Digging down to learn about the past: NCC opens public archeological site

Article content

Monica Maika looked up from the well-preserved samples of Indigenous pottery, arrowheads and spear points and cast her eyes on the larger surroundings.

“What a great office view,” said Maika, a National Capital Commission in-house archaeologist.

It is an artist’s dream here, on the north shore of the Ottawa River, directly across from 22 Sussex and the Rideau Falls, with the Macdonald-Cartier Bridge and the Parliament buildings looming to the southwest.

Article content

The site is also a feast for budding archaeologists, looking for fragments of history dating back as far as 5,000-6,000 years.

“This is one of 14 Indigenous archaeological sites within Lac Leamy Park,” said Maika. “This is one of the ones under the most threat from climate change, active erosion and changing water levels on the Ottawa River, so we’re trying to learn as much as possible about this site before it’s completely gone into the river.”

On select dates throughout August, the NCC is opening the doors for the curious to get their hands dirty to check it all out for free.

It’s a 10-minute drive from Ottawa, across the Macdonald-Cartier Bridge to Boulevard Fournier and the gravel parking lot. A leisurely 15-minute walk through the woods takes you to the spot.

The site features four regular “digs” — carefully dug out squares away from the shore — where visitors can sweep away the earth mining for treasures of a lost age. There’s also a “kid’s pit” for the youngest, where a toy animal prize or two might be hidden.

All of the squares are covered with a canopy, keeping away the sun as much as possible.

Article content

After filling a bucket, diggers shake the dirt through a screen, with the hope of finding a golden nugget of sorts.

It’s not uncommon to discover rusty nails or pieces of glass, relics from the days when cottages sat here and when the logging industry was a fixture along the Ottawa River.

The choice finds, however, include a rock known as Kichisipi Chert, a waxy brownish-grey material.

Typically, what is seen closest to the surfaces are “flakes”, waste materials that are chipped off in the creation of a tool. Further down, 40-50 centimetres or more below the ground, pieces of pottery or arrowheads are sometimes discovered.

“Most of what we find on this site dates to about 1000 to 2000 years ago, it’s what we call the middle woodland,” says Maika, one of four NCC employees always ready to walk and talk visitors through the environment. “We do have some things that are a little younger, more like 500 or 600 years ago, but most of that is in the river.”

Artifacts from an older site within Lac Leamy, some of which she carries with her, are 5,000-6,000 years old.

When historically relevant pieces are discovered, they are brought back to NCC, where they are cleaned up, catalogued and held in trust for Indigenous authorities.

Article content

Taken all together, the spot is full of intrigue for Octavia Ambridge, an 11-year-old from Carp who returned early in August after first checking out the site last summer.

“I like archaeology and I find it really interesting how you can basically dig up something from thousands of years ago and be the first person to have touched it or seen it for thousands of years,” she said.

She was buzzing with excitement after unearthing a piece of decorated pottery amid what she described as a “truckload of shards”.

“They say they haven’t seen anything so red or with those lines before, so it’s really interesting. It’s a great thing that you can do. Lots of different people come here. It can be a community thing and I really like history. It makes me think about who was here and what they were doing. I think of the people who came here before colonization and how they were treated and what they had.”

Last August, Maika says about 1,000 people showed up for the 20 days the site was open. During last week’s heat wave, the daily count was around 20, slightly higher on the weekend. Crowds are largest around the noon hour.

“We’re just trying to get people out, to learn more about the history,” Maika said.

Opening dates can be found on the NCC website.

Article content