In search of historic Iroquoian village, archeologists dig up Montreal parks

Nearly 500 years ago, whenJacques Cartier arrived in what we now call Montreal, he found a thriving Iroquoian community atthe foot of the mountain. The French explorer's description of the areaoffers a windowback tothat time.

"And in the middle of these fields is situated and stands the village of Hochelaga, near and adjacent to a mountain, the slopes of which are fertile and are cultivated, and from the top of which one can see for a long distance. We named this mountain Mount Royal," Cartierwrote of his 1535 visit.

"There are some fifty houses in this village and each about fifty or more paces in length, and twelve or fifteen in width, and built completely of wood and covered in and bordered up with large pieces of the bark and rind of trees, as broad as a table, which well and cunningly lashed after their manner."

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By the time Samuel de Champlain arrived in 1608, however, there was no evidence of this bustling village nor of its inhabitants, known as the St. Lawrence Iroquoians,in a mystery that hasconfounded researchers ever since.

For Montreal's375thanniversary,archeologists from the Universit de Montral andMcGillUniversity will be digging up parks inOutremontin the hope of learning more about the villageand what happened to its people.

A centuries-old mystery

Researchers believe warfare withtheMohawknation of theHaudenosaunee, or Six Nations Confederacy, who wanted to control the fur trade in the valley, along with conflicts with Algonquin tribes and exposure to European diseases, may have contributed to thedemise of the St. Lawrence Iroquoians.

Whileits exact locationremains unknown,Hochelagawasdesignated a nationalhistoric sitein 1920,and acommemorative rock now sits prominently near theentrance ofMcGillUniversity.

A 2015archeological survey in downtown Montrealduringthe construction of an office towerturned up no evidence of Iroquoianartifacts, but renewed interest in the longstanding quest to determine where Hochelagaonce was.

On Wednesday, a team of archeologists led by MichelPlourde, a professor at Universit deMontreal, got to work in OutremontPark, at the west end of St-Viateur Street.

"If Hochelagawas here, we will find it in these test spots," Plourdesaid.

"Between the voyage of Jacques Cartier and the arrival of Champlain, these people disappeared. They just vanished from the valley. So, we might have explanations about the reasons why these people were dispersed. Was it about illnesses that were brought by the newcomers from Europe, or was it tribal warfare? We might have some clues about what happened at that time."

Summer-long project

This summer, as part of an initiativedubbed ProjectHochelaga, archeologists will conduct searches at 18 sites, including four parks in the borough ofOutremont, which spansthe eastern slope of Mount Royal.

The test sites will be 50 centimetres deep and one metre across.Plourdesaid his team will be searching for tools, potteryand may even test for DNA.

"There are these clay pots that were burned, that were made on a fire. They are very resistant. They could last for thousands of years."