A Portage in Time: The Submerged Remains of Anse-aux-Batteaux, a 19th Century River Port

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Paper / Report Submission (General Sessions)", at the 2024 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

The Anse-aux-Batteaux site on the Upper St Lawrence contains the submerged remains of a short-lived 19th-century river port, notably three wharves and five abandoned ships within an area of 1 hectare. The Université de Montréal initiated its study at the height of the Covid-19 epidemic. Anse-aux-Batteaux site exemplifies the boom-and-bust nature of frontier development in North America, but the site also occupies a permanent place in the fluvio-maritime cultural landscape at the head of a portage used to avoid a 20-kilometre stretch of rapids, as theorized by Christer Westerdahl.

My master’s project develops this tension between ephemeral development and the underlying structures of the fluvial landscape, through an overview of the site using underwater mapping, aerial drone photography, archival research, and dendrochronology to place each vestige within the site’s tumultuous history.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2024   •
• Paper / Report Submission (General Sessions)

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow