Microbial Ecology

The study of archaeological sites is essential in our understanding of past human activities and our history, through the analysis of artefacts or cultural landscapes. Archaeological data is often incomplete, generating new hypotheses rather than exposing an immutable truth.

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In this project, we propose to use the study of fossil microbial communities in archaeological sites as a marker of past activities. Indeed, the diversity and structure of communities are closely linked to their abiotic environment. We base our study on the archaeological site of Fort Ville-Marie (Pointe-à-Callière museum), which represents one of the first European establishments in North America.