A New Hochelagan Burying-ground Discovered at Westmount on the Western Spur of

Lighthall, W. D. (William Douw), 1857-1954Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.0

Word count: 15K words
Chapters: 2

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.A New Hochelagan Burying-ground Discovered at Westmount on the Western Spur ofAuthor: Lighthall, W. D. (William Douw), 1857-1954,Language: English, Class: F1001: North America local history: Canada, Release Date: Jan 4, 2005

Editor's review

This is an archaeological record of the discovery of a Hochelagan burying-ground at Westmount on the western spur of Mount Royal in Montreal. Its author, William D. Lighthall, wrote on Canadian local history and archaeology. The text belongs to the literature of North American local history and archaeological reporting; its value lies not in narrative literary quality but in the spatial descriptions, excavation accounts and artifact observations of Hochelagan remains preserved from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, making it primary material for the study of Indigenous history in the St. Lawrence Valley and early archaeological practice. Readers can see how researchers of the time recorded sites and understood Indigenous burial customs, and can also sense the period limitations of early archaeology in method and outlook. This edition is a public-domain e-book without modern editorial notes or map appendices, and should be read alongside works on Canadian Indigenous history and Montreal local history. It is better suited as supplementary material for specialized research than as an introductory text.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Scholars studying Canadian Indigenous history and St. Lawrence Valley archaeology
Readers interested in Montreal local history and early urban development
History students needing late nineteenth-century archaeological reports as primary sources for source analysis
Specialist readers interested in Indigenous burial customs of the northeastern United States and Canada

Not a good fit for

General readers expecting popular narrative or illustrated archaeological guides
Readers without a background in Canadian history who want a quick introduction to Indigenous cultures
Readers seeking modern archaeological theoretical frameworks and critical annotations

Reading tips

First consult basic background on the Hochelagans and the St. Lawrence Iroquoians, then proceed to the report itself.
While reading, note site locations, stratigraphic descriptions and artifact lists for later comparative research.
Read alongside modern syntheses of Canadian Indigenous archaeology to identify the methodological limitations of early reports.
For local-history writing, use this report in conjunction with sources on the development of Westmount in Montreal.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

What is the nature of this document?

It is an archaeological record of the discovery of a Hochelagan burying-ground at Westmount in Montreal, belonging to the literature of North American local history and early archaeological reporting. This edition is a public-domain e-book containing only the text, without modern notes, maps or scholarly introduction.

Who were the Hochelagans?

The Hochelagans usually refer to an Iroquoian-speaking group living in the Montreal Island area before European arrival; sources are limited, and scholars still debate their identity and settlement patterns. This report offers early discoveries and records, and should not be equated with modern archaeological conclusions.

What obstacles do general readers face in reading this report?

The main obstacles are lack of background knowledge and modern annotations. The report involves place names, stratigraphy and artifact descriptions, and carries the conceptual limitations of early archaeology. It is advisable to first acquire a foundation in Canadian Indigenous history and Montreal local history before reading it as a specialized study.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Lighthall, W. D. (William Douw), 1857-1954 Author

W. D. Lighthall (William Douw Lighthall, 1857–1954) was a Canadian writer, poet and historical researcher, with seven works held in this collection. His writing spans historical inquiry and literary creation: he produced studies such as Hochelagans and Mohawks, which examines Iroquois history and its links to the Hochelagan people, an account of the Battle of Chateauguay, and local-history and legend pieces such as The Manor House of Lacolle. In literature, The Young Seigneur and The False Chevalier display his gift for fiction, while Thoughts, Moods and Ideals: Crimes of Leisure gathers poems and essays with a lyrical and reflective temper. Public information is limited, so his life cannot be described in detail, yet his work clearly blends local history and ethnographic interest with literary expression, combining scholarly care with a man of letters' sensibility.