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Discoveries behind St. Louis Cathedral NEW ORLEANS - The first archaeological
dig at one of the nation's oldest cathedrals has turned up a mix of new finds in
the heart of the French Quarter. Discoveries behind St. Louis Cathedral include
a small silver crucifix from the 1770s or 1780s and traces of previously unknown
buildings dating back to around the city's founding in 1718.
The crucifix might have belonged to Pere Antoine, a Capuchin monk who was rector
of the cathedral which dominates Jackson Square, lead archaeologist Shannon Lee
Dawdy told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
Pere Antoine came to New Orleans under the Spanish Inquisition as the Rev.
Antonio de Sedella and lived in a hut behind the cathedral, where he was rector
from the late 1700s until his death in 1829.
The crucifix "was found in a corner of the garden, near where Pere Antoine's hut
was said to have been and dates to the period near the beginning of his time in
New Orleans (1770s-1780s)," Dawdy wrote in an e-mail. The artifact will be sent
to experts for evaluation.
Dawdy, an assistant professor at the University of Chicago, and eight students
spent a month excavating St. Anthony's Garden, a fenced area behind the
cathedral. They concluded their work earlier this week.
The cathedral was completed in 1851 to replace one that burned down, along with
most of the city, in 1788.
Until now there has never been an archaeological excavation anywhere on its
property, said cathedral spokeswoman Nancy Averett. After Hurricane Katrina
toppled the garden's live oaks and sycamores in August 2005, the cathedral
secured a Getty Foundation grant to restore the garden and dig into its history.
Discoveries behind St. Louis Cathedral
Finds have included clay pipes, children's marbles, remains of china dolls and
bits of what may be some of the first Indian trade goods in Louisiana.
The crucifix is about 1 3/4 inches high; the face of Christ might fit on half of
a grain of rice. The right arm of the cross and the right side and chest of the
figure of Christ are badly corroded. The figure's right arm and much of the
minuscule face are gone.
Dawdy said the most significant find is probably the foundation of a hut where
archaeologists uncovered a mixture of French artifacts from the early 1700s and
fragments of Native American pottery, some painted red and others tempered with
crushed shells.
A thin L of dark soil in a layer several feet below the surface showed where
wood walls had rotted — probably from a temporary hut where settlers may have
lived while clearing trees for the first settlement, Dawdy said. In the corner
of the L was a square post-hole — a sign of French axes.
The walls don't line up with the street grid set in 1724, so the hut probably
was built before that and may be from the settlement's very start, Dawdy said in
an interview.
In another pit, Dawdy and her crew found sloping bricks from a colonial sidewalk
and — below that — cypress timbers from another building not on any city map.
Unlike the hut, those timbers align with the 1724 street grid, Dawdy said
Tuesday. She said the building probably dates from the 1720s or '30s.
"There are at least six timbers in place — three upright and three running
lengthwise," she said. "We just caught a piece of it."
She hopes to return for further excavation.
"This site is by far the richest and most interesting one I have worked on yet
in New Orleans and the excellent preservation of the frontier phase of the
city's founding makes it the `Jamestown' of the Lower Mississippi Valley," she
wrote in her e-mail. Discoveries behind St. Louis Cathedral
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