Fredericton — Artifacts and tools discovered along Route 8 near Fredericton have turned out to be from a Mesolithic-era Kent Building Supplies store.
In addition to discovering that the tools are around 12,700 years old — 700 years older than initially suspected — the archaeological services branch of the Department of Tourism, Heritage and Culture claim that the tools were unquestionably purchased at a Kent’s of the same era.
“We’ve known for ages that Kent’s has a very long, storied history in the Maritimes,” said government archaeologist Neil Jennings, “but until now we didn’t realize just how far back this building supplies chain went. The tools discovered all match items in the current Kent product line, and we even found fossilized nametags with ‘K-E-N-T’ clearly inscribed. Someone named ‘Org’ and another called ‘Grogg’ were apparently a cashier and an assistant store manager, respectively.”
Some of the items uncovered include fossilized: pressure-treated lattice; foam insulation; drywall-repair tape; a cement edger; a steel curved trowel; a joint filler; pieces of patio slab; a 30-kilogram bag of gravel; a jug of high-gloss acrylic sealer; a barbecue; and a wrought-iron patio set with matching outdoor above-ground fire pit.
“We can surmise that New Brunswickers from 12,700 years ago loved DIY projects as much as we do now,” Jennings went on. “From what we’ve found, it’s evident that they enjoyed creating enviable decks and patios, they planted flower gardens trimmed with decorative brick, they grilled their meat in the summertime and stood around with neighbours comparing upcoming home-improvement plans.
“Oh, and there was an ancient can of Alpine next to the fire pit, so it can be confirmed that our tastes in beer haven’t changed much, either.”