The Municipality wants to move to stage four archaeological work on the Talbot Trail Realignment project.
In a report being presented to council at Monday’s meeting, Director of Engineering, Marissa Mascaro Amyotte, is requesting a contract amendment in the amount of $920,950.00 for AECOM Canada Ltd, and $452,000.00 for the First Nations Fieldwork Participation for EXP Services Inc.
Mascaro-Amyotte said the additional $1.23 million being voted on by council will keep the project under the approved budget of $7.2 million.
The reason behind the amendment? The discovery of four significant archaeological sites in the project area.
During stage three of the archaeological work, 10 or more artifacts were uncovered in some of the test areas, meeting the criteria to require a move to stage four.
The report outlines that crews will remove topsoil from the archaeological sites, using hand and machine excavation. Mascaro-Amyotte writes that “removal of the topsoil will expose the undisturbed archaeological site and through controlled removal of the artifacts and recording the context, cultural features, and artifacts found, the cultural heritage value or interest of the archaeological site is documented, and the information is preserved for future study.”
The municipality anticipates that First Nations groups, who joined the study during stage two, will continue to be involved in stage four and the amended amount will allow “Archaeological Field Liaisons (AFLs) from each interested First Nation group to be present on-site for the duration of the fieldwork as well as an opportunity to review and comment on the reporting.”
The exact level of effort required and time to complete will be dependent on the number of artifacts found. Though Mascaro-Amyotte estimates the fieldwork for stage four to be a minimum of four weeks of hand excavation, followed by another minimum of four weeks of machine excavation.
