La Presse looks at Montreal’s brief stint as the capital of the united Canadas between 1843 and 1848, with some historical background and a photo spread showing how the archaeologists are working in Place Youville, the site of the parliament building of the era, and some of the items that have been dug up.
I’m a little cynical about this exercise because 1848 is the day before yesterday in archaeological terms, and talking about Montreal’s “forgotten” time as the capital only works if we assume nobody ever learns Canadian history. In fact the period from the 1837 rebellions up till Confederation is probably one of the more interesting bits of history we’ve got, and one of the most studied. We’re not talking ancient Sumer or Mohenjo-Daro here. There may be some details to learn about the exact position of the old parliament building, but it’s not like knowledge of that era has been lost in the mists of time.
Alison Cummins 04:44 on 2011/08/21 Permalink
Thanks for this, Kate: I hadn’t known about Mohenjo-daro and now I do.
William Raillant-Clark 10:12 on 2011/08/21 Permalink
I’m curious to know more about your cynicism? For example, do you think this is a politically motivated exercise, or that it’s just hype?
Alex L 11:54 on 2011/08/21 Permalink
Il y a peu de sites archéologiques qui emploient plus d’une douzaine d’archéologues à la fois; c’est un chantier majeur. Le site du marché Sainte-Anne est sur la pointe à Callière, endroit qui a été utilisé bien avant l’arrivée des européens et donc bien avant l’étape du parlement du Canada-Uni. Les médias parlent principalement de ce dernier car c’est à cette étape où en sont rendues les fouilles, mais aussi parce qu’il en constitue l’étape la plus prestigieuse et donc ayant le plus d’impact pour un article de presse.
Aussi Kate, il ne faut surtout pas confondre histoire et archéologie; l’une se fie principalement sur des documents historiques, l’autre sur le matériel retrouvé lors de fouilles. Les parlementaires ne consignaient pas leur quotidien sur papier, ni les agriculteurs se rendant au marché, ni les amérindiens campant sur place. Un tout nouvel aspect de la vie de ces gens, à cette époque, se dévoile peu à peu lors des fouilles. Après tout on ne retrouve pas un parlement dans toutes les cours arrières des bâtiments.
Finalement, 1848 n’est pas tant le jour avant hier en archéologie québécoise. Il existe de multiples façons de faire l’archéologie dans le monde, les États-Unis, le Canada et le Québec étant probablement parmi les endroits où l’on donne le plus d’importance à l’archéologie historique. Un site de cette époque a toutes les chances du monde d’être fouillé superficiellement au Mexique ou en France, mais ne le sera que très rarement ici, ce qui à mon sens est une excellente chose.
Kate 01:07 on 2011/08/22 Permalink
William, it’s complicated. I think it’s an exercise for archaeologists from here, and is probably educational for them and for any observers, but I also find that I think it’s kind of lame. Alex L does make a good point about the distinction between history being about what’s written down vs. archaeology about life as it’s lived, but I wonder how many surprises there will be, or if we pretty much already know how life was lived in 19th-century Montreal.
Yes, I do think there’s politics involved. I think it goes two ways, in this case. By digging there they remind everyone that the anglos of the time burned the building down, which has its political uses, and by focusing on how the white inhabitants of the island of Montreal were living it more or less emphasizes that this is what’s important here. I find I have a knowledge gap about how people lived here before Europeans arrived, and it’s partly simply because they knew how to live on the land without leaving much trace, but also because it’s an archaeological question, not a question of history (i.e., written records) so it’s a different kind of information from the story that starts in 1642 with Maisonneuve, Jeanne Mance and their friends.
Jacques Cartier saw a native village when he was here in 1535, and we don’t even know where it was! Compared to that question, fragments of china plates from 1848 seem kind of trivial.