Paul Brewer and his sons had never seen Alouette Lake so low 含羞草研究社� the water line a football field away from the usual summertime shoreline, revealing the normally submerged stumps from trees fallen decades earlier.
They did what boys confronted by the wonders of nature would do 含羞草研究社� went to skip rocks.
That含羞草研究社檚 when Paul含羞草研究社檚 six-year-old son Max made an exciting discovery.
含羞草研究社淲e are skimming stones, and he picked one up and said, 含羞草研究社業s this a good skimmer?含羞草研究社櫤卟菅芯可鐫 Paul recalled. 含羞草研究社淚 said, 含羞草研究社業 don含羞草研究社檛 think we含羞草研究社檙e going to skip this one.含羞草研究社櫤卟菅芯可鐫
Max and his big brother Jayden, 9, felt like young Indiana Joneses after their find 含羞草研究社� a stone-age knife, with a smooth thumb insert to make it easier to grip.
含羞草研究社淚t fits your hand,含羞草研究社� said Paul. 含羞草研究社淚t feels like it含羞草研究社檚 been made to hold and scrape or cut things.含羞草研究社�
Max couldn含羞草研究社檛 sleep for two nights.
Paul sent photos of their find to a UBC archaeologist, who confirmed it is an authentic stone tool that had been slightly damaged.
The archaeologist could not date it without seeing the tool in person.
The find raises a question about what people should do when they find such artifacts, and how significant they are.
含羞草研究社淭hey are an indicator, and I含羞草研究社檓 happy to identify them,含羞草研究社� said Val Patenaude, curator at the Maple Ridge Museum and a former archaeologist.
She said artifacts are most valuable in their original context.
However, she called the idea of people leaving artifacts in place until a site can be excavated 含羞草研究社減ie in the sky.含羞草研究社� In the case of the Brewer boys, the site will be back under water in a matter of weeks.
Patenaude said the shores of Alouette Lake would have been busy with people in ancient times, as they travelled and camped close to waterways.
Before the watercourse was flooded for a B.C. Hydro dam, the lake would have been narrower, more of a wide spot in the river, and the stone knife found near what would have been the old shoreline 含羞草研究社� a good place for an archaeologist to dig.
含羞草研究社淭hey were definitely in the right spot,含羞草研究社� she said.
The entire Fraser River is an archaeological site, she added.
Patenaude worked on a large archaeological site before the Mary Hill Bypass was built. Some 40 people worked it over three summers, and they unearthed some 50,000 artifacts.
Patenaude said historic artifacts are the property of the nation that created them 含羞草研究社� in the case of the stone-age knife, likely the Katzie First Nation.
If people find a valuable artifact, returning them to the Katzie would be 含羞草研究社渁 worthwhile thing to do.含羞草研究社�
Patenaude and other historians ask that people not sell them because creating a market encourages more people to uncover precious artifacts on sites that should be left for professionals.
Paul said he will talk to his boys about giving the stone knife to the Katzie. He has also considered displaying it in a glass case and keeping it for his sons.
含羞草研究社淚t含羞草研究社檚 probably more important to them than to anyone else.含羞草研究社�
