Southwold 175 - January

Original Inhabitants of the Land

The Southwold Earthworks

There is no question that the first human footprints on this land were the Indigenous Peoples who lived, hunted and farmed the lands that are now known as Southwold Township.

Individual artifacts taken from two private collections retrieved in and around Southwold have been dated by the Museum of Ontario Archaeology as being up to 9,000 years old.

There is evidence that visiting Indigenous nations travelled these grounds for social, hunting, trading and sometimes, even warring purposes. Many artifacts can be traced to tribes from other locations around the Great Lakes.

Of specific interest are the remains of the pre-contact (before European) Attiwandaron (Neutral) double walled palisade community now known as the Southwold Earthworks. 

Interpretations of this site may be controversial. Varying opinions exist regarding the purpose of this site and why it terminated. 

An estimated 800-900 Attiwandaron, also known as the Neutral Iroquois, inhabited this Southwold site from 1500 to 1650 AD.

The only written information recorded at the time the village was still occupied was from Jesuit missionaries who sent reports back to France just prior to the site being abandoned. 

In the winter of 1640-1641, the Jesuit missionaries, Brebeuf and Chaumonot traversed the country of the Neutrals. From the facts detailed in their reports back to France, it is highly probable that they reached the Detroit River, and that they visited the Neutral village of which the Southwold Earthwork is the memorial.

Early pioneer surveyor Colonel Mahlon Burwell's foresight saved the Southwold Earthworks at Fingal from the plough and the woodsman's axe. 

The site was designated an historical site in 1923.

Two major archaeological investigations were conducted at Southwold Earthworks, in 1935 during the Great Depression and in 1976. 

Oral tradition within the local Oneida community recounts that Southwold was used as a ceremonial site, which was enclosed by the palisade so that activities taking place within the village were screened from the view of people outside the wall. According to the same oral tradition, the site would have been occupied not as a year-round village, but as a seasonal place of pilgrimage. The palisade was not defensive in nature, but protected a center for healing and purification rituals.

Archaeologists found the site atypical of Neutral villages of the period: it is located on flat land with no natural defensive advantages and, despite the presence of apparent fortifications; it contains no evidence of ever having been attacked. Although archaeological estimates of site population were that about 800 people could have lived there, the site has little evidence of the refuse and garbage of occupation.

Legacy

Of significant interest to the 175^th Southwold celebration is that the Indigenous first inhabitants began the agricultural roots of what is now Southwold.

As agriculturalists, the Attiwandaron relied on horticulture crops of corn, beans and squash. Some cultivated tobacco for ritual and trade purposes. 

Southwold Township was built on the backs of agricultural pioneers. After farming came to this community, commerce and industry followed. 

Their time in what is now Southwold Township was pre-contact. We acknowledge the Attiwandaron in Southwold’s historic context as the first stewards of this land. Their influence in respecting the land and environment of this region has inspired those who followed. The agricultural knowledge of the Attiwandaron nation is continued in the rich tradition of Southwold farms and industries. 

References: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/22363/22363-h/22363-h.htm