Museum of Ontario Archaeology facts for kids
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| Established | 1933 |
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| Location | 1600 Attawandaron Road London, Ontario, Canada N6G 3M6 |
| Type | Archaeology museum |
The Museum of Ontario Archaeology is a cool place in London, Ontario, Canada. It teaches us about over 11,000 years of human history in Ontario! It's right next to a recreated village from the 1500s, which belonged to the Attawandaron People.
This museum has lots of space for exhibits, a theatre, and a classroom for fun activities. You can also take tours of the recreated village. The museum works closely with The University of Western Ontario. It keeps more than two million artifacts found at archaeological sites across Ontario. It also has labs for studying these items and a big library of archaeology books.
The museum hosts four special events each year. These include the Annual Harvest Festival and Pow Wow in September. There's also an Art & Craft Sale in November, showing traditional First Nation art. In February, you can enjoy the Snowsnake or Winter Festival on Family Day. Finally, Wilfrid Jury Archaeology Day happens in late July.
History of the Museum
The museum started with a private collection of old items belonging to Amos Jury and his son Wilfrid. Their collection was first shown at The University of Western Ontario in 1927. Then, in 1933, a special space was set aside for it in the Lawson Memorial Library. Wilfrid Jury became the first curator of this new museum.
Wilfrid Jury stayed involved with the museum until he passed away in 1981. In 1969, he helped Colonel Tom Lawson and the Fuller family donate the land where the Lawson Site is located to the university. The building where the museum is now, called the Lawson-Jury building, was built between 1980 and 1981.
The museum stands on two important archaeological sites. Before the museum building was constructed, experts found a 4,000-year-old campsite. This ancient site is now known as the Spook Hollow site. The recreated village you can visit sits on top of the Lawson site. This was a Neutral Iroquoian village from the 1500s.
Exploring the Lawson Site
The Lawson Site is on a flat area between the Medway River and Snake Creek. These are small rivers that flow into the Thames River. Around 1500 AD, this spot was home to a strong Neutral Iroquois village. It had a population of up to 1,900 people. People have known about this site since the mid-1800s.
The first official digs at the site were done by W.J. Wintemberg from 1921 to 1923. Wilfrid Jury also excavated the site throughout the 1930s and 1940s. More extensive digging happened in the 1970s when the Museum of Ontario Archaeology was being developed. The University of Western Ontario's Anthropology Department still runs a special field school here every year. The Lawson site was the first archaeological site in Ontario to be added to the Canadian Register of Historic Places.
Archaeologists have found the remains of at least 39 longhouses inside the village. They also found many garbage piles and pits. The whole village was protected by palisade walls and defensive earthworks. Over 500,000 artifacts have been found here. These items tell us a lot about the daily lives of the people who lived there. The villagers grew corn, beans, and squash, which are known as the Three Sisters, in fields around their home.
Museum Connections
The Museum of Ontario Archaeology is connected with several important groups. These include the CMA and the CHIN. It also works with The University of Western Ontario and the Virtual Museum of Canada.
In 2011, a research center called Sustainable Archaeology: Western was built next to the museum. This center is a partnership between the University of Western Ontario and McMaster University. It helps store and study archaeological finds.
Related Pages
- Sustainable Archaeology
