Public Archaeological Dig at Leamy Lake Park
Public Archaeological Dig at Leamy Lake Park
As part of Archaeology Month, the National Capital Commission (NCC) is organizing a public archaeological dig in Leamy Lake Park. The excavation site is currently located near a river in an area that is increasingly eroding. The NCC hopes that the public will come and help them dig up as many artifacts as possible still buried on the site before it collapses into the river.
Archaeologist and NCC spokesperson, Monica Maika, gives more details on what is buried in the excavation site.
Monica Maika: “We hope the public members join us to help and dig on a site that is between 1000-2000 years. We have 14 days of public digging in august, the dates are our website and we will be there the everyday from 9h am to 5h pm. We find a bunch of different things, like tools made out of rock that was created by indigenous, pots, and also the debris they created while shaping their tools. Most of artifacts that we find on the site make us believe that they were created about 1000-2000 years ago. It has sites in its concentration that dates back up to 6000 years, and then there are pottery with decorations from the Algonquin Anishinabe natives. The pottery of the Hurons and also the pottery of the St-Laurent Iroquois.”
Unfortunately, the public will not be able to preserve the artifacts they discover at the excavation site and will have to return them to the NCC at the end of the day. The NCC will then proceed with cataloguing and analysis in order to learn more about the Indigenous cultures that frequented the site more than 1000 years ago.
This is not the first time that NCC has organized a public dig for Archaeology Month, as Maika explains how the dig will be conducted for the public.
Monica Maika: “We suggest that they wear sunscreen, a hat, drink water because it is very hot on the beach, have closed shoes. We also suggest to bring a lunch if you decide to stay with us the whole day, also maybe knee braces, or a mat. The public can meet us, we have demonstrations of kinds of artifacts that they can find. Everybody is invited to help us dig. We provide the shovels and all tools needed. We also have little wells where kids can enjoy digging to find toys to bring home with them. We hope to see a lot of people from québec and Ontario to come and see the reality of archeology. We hope that they learn more about it and a little more about the history of indigenous, their culture, their tradition and the way that they lived, before the European came in the region.”
NCC archaeologist Bradley Drouin will also be present on August 2 and 26 to demonstrate how Indigenous people worked flint to make tools.
