Wild Archaeology

Indigenous archaeologist Dr. Rudy Reimer meets co-hosts, Jenifer and Jacob, at his lab at Simon Fraser University. Together, the team outlines their first mission to learn about Squamish oral tradition and to search for ancient artifacts.

Jen and Jacob fly to meet with an esteemed paleontologist in Whitehorse to learn about the woolly mammoths, giant beavers and other megafauna that co-existed with the ancient peoples of the Yukon.

On the border between Yukon and Alaska, Jen and Jacob get acquainted with camp life at Little John and participate in their first “Wild Archaeology” dig. Dr. Rudy is there to offer his scientific prowess.

With the rapidly changing climate, precious artifacts in the Canadian Arctic are in danger of being lost into the sea. On their first solo mission, Jen and Jacob go to Richards Island in the Northwest Territories to help with a salvage archaeological project.

Camping out on the tundra of Richards Island, Jen and Jacob continue to work on the excavation of an Inuvialuit cruciform house. They also take time to learn about present-day culture with the Pokiak family in the remote arctic village of Tuktoyaktuk.

Rudy and Jacob travel to Tobermory, Ontario, where they head to the middle of Lake Huron for their first underwater archaeological expedition. While Rudy controls a sonar-equipped remote vehicle, Jacob joins a team of scuba divers to search for evidence.