Burrowing backyard bunny unearths ancient arrowhead

By Tyler Marr, paNOW

A rabbit digging around a backyard in Saskatchewan has recently been credited with unearthing a two-millennia-old artifact.

Samantha Hayduk’s pet bunny, Nora, was in the backyard of her parent’s home in Peter Pond burrowing small holes. Worried the rabbit was tearing up the yard, Hayduk began to fill the holes in.

While backfilling, she noticed a thin rock lying atop a pile of dirt. Upon further examination, she saw it was an arrowhead. Excited, she put the small rock on her bookshelf thinking it was an interesting find.

The stone sat there for roughly a year. But this fall, during her archaeology class at the University of Saskatchewan, conversation turned to the topic of arrowheads.

The 19-year-old brought the stone to her professor and explained how her rabbit unearthed the artifact. Equally curious, her professor hit the books to date and research the object.

A short time later, surprised and humoured by the story, her professor informed Hayduk the arrowhead was a nearly 2,000-year-old Pelican Lake arrowhead.

“I just couldn’t believe that something we could never have imagined or found was there, and she dug it up for us,” Hayduk said with a laugh. She quickly called her parents and they were equally amazed at the sleuthing of the five-year-old bunny.

According to Hayduk’s research, the arrowhead was used for bows and arrows after the First Nations people graduated from spears. Both Hayduk and her professor agreed this was a rare find.

“What were the chances that the one little hole she dug… she finds it?” Hayduk said.

Hayduk was shocked when she learned how similar arrowheads were on the market for a mere $100 to $200.

With this in mind, she said she is most likely going to keep the artifact.

“I have it sitting out on my bookshelf at home,” she said.