Surveys and excavations from Mutton Bay to Harrington Harbor

1. Surveys and excavations from Mutton Bay to Harrington Harbor

2. Table of Contents

3. Adc nowledgments

4. 1 - Strategies of Intervention

5. 2 - f*reject Narrative

6. 4 “ Marc Marbor--1 Area of f\e sear cb

7. rain runoff out of the excavation area. This, combined with a siphon hose helped but did not eliminate excavation difficulties because we had to leave wood remains in place in the pit and they impounded water.

8. >r,

9. By Yves Chretien, Ph.D., archaeologist

10. Mutton P)ay-''h Area of Research

11. 6 - MaHe Island /\rea of [Research

12. St. Marie Islands

13. St. Marie Island-1 (No site designation)

14. St. Marie Island-2 (EbBv-2)

15. 7 - Harrington Harbor-1: A rea o f R esearch

16. 3 ~ (3.oncl

17. (References CLited

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Surveys and excavations from Mutton Bay to Harrington Harbor

Fitzhugh, William W., 1943- author

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Table of Contents Figure List Acknowledgments

1 - Methods and Strategy of Intervention

2 - Project Narrative

2.1 - Introduction

2.2 - Narative

3 - Research Area 2001-2005

4 - Hare Harbor-1: Area of Research

4.1 - Research Sectors and Methods

4.2 - Excavation and Interpretation

4.3 - Field Inventory

4.4 - Site and Artifact Photos

4.5 - Underwater Survey

5 - Mutton Bay: Area of Research

5.1 - Research Sector and Methods

5.2 - Interpretations

5.3 - Addendum to Mutton Bay-2

6 - St. Marie Island: Area of Research

6.1 - Research Sectors, Methods and Interpretation

7 - Harrington Harbor-1: Area of Research

7.1 - Research Sectors, Methods and Interpretation

8 - Conclusions

8.1 - Recommendations

9 - References Cited

10 - 2005 Catalogue

11 - Field Forms

f* ure List

Figure

Page

Caption

1.1

2

From L to R: Perry Colboume, Frederic Simard, Christie Leece, Erik Phaneuf, Elyssa Gelman, and Lena Sharp

2.1

5

Pitsiulak Crew 2006 at Harrington Harbor

2.2

6

Cod drying at L’Anse Aux Meadows

2.3

7

Perry's home town of Lushes Bight, on Long Island day.

2.4

9

Christie tries her hand at Viking axe throwing

2.5

10

Erik and Fredric in their diving gear

2.6

11

Erik with whale bone from underwater site

2.7

12

Bog excavation area at HH1 view to North

2.8

13

Basque and later artifacts from the underwater HH1 survey

2.9

14

Wilson Evan's boat at St. Marie Island

2.10

15

View west from Hare Harbor hill

2.11

16

Christine Vatcher showing Christie Leece the area where her father had found Early Maritime Archaic points in Mutton Bay.

2.12

17

The 2006 crew passed out in the sun

2.13

18

The crew and the Pitsiulak stone monument at Hare Harbor

3.1

19

Area of research 2000-2005

3.2

19

Map of 2005 voyage area

4.1

20

Map of Petite Mecatina, Hare Harbor-1 site

4.2

22

HH-1 areas of excavation 2001-2005

4.3

23

Hare Harbor 1, area 3 artifact distribution.

4.4

24

HH 1 area 3 artifact distributions

4.5

25

Barrel staves 1-7 submerged in water at the site. See p. 29 for the rest of the collection

4.6

29

HH-1 Barrel Parts (submerged in water at site)

4.7

30

HH-1 Soil Profiles

4.8

31

Area 3 test pit locations

4.9

34

Maul Head fromA3/ 10N 20E

4.10

34

A 3 bog excavation area

4.11

35

Wooden bowl from A3/ 8N 10E

4.12

35

Barrel staves from A3 1 IN 20E

4.13

36

Map of underwater survey

4.14

37

Erik next to underwater ballast (?) pile

4.15

37

Collection of underwater artifacts (also see Fig. 2.8 )

4.16

38

Erik and Frederic returning to surface with artifacts

4.17

39

Sample of whale bones from underwater site

4.18

39

Erik with large whale bone

5.1

43

Mutton Bay, Mutton Bay-4

5.2

44

Mutton Bay-4 artifacts

5.3

44

Mutton Bay-4 area sketch

5.4

45

Mutton Bay-4, site overview, view SW.

