Editorials

Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

This mud won't stick

By: Staff Writer

Posted: 06/17/2009 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

(DALE CUMMINGS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS)

ARCHEOLOGISTS have been digging in the historic ground at The Forks since 1987, when the land was assembled for what has become the province’s most popular tourist site. In that time, they have uncovered hundreds of thousands of artifacts, such as arrowheads, shards of pottery, the remain of animals cooked at the site, evidence of campfires and one human footprint that was dated at 800 years old. There is no evidence of permanent or long-term habitation and no evidence of burial sites.

Despite all this work and more still to come, however, a few archeologists are complaining that the search for more pottery shards, fish bones and burnt wood at the site of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, where 380,000 objects have been recovered, should continue until it gives up much more of its historical treasures. They also say the museum should be ashamed of itself for bypassing an opportunity to develop a complete picture of aboriginal life at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, a meeting ground for some 8,000 years.

The criticism is grossly unfair and even uninformed. As most archeology students could have explained, a sample from an historical excavation is usually adequate to provide the information needed to develop an understanding of what life was like in the past. Excessive excavation, in fact, is usually discouraged because it can destroy or taint the resource, foreclosing on opportunities that might emerge with the development of new technology and investigative techniques. By essentially capping the site for 100 or 200 years or however long the building stands, the museum is preserving it in a pristine condition for the scientists of the future. There is also a rich vein of historical artifacts beneath the gravel parking lot now used by Canwest Global Park, so there is ample opportunity for more research.

The museum's staff and its builders have relied on the province's heritage experts and aboriginal elders to tell them how to proceed in a respectful manner, and their record has been exemplary in respecting First Nations heritage.

The critics say the province's legislation is weak at protecting heritage resources, even though it compares favourably with other jurisdictions across Canada.

The federal museum deserves better treatment than the dirt that has been heaped upon it. It has obeyed every government edict and spent more than $500,000 digging up ancient objects, some of which are undergoing carbon dating and residue analysis. It has even altered its design to avoid digging into the multiple layers of cultural history.

In short, it will make history without destroying it.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition June 17, 2009 A14

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