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User:Ashsosebee/J. Norman Emerson

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J. Norman Emerson
BornMarch 13, 1917
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
DiedNovember 18, 1978
NationalityCanadian
Occupation(s)Archaeologist, Professor
Known forIntuitive Archaeology

Introduction[edit]

J. Norman Emerson is a Canadian archaeologist who pioneered "intuitive archaeology," also known as psychic archaeology. Norman founded the Ontario Archaeological Society in 1951 and he is known as the "Father of Canadian Archaeology".[1]

Personal Life and Education[edit]

J. Norman Emerson grew up in Toronto. In 1932 he attended the University of Toronto Schools until 1936. He enjoyed fencing and won a Pre-University David Dunlap Memorial Award in Psychology in 1936. However, he completed his sociology degree at Trinity College at the The University of Toronto in 1940. While doing field work in Illinois he decided to attend the University of Chicago and study anthropology.

He met his wife, Ann Elliot, while attending the University of Chicago and they had three children together. During his time in Chicago, World War 2 began and Emerson was drafted into the United States Army but transferred to the Canadian Army. He was later discharged and allowed to finish his education.

In 1946, he became a lecturer at the University of Toronto and later a professor there for thirty-two years. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1954. At the University of Toronto he founded and archaeological laboratory and co-founded the Ontario Archaeological Society in 1951. Emerson was also appointed as a Supervisor of Archaeological Studies in Toronto. He focused on the archaeology of the Huron nation, Ontario prehistory, and Arctic prehistory. In his final years he became known for his interest in intuitive archaeology. He died in Toronto in 1978.

Emerson has an award named after him called the J. Norman Emerson Silver Medal. According to the Ontario Archaeology Society:

The J. Norman Emerson Silver Medal is intended to be awarded on occasion to an outstanding Ontario non-professional archaeologist whose work has been consistently of the highest standard, who has made an exceptional contribution to the development of Ontario archaeology and who has earned acclaim for excellence and achievement. It is the highest honour the Society can bestow.[2]

Field Work[edit]

Norman studied archaeology for the first time in 1938 under Phileo Nash at the Pound site. The next summer in 1939 he worked with Kenneth E. Kidd at the Rock Lake site in Algonquin Park. Norman also helped supervise and excavate the mounds at the Kincaid Site in 1940 and 1941. In fall of 1950 Emerson and his students excavated the Downsview Site and found late Iroquois artifacts. In 1950 and again in 1955 he led excavations at the Benson site which led to the discovery of many Iroquois artifacts. The Parsons site was excavated by Emerson in the fall of 1952 and the fall of 1953 and they discovered the remains of Iroquois Longhouses. In 1954 and 1955 he served on Arctic expeditions in Hudson Bay. In October of 1956 he was part of a team that excavated the Thompson Site which was said to be the earliest site in the Markham region. Emerson and a few of his graduate students discovered Huron artifacts at the Warminster site from 1961 to 1968. He was a part of nearly 50 field excavations. His favorite sites included: Kant, Ault Park and Cahiagué. He had been criticized for the excavation methods he used because of his use of heavy machinery.

Intuitive Archaeology[edit]

Emerson gave his first lecture on intuitive archaeology at McMaster University in January 1973. He said, "It is my conviction that I have received knowledge about archaeological artifacts and archaeological sites from a psychic informant who relates this information to me without any evidence of the conscious use of reasoning." [3] Emerson stated that he had been using information taken from a physic informant in his archaeological work. [4].

Emerson's wife had participated in an Edgar Cayce study group where she met George McMullen, a truck driver who claimed to have psychic powers. Emerson was terminally ill and his wife believed McMullen could help. Soon a bond formed and Emerson and McMullen began to discuss archaeology. Emerson would show him artifacts and McMullen would assess them. Emerson became convinced that he was getting new information about the artifacts and the past from McMullen. They worked together to prove that intuition could be powerful and possible. Emerson would record McMullen's findings and assessments of objects.

Emerson's lecture inspired other anthropologists to consider psychic archaeology, resulting in a number of books were written subsequently.[5] Emerson was not considered "rogue" because he was already a highly established and respected archaeologist.[6] He stated:

Although I do not claim that my studies have achieved the status of being scientific, neither can they be ignored or dismissed as nonsense, imagination or hallucinations. The key to the matter appears to lie in the concept of intuition.[7]

According to Emerson's daughter:

His work in Intuitive Archaeology included the psychometry of an argillite carving found in the Queen Charlotte Islands; readings on silver coins dated 1845 found in Holland Landing; psychic location of a palisade around an Indian site when an archaeological excavation of a one hundred foot test trench would not locate it; trips to the Middle East with the Edgar Cayce Foundation, etc.[8].

Published Work[edit]

  • Digging Up the Past With Grapefruit Knives. by J. Norman Emerson (1939).
  • Preliminary report on the excavations of the Kant site: Renfrew county, Ontario by J. Norman Emerson (1949)
  • Castellation Development Among the Iroquois: by J.N. Emerson (1955)
  • Understanding Iroquois pottery in Ontario by J. Norman Emerson (1956)
  • The Cahiague excavations, 1966: an interim report submitted to the Department of Northern Affairs and National Resources,Canadian Historic Sites Division (1966)
  • The Payne Site: an Iroquoian manifestation in Prince Edward County, by J. Norman Emerson, Ontario (1966)
  • A study of Fort St. Joseph (Histoire et archeologie) by J. Norman Emerson (1977)

See Also[edit]

Reference List[edit]

  1. ^ Baumler, p. 48
  2. ^ Ontario Archaeology Society, 2012
  3. ^ Noble, 1982
  4. ^ Williams, p.295
  5. ^ References needed
  6. ^ References needed
  7. ^ Strange History, 2010
  8. ^ Lynn Emerson

Bibliography[edit]

  • Baumler, Ellen. Beyond Spirit Tailings: Montana's Mysteries, Ghosts, and Haunted Places. Helena, MT: Montana Historical Society, 2005. Print.
  • McMullen, George, and J. Norman. Emerson. One White Crow. Norfolk, VA: Hampton Roads Pub., 1994. Print.
  • Noble, WM C. "J. Norman Emerson: Contributions to Canadian Archaeology" In 'Bringing Back the Past: Historical Perspectives in Canadian Archaeology by P.J. Smith and D. Mitchell, 1998.
  • Noble, Wm C. "Potsherds, Potlids, and Politics: An Overview of Ontario Archaeology During the 1970's." Canadian Journal of Archaeology 6 (1982): 167-94. JSTOR. Web. Nov. 2012. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/41102241 .>.
  • Williams, Stephen. "Physic Archaeology." Fantastic Archaeology: The Wild Side of North American Prehistory. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 1991. 294-300. Print.
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