Associate professor of archaeology at UCalgary, Lindsay Amundsen-Meyer and her team shared what they uncovered during this summer’s excavation at the John Ware homestead located near Millarville, Alta.
Ware, one of Alberta’s first non-white settlers, was enslaved in the southern United States. Eventually, he moved to Canada and married his Toronto-raised wife, Mildred, in 1892, and came west to ranch on the property with their children until he died in 1905.
Now in the second of its three-year funding grant, the project, which started in 2024, initially focused on planning where to dig on the property, followed by excavation. Amundsen-Meyer said this led them to find a cellar several metres underground, which made this year’s discoveries possible.
They found several everyday items dating to the late 1800s, including Levi Strauss & Company jean hardware, a mother-of-pearl button, a tobacco tin, and a toothbrush. These items add to the existing list of nails, ink bottles, and structural remains.
Since all of their work happens under a permit from the Government of Alberta, the artifacts will soon be transferred to the Royal Alberta Museum in Edmonton. Amundsen-Meyer said they would like to see them as part of a future exhibit at the Glenbow Museum.
For that to happen, she said they will need to look into getting more funding, which will also determine whether they can pursue excavation work over the next few years.
“If we’re going to be able to continue what I think is really important work into the future, and I think there’s a desire from the community for us to do that,” said Amundsen-Meyer.
“Then we will need to look for additional funding.”
Unearthing what textbooks previously left out
Before this project, Amundsen-Meyer said they had only a single photograph of the front of the home and old survey documents of the property line. She said that both the cellar and the newly found belongings have helped them better understand the family’s life.
“We have limited information from historic records of what the house was like,” said Amundsen-Meyer.
“This is a piece where the structural remains can really add to the story that we know from historic records.”
Filmmaker Cherly Foggo released her documentary, called “John Ware Reclaimed,” in 2020 after connecting with Amundsen-Meyer three years earlier. Their partnership paved the way for the excavation following the discovery of a horseshoe.
Foggo first became interested in Black prairie history as a child when her brother raved about a photo he saw of Ware at a museum in the late 1960s. With the archaeological work finding tangible evidence, she said it has brought to life a history that she once dreamed about.
“Only in my head I imagined the Wares using them,” said Foggo.
“To see them come out of the ground? The impact on me emotionally is very powerful, but it’s not just an emotional impact — it is an affirmation.”
Similar to other marginalized groups, Black history has gone underdocumented in Canada’s narrative. She said their partnership has ensured these stories will be remembered for generations.
“This is not my project anymore. It is a project for the people of this province, the people of Southern Alberta, the people on the prairies, and it’s groundbreaking,” said Foggo.
“This is the first time an archeological dig looking for stories of Black people on these lands has ever been done. It’s unprecedented, and I think this is just the beginning.”
