A Population History of the Huron-Petun, A.D. 500-1650

A Population History of the Huron-Petun, A.D. 500-1650, reconstructs the population history of the Wendat-Tionontat (Huron-Petun) people using archaeological, paleodemographic, historical, and epidemiological research. This book argues that the Wendat-Tionontat occupied southern Ontario for thousands of years and that maize agriculture was gradually adopted by groups who were not experiencing population pressure, but who were simply interested in supplementing their hunting, gathering, and fishing diet with a reliable food that could also be stored to avert winter famine deaths. The book demonstrates that gradual population growth followed the adoption of maize agriculture, but that rapid population growth did not occur until the fourteenth century, encouraged by the colonization of new lands. The book also documents and explains why epidemic diseases of European origin did not occur among the Wendat-Tionontat and other Native peoples of eastern North America until the 1630s.

Author: Gary Warrick
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 02/11/2008
Pages: 314
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.20lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.10w x 0.90d
ISBN: 9780521440301

Review Citation(s):
Reference and Research Bk News 05/01/2008 pg. 77

About the Author
Warrick, Gary: - Gary Warrick holds a B.A. in Anthropology from McMaster University, an M.A. in Archaeology from Simon Fraser University, and a Ph.D. in Anthropology from McGill University. From 1989 to 1999 he worked for the Ministry of Transportation for the province of Ontario and was a lecturer at the University of Toronto at Mississauga from 1997 to 1999. Currently, Warrick is Associate Professor at the Brantford Campus of Wilfred Laurier University. He has been published in various journals, including Ontario Archaeology, the Canadian Journal of Archaeology, Current Anthropology, World Archaeology, and Journal of World Prehistory. He was also featured in The Ethics of Archaeology (Cambridge University Press, 2006).