Researchers using ground-penetrating radar have found what they believe is one of the oldest European graveyards in Canada.
Archeologist Sara Beanlands says there is compelling evidence to suggest the unmarked site in western Nova Scotia is the final resting place for Acadian settlers buried near a fort as early as the 1680s.
The radar images, gathered one day last month at the Fort Anne National Historic Site in Annapolis Royal, show neat rows of 19 ghostly green and red shapes.
B次元官网网址淲ith respect to Acadian history, this was B次元官网网址� and (nearby) Port Royal is B次元官网网址� the cradle of Acadian civilization,B次元官网网址� says Beanlands, senior archeologist at Halifax-based Boreas Heritage Consulting.
B次元官网网址淢any of the Acadians today who can trace their ancestry back to Port Royal, their ancestors will be buried somewhere in that Acadian cemetery.B次元官网网址�
Originally built by the Scots as early as 1629, Fort Anne was later taken over by the French, before it fell to British troops in 1710.
B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 one of the most contested landscapes in this part of the world,B次元官网网址� Beanlands says. B次元官网网址淧eople have been drawn to this area for thousands of years B次元官网网址� This was home for the MikB次元官网网址檓aq long before any European explorers.B次元官网网址�
She says the underground anomalies picked by the ground-penetrating radar B次元官网网址� a device that looks like an electric lawn mower B次元官网网址� could be an extension of a nearby British cemetery.
The well-known Garrison Graveyard has 230 headstones that date back to 1720.
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At the turn of the 17th century, the Acadians used wooden grave markers, which have long since rotted away.
However, church records and maps from the early 1700s indicate an Acadian cemetery was also located outside the walls of the star-shaped fort, a reconstructed fortification that became CanadaB次元官网网址檚 first administered national historic site in 1917.
BeanlandsB次元官网网址� research included the use of aerial drones and Lidar B次元官网网址� short for Light Detection and Ranging B次元官网网址� to produce an extremely accurate picture of the siteB次元官网网址檚 contours.
The radar was used to produce a three-dimensional cross-section of the plot, which is about 10 metres by 18 metres and extends three metres underground.
B次元官网网址淔or the first time, we have been able to take this technology B次元官网网址� into Fort Anne and see through a new set of eyes in a way that is completely non-destructive,B次元官网网址� Beanlands says. B次元官网网址淚t gives us the ability to see things we have never been able to see before.B次元官网网址�
Though the glowing anomalies donB次元官网网址檛 show much, their arrangement is unmistakable. At a depth of one metre, the irregular shapes appear at regular intervals B次元官网网址� and they are aligned along a north-south axis that is in line with the British graves.
B次元官网网址淲eB次元官网网址檙e familiar with what burials look like in the data,B次元官网网址� says Beanlands. B次元官网网址淭he most compelling evidence is B次元官网网址� the patterning of the anomalies.B次元官网网址�
However, the only way to confirm the presence of graves would be to conduct an expensive and time-consuming archeological dig. But thatB次元官网网址檚 not going to happen, Beanlands says.
B次元官网网址淪o we could never know B次元官网网址� we could never say with absolute certainty,B次元官网网址� she says. B次元官网网址淲hat we need is more data.B次元官网网址�
An expanded search could start as early as next month, with help from Parks Canada, the Nova Scotia Community CollegeB次元官网网址檚 Applied Geomatics Research Group and Mapannapolis, a volunteer organization that creates web-based maps of heritage sites.
B次元官网网址� By Michael MacDonald in Halifax
The Canadian Press
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