Hidden Gems of London, Ontario: London Children's Museum, Museum London, Museum of Ontario Archaeology

Bone dolls were traditionally made by Inuit either to use as playthings or as good luck charms. Doll is made of Caribou bone and sinew.

Tin horse meant to be pushed along from behind to assist children in learning to walk.

Galimoto are push toys often made by children in Southern African countries using found materials such as wire, scrap metal, and material. This airplane was made in Botswana in the 1980s.

Clay marbles were mass produced in Germany and in the United States during the 19th and 20th centuries. Due to the low cost of materials, clay marbles were some of the most affordable toys available to children at this time.

This meteorite fell to Earth about 4000 years ago in the Campo del Cielo meteor field in Argentina. It is made primarily of iron.

John Labatt became sole owner of the John Labatt’s Brewery in 1853. During Prohibition, Labatt began brewing Crystal Lager for the American market in 1921. Both Canada and the United States were dry but it was not illegal in Canada for brewers and distillers to ship alcohol outside of the country. Labatt organized export operations at Port Stanley, Ford City, and Sarnia.

As in other communities, in the 19th century, Londoners required practical pottery for a variety of purposes. In a nearby community dubbed “Pottersburg,” a pottery industry sprang up. It used local clay, which has a low iron content, producing distinctive yellow pottery. In 1912, the City of London annexed Pottersburg.

In November 1870, the London Asylum for the Insane opened on Highbury Avenue. The institution’s first two medical superintendents, Dr. Henry Landor (1815-1877) and Dr. Richard M. Bucke (1837-1902) (pictured above) promoted moral therapy to treat patients. This included regular work, such as farming and gardening. It also featured religious observance.

On October 27, 1951 London’s Victoria Hospital became the first to use the Cobalt Bomb to treat cancer. After the Second World War, National Research Council scientists had identified cobalt-60 as a radiation source well-suited to treat cancer. London hospitals have continued the tradition of innovative health care research.

John Howard Griffiths (1826-1898) apprenticed at the Minton China Works before he immigrated to Canada in 1855. In London, Griffiths established a wholesale photographic business where he ran a portrait studio and sold art supplies. He also continued china painting. John co-founded the Western Ontario School of Art and Design and later served as principal of the School.

This mastodon tooth is still attached to a broken piece of jaw bone. Remains of American Mastodon and Woolly Mammoth have been found all over southern Ontario, from Barrie to Sarnia. These findings are often an accidental result of farming activities. Both animals would have roamed the Great Lakes region of southern Ontario during the last Ice Age, following the retreat of the glaciers c. 15,000 to c. 11,700 years ago. These animals can be identified by the shape of their teeth. Mastodons had brachydont teeth, like pigs or humans, with cusped molars. Whereas mammoths had hypsodont teeth, like cows, deer and modern elephants, which would continue to grow throughout the animal’s lifetime.

This small projectile point is made of Onondaga chert, a type of stone (lithic) good for making stone tools. It was found on the Lawson site, an Indigenous village inhabited around 500 years ago in London, Ontario. Lithics are often dominant in precolonial contexts: contrary to organic materials, stone preserves well when buried in the ground. Archaeologists call this particular style of point, shaped like a long isosceles triangle, a Nanticoke Triangular Projectile Point. The Lawson site has been the focus of archaeological attention for more than 150 years, and Nanticoke Triangular is the most common projectile point style found on this site.

This artifact was from the tip of a broken bone harpoon. It was found in Burlington, Ontario. The Pipeline site, overlooking Bronte Creek, was composed of a settlement with middens dating from c. A.D. 1450. Over 350 artifacts made of bone, shell and antler were found on the site. But among them, only one harpoon was unearthed. This type of artifact would probably have been used on a spear to catch large fish. Animal remains were often fashioned into functional objects, such as awls or beads. As organic materials decay, they are rarer to find in more ancient archaeological deposits.

This rim sherd is from the Lawson site, an Indigenous village inhabited 500 years ago in London, Ontario. Archaeologists refer to this type of decoration, with oblique incised lines around the collar and horizontal lines on the neck, as Pound neck style. This sherd also displays a castellation, an appended relief decoration common on vessels of this time period. As ceramic is baked clay, it preserves well in archaeological contexts and is a common archaeological find. Over 100,000 ceramic sherds have been found on the Lawson site, from pottery vessels and pipes.

This well-preserved bone jaw with several teeth is from Sus scrofa domesticus, a domestic pig. It was found at the Brady site in Darlington, Ontario, near the Darlington Nuclear Generating Station. This farmstead was occupied during the first half of the 19th century. Archaeologists have found over 800 food-related mammal remains on the site, including pig, cow, and sheep. Among them, the pig was dominant. Domesticated pigs came to Canada and Northern America with European colonists in the 16th century. The introduction of such non-native species, which were a regular part of the European diet, had a significant environmental impact on the native fauna and flora. Photo credit: Museum of Ontario Archaeology.