Canadian Historic Sites: Occasional Papers in Archaeology and History No. 3

The Armstrong Mound on Rainy River, Ontario

by Walter A. Kenyon

Abstract

The Armstrong Mound, one of several mounds overlooking the Long Sault Rapids on Rainy River, Ontario, was excavated in 1966 at the request of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada. The purpose of the excavation was to inform the Board of the nature of the mounds and their relative age and cultural affiliation with relation to possible commemoration of the site.

Walter Kenyon of the Royal Ontario Museum directed the work. He excavated one mound 80 feet in diameter and 8 feet high, in which he found several burials, stone and copper artifacts, and numerous fragments of pottery. The author associates the mound itself with the Late Laurel culture and dates its construction to about 1,000 years ago.