18th Century Human Bones Discovered Near Quebec Hospital Cemetery

Quebec archaeologists claim to have discovered the bones of nearly twenty people near the cemetery of the Quebec General Hospital.

Evidence suggests that the bones are the remains of British soldiers who fought in either the Battle of the Plains of Abraham or the Battle of Sainte-Foy, and who were buried there after being treated at the nearby hospital.

Workers spotted the bones on St-Anselme Street, at the corner of Prince-Édouard Street, while they were carrying out construction work on May 22, in the presence of an archaeologist.

“It was quite clear that these were human bones and not mammals,” said Olivier Lalonde, project manager of Gaia, the archeology cooperative responsible for the excavations next to the cemetery.

After the remains were found, construction work was suspended and a bioarchaeologist confirmed that the finds were human bones.

Human remains have already been discovered near this excavation site, once in 1941 and again in 2010, according to Quebec archaeologist Caroline Parent.

“We knew that in the area near the general hospital there was still this potential,” she said.

Since the discovery, teams have been working “tirelessly” to inspect what Lalonde describes as a “mass grave.”

“It’s a job that requires a lot of caution and patience,” explained Mr. Lalonde. “We don’t use shovels or picks here. We only use small tools. »

After about five weeks of digging, Parent says archaeologists have found complete and partial skeletons of about 23 people, including a one-year-old baby, dating to the 18th century.

“We find that there were perimortem fractures, that is, close to the time of death, which suggests a violent event that would have caused serious injuries but would not necessarily have caused death,” Parent said.

Some of the bones found showed signs of amputation and had been sawn, suggesting medical treatment at a nearby hospital, she added.

Lalonde said he could not confirm how many bones were left at the site, but he does not expect to find many more.

“Unfortunately, some of the mass burial was disrupted by other infrastructure, so we don't have the full extent of it,” he said.[But] we also have the bottom of the grave so we know we won’t find tons more.”

Once the excavation is complete, Lalonde said, the archaeological team will spend the next year in the lab, examining the results using isotopic analysis.

“There's also something a little touching about it, especially if it's associated to some extent with a tragic event,” he said, noting that his team was happy to lead the project.

“There is a level of respect that we rarely have to consider when doing archaeology, because here it is as human as it can be. »