Ratcliff Site, Wendat (Huron) Ancestral Village
Encyclopedia
The Ratcliff or Baker Hill site is a 16th-century Huron-Wendat ancestral village located on one of the headwater tributaries of the Rouge River
on the south side of the Oak Ridges Moraine
in present-day Whitchurch–Stouffville, approximately 25 kilometers north of Toronto
. The Ratcliff/Baker Hill site is located on the east side of Highway 48
, south of Bloomington Road in Whitchurch–Stouffville.
The ravine on the village site was infilled during the early 1950s to allow for the expansion of a neighboring quarry.
The village occupied approximately 2.8 hectares on the brow of a hill overlooking a steep ravine on the west side.
The artifacts found on the site in the mid-19th century included stone-axes, flint arrows and spear heads, broken crockery, many earthen and stone pipes, bears' teeth with holes bored through them, polished teeth of beaver, deer and moose for decorative use; bone needles, and fish-spears made of deer shoulder-blades, as well as millstones used by the women for crushing corn. A human skull was found "perforated with seven holes, and had evidently been held as a trophy, the holes being the score of enemies slaughtered in battle by the wearer."
The ceramics found on the site indicate that the local community must have had some contact with other Iroquoian groups living in present-day upstate New York and in the St. Lawrence Valley. The large quantity of both ground and chipped stone indicates that the Wendat Village was involved with the production and distribution of stone artifacts. The presence of some contact-period (European) artifacts, such as black glass and copper beads, suggest that the site was inhabited between the late 16th and early 17th centuries.
About 400 meters north of the Ratcliff site on lot 10 in concession 8, a mass grave with "many hundreds" of Huron skeletons was discovered and removed in the late 1840s. In ancient Huron tradition, the dead would be initially buried in a temporary grave. Every ten years the accumulated bones would be moved to a mass grave in an elaborate ceremony.
The inhabitants likely came here from the so-called Mantle Site
, located five kilometers to the south-east in Stouffville, when the latter was abandoned in the mid-16th century. The Ratcliff site was occupied at the same time as the so-called Aurora or Old Fort
site, four kilometres north-west of Ratcliff, also within the boundaries of what is today Whitchurch–Stouffville.
Rouge River (Ontario)
The Rouge River is a two river system. Little Rouge and Rouge River are in the east and the northeast parts of Toronto and begin in the Oak Ridges Moraine in Richmond Hill and Whitchurch-Stouffville...
on the south side of the Oak Ridges Moraine
Oak Ridges Moraine
The Oak Ridges Moraine is an ecologically important geological landform in the Mixedwood Plains of south-central Ontario, Canada. The moraine covers a geographic area of between Caledon and Rice Lake, near Peterborough...
in present-day Whitchurch–Stouffville, approximately 25 kilometers north of Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
. The Ratcliff/Baker Hill site is located on the east side of Highway 48
Ontario Highway 48
King's Highway 48, also known as Highway 48, is a provincially-maintained highway in southern Ontario that extends from Major Mackenzie Drive in Markham, through Whitchurch-Stouffville, to Highway 12 south-east of Beaverton, Ontario. Prior to 1998, Highway 48 extended from Highway 401 in Toronto to...
, south of Bloomington Road in Whitchurch–Stouffville.
The ravine on the village site was infilled during the early 1950s to allow for the expansion of a neighboring quarry.
The village occupied approximately 2.8 hectares on the brow of a hill overlooking a steep ravine on the west side.
The artifacts found on the site in the mid-19th century included stone-axes, flint arrows and spear heads, broken crockery, many earthen and stone pipes, bears' teeth with holes bored through them, polished teeth of beaver, deer and moose for decorative use; bone needles, and fish-spears made of deer shoulder-blades, as well as millstones used by the women for crushing corn. A human skull was found "perforated with seven holes, and had evidently been held as a trophy, the holes being the score of enemies slaughtered in battle by the wearer."
The ceramics found on the site indicate that the local community must have had some contact with other Iroquoian groups living in present-day upstate New York and in the St. Lawrence Valley. The large quantity of both ground and chipped stone indicates that the Wendat Village was involved with the production and distribution of stone artifacts. The presence of some contact-period (European) artifacts, such as black glass and copper beads, suggest that the site was inhabited between the late 16th and early 17th centuries.
About 400 meters north of the Ratcliff site on lot 10 in concession 8, a mass grave with "many hundreds" of Huron skeletons was discovered and removed in the late 1840s. In ancient Huron tradition, the dead would be initially buried in a temporary grave. Every ten years the accumulated bones would be moved to a mass grave in an elaborate ceremony.
The inhabitants likely came here from the so-called Mantle Site
Mantle Site, Wendat (Huron) Ancestral Village
The Mantle site in the town of Whitchurch–Stouffville, north-east of Toronto, is the largest and most complex ancestral Wendat-Huron village to be excavated in the Lower Great Lakes region to date....
, located five kilometers to the south-east in Stouffville, when the latter was abandoned in the mid-16th century. The Ratcliff site was occupied at the same time as the so-called Aurora or Old Fort
Aurora Site, Wendat (Huron) Ancestral Village
The Aurora Site, also known as the "Old Fort," "Old Indian Fort," "Murphy Farm" or "Hill Fort" site, is a sixteenth-century Huron-Wendat ancestral village located on one of the headwater tributaries of the East Holland River on the north side of the Oak Ridges Moraine in present-day...
site, four kilometres north-west of Ratcliff, also within the boundaries of what is today Whitchurch–Stouffville.
Further reading
- Barkey, Jean, et al. "Whitchurch Township". Erin, ON: Boston Mills, 1992. Pp. 122f.
- Birch, Jennifer. "Coalescence and Conflict in Iroquoian Ontario." Archeological Review from Cambridge 25, no. 1 (2010). Pp. 29–48.
- Emerson, J.Norman. "The Archaeology of the Ontario Iroquois." Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago, 1954.
- Emerson, J. Norman. "The Old Indian Fort Site." Ontario History 50, 1 (1958). pp. 55–6.
- Dibb, G. "An Archaeological Survey of the East Holland River and Its Environs." Ms. on file, Archaeology Unit, Ministry of Culture and Communications, Toronto, 1979.
- Mulvany, C.P., et al. "The Township of Whitchurch". History of Toronto and County of York, Ontario. Toronto: C.B. Robinson, 1885. Pp. 149f.
- Sioui, Georges E. "Wendat: The Heritage of the Circle". Trans. J. Brierley. Vancouver, BC: UBC Press, 1999.
- Warrick, Gary A. "A Population History of the Huron-Petun, A.D. 900-1650", PhD Thesis, McGill University. Montreal, PQ, 1990 (revised edition published as "A Population History of the Huron-Petun, A.D. 500-1650". New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008).
External links
- The Huron-Wendat Museum, Wendake, QuebecWendake, QuebecWendake is the current name for the Huron-Wendat reserve, an enclave within Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. One of the Seven Nations of Canada, this was formerly known as Village-des-Hurons , and also as -Lorette....
- Huron-Wendat Nation, Wendake, QuebecWendake, QuebecWendake is the current name for the Huron-Wendat reserve, an enclave within Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. One of the Seven Nations of Canada, this was formerly known as Village-des-Hurons , and also as -Lorette....
. - Agondachia Association, Ossossane Fondation, Wendake, QuebecWendake, QuebecWendake is the current name for the Huron-Wendat reserve, an enclave within Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. One of the Seven Nations of Canada, this was formerly known as Village-des-Hurons , and also as -Lorette....