Scientists digging for history in Port Joli

The meeting has been arranged by Archeologist Matthew Betts from the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Ottawa. Dr. Betts headed up a team carrying out the initial survey of middens in the Port Joli and Port L'Hebert region last spring.

"The South Shore of Nova Scotia is rich in shell middens," Dr. Betts says. "The bones and artifacts in these accumulations provide a crucial record of ancient human behaviours and former ecosystems. . . The investigation is being carried out in order to recover this crucial information."

The E'se'get Archaeology Project (E'se'get is a Mi'kmaq word meaning "dig for clams") seeks to understand how Mi'kmaq social and economic systems evolved in this area as part of a larger Atlantic ecosystem.

Dr. Betts says the long-term goal is to understand the complex and dynamic interplay between ancient Mi'kmaq culture and the environments they inhabited.

In May Dr. Betts and a colleague from the University of New Brunswick, Dr. David Black, with the assistance of Andrea Thompson, a Master's student from the University of Montreal, conducted survey and test excavations at shell midden sites in Port Joli. "The primary goal of this fieldwork was reconnaissance," he says, "to locate, re-locate, and reassess archaeological deposits in the region."

Excavations focused on deposits in Thomas Raddall Provincial Park, but sites on adjacent Crown and private lands were also documented. "The survey revealed that the Port Joli area alone has more than 20 shell midden sites, three of which had never been recorded.

"Limited excavations revealed rich deposits filled with cod, deer, caribou, rabbit, and goose bone, along with uniquely decorated pottery fragments.

"Some of the middens investigated are as deep as two metres, indicating that prehistoric occupations were much more intensive than was previously suspected.

"These results far exceeded expectations," Betts says, adding that the team is planning to return to Port Joli in the coming years to continue excavations and reconnaissance.

The meeting at Raddall Park takes place at 6 p.m. in the park's Trail Head Building.