5.5

45

Mutton Bay reservoir site, view east

5.6

45

Site sketch of Mutton Bay-2

5.7

46

Above: Point from Vatcher collection. Left: Mutton Bay-2 West locus finds. Below: Mutton Bay 2, 2001 finds

6.1

47

Map 12 J/5 of St. Marie Island, St. Marie Island-2 and -4

6.2

48

Bay of Saint Marie Island

7.1

50

Map 12 J/5 of Harrington Harbor Island, Harrington Harbor -1

7.2

51

Harrington Harbor-1 site sketch and artifact illustration of drill bit

Adc nowledgments

This summer’s project was made possible by many dedicated groups and individuals. Special thanks is due to Perry Colbourne for his masterful skippering of Pitsiulak, for his culinary wonders, and for his thoughtful care of the team. We greatly enjoyed having his sister, Kay Colbourne, with us and hope she enjoyed her rustic and educational cruise, and we thank her for her chef’s prowess and her company. The rest of our crew, Christie Leece, Lena Sharp, and Elyssa Gelmann, were as dedicated and proficient as any crew I have had, and Yves Chretien brought new perspectives, talents, and experiences that enriched the project and helped set new directions for the future. The underwater archaeologists from the University of Montreal, Erik Phaneuf and Frederic Simard, were a welcome addition, and their work gave us our first preliminary map, photographs, and sample from this part of the Hare Harbor site. Although Anja Herzog was not able to join us in the field this year, she made important contributions to the project by identifying and cataloging our collections and providing historical research.

A host of shore-side folks too many to mention in full made our work easier, more productive, and enjoyable; those most directly involved include Louise Colbourne, Boyce Roberts, Gina and Adrian Noordhof, Christine Vatcher and Wilson Evans, Helen Morency and Miles Evans, Paul and Cynthia Rowsell, Mark and Kieth Rowsell, and the staff of the Harrington Harbor Fish Co-op. A generous donation from Anina Glaize, funding from the Arctic Studies Center, General and Mrs. Raymond Mason, the Robert Malott Family Foundation, the Department of Anthropology and the National Museum of Natural History helped make the project possible. I especially want to thank Flelena Sharp for much of the technical work in assembling this report and for plotting the distribution of finds from the Mecatina site, and Yves Chretien and Gilles Samson for helping make the 2005 project possible in the first place. Finally,

I would like to thank Allison Bain, Laurier Turgeon, and Reginald Auger of Laval University for their assistance in many ways and in particular for support of Anja Herzog’s educational program.

Fig. II: From L to R: Perry Colbourne. Frederic Simard, Christie Leece , Erik Phaneuf, Elyssa Gel man, and Lena Sharp

1 - Strategies of Intervention

The Gateways Project utilizes a variety of archaeological methods for different phases of the research: investigation and research to find new sites, preliminary area surveys, systematic excavation, and the production of archaeological reports.

Investigation : During the 2005 summer season we spent three weeks in the field conducting archaeological research in the Lower North Shore area from Mutton Bay to Harrington Harbor. The specific locations of survey were based on potential for boat access, weather, and information from local residents about site locations and local artifact finds. The surface survey method was a walking visual inspection, limited mostly to areas free of heavy tree growth, river mouths, terraces and soil exposed by erosion and wind. When there was heavy lichen or soil cover, sites were photographed, and test pits were dug in a stratified, unaligned, systematic method to verify the presence of cultural deposits. The latitude and longitude of new sites were then located by GPS and recorded on topographic maps and in field note books and forms. The inventory was not a blanket systematic or random sampling of the region for sites within a specific culture or time period, but rather the recording of all of the sites associated with different chronological periods which we came across in our survey. As a consequence, previously unrecorded sites are documented, which adds to the general knowledge of the region.

Evaluation and Mapping : When an interesting site was found, 50 x 50 cm test pits were excavated to test the spatial limits of the cultural deposit and to get enough archaeological material to make an estimation of the culture and date of the site. A preliminary sketch map of the site was usually made, and the depth and the characteristic elements of the site and deposits were recorded. The artifacts recovered were given a temporary field number for identification and were recorded as to location and depth recovered. If portions of a structure were visible, they were mapped in relation to grid or a center line.

