Indigenous artifacts and evidence of a longhouse and First Nations village have been found at a location in south Kitchener where road construction is set to start on Fischer-Hallman Road this spring.

The Region of Waterloo has ordered what's called a stage 4 archeological assessment after 965 items were found in an area of Fischer-Hallman Road between Bleams Road and Strasburg Creek.

The latest stage, which will be led by an environmental company and a First Nations field liaison will "involve hand excavation to identify, document and salvage all archeological artifacts."

A stage four archeological assessment is estimated to take about six to seven months, according to a regional report, and cost $1.6 million.

During stage three of the assessment by an environment company, evidence of a First Nation village and a longhouse was found at the site. A First Nations field liaison representative has been working with the organization hired to do the archeological work.

Complete excavation and recovery

Regional Coun. Tom Galloway says the region knew about some other artifacts found near the area by a firm building a neighbouring subdivision.

"In this particular occasion, given the proximity to the work that was already being done by the private land developer, it was known that there was potentially things in the area that had occurred back in the day," he said. "As they did their work within the road right of way, they discovered these very significant artifacts both in terms of importance in terms of numbers."

By law, the area must undergo a complete excavation and recovery.

"It's in the middle of the roadway, so it's going to require a a full closure of the road," Galloway said.

While the roadway is being excavated, the region hopes to slip in another project — the replacement of a box culvert that's in a nearby area, but not the exact same area where the artifacts were found.

"They're going to use this closure as an opportunity to replace the box culvert which was also going to close the road down next year," he said.

'One of the most significant finds'

Galloway said the work to do the excavation of these artifacts is different than when the corduroy road was found under King Street in Waterloo because there's a different set of rules for Indigenous artifacts.

"This archeological dig is a much, much more extensive and pretty highly prescriptive in the regulations what has to be done," he said, noting this is "one of the most significant finds of this type that we can recollect, at least in regards to a regional road project."

He says the work will be inconvenient for drivers as there are no easy detour options in the area.

The work to widen Fischer-Hallman Road between Bleams Road and Strasburg Creek was set to begin in May of this year and last through the end of construction season in November.

The roadwork is part of a four-phase road project in the area that will be completed by 2025.