GLEN MEYER

The name Glen Meyer has been used to describe the Early Iroquoian peoples who inhabited southwestern Ontario between A.D. 900 and A.D. 1300. Glen Meyer is very similar to Pickering in south-central and southeastern Ontario, sharing many similarities of site size, village layout and artifacts. Some researchers believe that Glen Meyer and Pickering are merely slight regional differences in early development of the Ontario Iroquois. Others believe that Pickering people conquered Glen Meyer people during the latter part of the thirteenth century. 

Glen Meyer people lived in southwestern Ontario, to the west of the Grand River. These people particularly favoured the large sand plains of southwestern Ontario. Concentrations of Glen Meyer sites have been found on the Caradoc Sand Plain west of London, on the Norfolk Sand Plain, north of the central Lake Erie shore, and in the Ausable Valley area.

ECONOMY

Most Glen Meyer sites lie within the biologically rich Carolinian Biotic Province. Glen Meyer people seem to have taken full advantage of the abundant resources of the area, harvesting deer, raccoon, wild turkey, squirrels from the forests and turtles, fish and a variety of aquatic mammals from the rivers and lakeshores. Nut harvesting was also an important subsistence activity. The nut rich oak and maple-beech forests provided an important fall dietary supplement. Most importantly, protein rich nuts could be harvested and stored for consumption throughout the winter.

Detailed studies of the places chosen for village and hunting camp sites have shown that villages were deliberately placed in areas of sandy-loam soils, while hunting camps were located on looser, sandy soils. The loose sandy soils were unsuited to horticulture, yet supported nut-rich oak forests which, in turn, were attractive to game such as wild turkey and deer. The sandy-loam soils, on the other hand, were suitable for cultivation. Those people who lived near to Lake Erie, occupied summer fishing camps along its shores.

Like their Pickering neighbours to the east, Glen Meyer people raised a variety of crops for consumption through the winter. Of these corn was undoubtedly the most important, although beans squash and sunflowers were also raised. Tobacco was also cultivated. Glen Meyer people adopted the practice of horticulture slowly at first. However, by the fourteenth century it had become an important facet of the Glen Meyer peoples diet.

SETTLEMENT

Glen Meyer people used two types of settlement; villages and hunting\fishing camps. Villages were usually less than 1 hectare in area, and were enclosed by a palisade. In most cases the palisade consisted of a single row of stakes, although a few villages had double palisades.

The number of houses within the palisade was quite variable. Most villages seem to have had between five and ten houses, although one site is known to have had as many as twenty four. In the earliest villages the longhouses were small, oval structures. As time passed the houses favoured by Glen Meyer people grew so that by the fourteenth century, a typical longhouse might be as much as 20 metres long and 6 metres wide. Each longhouse provided shelter for a number of families.

In common with many Iroquoian longhouses, those at Glen Meyer villages were heated by hearths along the centre of the building. Large pits dug through the earth floor were used for storing food, and eventually were used as garbage pits.

BURIAL

Little is known of Glen Meyer burial practices. There is some suggestion that ossuary (bone pit) burials were used, although individual burials are occasionally found in Glen Meyer villages.

ARTIFACTS

POTTERY

Pottery sherds are the most common artifact on Glen Meyer sites. These people made thin-walled globular pots using the paddle and anvil method. These vessels were usually made without collars, and flared slightly at the rim. Some pots had slight peaks or 'castellations' on the rim - a technique much used on later Iroquoian pots. Decoration was usually applied to the upper part of the pot, and often to the inner surface of the rim. A wide variety of techniques were used, including; linear stamping, dentate stamping, incising and 'push-pull'. The decoration was usually arranged in horizontal bands which encircled the pot. Many pots also had a band or bands of punctates or bosses encircling the neck. These were produced by pushing the end of a stick into the clay, either from the inside (to raise a boss) or from the outside (to leave a punctate).

The undecorated part of the body of Glen Meyer pots may have been treated in a variety of ways. Smoothed over cord impressions, ribbed paddle and check stamping are the most common. These impressions were left on the clay surface when the wooden paddle used to form the pot, was beaten against the clay. Some paddles were wrapped in cord (leaving a cord impression) while others were carved with grooves (leaving ribbed paddle) or vertical and horizontal grooves (leaving check stamp impressions). In some cases these marks were smoothed over by wiping the clay with a wet cloth prior to firing.

STONE TOOLS

Glen Meyer people made small triangular projectile points, usually with concave bases. In some instances one of the corners was long than the other, producing a distinctive asymetrical point shape. Another Glen Meyer projectile point type is long and thin with small side-notches.

Glen Meyer people also used a variety of other stone tools including end scrapers, side-scrapers and tools made from random flakes.

Little information on how Glen Meyer people used bone and antler is available. One can assume that like many other groups, these valuable materials were not overlooked, and were used to make awls, fishhooks, beads, points and a host of other tools.

Glen Meyer pipes are usually small with cylindrical or barrel shaped bowls. The stems, which are sometimes squared or rather crude, meet the bowl at right-angles or an obtuse angle. Decoration is simple, consisting of rows of punctates or one or more linear grooves. Effigy pipes are rare.

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