Tara Brautigam
Canadian Press

TORONTO -- The skeletal remains of as many as 15 people, accidentally unearthed by construction workers north of Toronto, are probably part of an ancient aboriginal burial ground that could contain as many as 100 bodies, an archaeologist investigating the site said Thursday.

"It's pretty clearly a very important find," said Ron Williamson, one of the six crew probing the ossuary in Vaughan, Ont. "In the end, I'm sure there will be many more (bodies) but I'm not going to speculate on numbers until we've done our work. . . . In other burial pits of this kind of form, sometimes there can be over a 100 people in them."

Some of the bodies in the cemetery, estimated to be between 400 and 700 years old, are still intact, Williamson said. But figuring out what aboriginal group the bones belong to may take days, he added.

"Trying to determine the cultural affiliation can be a tricky matter."

David Smith, an anthropology professor at the University of Toronto, said the number of bodies found in the small pit indicate a Huron burial ground.

"If you get that many in one place, then it's most likely a group burial, and the only people who've ever practised that way in Ontario in this area are the Huron."

He agreed that there are likely more bodies in the secured area, about half a football field in length. The suburban neighbourhood where the discovery was made was home to several villages of more than 1,000 Hurons each from 1450 to about 1600.

The Hurons were known to collect their dead every 10 to 15 years and bury them together in a community ceremony, Smith said.

The rare find can help researchers develop a more complete picture of the group's living habits when they roamed along the northern shores of Lake Ontario from Mississauga to Kingston.

"You can learn about all sorts of demographic information, population sizes, disease, growth patterns, even genetic relationships," Smith said.

But Kris Nahrgang, chief of Kawartha Nishnawbe of Burleigh Falls, Ont., said it would be preferable if the ossuary was left undisturbed.

"I don't know if that's possible from the sounds of it," said Nahrgang, who was contacted by coroner officials after the discovery.

"From what I understand, it's fairly well underway, this project. . . . Hopefully we can just go around it."

He plans to visit the site Monday.

Work at the site, where a road is being widened, has been temporarily halted.

"I'm glad that it just doesn't have a road over it, or that it hasn't been destroyed," said Nahrgang from Burleigh Falls, Ont., north of Peterborough.

Investigators are expected to pore over the site until at least next week. A decision on what to do with the bones is expected to be made after consultation with aboriginal groups, Vaughan municipal officials and archeologists.

:huh: That had to be a rather unpleasant expose...

The article had some pics, but I decided not to post 'em....you know... un46nu4

:huh: so glad you didn't do that... /b6