The Struggle to Identify Nineteenth-Century Indigenous Sites in Cultural Resource Management

This chapter explores some of the current difficulties in identifying nineteenth-century Indigenous sites in cultural resource management (CRM) surveys in Ontario, Canada. In discussing some of the common signifiers used to identify nineteenth-century Indigenous sites, such as pierced coins and knapped glass, the author highlights some of the risks and unintended consequences of these common practices. The author emphasizes that we must also explicitly explore what makes an archaeological site Indigenous to deconstruct the essentialized and unquestioned categories that are prevalent within archaeological practice.