Systematic Excavation’. For a site requiring a more extensive excavation, such as Hare Harbor-1 (EdBt-3), we established a grid of coordinates based on a datum point with a recorded height asl and latitude/longitude. The grid was divided into one meter squares and these were added to the previous year's grid so as to maintain accurate recordings and maps. Artifacts uncovered were numbered in the field and were traced, sketched, and described in the field notes. Significant artifacts were photographed in situ and immediately after removal.

Photographs and maps of the structural aspects are also made. Excavation and testing this summer was focused on determining the areal extent of the site and discovering its various uses, as well as recovering organic artifacts from the waterlogged bog area (Area 3). Upon completion, the area excavated in 2005, Area 3, was backfilled to maintain structural integrity of the site as Area 3 was part of the natural drainage system for the overall site. One section of Area 3 was lined and converted into a wet storage area for barrel parts and planks recovered in the excavation; these remains were bagged in plastic, numbers and recorded in notes before reinterrment in the wet peat to maintain the waterlogged state and object preservation.

Systematic Underwater Survey: For the Hare Harbor-1 site (EdBt-3) two certified divers were brought in to map the submerged area closest to the shore of the site. The depth of and slope of the area was recorded using a depth sounder, and a map of features was made using a center line. A small systematic sample of artifacts was recovered to record the chronology and cultural material present in the deposit. All artifacts recovered were kept submerged in salt water for delivery to the conservation lab.

Processing and Analysis: All of the artifacts collected were catalogued and photographed in the field and were then packaged for delivered to the archaeological laboratory of the Ministere de la Culture du Quebec for cleaning, preservation, and cataloguing by Anja Herzog at the Conservation Center. All field notes and details of activities were kept with the records of the excavation in previous seasons. Photographs, illustrations, maps, and field notes appear in this report.

2 - f*reject Narrative

2. I - Introduction

The 2005 St. Lawrence Gateways Project conducted its fifth season along the Quebec Lower North Shore from 23 July to 25 August. Project goals include investigation of the prehistory and early history of the LNS from its earliest settlement to modern times with emphasis on aboriginal culture history, history of early European exploration and contact with Native peoples, and identification of shifting boundary zones between Inuit, Innu, and European groups. Field research has been conducted yearly since 2001 and detailed yearly reports have been issued (Fitzhugh 2001; Fitzhugh and Gallon 2002; Fitzhugh and Shaq3 2003; Fitzhugh, Chretien, and Shaip 2004; Herzog and Moreau 2004; Fitzhugh, Chretien, and Sharp 2005; Fitzhugh in press).

The archaeology of the Quebec Lower North Shore is poorly known and has not been received much scholarly attention because it has been pursued more from a cultural resource management than a research perspective. The region is remote, rugged, and ethnically diverse, and while archaeologically rich, is almost unknown to the broader academic community. Only Blanc Sablon has a long and published record of prehistoric archaeology (e.g. Harp 1963; Martijn 1974, McGhee and Tuck 1975; Levesque 2002; Pintal 1998), while reports by Niellon (1986, 1996), Niellon and Jones (1984), Drouin (1988), Turgeon (1987, 1990, 1994), and others provide a framework for the historical period, with most interest focused on early European settlement, especially Basque.

Previous Gateways field projects initially concentrated on conducting a broad regional survey from the Mingan Islands to the Strait of Belle Isle (2001). In recent years we have defined a tighter geographic and thematic focus on the region between Cape Whittle and St. Augustine, where the least amount of archaeological work had been conducted, especially in the outer island regions. Discovery of an interesting Basque site at Hare Harbor on Petit Mecatina led to a multi-year program of study of this site, which remains on-going. In addition we have succeeded in defining the outline of a culture history for this region; we have identified Early Maritime Archaic sites, Late Maritime Archaic sites with longhouses, the western-most known Groswater Paleoeskimo sites, and traces of a Inuit presence west of their historically-known

locations in the vicinity of St. Paul River (Fitzhugh in press).

