Volume 98, Spring 2025

EN:

Through the discussion of maté in ethnographic and historical contexts and its treatment as a commodity in the wider sense, it is possible to reflect on how the analysis of a single category of object must be considered through an interdisciplinary approach using a variety of sources. In this case, ethnographic information served to interpret the acquisition and consumption of yerba mate and its material kit as elements of distinction for the Pehuenche, an indigenous group from South America, for the transmission of their values and knowledge, but at the same time as the link with the dominant society. This perspective opens-up the possibility to widen the vision regarding the analysis of an object from an archaeological perspective, incorporating the social implications of its use, both from past and present times.

EN:

This paper presents and interprets compositional data for a nineteenth-century red-firing earthenware (i.e., redware) pitcher emblazoned in relief with the phrase “Our Canada.” Although archetypical Canadian symbols such as the maple leaf and beaver are common on historical ceramics and glass, labelling of historical wares with such a patriotic—even defiant—banner as “Our Canada” is virtually unknown. The “Our Canada Pitcher” (henceforth “OCP”) might have been inspired by Confederation itself, or some later (post-1867) event linked to the nationhood of this young country. The pitcher is unsigned by its manufacturer and is undated. Knowledge of where and approximately when the pitcher was manufactured places important constraints on why it was made and the significance of its message. We make the tacit assumption that the OCP is a domestic product but cannot from the outset exclude the possibility that it was imported from a British or American source.

EN:

This study explores the question of why some settlements in frontier environments persevere to the present, while others become “ghost towns,” and how the forces affecting these changes can be reflected in the region’s material culture such as built form. To help answer this question, the authour examines a relevant case study from Haliburton County in Ontario, on the Canadian Shield. The first colonial settlements in Haliburton County began as farming villages in the 1860s. Some of these hamlets exist today, but others were abandoned after the first few decades. The author examines the material culture of the region, including such built form as colonization roads, railways and highways, the organisation of which helped to predetermine the rise and/or fall of settlements. The examination of the region’s built form through the lens of Central Place Theory helps us to identify how particular populated centres came to merit higher standings in the regional hierarchy of settlements than others did, by offering access to coveted services in the economic, transportation and communication sectors. The authour suggests that the locations of initial settlements along colonization roads situated some as ideal sites in which to build railway stations when railways were built through the area in the 1890s. Possessing railway stations, in turn, positioned some settlements as central places through which paved roads were built when that mode of infrastructure became dominant by the 1930s. The progression of these forces led some settlements in Haliburton to prosper, and others to wither and become abandoned. Taken together, a heightened perception of the dynamics of how transportation and communication infrastructure and built form impacts local social environments can help us to better plan the ways in which regions are developed today.