Century-old backyard 'garbage' unearthed in Calgary sent to Royal Alberta Museum

Dozens of small artifacts from city's recent past were unearthed during the final stages of work around the new 12th Street S.E. Bridge near the Calgary Zoo.

The city recently revealed some of the details of the discovery.

The artifacts include pieces of ceramic plates, bottles and glass fragments as well as two small metal items.

They were unearthed by construction workers who were turning the earth on the south bank of the Bow River for the landscaping portion of the bridge project.

This happened last year after the bridge opened.

A cultural landscape planner for the city, Laureen Bryant, said the artifacts have been turned over to the Royal Alberta Museum in Edmonton.

"It is the property of the Crown. We could request a loan if we had a space to present them. At this point, we don't and so we'll leave them with the province obviously," she said.

Some items more than a century old

It's believed some of the materials may date back to the 1890s but there were pieces of pop bottles that were more likely from the 1940s or 1950s.

Bryant said the area around the south side of the bridge was close to early residential development in Calgary's history.

To her, this is likely material from a garbage pit.

"The artifacts themselves are associated with domestic activities so they reflect household items that you would find in a kitchen," she said.

"Typically garbage was put in a pit in the backyard or down by the river."

The material has not been tied to a specific property owner.

Bryant said the discovery of the artifacts was a surprise as there had another been a considerable amount of work done in the area for the construction of the new bridge.

People asked to report what they find

If anyone discovers old artifacts during a construction project, she's encouraging them to report it to Alberta Culture and Tourism.

Bryant said there is a 'report a find' on its website and your name could forever be associated with the discovery of the material.

And she said it doesn't matter if the material seems insignificant to the finder or whether it's decades old or thousands of years old.

It's all part of Alberta's story and Calgary's story.

"Just imagine you're a person 200 years from now. If we don't pay attention to these items now, there's not going to be any information for the folks 200 years from now," she said.

"We are the stewards now to protect this information and make sure that it's available for future generations."

• MORE CALGARY NEWS|Tragic 1996 ascent of Everest transformed into art by Calgary Opera
• MORE CALGARY NEWS|Lawyer questions Jason Kenney's Alberta residency while claiming living expenses in Ottawa
• Read more articles byCBC Calgary, like us onFacebookfor updates and subscribe to ourCBC Calgary newsletterfor the day's news at a glance