THUNDER BAY— A small yet mighty piece of history has been unearthed approximately 12 inches uderground in the Central Avenue area.
Earlier this week, members of Fort William First Nation and the Woodland Heritage archeology team were surprised to find a fully-intact arrowhead near the ball diamonds on Central Ave.
“This is the first time we found a full intact artifact within like the last four years of working, so it's a very significant find,” said Faith Johnstone, lead monitor and field expert. “It is great to uncover some cultural heritage.”
The discovery was made during a land survey done by the archeology team that includes Woodland Heritage, Johnstone and both the City of Thunder Bay and Fort William First Nations. The survey is part of a growth and development project in the area.
“Fort William First Nation was engaged from the outset, we were consulting with them on the possibility of these lands being developed, and the fact that their staff (was) on site during this find was an amazing testament to the benefits of working together,” said Aaron Ward, engineering manager for the City of Thunder Bay.
“Before the city kind of looks to have our land possibly brought forward for development, we are ensuring we are doing our due diligence on all of these things, whether it's environmental, work, or cultural,” said Ward.
Called a stage one archaeological assessment or a desktop assessment, the potential area is first surveyed for potential artifacts and findings before moving onto stage two if needed, he said.
“It is very exciting for sure… we will work through what the next steps are in partnership with Fort William First Nation as well as working with Woodland Heritage,” he said. “Whether that means, moving on to a different site or coming back, or pausing the work until we figure out those next steps (it's) no problem, we're excited to find that path.”
“This cultural heritage recovery work isn't just about archaeology,” said Alecia Boshcoff, liaison officer for FWFN. “It is about reclaiming our identity and exercising our inherent treaty rights and protecting what is ours.”
“This isn't just history, this is who we are,” she said.
David Norris, senior archeologist for Woodland Heritage Northwest said the archeology team and members of FWFN were thrilled to find the arrow head.
“We are the next people to find it whether it's 100 years ago, 5,000 years ago, 10,000 years ago, we uncovered it, and I think that's a very powerful connection,” Norris said. “And that's what keeps us going. “
Bear bones were also found at the site in addition to pieces of stone tools and artifacts.
“When people are making stone tools, the chips and pieces of rock that fall off often are called flakes or shatter,” Norris said. “So, we found a lot of that within this area, so it speaks to the use of the location, what they were doing.”
The parcels of land chosen for the city-wide growth and development project have been chosen from LiDAR data, an indicator that pinpoints how far potential objects are from the Earth's surface.
“We get pretty excited because we often dig a lot of empty shovel tests and so when we find something it's really exciting,” Norris said. “So, they were quite elated and then the finds just kept coming from there.”
Following stage two of the land surveys, Woodland Heritage is hoping to continuing working with FWFN and the city to preserve the arrowhead and other possible artifacts.
