Paul Brewer and his sons had never seen Alouette Lake so low 乌鸦传媒� 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 乌鸦传媒� went to skip rocks.
That乌鸦传媒檚 when Paul乌鸦传媒檚 six-year-old son Max made an exciting discovery.
乌鸦传媒淲e are skimming stones, and he picked one up and said, 乌鸦传媒業s this a good skimmer?乌鸦传媒櫸谘淮綕 Paul recalled. 乌鸦传媒淚 said, 乌鸦传媒業 don乌鸦传媒檛 think we乌鸦传媒檙e going to skip this one.乌鸦传媒櫸谘淮綕
Max and his big brother Jayden, 9, felt like young Indiana Joneses after their find 乌鸦传媒� a stone-age knife, with a smooth thumb insert to make it easier to grip.
乌鸦传媒淚t fits your hand,乌鸦传媒� said Paul. 乌鸦传媒淚t feels like it乌鸦传媒檚 been made to hold and scrape or cut things.乌鸦传媒�
Max couldn乌鸦传媒檛 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.
乌鸦传媒淭hey are an indicator, and I乌鸦传媒檓 happy to identify them,乌鸦传媒� 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 乌鸦传媒減ie in the sky.乌鸦传媒� 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 乌鸦传媒� a good place for an archaeologist to dig.
乌鸦传媒淭hey were definitely in the right spot,乌鸦传媒� 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 乌鸦传媒� 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 乌鸦传媒渁 worthwhile thing to do.乌鸦传媒�
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.
乌鸦传媒淚t乌鸦传媒檚 probably more important to them than to anyone else.乌鸦传媒�
