Described as a cannon: Crews dig up WWI artillery piece at PNE in B.C. – BC [Video]

Crews excavating the site of a new amphitheatre at the PNE in Vancouver last Thursday have uncovered a piece of Canadian military history — what’s believed to be a captured German gun from the First World War.

“They picked it up, or were able to lift it with a crane, and discovered it was what was initially described as a cannon,” PNE spokesperson Laura Ballance said Tuesday.

“Certainly one of the questions that was asked very quickly … is it loaded?”

No, it wasn’t loaded. And no, it wasn’t actually a cannon either.

Archeologists and military historians have since determined what work crews located was a field artillery piece, likely more than a century old.

“Circa 1914, and at the time the Canadian military had a presence here, they had a building not far from here for many years where we believe it may have been stored at one point, and …