Of Cemeteries and Cellars: The Archaeological Diary of Grand-Pré

Archaeology is sometimes described as the study of past human societies through the things they have left behind. More lightheartedly, we sometimes refer to it as the science of other people’s garbage. A broader approach would define it as the study of humans through their interaction with materials. Whichever of these versions you prefer, the basic outline is the same: archaeologists interpret material evidence in order to better understand our past.

The archaeologist’s is a compelling craft for many reasons. The search for archaeological sites and information can be a physically demanding and drawn-out process, but it is often a process of real discovery. Sometimes our work offers insights that are entirely new, and that may radically alter what we thought we knew. As a team-based activity, archaeological excavation can be fun and rewarding in its own right, and many people the world over regularly participate in archaeological projects for this reason. And once the evidence is gathered and the gear is stowed away for another season, the challenge of interpretation brings another dimension to the work: lab-based analysis, archival research, and long conversations (let’s be candid: arguments) that keep us animated until the next spate of fieldwork pushes the investigation a little further.

That said, archaeology is not simply a hobby or eccentric pastime. Archaeology matters, and it matters in the same way that history matters. It matters because it makes a real contribution to our understanding of ourselves by recovering details about where we came from, how we have interacted with one another and with our physical environment, and how and why our societies have changed over time. Governments and political parties frequently use the past – both recent and distant – to portray themselves and their policies in a positive light, to frame debates, and to discredit opponents. Ancient monarchs and modern dictators alike have displayed a keen interest in the past, even if their understandings are limited to the requirements of politics. Like it or not, the past is political.

Like history, archaeology can help write the human story. But it can also write the back story, and the way-way-back story. This is because archaeological evidence stretches far back in time, well before the invention of writing. It also offers important information about the activities of people who may have lived during ‘historic’ times, but whose lives generally escaped the notice of scribes, diarists, or other officials. Archaeology at Grand-Pré is valuable in both of these senses: people have been living in our region for at least 10,000 years, and archaeology is an ideally way to learn more about their stories. And the early days of European colonization are not as well documented as we would like. Here, too, material evidence has a valuable role to play.