This book examines prehistoric culture change in the Gulf of Georgia region of the northwest coast of North America during the Locarno Beach (3500-1100 BP) and Marpole (2000-1100 BP) periods. The Marpole culture has traditionally been seen to possess all the traits associated with complex hunter-gatherers on the northwest coast (hereditary inequality, multi-family housing, storage-based economies, resource ownership, wealth accumulation, etc.) while the Locarno Beach culture has not. This research examined artifact and faunal assemblages as well as data for art and mortuary architecture from a total of 164 Gulf of Georgia archaeological site components. Geographic location and ethnographic language distribution were also compared to the archaeological data. Analysis was undertaken using Integrative Distance Analysis (IDA), a new statistical model developed in the course of this research. Results indicated that Marpole culture was not a regional phenomenon, but much more spatially and temporally discrete than previously thought. Artifactual assemblages identified as Marpole were restricted to the areas of the Fraser River, northern Gulf Islands and portions of Vancouver Island. In contrast, the ethnographic territory of the Straits Salish showed no sign of Marpole culture, but rather a presence of Late Locarno Beach culture. The pattern found in artifacts was replicated in the distribution of art and mortuary architecture variation suggesting the cultural differences between Marpole and Late Locarno Beach cultures was real and not merely a statistical anomaly.

Rewriting Marpole: The Path to Cultural Complexity in the Gulf of Georgia (Mercury)

History

Clark, Terence N

Americas

Mercury-Mercure

Oral traditions of the Piikáni, together with textual records spanning centuries, reveal the enduring cultural significance of prehistoric intergroup trading and gaming grounds.

Old Man’s Playing Ground: Gaming and Trade on the Plains/Plateau Frontier (Mercury)

Yanicki, Gabriel M.

Charles Garrad’s unique work resurrects the memory of the Petun and traces their route from their creation myth to their living descendants scattered from southwestern Ontario to Kansas and Oklahoma.

Petun to Wyandot: The Ontario Petun from the Sixteenth Century (Mercury)

GARRAD, CHARLES

This book explores the experience of Canadians who chose to convert to Buddhism and to embrace its teachings and practices in their daily lives. It presents the life stories of eight Canadians who first encountered Buddhism between the late 1960s and the 1980s, and are now ordained or lay Buddhist teachers.
 In recent census records, over 300,000 Canadians identified their religious affiliation as Buddhist. The great majority are of Asian origin and were born into Buddhist families or were Buddhist at the time of their arrival in Canada. Since the late 1960s, however, the number of Canadians converting to Buddhism has doubled every decade, and this demographic now includes more than 20,000 individuals. The eight Canadians whose life stories are featured in this book are among the very first to have chosen Buddhism. Their first-hand accounts shed light on why and how people convert to a religion from such distant shores. 
 This book also offers contextual material (photos and texts) that complements the eight life stories. This material is meant to help readers enrich their understanding of the life stories by offering them the information they need to better grasp the meaning of the Buddhist notions mentioned, and the broader historical and spiritual contexts of the biographical accounts. 
 While this book will be of interest to specialists because of the first-hand accounts, it is primarily aimed at a wider audience interested in Buddhism, religions or spirituality in general. It will also be of use to teachers whose courses touch upon any of these subjects. By combining life stories and contextual material, and placing an emphasis on the concrete experiences of Canadians with whom readers can identify, this book is an introduction to Buddhism and to what it means to lead a Buddhist life in contemporary Canada.

Choosing Buddhism: The Life Stories of Eight Canadians (Mercury)

