The Curtin site : the historical archaeology of a rural farmstead in Ops Township, Ontario

This thesis is an analysis of the economic context of the occupation of the Curtin site (BbGq-22), a rural farmstead in Ops Township, in the former Victoria County, Ontario. In addition to subsistence farming, the occupants of this rural site were engaging in non-agricultural cottage industries and exploiting the resources of the natural environment they inhabited. The Curtin site is an example of a rural farmstead that was increasingly oriented towards a regional economy throughout the nineteenth and twentieth century. Current literature on the subject of farmstead archaeology emphasizes the importance of constructing regional models of agricultural production and material culture. This thesis aims to contribute to the development of such models in order to facilitate the interpretation of historical archaeological sites in southern Ontario, and specifically in the former Victoria County. To accurately assess the significance of a historical farmstead site in rural Ontario, it must be considered within the context of the socioeconomic systems and physical environments that have influenced its occupational history. As such, this thesis includes a comprehensive review of archival, historical, and geographical information that provides context for the interpretation of the sample artifact assemblage yielded by the archaeological excavation of the Curtin site. I infer that, in addition to being a self-contained unit of production and consumption, the occupants of the Curtin site participated in non-agricultural industrial activities including blacksmithing, pottery and brick-making, which engaged them with a regional economy.Arts, Faculty ofAnthropology, Department ofGraduat