Downsview
| Site Name: Downsview |
| Borden No.: AkGu-13 |
| County: York |
| Township: North York |
| Culture: Late Iroquoian |
| Research Date: Fall 1950 |
The Downsview's Site Location
The Downsview Site is located approximately two kilometres south of the Parsons site. It is in an unusual setting for an Iroquoian village. It is located on the flat summit and terraced side of a hill along the bank of the Black Creek. The site is approximately 2 hectares (five acres) in size.
Second from left: Lloyd Scott
Although excavations of archaeological sites tend to blur together in the minds of the crew after half a century, there are some memories that last. The Downsview site, for those who laboured and shivered there, is memorable for the fourteen inches of fresh snow that fell overnight after the first day of excavating. The buses stuck fast on the dirt lane into the site and freeing them required much digging. It was necessary to shovel through deep snow to reach the previous day's excavation units.
Dr. Emerson's student excavations usually took place in the late fall so that he had time in the early fall to instruct students on excavation techniques before introducing them to the sites so there was always the chance of an early snowfall.
Those who excavated at the Downsview site consequently nicknamed it 'the Snowflake site'. This aspect of the excavation was aptly captured by Lloyd Scott in his wonderful etching that is on display on this page.
H.E. Devereux
Etching by Lloyd Scott 1951
