Glen Site (Montreal)

Glen Site (Montreal)
Name	Glen Site (Montreal)
Map type	Montreal
Location	Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Region	Island of Montreal
Type	Prehistoric campsite
Built	Archaic period
Epochs	Middle Archaic, Late Archaic
Cultures	Laurentian, Shield/Great Lakes cultures
Excavations	1950s–1990s
Management	City of Montreal
Public access	Restricted

Glen Site (Montreal) The Glen Site (Montreal) is a prehistoric archaeological locale on the Island of Montreal notable for Middle to Late Archaic occupation. The site has produced lithic scatters, hearth features, and faunal remains that have informed models of regional settlement and exchange networks linking the Saint Lawrence River corridor to the Ottawa Valley, Great Lakes, and Canadian Shield.

Location and Description

Situated on the northwestern sector of the Island of Montreal near the Lachine Canal, the Glen Site lies within the Saint Lawrence River drainage and is proximate to historic landmarks such as Fort Ville-Marie, Hochelaga, and the modern Plateau-Mont-Royal. The landscape at the time of occupation included tributaries connected to the Ottawa River and wetlands comparable to areas near Île Bizard and Lachine Rapids. Topographically, the site occupies a glacial outwash terrace linked to Pleistocene features recognized in studies of the Laurentian Shield and the St. Lawrence Lowlands. Nearby urban infrastructure includes Autoroute 20, Montréal–Trudeau International Airport, and the borough of Lachine, while administrative jurisdictions relevant to stewardship include the City of Montreal and the province of Quebec.

Archaeological Investigations

Fieldwork at the Glen Site began with surface collections and salvage excavations influenced by research agendas from institutions such as the Canadian Museum of History, McGill University, and the Université de Montréal. Early work in the 1950s drew on methods refined by archaeologists associated with the Parks Canada program and parallels with surveys at Point Peninsula and Laurentian Archaic localities. Systematic excavations in subsequent decades employed stratigraphic recording techniques developed in collaboration with specialists from the Royal Ontario Museum and the Smithsonian Institution-linked training programs. Laboratory analyses integrated lithic typology frameworks from comparative assemblages at Groswater, Shield Archaic, and Laurentian sites, and used radiocarbon calibration protocols aligned with datasets from the Canadian Archaeological Radiocarbon Database. Interdisciplinary contributions came from paleoecologists at the National Research Council (Canada) and zooarchaeologists connected to the Royal Society of Canada.

Chronology and Cultural Affiliation

Radiocarbon determinations and typological sequences place the Glen Site within Middle to Late Archaic spans analogous to sequences at Meadowood, Laurentian Archaic, and Brewerton complexes. Chronometric markers correspond with regional phases contemporaneous with occupations documented at Kettle Point and along the Ottawa River valley. Cultural affiliation is inferred through material parallels to assemblages associated with prehistoric peoples whose economic strategies resonate with those documented for sites linked to Saint Lawrence Iroquoians in later centuries, although the Glen Site predates ethnohistoric encounters at Hochelaga. Comparative analysis references lithic traditions observed at Point Peninsula, Stanley, and Chico horizon contexts.

Artefacts and Material Culture

The artifact inventory includes chipped stone tools—projectile points, scrapers, and blades—crafted from raw materials trackable to primary sources in the Canadian Shield, including knappable lithologies akin to those exploited at Kettle Point and Manitoulin Island. Ground stone fragments, hearthstones, and burned bone complement the lithic record, and faunal remains show exploitation of species whose distributions mirror assemblages recovered at Montreal Island contemporaries and Lake Ontario sites. Organic artifacts were rarely preserved, but pollen and macrofossil samples analyzed alongside artifacts followed protocols established by paleoethnobotanists affiliated with McMaster University and the University of Toronto. The assemblage has been compared to collections curated at the Canadian Museum of Civilization and studied with reference to typologies from the Peoples of the Northeast corpus.

Interpretation and Significance

Researchers interpret the Glen Site as a seasonally used campsite within a regional mobility system linking the Saint Lawrence River corridor, the Ottawa Valley, and boreal resources on the Laurentian Shield. The evidence supports models of task-specific loci similar to those proposed for fall fishery and spring hunting sites documented in northeastern North America and parallels mobility strategies inferred from studies at Point Grondine and Marten River. The site informs debates on exchange networks that connect to raw material procurement documented at Pine Point and social interaction spheres comparable to those reconstructed for Late Archaic contexts in the Great Lakes region. Glen Site data have also contributed to broader syntheses on prehistoric adaptation to Holocene environmental change circulated through venues such as the Canadian Journal of Archaeology and conferences hosted by the Canadian Archaeological Association.

Preservation and Site Management

Current site stewardship involves coordination between municipal planners in the City of Montreal, heritage bodies like the Ministère de la Culture et des Communications (Quebec), and conservation frameworks promoted by the Heritage Canada Foundation. Urban encroachment, infrastructure projects linked to Autoroute 520 and port facilities near Old Port of Montreal have complicated preservation, prompting mitigative excavations consistent with protocols from the Ontario Heritage Act-influenced practice and Canadian federal policy on heritage resources. Public education and restricted access strategies have been modeled on outreach programs at sites managed by the McCord Museum and Pointe-à-Callière, while archived collections reside in institutional repositories including Université de Montréal and the Canadian Museum of History.

Category:Archaeological sites in Quebec Category:History of Montreal Category:Prehistoric sites in Canada