We like Crawford Lake because we're geeks. It's as simple as that. Way back in the Dawn of Time I went there as a kid with my family, also Geeks, because it was was in the news as a newly discovered Iroquois site. What made an lasting impression was the lake itself; so sensitive that one was not even allowed to walk on the ice or allow the dog to wade and swimming was definitely forbidden. The lake's very geography, petite but deep, makes it mystic. The fact that it was so protected in 1982 makes it Legendary.Times change. In 2014 the lake is still protected, as it was then, under the auspices of the Halton Region Conservation Authority. The fencing that hid the Iroquois site all those years ago is gone, replaced by a longhouse re-construction which is, for the most part, authentic but well trussed up with modern construction tricks. The lake and the archelogical dig are linked. A Scientific PhD type still takes lake bottom samples. Reportedly, he has 40 years of work sunk in Crawford Lake. Impressive.
This is not said lightly. The land was deeded to Halton Region CA by the Crawford Family. Along with the giving of the land came the family lore concerning land use. Lumber was milled in a steam powered mill on the south end of the lake. Ice was quarried out of it in the winter for sale to keep iceboxes cool. The family believed it was bottomless. When a team of horses fell through the ice surely there were lively discussions over where that team ultimately emerged.
If one can't have a bottomless lake, one may as well have the next best thing, a Groovy Lake. This one fits the bill. It is a meromictic lake, one of only twelve in Canada. The ratio of normal to meromictic worldwide is about 1:1,000. To become a meromictic lake the local geography has to hand you a basin deeper than your surface area and, ideally, low water input and output. Crawford Lake is spring fed and exits through a swampy area which is is why the mill was not water powered. This winning combination will allow water to circulate on your top half and practically no circulation to occur on the lower half, resulting in very low oxygen levels and sediment buildup that will sit undisturbed, layer on layer, on your bottom for all the days of your life. Scientists will find you irresistible since a study of all those layers will yield volumes of information about the past, largely connected to pollen count and particulate matter.
One of the things science discovered was corn pollen counts from the 1400's and this led to the speculation that perhaps there was an occupied Iroquois site in the area. This suspicion was corroborated by a local farmer who had a rock he simply could not budge that proved the be a ancient quern. Also, his plow was churning up all kinds of artifacts.
That kind of information, bruited about, tends to end up in scenes such as the one above. That's the Crawford lake dig from back when, all laid out in neat squares. Each square was excavated and all the stuff found in it was meticulously documented. To date, about 10,000 artifacts have been cataloged from Crawford Lake and please note that an artifact can be anything from an entire stone knife to a small fragment of a projectile head. Size matters not.
Very cool. Archeology informs history and history informs sociology (and vice versa) and all of this was touched off by pollen counts in a meromictic lake and a rock that refused to budge.
Why bother?
The answer to that is also part of the cool-ness of Crawford Lake. In this year of 2014 Halton Region CA offer a school trip to explore archeology; specifically, in relation to the site. They've come a long way since 1982 and so also has our understanding of First Nation cultures. Take a moment to contrast what your kid learns in school today concerning First Nations with what you learned. Chances are the information they get is much more detailed that who made totem poles and who used teepees. That's because of archeology.
Suppose you did up a piece of obsidian. Then you say to yourself, this is not local to the area. You do some research and note that it is not even local to Ontario. Data comes in from other sites, also citing the finding of obsidian. Suddenly a possible trade route pops out of the mapped sites. Thus you discover that Native society was much more complex than you assumed it was. Suddenly your definition of the word "primitive" changes. It may even begin to look more like a tag applied due to culture shock than an accurate objective and scientific adjective.
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| Bloodroot |
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| Bloodroot |
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| Blue Cohosh |
If your dig turns up evidence of stored bloodroot then you may well ask, what is that all about and investigate the living plant. It is poisonous, so do not eat it, but the sap in the root happens to be an anesthetic. Blue Cohosh works sort of like Midol. It also aids childbirth. Birchbark, interestingly, has much the same properties as willow, the plant from which we derive aspirin. Cedar and Eastern Hemlock brew up a nice tea that is rich in vitamin C. Thus the tendency for the Jesuits to call cedar, lignum vitae. In 2014 herbal medicine is so trendy that one can get a degree in Naturopathy. Archeology informs sociology. Due to archology, your shaman, who looked pretty terrifying to a Jesuit, suddenly seems a lot more saavy than was previously thought based on prime source documents.
Societal lore gets lost as society changes. 80
years ago the average Joe knew much more about horses and harness than
he does today. The point was made than an archeologist finding a jolly
rancher candy wrapper 600 years from today would not automatically know
what it was. Unless documentation came in from a different dig at a
jolly rancher production factory, or a prime source account of a visit
to same, the use of the wrapper might well remain a mystery. The invention of DDT brought a rapid close to lime production along the Niagara Escarpment. Visit the Ring Kiln south of Forks of the Credit PP and ask yourself what you might think it once was did you not have the handy signs explaining. For that matter, do you know what an icebox was?
The artifact on the right is on the official "We Dunno" list.
We concluded that since it had been lovingly polished it had more than
simply utilitarian use. An archer thought perhaps they were arm guards.
The Geek Family, consulted, wonders if maybe they were used to tighten
guy wires. Aside from the polishing, the different sizes of the bored
holes is very interesting. Also, sort of humbling, is the sure an
certain knowledge than some person, living, breathing and feeling, over
600 years ago, made them.
Archeology is cool science. If you're going to
grow up to be a Geek, consider obtaining a Ph.D. Those field scientists
get to do nifty stuff. Enough nifty stuff can end up in books like The Orenda, winner of Canada Reads:2014. 
Link to info on the Hoffman Lime Kiln http://www.caledonbrucetrail.org/hoffmanlimekiln.html
Link to info on some well researched historical fiction concerning First Nations:
http://www.gear-gear.com/people_longhouse.shtml
Link to the Crawford Lake site:
http://www.conservationhalton.ca/crawford-lake
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