Taber Hill
Taber Hill
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| Details | |
|---|---|
| Established | Post Woodland period |
| Location | Toronto, Ontario |
| Country | Canada |
| Type | Wyandot (Huron) burial mound (ossuary) |
| Style | burial mound |
| No. of graves | 523 |
Taber Hill also spelled Tabor Hill is an Wyandot (Huron) burial mound in Toronto, Ontario. It is located northeast of the intersection of Lawrence Avenue and Bellamy Road in Scarborough. It is estimated to date from the 14th century and is estimated to contain the skeletons of over 500 Huron/Wendat. It is believed to be the only First Nations ossuary protected as a cemetery in Canada.
The ossuary/cemetery covers an area of 0.342 hectares (0.85 acres) and is shaped as a mound. The ossuary was eventually found to be about fifty feet long, seven feet wide, and one foot deep. Kenyon first estimated that 472 individuals were buried there. The site was first estimated to date to circa 1250 AD. Further studies of the site determined that the site was not one of the Six Nations, but rather one of the Wyandot (Huron) peoples, who are related to the Six Nations. The total number of buried skeletons was revised to be 523, and the burial mound was estimated to date to the 14th century. The skeletons were buried in a ritual manner consistent with the Wendat Feast of Souls.
In the same year that the ossuary was found, an Iroquoian village site was excavated west of this location at Brimley Road where it crosses West Highland Creek. The two sites are believed to be linked. Another, larger Huron/Wendat village site (known as the "Alexandra Site") was found in 2000 just north of L'Amoreaux Park (North) northwest of McNicoll and Kennedy. An estimate of the number of persons residing in the larger site is between 800–1000. Archaeologists who studied the larger site believe it is possible the three sites may be linked. Other sites exist within the Rouge River valley (the Elliot site, Robb site, the Fairty ossuary, the Milroy site and Draper site) that are also Iroquoian.
The cemetery was discovered on August 17, 1956, when a steam shovel was in the process of demolishing the 60 feet (18 m) high hill. The soil was being transported for use in construction an overpass for Highway 401 and the cleared site was then intended to be turned into the Bendale suburban subdivision. After digging some one hundred feet into the hill the workers found a large collection of human bones. Work immediately stopped at the site to allow for an expert investigation. Scarborough Reeve Gus Harris first announced that the found bones were not of Indian (indigenous) origin due to a lack of artifacts and were instead a disposal of bones or mass burial of a cholera epidemic of 1870.
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