For a handful of summer students at the National Capital Commission, Quebec's&nbsp;Archeology Month is more than a neat opportunity to dig for hidden artifacts.&nbsp;

It's also a way to connect with their own culture and history.&nbsp;

Each August&nbsp;the NCC invites people from across the region to grab a trowel and help scrape away the clay&nbsp;covering artifacts that were lost for decades,&nbsp;even centuries.&nbsp;

NCC invites public to help dig up and preserve capital's history

The National Capital Commission is inviting the public to help it dig, sift and scrape its way through the capital's history this August as part of its annual Archaeology Month.

NCC archaeologist Ian Badgley poses at the site of his latest dig, Lac Leamy Park on the Gatineau side of the Ottawa River. His archaeological career dates back to the 1970s, with a lot of it spent in Canada's North.

Ian Badgley NCC Archaeology

Amateur archeologists invited to dig up Moore Farm Estate

The National Capital Commission is inviting adults and children dig up and sift through the soil where a cottage burned down 60 years ago on the Moore Farm Estate in Gatineau.

Amateur archeologists found blacksmith-forged nails, metal cans, a straight razor, ceramics and even a porcelain bowl imported from Japan in the 1930s.

Children and parents finding artifacts at Moore Farm Estate

Amateur archeological dig uncovers artifacts at Moore Farm Estate

This year,&nbsp;four Anishinaabe&nbsp;students are working with the NCC's heritage department alongside archeologist Ian Badgley and university students from l'Université du Québec en Outaouais​ and Carleton University.

  I felt like I was getting my culture back, my heritage.  

"I'm finding a bunch of stuff," said 16-year-old Joshua Odjick as he fished&nbsp;an&nbsp;arrowhead out of the pocket of his jeans&nbsp;Wednesday.&nbsp;

"I felt like I was getting my culture back, my heritage."&nbsp;

Odjick recently graduated from high school at&nbsp;Kitigan&nbsp;Zibi&nbsp;Kikinamadinan&nbsp;in Maniwaki, Que., and will be going to Heritage College in Gatineau&nbsp;in the fall.

He said this work made him wonder what it would have been like hundreds of years ago, when the area that's now Lac Leamy Park was a gathering place and trading post for Indigenous people.

"I think about what they were doing at the moment, what they were talking about," he said.

"They were pros at this. They'd make [an arrowhead]&nbsp;in 20 minutes, and for me it'd take a couple hours. I'd probably screw up a few times," he said.

Badgley&nbsp;agreed working with the artifacts can forge a powerful personal connection with the past.

"When we deal with pieces of pottery like this, or anything that's been made by an individual over time, you're actually touching another person, their knowledge," said Badgley.

The free digs are back at Lac Leamy&nbsp;Park Aug. 21 to 26, from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. with a break at noon.

Parking is available at 80 boul. Fournier.

, but not required, as are closed-toed shoes, water and bug spray.

Université du Québec en Outaouais student Emilie Bélanger said they've found Huron artifacts that were either brought to the area directly or through a series of trades.

Emilie Belanger UQO Ncc archeology

'People would be saying, 'Where's the proof that you were here?' Well, this is it,' said Joshua Odjick, 16.

Anishinaabe students dig into their past

Traditional gathering place

Powerful connections

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