Media Release

For Immediate Release

August 17, 2006

SMU archaeologists may have discovered “Ground Zero”

Parks Canada Archaeologist Rob Ferguson offers a lesson on stratigraphy in the partly excavated cellar. Students Josh Nash, Matt Munro, Steven Uloth, and Morgan Cowan (l-r) begin excavating at the location of the new house site.   The stone-lined cellar of an Acadian house, rediscovered by Saint Mary’s students in 2001. Located next to the memorial church, this house appears to have met its end by fire.   The Grand-Pré Archaeological Field School Crew of 2006 (and friends). Standing (l-r): Josh Nash, Steven Uloth, Cynthia Cormier, Cassandra Whalley, Jessica McPhee, Stephen Cormier, Matt Cloutier, Evangeline, Andrea Wilson, Donna Matheson-LeFort, Alie Whalen, Matt Munro, Morgan Cowan, Robyn Crook. Seated: Jeff Turner, Caleb Turner, Rob Ferguson, Robert Shears, Maxine Allen, Jonathan Fowler.

A team of archaeologists from Saint Mary’s University have discovered a number of historical artifacts at Grand Pré that could pinpoint the British headquarters set-up there during the deportation of the Acadians in 1755.

Jonathan Fowler, an archaeology professor at Saint Mary’s, and his team of students have been busy over the last few weeks conducting a dig at Grand-Pré. They have just discovered the ruins of what is likely an 18th century Acadian house near the site of the old Acadian cemetery. The team recovered a collection of artifacts from what appears to be a slate heath base. These artifacts include an iron fork, a portion of a pewter spoon, a fragment of an iron kettle, and various ceramic sherds.

Surprisingly, 13 musket balls were also recovered from the ruin, and another eight were found nearby - possibly the largest number of musket balls ever found at an Acadian domestic site. The find has encouraged Fowler and his students to speculate that this might be evidence of the New England military presence at Grand-Pré in during the Deportation in 1755.

“We know from the surviving journals of two of the New England officers that they occupied the parish church, the priest’s house, and another small house, and that all of these buildings were close to the cemetery,” says Fowler.

“Our new site is adjacent to the cemetery, which makes it a very likely to have been one of those buildings”.

More work still needs to be done in order to better understand the structure, however.

This week, the team will conclude processing hundreds of artifacts unearthed during this season’s work. Now out of the field, the students are studying the artifacts and preparing research papers, as well as preparing for a ceramics identification test.

Although this year’s discoveries are still being processed, Fowler looks forward to getting back into the field next year.

“We have had an excellent crew this year and they’ve done really fine work. They’ve generated plenty of material to keep us all thinking hard over the winter, but what we really need to do is get back out there.”

The University has been offering the Grand-Pré Archaeological Field School Course since the summer of 2001. The project, which has been extremely popular with students and with the public, is a joint initiative of Saint Mary’s University, Parks Canada, and the Société Promotion Grand-Pré.

Saint Mary's University is known for its community outreach projects, both in Canada and around the world. Saint Mary's, founded in 1802, is home to one of Canada's leading business schools, a Science Faculty widely known for its cutting-edge research, a comprehensive and innovative Arts Faculty and a vibrant Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research.

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For More Information:

Paul Fitzgerald
Public Affairs Officer
Saint Mary's University, Public Affairs
(902) 420.5514
E-mail: paul.fitzgerald@smu.ca
www.smu.ca