Peressini, Mauro

Historical Study & Educational Resources

From Labrador to Lake Ontario, the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to French Acadia, and Huronia-Wendaki to Tadoussac, and from one chapter to the next, this scholarly collection of archaeological findings focuses on 16th century European goods found in Native contexts and within greater networks, forming a conceptual interplay of place and mobility. The four initial chapters are set around the Gulf of Saint Lawrence where Euro-Native contact was direct and the historical record is strongest. Contact networks radiated northward into Inuit settings where European iron nails, roofing tile fragments and ceramics are found. Glass beads are scarce on Inuit sites as well as on Basque sites on the Gulf’s north shore, but they are numerous in French Acadia. Ceramics on northern Basque sites are mostly from Spain. An historical review discusses the partnership between Spanish Basques and Saint Lawrence Iroquoians c.1540-1580. The four chapters set in the Saint Lawrence valley show Tadoussac as a fork in inland networks. Saint Lawrence Iroquoians obtained glass beads around Tadoussac before 1580. Algonquin from Lac Saint-Jean began trading at Tadoussac after that. They plied a northern route that linked to Huronia-Wendaki via the Ottawa Valley and the Frontenac Uplands. Finally, four chapters set around Lake Ontario focus on contact between this region and the Saint Lawrence valley. Huron-Wendat sites around the Kawartha Lakes show an influx of Saint Lawrence trade in the 16th century, followed by an immigration wave about 1580. Huron-Wendat sites near Toronto show an unabated inflow of Native materials from the Saint Lawrence valley; however, neutral sites west of Lake Ontario show Native and European materials arriving from the south. A review of glass bead evidence presented by various authors shows trends that cut across chapters and bring new impetus to the study of beads to discover 16th-century networks among French and Basque fishers, Inuit and Algonquian foragers and Iroquoian farmers. With contributions from Saraí Barreiro, Meghan Burchell, Claude Chapdelaine, Martin S. Cooper, Amanda Crompton, Vincent Delmas, Sergio Escribano-Ruiz, William Fox, Sarah Grant, François Guindon, Erik Langevin, Brad Loewen, Jean-François Moreau, Jean-Luc Pilon, Michel Plourde, Peter Ramsden, Lisa Rankin and Ronald F. Williamson.

Contact in the 16th Century: Networks Among Fishers, Foragers and Farmers (Mercury)

In 1951, musician Kenneth Peacock (1922–2000) secured a contract from the National Museum of Canada (today the Canadian Museum of History) to collect folksongs in Newfoundland. As the province had recently joined Confederation, the project was deemed a goodwill gesture, while at the same time adding to the Museum’s meager Anglophone archival collections. Between 1951 and 1961, over the course of six field visits, Peacock collected 766 songs and melodies from 118 singers in 38 communities, later publishing two-thirds of this material in a three-volume collection, Songs of the Newfoundland Outports (1965). As the publication consists of over 1000 pages, Outports is considered to be a bible for Newfoundland singers and a valuable resource for researchers. However, Peacock’s treatment of the material by way of tune-text collations, use of lines and stanzas from unpublished songs has always been somewhat controversial. Additionally, comparison of the field collection with Outports indicates that although Peacock acquired a range of material, his personal preferences requently guided his publishing agenda. To ensure that the songs closely correspond to what the singers presented to Peacock, the collection has been prepared by drawing on Peacock’s original music and textual notes and his original field recordings. The collection is far-ranging and eclectic in that it includes British and American broadsides, musical hall and vaudeville material alongside country and western songs, and local compositions. It also highlights the influence of popular media on the Newfoundland song tradition and contextualizes a number of locally composed songs. In this sense, it provides a key link between what Peacock actually recorded and the material he eventually published. As several of the songs have not previously appeared in the standard Newfoundland collections, The Forgotten Songs sheds new light on the extent of Peacock’s collecting. The collection includes 125 songs arranged under 113 titles along with extensive notes on the songs, and brief biographies of the 58 singers. Thanks to the Research Centre for the Study of Music Media and Place, a video of the launch event, held in St.John's, Newfoundland, is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghj6E6-QiLI&amp;t=21s.

The Forgotten Songs of the Newfoundland Outports: As Taken from Kenneth Peacock’s Newfoundland Field Collection, 1951–1961 (Mercury)

Arts & Photography

Guigné, Anna Kearney

Music

During his spare time, William Baker Nickerson investigated sites from New England to the Midwest and into the Canadian Prairies. In the course of exploration, he created an elegant and detailed record of discoveries and developed methods which later archaeologists recognized as being ahead of their time. By middle age, he was en route to becoming a professional contract archaeologist. However, after a very good start, during World War I archaeological commissions disappeared and failed to recover for many years afterward. Consequently, in spite of heroic efforts, Nickerson was unable to restore his scientific career and died in obscurity. His life story spans the transition of North American archaeology from museums and historical societies to universities, throwing light on a phase of history that is little known.

