Duncan Williams graduated from Wilfrid Laurier University in 2015 with an Honours Bachelor of Arts in North American Archaeology and an Option in Geomatics. At WLU, he completed a field school in historical and military archaeology at a War of 1812 site at Fort Erie NHS. Following this, he went on to supervise two additional field schools at Fort Erie (focusing again on the War of 1812 period, as well as earlier 18th-century components) and a third at Tay Point, Penetanguishene (investigating a 17th-century Huron-Wendat village site). He also completed an independent directed study under the direction of Dr. John Triggs in his final year, focusing on the application of GIS and methods of spatial analysis in historical archaeology generally, and more specifically to military archaeology using Fort Erie as a case study. In 2013, he was a member of a WLU and National Museum of Bermuda research team investigating an 18th-century plantation in Bermuda. While an undergraduate, Duncan continued to gain practical field experience as a Field Technician in the Archaeology Division at Paterson Group and as a Field Archaeologist with Memorial University participating in research at Ferryland, Newfoundland investigating an early 17th-century English colony. After graduation, Duncan worked in CRM as a Field Technician with Paterson Group, Earthworks Archaeological Services, and Ground Truth Archaeology and obtained his R license from the MTCS in 2016. He also spent time as a Researcher and Report Writer with John Triggs Consulting and a Researcher with the Canadian Museum of History, working in their Archaeology Lab primarily with faunal material from the pre-contact Iroquoian Mantle Site.

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In 2016, Duncan moved to Newfoundland to pursue a Master of Arts degree in Historical Archaeology at Memorial University. His original thesis research included an intensive program of excavation and material culture analysis focusing on early 19th-century Anglo-Irish settlement on the southern Avalon Peninsula using a single household in Ferryland as a case study. His recently completed and accepted thesis uses a household archaeology lens to examine the formation of a new landed middle class in the area during this period. Duncan also participated in a broad range of archaeological projects during his time in Newfoundland, including the excavation of a 19th-century Anglican cemetery and the recording of Newfoundland’s first known Indigenous petroglyph (according to preliminary interpretations). Upon returning to Ottawa in 2018, Duncan gained further field, lab, and report writing experience on a broad range of projects, including material culture analysis of large collections of pre-contact material from Late Woodland Western Basin occupations at Point Pelee National Park and occupations spanning the Late Archaic to Late Woodland in Lac Leamy Park, Québec.

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EDUCATION

• M.A. (2018) Historical Archaeology – Memorial University, St. John’s, Newfoundland

• B.A. (Hons) 2015, North American Archaeology with Geomatics Option, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, ON

 

LICENCE/ PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

• Professional Ontario Archaeological License

• Association of Professional Archaeologists

• Council for Northeast Historical Archaeology

• Canadian Association of Heritage Professionals

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