The 2005 field season was designed primarily to pursue studies at the Mecatina Basque site by combining an exploratory survey of the site’s underwater resources with excavation of a boggy portion of the land site that promised to provide information on organic remains not preserved elsewhere on shore. We also planned to continue surveys of some unexplored areas around our base location at Harrington

Fig. 2.1: Pitsiulak Crew 2006 at Harrington Harbor

Harbor and if possible excavate other sites we have located between Harrington and St. Augustine. As it turned out, our work had to be confined to the Harrington-Mutton Bay region. A few notes are also offered for the Quirpon Harbor region of northern Newfoundland where we spent a day in transit. Because we did not have archaeological permits for this region, we did not conduct excavations or tests, but merely observed some of the landscape and recorded ethnographic notes based on knowledge learned from local residents.

2.2- Narrative

This year the crew converged on Long Island by car and plane, with Christie Leece and Lena Sharp driving Christie’s car up through New England, visiting along the way, and Bill and Elyssa Gelmann flying via Montreal and arriving late on the 25 th at Deer Lake where they spent a pleasant night at Ivy Nault’s B&B. Christie, Lena, and Perry drove in from Long Island and met them in the morning and after a grocery shopping binge, returned to Lushes Bight and Triton, where the Pitsiulak was sitting high and dry at the Triton Marine Center, awaiting sea trials for the new hydraulic steering and GPS-based Nobeltek navigation and piloting system Chad Caravan had just installed.

GPS Piloting The systems checked out quickly, and the launch and trial run to Lushes Bight seemed to indicate everything was in order - except for our lack of knowledge about how to operate the mysterious new gadgetry, which required lots of confidence in electronics as you watch the vessel thread narrow passages and skirt headlands with no apparent intelligence anywhere in sight, certainly not at the controls, which now consist of a three-inch joy-stick and rudder angle indicator gauge. Meanwhile a slick-looking computer has replaced the trusty old British Admiralty charts with Capt. James Cook’s soundings, and its luminous screen has become the center of the skipper’s attention, riveting you to the image of a small boat-shaped icon dancing along a projected course line. Periodically the machine emits a ‘beep’ indicating the termination of a navigation leg, at which point you feel the jolt of the rudder bringing you to the next course. Now the Pits turns on a dime, without 8 full revolutions of the wheel! At first blush, all this fine silent technology seems to replace the captain. However, you soon discover the underlining theme repeatedly voiced in the operation manual with an air of omniscient authority: “GPS-driven piloting is only an aid to safe boat operation, and should be used only as an aid to other standard navigation practices.”

True enough, but beguiling nevertheless! And while GPS navigation relieves the skipper of many mundane duties, in reality the gains are more than matched by the addition of new levels of complexity; more reliance on engine power and electricity; and most assuredly, a bundle of new conceptual, electronic, and mechanical problems just waiting to happen sometimes at quite inopportune moments.

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Fig. 2.3: Perry’s home town of Lushes Bight, on Long Island day.

The most serious problem we faced in getting underway however was not mechanical or electronic; it was the age-old matter of Perry’s Smithsonian pay. How to pay a part-time Smithsonian employee in a foreign country has stumped the Institution’s administrative staff for most of the 15 years Perry has been employed as Pitsiulak's skipper, and this year was no exception. Having been informed that the SI could not continue with the earlier procedure of

contracting, we shifted him over to employee status, expecting that the institution would be able to make the necessary calculations and payments for his Canadian UIC and Pension plans, taxes and other costs. But it turns out that we ended up having to make these payments ourselves in the Anthropology office while his salary checks had to come out of the national pay center used by the SI and many other agencies in Louisiana. This center’s pay system insists on US zip codes and does not accommodate Canadian codes, so Perry’s checks have to be processed and addressed manually, and for some reason their computers believe that Newfoundland is in Labrador and that Perry’s post office box is in Labrador City rather than Lushes Bight. This means that his checks come weeks late, if at all, and that his family has no funds for most of the summer while he is off driving archaeologists around Quebec, or wherever.

