Archeological digs

Chambly Canal National Historic Site

Archeological digs

Start of the first campaign of digs in May 2008.

Goals: To verify the presence of vestiges at the presumed site of the west curtain and the southwest bastion of Fort Sainte-Thérèse. To learn more about the configuration of the plan and the dimensions of the fort.
Actions: Two probe sites were excavated. An initial probe was positioned perpendicular to the west curtain. The second one was located on the left flank of the southwest bastion.
Results: Indications of three generations of palisades at Fort Sainte-Thérèse were found. However, no trace was found of the piles of any bastion.
Discoveries: The location of Fort Sainte-Thérèse, the subject of debate for many years, was finally confirmed.

Start of the second campaign of digs in August 2009.

Artefacts: fragments of an
earthenware dish

Goals: To document the chronology of occupation more accurately. To see if vestiges of buildings are present inside the fort and to seek vestiges at the edge of the Richelieu. To seek entrenchments that may have been erected by Haviland’s English army during its march toward Montreal.
Actions: The 2009 campaign provided for the targeting of seven intervention zones. Three probes were conducted at the river’s edge. One aim was to find the north and south curtains. Another aim was to try to locate the fort’s east curtain and to determine the fort’s layout on that side. The interior of the fort was probed to locate any service or supply buildings.

In addition to the northwest bastion, work was directed toward the fort’s east front, still an object of questioning.
Results: The forms of building of successive generations of forts were observed. The layout of the forts that followed at the current location of Fort Sainte-Thérèse is now fully confirmed on the site’s west side. The layouts of three buildings were also updated inside the fortifications.
Discoveries:
- Discovery of the fort’s north entrance.
- Gathering of paleohistoric artefacts.
- The footprints of the piles confirm that the first two forts had double palisades, whereas the third one had a single palisade.

Artefacts: fragments
of arrowheads

Start of the third campaign in May 2010.

Goals: To document the fort’s east sector to complete the file for revising the site’s designation by the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada.
Actions: Nine probes were conducted.