The Kirche Site: A Late Prehistoric Huron Village in the Upper Trent Valley

Abstract

<p>The Kirche site is an early 16th century Huron village that was excavated as an integral component of an archaeological project investigating late Iroquoian occupations in the upper Trent valley between approximately A.D. 1450 and 1615, by which time the area had been abandonded. This thesis describes the archaeological material recovered during three seasons of testing and excavation at the Kirche site and outlines a number of interpretations concerning the occupation of this village. As a component of a regionally focused project, analysis and interpretation are directed towards elucidating the nature of the occupation at the Kirche village within the context of its local cultural environment and only secondarily within the broader context of late prehistoric and protohistoric occupations in south-central and eastern Ontario.</p> <p>The Kirche village appears to have had a complex history of formation, characterized by the fission and fusion of household groups. It is suggested that many of the villagers immigrated to the upper Trent valley in the late 15th or early 16th century, and that a small number of an indigenous population settled in the village as well. Population movements during the late prehistoric period in south-central and eastern Ontario appear to have been accompanied by increased warfare, the growth of villages through the accretion of additional population segments and internal village complexity. The archaeological record at the Kirche village provides additional evidence for these occurrences.</p>