Location of aboîteau within the Grand-Pré Marsh

Steve Coldwell pressure cleaning the aboîteau

Conservationists Amanda Thomas and Colleen Day examining the clapet...

Temporary holding tank

Dendrochronologist André Robichaud at work

Extracting the remaining elements of the sluice

What follows is inspired by, and all the excerpts were taken with permission from the archaeological research report entitled:"Archaeological Salvage Excavation of a 17th-Century Acadian Sluice from the Grand-Pré Marsh", dated 24 december 2006, prepared by Jonathan Fowler of Northeast Archaeological Research.

The recovered portion of the sluice was transported to Grand-Pré National Historic Site of Canada by Wayne Kelley (Asset Officer at the national historic site) and his staff on 19 May. On 26 May, Colleen Day, Senior Conservator, and Amanda Thomas, Conservator, both of Parks Canada, visited the site and examined the sluice. They determined that it was heavily waterlogged, and the water itself was providing much of its structural support. They therefore constructed a temporary water tank in order to stabilize the sluice while the decision making process unfolded. Prior to inserting the object into the tank, they cleaned it with a pressure sprayer. This cleaning gave us our first good look at the object, revealing it to be a single hollowed out log, still bearing the tool marks of its makers. The birch clapet was still in good working order, but owing to its delicate (and portable) nature, it was removed to the Parks Canada Conservation Lab in Dartmouth for treatment. 

The discovery of the aboîteau created something of a sensation, and raised many questions. The find spot itself, for example, raised some eyebrows. This central location in the marsh was one of the earliest to have been dyked by the Acadians. A sluice in this location would therefore have to be very old. With this, and other unanswered questions, it became critical to undertake a salvage archaeology project to recover the remaining in situ portions of the sluice. The fundraising efforts of Victor Tétrault, Executive Director of the Société Promotion Grand-Pré, soon resulted in the financial means to support this effort. Thanks go out to the Department of Tourism of Nova Scotia  for their financial contribution, and to Parks Canada for their in kind support towards the realization of this project.

The landowner, Donald Kennie, was amenable to the plan and agreed to allow access to the site for the duration of the project. Meetings between The Nova Scotia Museum, Parks Canada, and the Société Promotion Grand-Pré led to an arrangement whereby Parks Canada would contribute conservation services and the province would turn the object over to the Société for permanent display at Grand-Pré national Historic Site. All that remained was the salvage archaeological work, for which the Société contracted Saint Mary’s University professor Jonathan Fowler of Northeast Archaeological Research. 

To answer the first question about the age of the aboîteau, we contacted André Robichaud at the Mount Allison Dendrochronology (MAD) Lab. André visited Grand-Pré on the 9th of June to take samples from the recovered portion of the sluice and the two associated posts. Before the tree ring dates could be determined from the samples taken, the field season was upon us and we decided to move ahead with the recovery process. 

The salvage excavation commenced on July 14th. The feature’s extent was traced mechanically, and two profiles (the north and the west side of the excavation trench) were cleaned for stratigraphic recording. Once the overall extent of the remaining elements of the sluice had been traced using heavy equipment, we cleaned the features by hand. Then, following recording, the sluice was lifted with the aid of a mechanical excavator, placed on a trailer, and taken back to Grand-Pré National Historic Site for stabilization in a jury-rigged water tank. 

As to its date, the sluice was found within Dr. Sherman Bleakney's third enclosure, which he argues was completed by the time of the 1693 census (for details, see Dr. Bleakney’s book, Sods Soil and Spades: The Acadians of Grand-Pré and their Dykeland Legacy, McGill-Queens University Press, 2004). Independent confirmation of Dr. Bleakney's model came in the form of the dendrochronology report, and André Robichaud's analysis of the material unearthed during the spring finally bore fruit by autumn, 2006. He confirmed that the sluice contained at least 274 rings, making it a surprisingly old tree for its modest dimensions. The resultant date derived through dendrochronology was in the mid-1690s, an excellent result, and one which recommends this humble object as perhaps the oldest piece of timber architecture yet discovered in the Maritime Provinces.