Carbonized corn (zea mays)

Archaeologically, plant-based food remains are rarely found intact, except when they’ve been burnt and carbonized. At the Lawson site hundreds of carbonized North American corn kernels (Zea mays) and cob portions, among examples of other plant remains, have been recovered. The Lawson site is a fortified 16th century Indigenous site located at the confluence of Medway River and Snake Creek. The site has been known to archaeologists since the mid-1800s and is now an Ontario designated heritage site and part of the Museum of Ontario Archaeology’s grounds.