On August 17, 1956, a steam shovel began clearing a 60-foot mound near Lawrence Avenue and Bellamy Road in the Highland Creek Watershed. The soon-to-be flattened land would be used for a suburban subdivision in Scarborough, and the removed soil would be used as construction material for the building of Highway 401.
Instead, what was revealed was a First Nations ossuary–a ceremonial burial ground measuring about 50 feet long, seven feet wide and one foot deep, containing the remains of almost 500 ancestral Wendat members. It’s believed that the remains found in the ossuary are linked to a ceremony in which bodies are left to decompose on platforms for several years before they are carefully cleaned and buried during a Feast of the Dead ritual.
The Tabor Hill Ossuary is believed to date back to the 14th century, making it one of the earliest ossuary sites in Ontario. A second burial pit was also discovered nearby, slightly smaller than the first.
After the two discoveries, the land was re-purposed as a cemetery and a reburial ceremony was held in October 1956 to return the remains to Tabor Hill. The ceremony, a 3-day tribute to the Feast of the Dead ritual, brought together First Nations leaders as well as several thousand spectators.
Tabor Hill Ossuary marks the remains of 472 13th-century #Iroquois bodies discovered in 1956 & reinterred in 1961 pic.twitter.com/Hb3rn4f9z7
— The York Pioneers (@YorkPioneers) August 19, 2016
For its significance as a sacred site, the Tabor Hill Ossuary, has been given cemetery designation and is recognized under the Ontario Heritage Act.
* Photo by SimonP