The site is owned by the City of Quebec, which lent financial and technical support to its archaeological exploration. It had previously been researched by Laval University archaeologist Marcel Moussette, who spent more than 10 years excavating the original palace.
Little remains of the architecture of the palace, but Auger’s excavations have revealed sections of a wooden palisade that surrounded the fortified city.
Remnants of its cedar posts, placed in 1690, were amazingly well preserved, and traces of the palace wall and pieces of its flagstone floor were unearthed. But the latrines behind the palace have proved to be the team’s gold mine, providing clues to the complete history of the site from 1725 to the 19th century.
It appears from the assortment of liquor bottles found that the latrines were a good place to nip out for a drink. And at least one unfortunate fellow may have pocketed the dice from his card game and lost them in the latrine.
Broken glass is abundant, and believed to have been deliberately placed to discourage scavenging vermin. Pieces of ceramics are plentiful, too.