Researchers using ground-penetrating radar have found what they believe is one of the oldest European graveyards in Canada.
Archeologist Sara Beanlands says there is compelling evidence to suggest the unmarked site in western Nova Scotia is the final resting place for Acadian settlers buried near a fort as early as the 1680s.
The radar images, gathered one day last month at the Fort Anne National Historic Site in Annapolis Royal, show neat rows of 19 ghostly green and red shapes.
91裸聊视频淲ith respect to Acadian history, this was 91裸聊视频� and (nearby) Port Royal is 91裸聊视频� the cradle of Acadian civilization,91裸聊视频� says Beanlands, senior archeologist at Halifax-based Boreas Heritage Consulting.
91裸聊视频淢any of the Acadians today who can trace their ancestry back to Port Royal, their ancestors will be buried somewhere in that Acadian cemetery.91裸聊视频�
Originally built by the Scots as early as 1629, Fort Anne was later taken over by the French, before it fell to British troops in 1710.
91裸聊视频淚t91裸聊视频檚 one of the most contested landscapes in this part of the world,91裸聊视频� Beanlands says. 91裸聊视频淧eople have been drawn to this area for thousands of years 91裸聊视频� This was home for the Mik91裸聊视频檓aq long before any European explorers.91裸聊视频�
She says the underground anomalies picked by the ground-penetrating radar 91裸聊视频� a device that looks like an electric lawn mower 91裸聊视频� could be an extension of a nearby British cemetery.
The well-known Garrison Graveyard has 230 headstones that date back to 1720.
READ MORE: Indigenous woman91裸聊视频檚 grave site brings pilgrims to former B.C. residential school
At the turn of the 17th century, the Acadians used wooden grave markers, which have long since rotted away.
However, church records and maps from the early 1700s indicate an Acadian cemetery was also located outside the walls of the star-shaped fort, a reconstructed fortification that became Canada91裸聊视频檚 first administered national historic site in 1917.
Beanlands91裸聊视频� research included the use of aerial drones and Lidar 91裸聊视频� short for Light Detection and Ranging 91裸聊视频� to produce an extremely accurate picture of the site91裸聊视频檚 contours.
The radar was used to produce a three-dimensional cross-section of the plot, which is about 10 metres by 18 metres and extends three metres underground.
91裸聊视频淔or the first time, we have been able to take this technology 91裸聊视频� into Fort Anne and see through a new set of eyes in a way that is completely non-destructive,91裸聊视频� Beanlands says. 91裸聊视频淚t gives us the ability to see things we have never been able to see before.91裸聊视频�
Though the glowing anomalies don91裸聊视频檛 show much, their arrangement is unmistakable. At a depth of one metre, the irregular shapes appear at regular intervals 91裸聊视频� and they are aligned along a north-south axis that is in line with the British graves.
91裸聊视频淲e91裸聊视频檙e familiar with what burials look like in the data,91裸聊视频� says Beanlands. 91裸聊视频淭he most compelling evidence is 91裸聊视频� the patterning of the anomalies.91裸聊视频�
However, the only way to confirm the presence of graves would be to conduct an expensive and time-consuming archeological dig. But that91裸聊视频檚 not going to happen, Beanlands says.
91裸聊视频淪o we could never know 91裸聊视频� we could never say with absolute certainty,91裸聊视频� she says. 91裸聊视频淲hat we need is more data.91裸聊视频�
An expanded search could start as early as next month, with help from Parks Canada, the Nova Scotia Community College91裸聊视频檚 Applied Geomatics Research Group and Mapannapolis, a volunteer organization that creates web-based maps of heritage sites.
91裸聊视频� By Michael MacDonald in Halifax
The Canadian Press
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