Archeological dig underway at road expansion site

Chris Thompson
An archeological excavation is well underway on the banks of the Puce River after aboriginal items that may be 1,000 years old were found in preparation for the expansion of County Road 22.
The items, including arrowheads and pieces of pottery, were discovered last December on the banks of the Puce River near the County Road 22 bridge.
“The artifacts that initially were found were projectile heads, or arrowheads, as well as clay pottery,” said Essex County’s engineering contracts manager Peter Bziuk.
“There were fragments of pottery that date back to the late woodland period. There’s a wide range for that period, but it’s approximately 1,000 years old.”
There is a provincially mandated process that is part of the environmental assessment to ensure that archeologically significant discoveries are preserved.
“The environmental assessment process identified the possibility of archeologically significant artifacts and from that process, the excavation was started and during the excavation process artifacts were found,” said Bziuk.
Initially, in Stage 2 of the process, small holes are dug about a foot in diameter, spaced out about the site.
“It was in that stage two that the projectile points and clay pottery was found,” said Bziuk.
The process then moves to Stage 3, which requires holes one metre square placed five metres apart.
“Then more artifacts were found,” said Bziuk.

Workers shift through cubic metre of dirt on the shore of the Puce River at the Puce River bridge during an archeological dig prior to roadwork on County Road 22 November 27, 2012. The excavation work to search for artifacts will continue for another two weeks. (NICK BRANCACCIO/The Windsor Star)

At each stage of the process a report is prepared, which is why the process has taken a year.
“Under Stage 4 you do your full-block excavation or you avoid the area altogether, but that’s not really an option for us,” said Bziuk.
“Basically their job is finding the limits of where there are no more archeological findings.”
Bziuk said said the excavation should continue for the next two weeks and won’t delay the road improvements.
“We don’t anticipate any delays,” said Bziuk.
“The project has been moving forward and at some point the archeologists and the contractor will be working side by side.”
The excavation is being conducted by Hamilton-based Fisher Archaeological Consulting.
Exactly what indigenous tribe left the items may be difficult to determine, according to the Ontario Archaeological Society.
On their website the society says that Western Basin Algonquin tribes were occupying Southwestern Ontario around 1000 A.D., the end of the late woodland stage.
“It is by the late woodland stage that ethnic identities are known for some of the people who created the prehistoric archaeological sites,” the society says on its website.
“The indigenous inhabitants of Southwestern Ontario, however, had disappeared by the time European explorers entered the area. Because of the absence of a native population by the contact period, archaeologists can never be absolutely certain who actually lived in Southwestern Ontario.”
 http://blogs.windsorstar.com/2012/12/03/archeological-dig-underway-at-road-expansion-site/