Acadians

[blackjohn]

From http://www.herald.ns.ca/stories/2005/06/20...0/f178.raw.html

Dig uncovers ritzy side of Acadian life

Remnants of pricey items found

By ANTHONY COOPER

ANNAPOLIS ROYAL - Archeologist Marc Lavoie and a team of students from Universite Sainte-Anne have uncovered a rash of new Acadian artifacts from the Belleisle marsh, a former salt marsh that stretches from Annapolis Royal to Bridgetown.

The artifacts, described as everything from pipes to pottery, illustrate more completely than ever the daily lives of the Acadian people in the early 1700s.

Excavations took place in the spring of 2004 and again last month at the site along the Annapolis River where numerous foundations of early Acadian homes were first discovered in the 1960s.

Some sites were excavated in a dig sponsored by the Nova Scotia Museum in 1983 but many had not been touched since the dwellings were burned down to their stone foundations during the Expulsion of the Acadians in 1755.

"Belleisle is extremely interesting in that a lot of the ruins have not been disturbed" by any colonization since then, Mr. Lavoie said Sunday.

The archeologist will give a presentation detailing the finds this evening at 7 p.m. in the Annapolis Royal Historic Gardens.

The digs turned up numerous pieces that shed light on the day-to-day lives of the Acadians, he said, about whom not much is known.

Household items, for example, from China, France and parts of England were found that illustrate how complex the Acadians' trading network actually was. They would not likely have travelled to these countries, Mr. Lavoie said, but would have had a number of sophisticated trading partners in order to acquire them.

They also would have needed to be fairly well-off.

"Certain types of pottery showed up that we would not have thought poor Acadians would have had access to," said John Kirby, organizer of the Historic Gardens presentation.

The new artifacts show that rather than being peasants, as they're often described, some Acadian families were well-to-do, Mr. Lavoie said.

A shard from a large Chinese porcelain bowl, found at one dwelling site, would have been pretty pricey, like buying silver dinnerware today, he said.

The archeological digs were put on as field lessons by the Church Point university, but much of the funding for the project came from a group of descendants of the Savoie family.

A Savoie family settlement was one of the sites excavated by Mr. Lavoie's team. The family descendants have also purchased the Belleisle Community Hall to use as an interpretive centre.

Admission to the presentation is $13.50, which includes the $8.50 cost of a full day's access to the Historic Gardens.

[Longarm]

Are you guessing certain gentlemen of fortune might have stopped of a time or two for a little tradeing of goods? I think after a long sea voyage trading an expensive Chinese vase for fresh food and water might not seem like a bad deal at the time.