The Life and Work of W. B. Nickerson (1865-1926): Scientific Archaeology in Central North America (Mercury)

Biographies & Memoirs

Dyck, Ian

Professionals & Academics

Tu sais, mon vieux Jean-Pierre honore le travail de l’archéologue Jean-Pierre Chrestien (1949–2008), qui a collaboré avec une génération de chercheurs en vue de déterrer des aspects inattendus de la Nouvelle-France. La première section sur la porte d’entrée de la Nouvelle-France, soit le Golfe du Saint-Laurent, Terre-Neuve et l’Acadie. Une deuxième section nous fait remonter le Saint-Laurent, au coeur même du continent. La dernière section examine certains aspects de la culture Canadienne : l’art populaire, la religion et la communication. Le fil conducteur de ces essais est une curiosité pour la culture matérielle, une attention au détail et à la nuance qui sont les piliers des études sur la Nouvelle-France, et une sensibilité au contexte général essentiel à la compréhension de la façon dont l’histoire se déploie aux échelles locale ou régionale. On peut donc aller au-delà des généralisations faciles et désuètes d’une bourgeoisie prétendument absente, d’une éthique commerciale supposément déficiente chez les habitants et le caractère soi-disant militaire de la colonie. De ce fait, nous pouvons tenter de comprendre les vraies gens et leurs possessions en contexte

Tu sais, mon vieux Jean-Pierre: Essays on the Archaeology and History of New France and Canadian Culture in Honour of Jean-Pierre Chrestien (Mercury)

For Canadians, hockey is the game. Shared experiences and memories―lacing up for the first time, shinny on an outdoor rink, Sidney Crosby’s historic goal, or the one scored by Maurice Richard―make hockey more than just a game. While the relationship between hockey and national identity has been studied, where does the game fit into our understanding of multiple, diverse Canadian identities today? This interdisciplinary book considers hockey, both as professional and amateur sport, and both in historical and contemporary context, in relation to larger themes in Canadian Studies, including gender, race/ethnicity, ability, sexuality, geography, and reflects upon all aspects of hockey in Canadian life: play, fandom, sports broadcasting, and community activism. This interdisciplinary scholarly collection is an extension of the “Hockey in Canada: More Than Just a Game” exhibition presented by the Canadian Museum of History. Includes one chapter in French.

Hockey: Challenging Canada’s Game – Au-delà du sport national (Mercury)

Sports & Outdoors

Hockey

L’ouvrage décrit avec précision les résultats de cette initiative du Musée canadien de l’histoire, menée en collaboration avec la Première Nation d’Acadia, attribuables à cinq saisons (de 2008 à 2012) d’études et de fouilles menées à Port Joli ainsi qu’à 10 années d’analyses en laboratoire. Il comprend aussi des données provenant de travaux archéologiques antérieurs menés à Port Joli par Erskine, Raddall, Millard et d’autres, offrant ainsi une synthèse complète de l’un des plus importants inventaires archéologiques autochtones de la Nouvelle-Écosse. Conjuguant l’approche monographique plus traditionnelle pour traiter d’un site archéologique, cet ouvrage fournit un portrait détaillé de toutes les informations archéologiques récupérées, notamment des artefacts tels que des assiettes colorées, des dessins techniques, des profils et des cartes, en plus d’une description complète des données recueillies. Le dernier chapitre offre une histoire culturelle de Port Joli, résumant comment ce « joli port » est devenu un endroit central pour les Mi’kmaq avant l’arrivée des Européens. Une coédition avec le Musée canadien de l’histoire.

Place-Making in the Pretty Harbour: The Archaeology of Port Joli, Nova Scotia (Mercury)

Politics & Social Sciences

Betts, Matthew

Archaeology

See the best price to sell, buy or rent books by the Mercury-Mercure publisher. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Mercury-Mercure