So, this summer we arranged to have the checks sent to the Anthropology office so I could hand-carry them to Perry. His bank in Springdale, the Bank of Montreal, had informed us that if we kept the checks under $5000 they would clear within a week or ten days. But when I arrived with the first check, we discovered there is no such policy now - if there ever was - and that any check - even five dollars - needs up to 30 days to clear, even a US Government check. Worse, his second check, which did not come before I had left DC and was mailed, had not shown up by the time we left Lushes Bight for Quebec. When it did show on the 24 th of August, it too had - guess what! - gone to Labrador City even though his town and zip code were clearly marked. The up-shot of this story is that we have decided the US government is incapable of paying Perry, or probably any Canadian, and so we will have to hire a Canadian accounting firm to take on this task, and with it add a new cost to the Smithsonian. Looking on the brighter side, nothing can be worse than the past fifteen years of payroll nightmares. But then, being more realistic, each year we have been supremely confident we had nailed the pitfalls and had a secure plan for the next. So keep tuned and see how it goes in ’06! We’ve also Teamed’ that wire transfers do not go through the security clearance process assigned to checks and cash. That seemed like a loophole in the US financial security armor that we could exploit - until we found the national payroll center will not make a payroll wire payment outside the USA. Check-mate!

Lushes Bight to Harrington Having cleared up our departure duties, paid some of our bills, and got on board the crucial beer and diesel fuel, we left Lushes Bight at 6:15am in fog and rain on the morning of July 28. An hour later we discovered the new hydraulic steering oil was overheating, threatening to burst the lines or damage the pump. We put in to La Scie (“The Saw”

from its original French designation) where a boat engineer confirmed our diagnosis and directed us to the small town of Pacquet a few miles further west on the Bay Verte Peninsula. Satellite phone conversations with Chad indicated a young hydraulic specialist there named Derrick might be able to help us.

Pacquet is a tiny settlement of 350 that has been steadily losing its population over the past decade as the fishing industry declined with the moratorium on codfishing. Its alternative industry - mining - has also seen decline. Despite the independence of its residents, who were busy building their own boats and houses around a beautiful horseshoe-shaped harbor, it seems destined to become a small bedroom town for the few people who can find employment in the La Scie fishing and boat construction business. La Scie is one of the few ports still functioning as a fishing center for the few species - crab, squid, mackerel, turbot - that are still economically viable. A few fishermen in Pacquet still have fishing licenses, but their catch is increasingly directed at the local townspeople, not the wider market, as their boats are smaller and less efficient than the front-line 65-footers.

Derrick diagnosed our problem: the hydraulic oil was overheating because the pump had been installed with a pulley too small to step down our engine rpms (2500) to a speed compatible with the pump’s capacity (1500). By this time it was Friday evening and Chad was not available, but Derrick helped us find a 7 inch pulley at a shop in Comer Brook, and they agreed to hold it for pick-up at Vitch’s Ultramar gas station later that evening. All we needed now was a ride to Comer Brook, 200 km away. Fortunately we found a local resident, Harold Bath, who agreed to drive us, and by 10 pm Elyssa, Lena, and I were back in Pacquet with the pulley. Perry installed it in tenty minutes and it seemed to reduce the heat, but not entirely; what’s more, the engine drive belts we had did not fit exactly and would wear out. But for the time being we were back in business and had a shot at getting to Harrington Harbor in Quebec by the 1 st of August, the day our Quebec partners traveling from Montreal and Quebec were to join us.

The next morning - the 29 th - was beautiful and we got an early start in sun and light winds, and soon we were off the Grey Islands seeing finback and humpback whales and porpoises, but like last year, not a single fishing or pleasure boat - in fact, no boats of any kind. What fishing is still there now starts 50-100 miles offshore to the east. However, as we entered Quirpon Harbor, three speedboats converged on the entrance, one carrying guests from the highend Cape Bauld Lighthouse B&B at the northern end of Quirpon Island. The others turned out to be with our friend, Boyce Roberts, returning from a fishing excursion. After docking Boyce invited us over to his place for a fine ‘surf and turf’ meal, a hospitality tradition we have enjoyed every summer for the past four years as we passed through Quirpon.

