The place near the foot of Bathurst Street that we call Fort York was known for most of its history simply as the Toronto garrison or the Old Fort (as distinct from the New Fort, which was built in 1841 -- the only structure of which survives being Stanley Barracks). The walled fort we see today within Fort York National Historic Site contains one of the largest collections of War of 1812 buildings in North America. It is this brief period of investment in military infrastructure that Fort York's seven original buildings, dating to 1813-16, recalls today (other buildings from this time of war and its aftermath, built to house hundreds of soldiers, are gone). Many other buildings, built inside and outside today's walls throughout the nineteenth century, also did not survive.

Michael Redhill's novel Consolation, a tale of Toronto told in two centuries, was the starting point for a group of presentations by local archaeologists at the Society for Historical Archaeology annual meeting in Toronto earlier this month. David Robertson of Archaeological Services, Inc., was inspired by this book to herd these cats into a morning's exploration of Toronto's past through their presentations.

The pace and scope of archaeological investigation of this city has increased since the Archaeological Master Plan was introduced in 2005 and digs have been going on all over the city. The presenters gave us some insight into the following places:

We like to think of the possibilities of breaking down barriers, making connections and bringing communities together. These are worth striving for. On the other hand, we sometimes like to set things apart, gain perspective on places and admire things from a distance. We like architectural and other landmarks that distinguish places and neighbourhoods.

If you haven't seen the new natural history galleries at the Royal Ontario Museum, it's high time you went. However admirable the dinosaurs, the local heroes are the mammals that roamed Toronto during past episodes of climate warming. They include antiques like the charmingly named stag moose that rambled through the open spruce forest of the last ice age. You'll also find the fossil of a new genus of deer, unearthed during a Bloor subway line extension in the 1970s. The animal was named Torontoceros after the place that was built, 12,000 years later, over its final resting place.

The turnout at Toronto the Good - the annual bash at the Distillery - is a sign that not all is bad in the city. A passion for history, architecture, planning and public space was clearly on display during this Festival of Architecture and Design (fAd) event, thanks to Spacing Magazine and its generous and creative partners. Thinking about an "urban centre," as explained by Shawn Micallef in the Toronto Star, was its theme: creating a place for history, information and debate; a beginning point for telling the story of Toronto.