Stratified Pit Features at the Presbytère de l'Ancienne‐Lorette (CeEu‐11) and the Fort Odanak (CaFe‐7) Sites in Québec, Canada: A Comparative Geoarchaeological Analysis

A geoarcheological study of two large, stratified Indigenous pit features discovered at two Jesuit mission sites in Québec (Canada) was carried out to offer a detailed documentation of their contents and better understand their use over time. One of the pits is a 17th c. Wendat (Huron‐Wendat) feature discovered at the Presbytère‐de‐L'Ancienne‐Lorette (CeEu‐11) site in L'Ancienne‐Lorette, which was occupied by the Notre‐Dame‐de‐Lorette mission between 1673 and 1697. The other is an 18th c. W8banaki (Abenaki) feature found at the Fort Odanak (CaFe‐7) site in the village of Odanak, where the Saint‐François‐de‐Sales mission was established in the early 18th century. Both pits featured a succession of alternating brownish and yellowish sandy deposits, and sediment micromorphology was used to obtain a fine characterization of their interior layers. The results were compared with data from field excavations and archaeobotanical and zooarchaeological analyses to determine their function and use over time. Both features appear to have been originally created for food storage, then reused as refuse pits. One also seems to have been used for cooking. Microscopic features in the deposits suggest long‐term use, perhaps over several years, and indicate that although located outdoors, they were in the vicinity of longhouses. This first micromorphological study of stratified archeological pits in southern Québec sheds further light on the daily life of W8banaki and Wendat groups settled in Jesuit missions in New France.