The Mystery Bag
In early May of 2020 I was out on the lake taking digital pictures and visually examining multiple known archaeological sites in order to document any changes that may have occurred due to shoreline erosion. During my visit to a site designated as EaKa-11 I decided to examine a section of shoreline that extended downstream from the designated site for a distance of about 100 meters. It was a nice sunny day and the early spring water levels were fairly low. On more than one occasion I have discovered a discrete cluster of artifacts at a new locale that is some distance away from the original site location.
View of shoreline area near the location designated as site EaKa-11
I was almost at the end of my planned distance when I spotted an unusual looking lump on the ground. As I got closer I could see that it was a waterlogged canvas satchel heavily encrusted with dirt and clay. A mystery bag! Not quite the artifact discovery that I was expecting but still rather cool. I noticed that the top of the bag had a rusted zipper and there was a long shoulder strap attached. I picked up the bag. It was fairly heavy. As I walked along the shoreline heading back to the boat I began to ponder about what may be in the bag. I thought “maybe it’s Jimmy Hoffa’s loot bag” and then laughed out loud (but part of me secretly wishing it was true). Probably just some boater’s lost tool kit or some rusty fishing tackle.
Back at the boat I used my archaeology trowel to scrape off most of the dirt and then was able to scrutinize the mystery bag more closely. I figured that if I couldn’t get the rusty zipper to work I would just take my knife and slit the bag open. Surprisingly, I was able to slowly move the zipper back and forth a little at first before it eventually opened right up. The first item that came out of the bag was a half full can of Muskol insect repellent. This was followed by a paint brush and a bunch of small, fat pieces of wood that appeared to be a bunch of broken Popsicle sticks. I reached in and pulled out a plumb bob without even a hint of rust on it. Hmmm. I peered inside the bag but all that I could see was some string and many, many more broken Popsicle sticks and a distinct absence of cash! In fact, the contents of the bag struck me as being quite odd. I continued to scan the contents still inside the bag when I noticed a notebook wrapped inside a plastic bag. I lifted it out and could see that the pages were swollen (and likely stuck together). I turned the book over and peered at the writing hand scratched on the outer cover. It struck me as being both interesting and unlikely. I put everything back inside the mystery bag, zipped it up and took a picture of it with my cell phone. I then emailed the photo to a person I thought might have some idea as to what this was all about.
The person I emailed was Jeff Bursey, a colleague and fellow archaeologist who was originally from southern Ontario but he relocated to northwestern Ontario over a decade ago and now lives in Hudson (the same small town as I do). Jeff is a well-seasoned and published archaeologist with many years of experience doing field work, conducting excavations as well as artifact analysis. Jeff and I collaborated on a paper presented at the 2013 CAA conference in St. John’s based on the material recovered from the Light Bulb site (EcJx-9).
Back on July 1st of 2017, Jeff and his partner rented a boat to take family out to a beach on Lac Seul for Canada Day. Towards the end of the day his partner and her brothers headed out for a boat ride while Jeff stayed behind with the dogs back at the beach. Unfortunately, there was a mishap and the boat capsized in the fast flowing waters of Pelican Falls. Luckily all occupants were rescued without injury. However, earlier in the day, Jeff had been writing up some field notes from a research dig that he was doing and at some point the paperwork had been “safely” tucked away inside the boat. Consequently, when the boat filled with water and then turned over, all of Jeff’s research data was lost.
Prior to the boating accident, I had actually visited Jeff one day at the location of his research dig. So I was familiar with the terminology he had come up with to describe/name the site. It just so happened that his selected site name was an exact match to the name written on the cover of the notebook wrapped inside the plastic within the mystery bag! I wasn’t 100% certain but it was likely that I had found Jeff’s lost data. I could not believe it. It just seemed so improbable because the stretch of shoreline that I recovered it from was at least 5 kilometers away from Pelican Falls. Furthermore, the water body widened out to the extent that there wasn’t enough current to carry the weight of the bag for this distance (not to mention the several bends and turns of the lake that the bag would have had to negotiate).
Later that day Jeff emailed me back. “Hey, that looks like the bag I lost when the boat tipped over. Is my field book in there?” In less than 5 minutes I was at his place to drop off the “mystery” bag. He confirmed it was indeed his and was happy to have his plumb bob back as well. It was a miracle that the bag had actually washed up on shoreline and not ended up as a water logged blob at the bottom of the lake. It was also fortuitous that my decisions, placing me on that particular stretch of shoreline in that moment of time, had facilitated the extraordinary discovery of the lost bag. It seems to me that the possibilities of experiencing an awesome discovery are greater when you make the effort to get out there, rather than just staying home and waiting for things to come to you.
