Archaeological dig underway at Calgary’s Edworthy Park

Some Calgary university students are hoping to unearth some history at an archaeological dig site at a Calgary park.

The students from the University of Calgary are digging at Edworthy Park, where they have found signs of a pre-contact Indigenous campsite.

“Well this is actually UCalgary’s archaeology field school,” says U Calgary archaeology professor Lindsay Amundsen-Meyer. “This site’s actually been known since the 1970s, it’s just never been excavated.”

The team is looking for lithics, the stone tools and bits broke off from when the tools were made. They don’t know the date of the campsite, but say they may send a bone they unearthed for carbon dating to hopefully narrow down a time period.

The dig is unique as most archaeological sites take place in an area undergoing development. This one, right in the middle of a dog park, is something the team appreciates as they’re able to share findings with people walking by.

“We’ve got things we call scrapers, which are used for hide processing,” says Amundsen-Meyer. “We’ve got ones we call byfaces, which are used as knives.

“Choppers, which would be used to sort of dis-articulate carcasses, when you’re butchering an animal.”

The team has worked closely with Indigenous elders, and Indigenous youth are also taking part in the dig. A ceremony was held before shovels hit the ground, ensuring the entire process of unearthing a historic campsite is done with culturally-appropriate protocols, right down to how the artifacts are dug up and bagged.

“They’re doing it in a good way,” says Laureen Bryant, City of Calgary archaeologist and cultural planner. “Starting with ceremony and having that exposure of the future archaeologists to elders and spending time so they recognize the importance of it so they can carry that into industry going forward.”

The dig will be going on well into June and people are encouraged to stop by and ask questions to learn about the history that took place on the land.