THE ALEXANDRA SITE (AkGt-53)
Archaeological Services Inc. began excavating a previously undocumented Iroquoian village in the summer of 2000. Over the eight months of excavation, archaeologists uncovered three midden areas, thousands of bone, stone, and ceramic artifacts, and 17 longhouses. The longhouses ranged in size from over 70 m to only 5 m long. They were clustered in groups of two or three structures, each group with its own alignment.
According to the designs on the rims of the pottery fragments found at Alexandra - which include Middleport Oblique, Pound Necked, Black Necked, and Ontario Horizontal - the site is believed to date from A.D. 1350 and later, falling into the Middle Iroquoian period.
The Alexandra site is particularly interesting for a number of reasons. It may have been used for a number of decades, or alternatively, during several separate occupation periods. The post moulds - residual organic stains that outline structures - show evidence of house contraction and expansion, with ends added or removed from the houses as required. Also, house walls were found to overlap neighbouring structures, possibly indicating separate construction episodes.
One of the more unusual aspects of the Alexandra site is the number of what are thought to be semi-subterranean sweatlodges. Possibly used for social and ritual purposes, reconstructions of these fascinating structures show them to have been composed of a ramp leading down to a large wide underground pit, and an aboveground structure covering the pit. Some of the sweatlodges at Alexandra had multiple ramps leading into the sweatlodge, or were shared by two houses. One of the sweatlodges was found with a woven mat placed on the floor.