Who built the Bayers Lake mystery walls? (7 photos)

There are many theories about the origins of a five-sided stone structure and wall in a wooded area near Chain Lake Drive.

Saint Mary's University archaeologist Jonathan Fowler has been studying the Bayers Lake mystery walls.

“The question is what are they, who built them and when?” he told NEWS 95.7.

Fowler went into the field with an X-Ray Fluorescence analyzet to try and solve the puzzle.

He said in addition to looking for material evidence like pottery, glass or coins, the X-ray device allowed his team to look for microscopic or atomic residue in soil which would be left behind from human activity.

“The introduction of additional human waste — urine, feces, animal waste and decayed organic material from food processing — increases phosphorus levels in soils,” he explained. “We've known this since the early 20th century and archeologists have developed techniques for scanning soils for phosphorus.”

“That's what we were doing with the X-rays, but in this case we found no significantly elevated levels of phosphorus.”

Fowler said that could be because there was no human occupation, but it could also mean it wasn't occupied for long enough for there to have been an impact.

In archaeology, he said there's not always a solid answer. Sometimes all they can do is look at which of the possibilities are most likely to be probable.

The stone wall was constructed with local stones without using mortar and the five-sided building has a footprint a little smaller than a house.

“But it's not a house, it doesn't look like a house, it has the wrong shape … in all the snooping around the site by professional archaeologists, there's no evidence of domestic occupation,” he said. “The stuff you'd normally find, broken pottery, glass, food waste … there's nothing.”

One popular theory is it could be a military structure of some sort.

“If it is, where's the evidence in the archival records? One thing we know about militaries is they are bureaucracies,” said Fowler. “They like to keep records and they like to account for things, but there's not a whisper of this in the records.”

He added the lack of army gear including musket balls or shell casings also doesn't strongly support that proposal.

Some have floated the idea that the wall could have been a property dividing line. Fowler said it's possible as there would likely be no record of something like that being built.

“Many of these things were done just as a part of agricultural life. They were not mentioned, they were not recorded, they were not a part of history, so it's possible we are dealing with something like that at Bayers Lake … however I would point out these walls do not appear to respect any former property boundary.”

Fowler has come up with what he considers to be a strong hypothesis. He believes the structure could have been a sheep pen.

“In southern Scotland there are structures that look very similar to this, walls and five-sided enclosures, so it's kind of leading me into that direction.”

He's exploring the idea that the mystery walls could have been built by German settlers living in the area of what is now Dutch Village Rd. in the 1760s.

“They were granted backlots that went right up into the woods … into the area that is sort of into Bayers Lake.”

Fowler will be giving a free public lecture on the mystery walls in January.