This study explores the connection between the historical occurrences and the landscape changes on Main Duck Island, located at the eastern end of Lake Ontario. This research is conceptualized within the framework of Maritime Cultural Landscapes (MCL) to understand the relationship between the landscape and Lake Ontario. To explore this relationship, the study integrates spatial and archaeological methods such as GIS-based paleoshoreline modeling to understand the landscape change over time, analysis of air photographs, visibility analysis (viewshed) to understand island mobility, archaeological reconnaissance survey to discover and rediscover archaeological sites on the island, and ceramic analysis of surface finds to identify decorative motifs to establish cross cultural similarities between finds on mainland Canada and New York. This study is significant in contextualizing historical events such as Indigenous and non-Indigenous migration with landscape changes and archaeological data. Ultimately, the study corroborates past environmental conditions that have influenced the island's morphology with contemporary ones.
Author Keywords: Archaeological Reconnaissance survey, GIS (Geographic Information Systems), Island Archaeology, Maritime Cultural Landscapes, Paleoshoreline Modelling, Viewshed Analysis