The Archaeology Centre – University of Toronto

About the Archaeology Centre

The Archaeology Centre is a community that brings archaeologists and people interested in archaeology together across the University of Toronto and beyond. We aim to provide a centralized hub of information about opportunities (e.g., field schools, scholarships, etc.) and events (e.g., lectures, interest groups, symposia, etc.) related to archaeology. We are not an academic unit at the university and do not offer courses for credit or degree programs. If you are interested in academically pursuing archaeology at the University of Toronto, please see the following departments for more information and contacts:

Department of Anthropology
Department of Art History
Department of Classics
Department of Near & Middle Eastern Civilizations
Department of Earth Sciences

Regular Interest Groups

The Faunal Interest Group

The group has convened by-weekly (Fridays from 1:30 pm to 3:30 pm in the Archaeology Centre boardroom AP140 at 19 Ursula Franklin Street) since September 2007. The group discusses new and old issues of zoo archaeological method and theory. For more information, please contact Alicia Hawkins at alicia.hawkins@utoronto.ca.

September Events

Archaeology Centre Welcome Back Party! Friday, September 20th between 4:00 – 8:00 pm at the Prenup Pub (191 College St, M5T 1P9, second floor). All are welcome!

September Talks

The Archaeology Centre (University of Toronto), the Archaeological Services Inc., Trent University Archaeological Research Centre, and Yap Films present: Talks at ROM. “Paradigm Shift. How Archaeology is Rewriting the History of the Americas,” a documentary screening and panel discussion examining how new research – from the Canadian Arctic to central Mexico – is challenging us to rethink the history of humans in the Americas. Thursday, September 26th, 2024 at 6:30 – 9:15 pm (FREE RSVP Required). Register at rom.ca.

September Talks

The Archaeology Centre presents: “Indigenous Archaeologies of Reclaiming and Revivance,” by Dr. Paulette Steeves (Tier II Canada Research Chair in Healing and Reconciliation, Algoma University). Friday, September 27^th, 2024 at 3:00 pm. 19 Ursula Franklin Street, Room AP130. Indigenous archaeologies weave Indigenous voices, knowledge, and histories through Western archaeologies to reclaim and revive Indigenous histories and humanities erased and denied by Western archaeology. This is not an archaeology of resistance; it is an archaeology of reclaiming and revivance. Archaeologies often identify the Indigenous people of Turtle Island as Asians from Asia, a culture and country that did not exist in the deep past. Yet, in many Indigenous genesis histories, Indigenous people say they have been here since time immemorial. The traditional Western archaeological story argues that Indigenous people have been in the Western Hemisphere for 12-15 kya. Disconnecting Indigenous people from their ancient homelands and identities is violent, destructive, and ongoing. In listening to oral histories and weaving them through archaeological evidence, I argue that Indigenous people have been in the Western Hemisphere for over 130 kya. Reclaiming and rewriting deep Indigenous history and relinking Indigenous people to their ancient homelands is a path to healing for Indigenous people. Understanding Indigenous people’s links to homelands in the deep past leads to decolonizing minds and hearts and informs and addresses racism and discrimination in contemporary populations.

Archaeology Centre Debates Symposium 2024

2024 Theme: “Sacred Flames: The Place of Fire in Ritual, Religion, and Cosmology,” sponsored by Michael Chazan. This is the Fifth Annual Debateds in Archaeology symposium hosted by the Archaeology Centre of the University of Toronto. Friday September 20th at the FE Building Room 114 (371 Bloor Street West), and Saturday September 21st at the Astronomy and Astrophysics Building (AB) Room 107 (50 St. George Street). Registration link here.

Use of fire is a human universal. Most evolutionary research on fire privileges its role in adaptations, particularly the importance of cooking within the hominin lineage. However, human engagements with fire were complex and multiple, and it played an especially important role in ritual, religion, and cosmology. A venerated source of power, creation, life, destruction, and divination, fire secured center stage in many religious traditions, ranging from Vedic rites and Zoroastrianism to Shang pyromancy (oracle bones) and the early fire temples of the Andean preceramic period. Fire also commonly mediated relationships between divine powers and dependent mortals as demonstrated by rites of cremation and the burning of incense documented across cultures. The ubiquity of world myths on the “theft of fire,” exemplified by the legend of Prometheus, further reveals the ambivalent status of fire as a bridge linking ontological others.

In this workshop, we will explore the intersection of fire and the sacred drawing on archaeological, historical, and ethnographic insights. Among the questions we will pose: were singular meanings attached to fire across cultures and time periods? How do the sensory aspects of fire, such as heat and the liberating smells in incense, factor in the use of fire in ritual? Are their tendencies across religious systems to contain and channel the power of fire? Why is fire (immolation) a cross‐cultural vehicle of sacrifice and offering? As one of the primal elements, how does fire relate to other aspects of the environment such as water, air, the sun, and the earth itself? How did the sacrality of fire differently condition its quotidian uses, such as cooking, keeping warm, and diverse technological processes? How can archaeologists interpret the diverse symbolism and ritual meanings of fire from the archaeological record? How is fire associated with the eternal, the soul, and with life?

We will address these interrelated themes in light of the climate crisis that has forced a renewed consideration of fire and how we can adapt the role it plays in our world.