I am an archaeologist, as well as the curator of Barkerville Historic Town, the largest historic site in Western Canada.
It may therefore come as little surprise that I do not think of history as a conglomerate of dry facts, to be unearthed in libraries and archives.
On the contrary, I continue to be amazed at the small revelations in broken shards of things we find in the ground or in collections. For example, during the excavation of the Chee Kung Tong in 1993, a hemming bird was found.
This is a metal spring, shaped into the likeness of a bird and used to hold the hem of a fabric being sewn. Who knew that a Chinese tailor would be using an item such as this many decades ago?
This year, Mike Will, a fellow archaeologist, continues research through excavation of the Chinese Terraced Gardens. Previous excavations uncovered enriched soils, as the natural orange podsolic soils found across northern Canadian forested areas have been replaced by rich, dark brown, loamy soils, suggesting fertilizers were added.
Traces of the walls used to support stepping of the hillside into terraces were found as well. Mike also discovered the remains of a small building, and uncovered a water and irrigation system. Remnant plants including rhubarb, a plant of Chinese origin, still grow on this hillside.
The most exciting find was a natural seep and small trenches that directed water to the terraces. It was built up with a rock portal that was also part of a terrace supporting wall and cache basin.
Small trenches led to the terraces where the gardens were established. Stones used as support have long since started to slide downhill, the result of freezing and thawing of the ground. Remnants of a building were also identified.
Further work in this area will continue until the end of July. Visitors to Barkerville are warmly encouraged to discuss the details with Mike.
In August, Mike will start excavations behind the Richfield Courthouse, where the famous Judge Begbie resided when in session at Richfield. We hope to discover information about the material culture of the 19th century, which is neither well understood nor recorded.
Because we know that the courthouse was little used as a residence after 1900, it will be minimally contaminated by 20th century material.
The information recovered will further our understanding of life in the Cariboo during the early gold rush years. Our main interest focuses on those discarded everyday items of modest value to the long gone owner - they usually tell the broader story.
A lowly breakfast bowl, not worthy of description, but to the archaeologist: a partial stamp, a place of origin, a voyage halfway round the Earth.
Often people will say to me: "Why don't you just look in catalogues?"
Well, the ground is the only catalogue for what people brought here prior to 1900 and afterwards, as business records were most often destroyed.
Artifacts often have more to say than documents do about a people and a place - one just needs to keep the ears, eyes and mind open.
When in Barkerville this summer, stop by the excavations and see what is new and interesting.
Perhaps you too will find a broken shard of long ago, inviting a tale to unravel.
