Construction season a bonanza for local archeologists
Posted Jul 26, 2010 05:47:32 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Believe it or not, construction season is actually a good thing for some people.
Local archaeologists are watching several sites around the city closely to see what artifacts surface as decades of soil are turned up
Joe Day and his crew recently began dismantling a parking structure near the News 95.7 studios at Young and Robie. Just a few feet below ground, they discovered a wealth of intact bottles and an intact newspaper from 1910.
“We found a date of 1910 right here,” Day said pointing at the paper. “On the other piece here somewhere it told us it was February 8.”
In case you’re wondering, in February 1910 the French Premier was dealing with election campaign violence, and a felt hat was on sale for 50 cents.
Archaeologist Laura DeBoer says finding items in the underground of old Halifax is quite common.
“You can actually find coal chutes and windows that are about three or four feet underground now that subsequent layers of the street have eventually covered up,”
DeBoer said.
She says if you find something give the Natural History Museum a call. They love to take photos and record where and when you found an item.
