 Curator, Ontario Archaeology Canadian Museum of Civilization (this is an expanded version of an article published as "On the Nature of Archaeology in the Ottawa Area and Archaeological Mysteries" in Ontario Archaeology No.75:17-27, 2003) Scientific
discourse usually takes place within the pages of journals published
by scholarly societies. The goal is to
create a body of information that can be referred to and added to by
later
research. A recently rediscovered,
but unsigned newspaper article published days following the excavation
of
the
Ottawa Ossuary by Dr. Edward Van Cortlandt shares some points with Dr.
Van
Cortlandt's own account published in the Canadian
Journal of 1853. While there are
clear similarities between the two documents, there are also important
differences that are not easily reconciled. This
instance reminds us
of the importance of publications of record published by learned
societies. It also cautions us against the uncritical acceptance
of unverifiable
information. Introduction |
Dr. Edward Van Cortlandt |
A Comparison of Two Articles |