of the area. Another assemblage comes from two early 19th-century houses in the park, those of Philemon Wright’s family, the first non-Indigenous settler in the Ottawa Valley. These stand as isolated examples of early residences in the region and their material traces can contribute to a better understanding of local colonial history.
The goal is to create a digital repository of these artefacts with accessible and high-quality data and photographs for scholars and the public alike.
Promotion of the archaeology of the region aims to encourage the public's stewardship of the archaeological objects and the landscape and to stimulate dialogue about both the precontact era and the realities of early settler life among both settler Canadians and the local Indigenous public.
This project receives financial support from a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Partnership Engage Grant (2024-2026), and Carleton’s iCureus program.
Project members:
From the National Capital Commission Archaeology Program: Monica Maika and Robert Clark
From Carleton University: Kavita Mistry, Scott Coleman, Jessie Nelson, Melanie Cockerell, and Christos Zigoumis
Relevant links: