Large crowd for indigenous artifacts display opening

Craig Bakay | Mar 29, 2017

A standing room only crowd welcomed a display of indigenous artifacts found in the Township to the Tay Valley Council chambers on Harper Road last Saturday.

Reeve Keith Kerr opened the proceedings followed by a ceremonial smudging of the artifacts by Shabot Obaadjiwan ambassador Larry McDermott and songs from the Lanark Drum circle led by Francine Desjardins.

“Tobacco is the medicine of reciprocity,” McDermott said. “It connects us with our ancestors in the spirit world.

“Sweetgrass represents the hair of Mother Earth with generosity and peace.

“Sage is a cleansing medicine.

“Cedar is balance, male/female and it unites opposites.”

He said the smudging was done in a clockwise direction and “tobacco connects us to the ancestors of these artifacts and all of our ancestors.”

Maberly’s Brenda Kennett, a principal with Past Recovery Archeological Services, curated the display and spoke on their use and possible origins.

“This is just a small sample from the Perth Museum and often we don’t have good information as to where they came from,” she said. “They could be 3,000 to 9,000 years old but they are evidence of 10,000 years of human settlement in Southern Ontario and along the western end of the Champlain Sea during the Archaic Period.

But, the fact that the artifacts were found in this area suggests that there was a trading network.

Kennett referred to a pipe that “is not from this area” and a copper fishing gaff.

“The closest source of native copper is from the southern end of Lake Superior,” she said. “But there is mica in this area and that was probably traded for the copper.

“It represents a network for trade and the exchange of ideas.”

She said about 2,000 years ago, pottery started appearing, during the Woodland Period.

“Pottery collections here are frustrating because they lack context,” she said. “For example, was it a single artifact left on a journey, part of a regular location used at a particular time of the years or part of a year-round settlement?”

The artifacts will be on display in the lobby of the municipal offices throughout the year. For more information about the process of reconciliation, contact the Lanark County Neighbours for Truth and Reconciliation who helped organize the event on Facebook.