| Last updated at 8:59 AM on 01/08/07 |
Archaeologist-for-a-day adventure: reporter unearths local history 
CHRIS LEBLANC
The Sackville Tribune Post
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| Sackville Tribune-Post reporter Chris LeBlanc looks over his first discovery of the day, a metal latch possibly from an old box. |
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By Chris LeBlanc
Staff Reporter
Just call me Indiana LeBlanc.
Opting to leave my fedora, whip, and six-shooter at home for the day, I embarked Friday morning for Fort Beauséjour to take part in the dig at the Beaubassin archaeological site, which was open to the public by Parks Canada.
I immediately drew comparisons between the famous fictional archaeologist Indiana Jones and myself as I began my journey: we’re both handsome, we both love history, and we both loathe those leathery pests known as snakes.
Naturally, as I pulled up to Beauséjour, I began to conjure up grand visions of discovering amazing artifacts at Beaubassin; nothing short of an artifact on par with the Ark of the Covenant would satisfy me.
I entered the fort and soon enough found myself sitting with 12 other archaeology enthusiasts in the dark, watching a PowerPoint presentation that was meant to act as the start of our crash course in archaeology.
The brief history lesson in what I like to call Archaeology for Dummies 101 detailed the history of the Acadian village of Beaubassin, the remains of which are located near Fort Lawrence.
As well, a useful packet of information expanded this history lesson even further, detailing how colonists began to settle in this region in the 1670s and built Beaubassin.
The village was eventually burned in the spring of 1750 as the French settlers of the region retreated from the approaching British fleet after decades of tension between the two rivals peaked.
As much as I love history, my mind kept returning to thoughts of discovering gold, diamonds, or anything that would get my name in the news, which is quite odd coming from someone who has a job at a newspaper. Regardless, I was anxious to start ‘diggin’ up the past.’
The presentation ended and we were introduced to Virginia Sheehan, an archaeologist with Parks Canada, who warned the room of adventurers that the site currently had a gopher problem and to “watch out.”
I guess I should have packed that six-shooter after all.
Soon enough I was back on the road, this time heading for the actual site of Beaubassin.
Site assistant Barb Leskovec began the lesson on how to properly conduct an archaeological dig by informing us what we might find.
Standing inside a square hole, which was about a foot in depth and lined by string around the perimeter, Barb informed our group of amateur archaeologists that we could expect to find anything from pottery shards to animal teeth and bones.
Suddenly I began to realize that my hope of finding something like the Holy Grail was probably unlikely, yet I still remained intrigued to dig.
Barb also detailed a hypothesis on this “hole in the ground” based on the locations of artifacts found. Specifically, a lot of fish bones and smoking pipes were found in a particular area, which she believes to be the hearth or fireplace of the house that once rested on this particular site.
It’s quite interesting and impressive, considering these people can detail the lifestyles of people from over 200 years ago, but I can barely get dressed in the morning.
From these types of hypotheses, archaeologists attempt to map out how these people lived and the conditions they lived in.
A quick lesson on how to properly handle a trowel by another site assistant, Clarice Valotaire, effectively ended our crash course in archaeology.
Once I was assigned to a “hole,” I began to scrape away at the dirt. At first I found myself unearthing nothing but weird insects that you’d expect to find in a poorly-written B-movie horror film from the 1980s. And while a few people beside me began to find nails, pottery and teeth, I was scraping up rocks that I secretly prayed to be dirty gold.
Contrary to the term, an “archaeological dig” should actually be called an “archaeological scraping,” as the process of unearthing artifacts is a slow process requiring a lot of patience, since you use the trowel to slowly scrape away at the surface of the soil in order to avoid damaging artifacts.
Patience is something Indiana LeBlanc does not have.
After more than an hour of scraping away at dirt, I finally made my first discovery as what looked like an odd-shaped rock flew out of the dirt and into my lap. Dusting it off, I realized it was a piece of metal, which Virginia concluded was a latch from possibly a box. Soon enough, everyone around me was unearthing small bits of history.
The race was on.
With my usual use of comedic delivery, I insisted to those around me that it wasn’t a competition but every artifact I found was one more boost to Indiana LeBlanc’s pride.
Suddenly, artifacts were literally flying out of the dirt as I excitedly scraped away, driven mostly by intrigue, but also of course by competition.
The artifacts this Star Archaeologist found included a nail, some pottery shards, a giant tooth from some sort of animal, a cup handle, and “slag”, which is basically garbage.
At the end of the day, I realized the peculiar notions I felt for my artifacts. What was once garbage to those living over 200 years ago was priceless to both the others with me that day and also to myself.
The dig was over, and I found myself wishing I could stay just a few minutes more in the hopes of unearthing even the tiniest piece of history.
That day, my holy grail turned out to be a piece of Acadian garbage from the 18th century. And I couldn’t be happier with that fact.
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