2.2 Project Context: Archaeological Context

2.2.1 Subject Property: Overview and Physical Setting

The subject property is located at 3496 Sandwich Street in the City of Windsor, Ontario (Maps 1 and 2). The limits of the property were determined based on the City of Windsor’s parcel data GIS data. The property measures roughly 0.34 ha (0.84 ac) in size and is currently the location of Crystal Auto Sales (2144280 Ontario Inc.); it consists of existing buildings, paved and graveled parking areas, and is bordered by small grassed areas. The subject property is surrounded by perimeter fences and the outdoor automotive storage space is subdivided in two by a fence. The eastern section of the outdoor automotive storage space is paved while the western section is graveled. The topography of the subject property is flat. The property is bound to the east by Sandwich Street, to the south by South Street, to the west by Wilkinson Lane and to the north by commercial and industrial businesses. The general area surrounding the subject property is a mix of residential and industrial properties.

The subject property lies within the St. Clair Clay Plain physiographic region, as defined by Chapman and Putnam (1984; Map 5). The region is a vast flat, clay plain covering some 2,270 square miles. It was formerly the bed of glacial Lakes Whittlesey and Warren. The lakes did not leave deeply stratified beds of sediment atop the underlying clays and thus much of both Lambton and Essex Counties are subsequently beveled till plains smoothed by shallow deposits of lacustrine clay (Chapman and Putnam 1984:147). Within the vicinity of the Detroit River shoreline, sand plains have developed overlying the clay. The dominant soil type in the area is Burford loam, a gray brown podsolic soil with good natural drainage (Richards et al. 1949:48; Map 6). The Detroit River is the closest major watercourse, lying roughly 425 metres west of the subject property (Map 7).

2.2.2 Summary of Registered or Known Archaeological Sites

According to the Ontario Archaeological Site Database (OASD), there are 11 registered archaeological sites within 1 km of the subject property (Table 1). Based on the OASD mapping, there are no previously registered sites within 300 m, nor within, the subject property.