Wild Archaeology

The team excavates a 16th-century Iroquois village in Ontario, located at the longest continuously investigated archaeological site in North America. Jen and Jacob dig as Dr. Rudy explores the Sustainable Archaeology Lab and its high tech micro-CT scanner.

Rudy, Jen and Jacob journey to the Serpent Mounds, an ancient and sacred burial site in Ontario. At the lab, the team analyzes collected lakebed sediment with leading-edge XRF technology to help unravel the mystery of how and when the mounds were built.

Back in B.C., our adventurers board a ferry for Snake Bay, the only defensive site in shíshálh territory. Snake Bay tells a story of war and peace along the Salish Sea. Jen and Jacob dig through shell middens to uncover evidence of a village under siege.

The team digs deeper into the past at Snake Bay. They examine shíshálh pictographs, learn about the ancestors buried at kwenten mac’wali and the advanced forensics used to reconstruct their facial features.

In Fort Babine, the team investigates whether ancestors of Lake Babine Nation purposely built an island thousands of years ago. Rudy collects soil samples, Jacob sifts through ancient debris and Jen digs for evidence.

The crew learns about the significance of salmon for the Lake Babine Nation and they catch and prepare salmon for a feast. The island’s micromorphology is examined under a digital microscope to determine whether it was created by the Lake Babine Nation.