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.

sa国际传媒淲ith respect to Acadian history, this was sa国际传媒� and (nearby) Port Royal is sa国际传媒� the cradle of Acadian civilization,sa国际传媒� says Beanlands, senior archeologist at Halifax-based Boreas Heritage Consulting.

sa国际传媒淢any of the Acadians today who can trace their ancestry back to Port Royal, their ancestors will be buried somewhere in that Acadian cemetery.sa国际传媒�

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.

sa国际传媒淚tsa国际传媒檚 one of the most contested landscapes in this part of the world,sa国际传媒� Beanlands says. sa国际传媒淧eople have been drawn to this area for thousands of years sa国际传媒� This was home for the Miksa国际传媒檓aq long before any European explorers.sa国际传媒�

She says the underground anomalies picked by the ground-penetrating radar sa国际传媒� a device that looks like an electric lawn mower sa国际传媒� could be an extension of a nearby British cemetery.

The well-known Garrison Graveyard has 230 headstones that date back to 1720.

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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 Canadasa国际传媒檚 first administered national historic site in 1917.

Beanlandssa国际传媒� research included the use of aerial drones and Lidar sa国际传媒� short for Light Detection and Ranging sa国际传媒� to produce an extremely accurate picture of the sitesa国际传媒檚 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.

sa国际传媒淔or the first time, we have been able to take this technology sa国际传媒� into Fort Anne and see through a new set of eyes in a way that is completely non-destructive,sa国际传媒� Beanlands says. sa国际传媒淚t gives us the ability to see things we have never been able to see before.sa国际传媒�

Though the glowing anomalies donsa国际传媒檛 show much, their arrangement is unmistakable. At a depth of one metre, the irregular shapes appear at regular intervals sa国际传媒� and they are aligned along a north-south axis that is in line with the British graves.

sa国际传媒淲esa国际传媒檙e familiar with what burials look like in the data,sa国际传媒� says Beanlands. sa国际传媒淭he most compelling evidence is sa国际传媒� the patterning of the anomalies.sa国际传媒�

However, the only way to confirm the presence of graves would be to conduct an expensive and time-consuming archeological dig. But thatsa国际传媒檚 not going to happen, Beanlands says.

sa国际传媒淪o we could never know sa国际传媒� we could never say with absolute certainty,sa国际传媒� she says. sa国际传媒淲hat we need is more data.sa国际传媒�

An expanded search could start as early as next month, with help from Parks Canada, the Nova Scotia Community Collegesa国际传媒檚 Applied Geomatics Research Group and Mapannapolis, a volunteer organization that creates web-based maps of heritage sites.

sa国际传媒� By Michael MacDonald in Halifax

The Canadian Press

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