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Retracing a Route
PRECURSORS
The first discovery of an archaeological site in Quebec might be said to have been made by Samuel de Champlain, who in the account of his 1608 voyage described the remains of Jacques Cartier's encampment on the banks of the Saint-Charles River. Some one hundred years later, people reported finding ancient Amerindian objects in ploughed fields.
INTEREST IS AROUSED From around 1850 to the late 19th century, antiquarians, naturalists and local historians developed an interest in the prehistoric objects unearthed in Quebec, considering them as curiosities to be collected. As early as 1859, conscientious amateurs began to keep fairly substantial notes about their finds. By the beginning of the 20th century, there were two archaeological societies in Quebec: the Quebec Society of the Archaeological Institute of America (1910-1914) and the Antiquarian and Numismatic Society of Montreal (1862-). However, the first real advances in archaeological surveying and excavation in Quebec were made in the 1920s and 1930s by William John Wintemberg, an archaeologist at the National Museum of Man. His research on the St. Lawrence Valley, the North Shore and the Magdalene Islands was not limited to collecting old objects but rather sought to reconstruct the past. His work situated Quebec's past in the context of the prehistoric cultural development previously documented elsewhere in Canada and the United States. In the decades that followed, professional archaeologists from the United States, England and Denmark studied the origins of the Amerindians and Inuit, as well as their adaptation to the environment. Researchers also attempted to establish a chronology of these peoples' occupation of the territory.
A SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY
One of the first people to go beyond the collecting practised by the antiquarians was Sir John William Dawson, a distinguished geologist and rector of McGill University between 1855 and 1893. In 1860, he published a report on certain finds made by laborers near the university campus. These finds consisted of Amerindian artifacts and skeletons, which he believed indicated the location of the Huron village of Hochelaga, visited by Jacques Cartier in 1535. However, subsequent research showed that these remains belonged to an earlier Amerindian occupation.
LOCAL INTEREST IN THE PAST In the 1950s, more and more people began to take an interest in Quebec archaeology. It was in this period that the Archaeological Association of Quebec (1954-1962) was founded by a group of amateur archaeologists, who undertook surveys and excavations in southwest Quebec. From 1959 on, French-speaking amateur archaeologists formed associations here and there throughout the province, strongly encouraged by the enthusiasm of many parish priests. One of these associations, the Société d'archéologie de la Mauricie, was established in Trois-Rivières. Some of its members were instrumental in setting up the first archaeological museum, inaugurated in 1963, which publishes the journal Cahiers d'archéologie québécoise. Between 1950 and 1960, a number of important projects were carried out: researchers from McGill University worked on sites in the Tadoussac area, amateur archaeologists investigated those in the Upper St. Lawrence and specialists from the National Museum of Man visited Northern Quebec.
GROUND BREAKING WORK The beginnings of a program to train professional archaeologists at the Université de Montréal led to the founding of the Société d'Archéologie Préhistorique du Québec (SAPQ) in 1965. The students who set up this association began to carry out research even before a prehistorian specialized in Quebec archaeology was hired by the university's anthropology department. Members of the association played a significant role with respect to important sites such as Pointe-du-Buisson on the south shore of Montreal, Mandeville at Tracy and La Martre in the Gaspé Peninsula. Their work opened the way for research projects directed by archaeologists from the Université de Montréal in the following decades.
A PROFESSION IS BORN
It was not until the 1960s that professional archaeology began to be developed in Quebec. Universities established archaeology programs and research projects, while the Ministère des Affaires culturelles (Quebec's ministry of culture) implemented legislation that guaranteed the protection, conservation and development of Quebec's cultural heritage. In 1961, a centre for northern studies, the Centre d'Études Nordiques, was founded at Université Laval. The following year, the Université de Montréal set up an anthropology department and began to train professional archaeologists. Another anthropology department was opened in 1963, this time at McGill University. In 1966, the Université du Québec hired two professors specialized in Amerindian and Inuit archaeology. During the same period, major inventory programs were inaugurated by the archaeology and ethnology division of the Ministère des Affaires culturelles. At the same time, a register of Quebec's archaeological sites was started in order that all the known sites within the territory could be listed and mapped; as well, the register listed the archaeological reports produced according to the provisions of the Cultural Property Act. The immense James Bay hydroelectricity project, which commenced in 1972, led to large-scale salvage operations to save archaeological remains in this region. The project had a major impact on the advancement of archaeology in Quebec, especially with respect to giving students field experience, developing new field methods and encouraging the creation of consulting firms.
QUEBEC EXPERTISE
Certain archaeologists in Quebec occupy positions in the civil service and paragovernmental agencies while others belong to educational institutions, but the majority of them work in the private sector, either for professional companies or as consultants. Quebec expertise is growing and is even exported to other places. A number of original field methods and analytical approaches have been fine-tuned here. They include the setting up of comparative collections for identifying human and animal remains, as well as the origin of lithic raw material; the interpretation of rock art; dating techniques; prospecting; analyses to establish pottery-making techniques and clay origins; research in experimental archaeology; underwater archaeology; museology and the interpretation of finds; and, finally, the restoration and conservation techniques developed by the Centre de conservation du Québec (Quebec conservation centre).
NEW FIELDS OF INQUIRY
Despite the collective effort that has shed much light on Quebec's past so far, the inquiries pursued by prehistoric archaeology are far from exhausted. Professional archaeologists are increasingly busy in every part of Quebec's territory, at the same time as their interactions with a number of other disciplines grows. Intensive research projects in several regions of Quebec have led to the development of concepts, theories and representations that are appropriate for the territory and its cultural history. Prehistorians make concerted efforts to ensure that the results of their research are better known to the general public and work towards getting Native communities more involved in the study of their own past.
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Center, Université de Montréal 2006. All rights reserved. Questions/comments? |