As so often happens also in Quirpon, we ended up weathered in for a day. Actually this is never a hardship, as there is much to do in this interesting historically-rich area of Newfoundland. During the evening I tried to locate my Smithsonian colleagues Walter Adey and Karen Lovejoy who were conducting marine biological studies from his new home-built vessel, which had been sighted in the nearby harbor of Griquet. But he must have left the harbor for another location. I did succeed in finding Gina Nordhoff and her husband Adrian at their restaurant, “The Norseman,” at L’Anse Aux Meadows and arranged to meet at the Viking park, Norstead, the following morning. It was their festival weekend and Norstead had planned lots of activities. We came over by speedboat in time to catch some Viking-style althing trials and participated in this interesting judicial process; we also tried our hand at other Viking amusements, like throwing axes, and some that were slightly adapted to modem tastes, like dunking Norstead maidens in vats of fish brine by pitching balls at a trip-wire target. The

‘purpose’ was to test the veracity of their sworn statements at the althing: wet (they lied) or dry (a true account). More educational was our visit to the Parks Canada archaeological site and museum, where we initiated Elyssa into the wonders of archeological reconstructions Parks Canada had done in the bog adjacent to the settlement site, since we planned to be excavating a Basque bog at the Mecatina Basque site in a few days. A lunch at the Norseman Restaurant was as tasty as ever and prepared us for a windy, wet boat ride back to Quiipon, where we discovered Perry had found new belts for the motor, and got a haircut to boot. This was a great relief to him as several of us had been standing by eagerly fingering the shears.

Toward evening, just before dark, the wind dropped out and we decided to make a short dash to Cook Harbor, twenty miles to the west, from which we had a better chance to make a run across the Strait of Belle Isle in the early morning before the usual southwest wind had blown up (usually by noon), making the passage too hazardous for a small boat. The sky looked bright and fine, and we might have been able to run straight across through the night, but caution prevailed and we hunkered down between idle 65footers for a few hours, and left again at first light.

The gamble paid off, and we had a calm early morning crossing, reaching Blanc Sablon by 1 lam, where Perry had a passing conversation - literally - with his brother Stephen who was operating a tugboat for the Labrador ferry, Apollo. They chatted on over the VHF for a good while, all the time Stephen wondering what our all-fired hurry was with not stopping for a more personal visit. He had hours to wait for the ferry’s return, but we were ‘humping it’, running while the weather permitted against the clock now that we had been delayed a day in Quiipon. By late afternoon we reached St. Augustine and as we entered the channel discovered the further trials of our new electronic wizard, which went off-line just when the cross-seas had caught us in an unpleasant situation between shoals and surf. A Canadian Coast Guard vessel was passing and watched us roll like a cork as we wove about trying to maintain our position. The good thing about GPS is that you always know where you are, as long as the computer works. Fortunately, this part of our gear was working, but I was not taking any chances and had the charts laid out. The weaving and dodging about the shoals that seemed so disturbing to me was no problem for Perry, who was driving with his joy-stick watching the little boat icon nicely skirting the shoals on his computer map. This system is especially comforting when approaching land at night, as long as the GPS and computer are working! If they fail, you had better scramble for the old back-up systems - fathometer, radar, compass and dead-reckoning - and fast!

That evening saw us tied up at the old, rapidly-deteriorating fish plant at La Tabatiere, swatting mosquitoes, making calls from a pay phone on the pier, and using the world’s filthiest shower stall located in a dingy alley in back of the plant. Meanwhile, inside, workers were processing the last load of shrimp to be sent off to Port Saunders, Newfoundland, from which it would be trucked south to the mainland markets.

Fig. 2.4: Christie tries Viking axe throwing

Harrington and the Basque Excavations The next morning was August l, and we were lucky to have another fine day, allowing us to reach Harrington by 10 am. There we found our project partner Yves Chretien comfortably settled in at Amy Evans’ B&B. Moving aboard Pitsiulak had some disadvantages: mosquitoes, no hot water, and no ‘meals by Amy’ - who is a fine cook; but Yves made the adjustment without obvious distress (he was well-acquainted with our style of life). We quickly learned that the Montreal underwater archaeologists, Erik Phaneuf and Frederic Savard, had missed their flight due to security problems with the lead weights in their diving gear. When they tried to carry them on board, security had a problem because their x-ray machines could not ‘see into’ the lead to verify it did not conceal contraband. A ‘catch-22’ if there ever was one! By the time the matter was resolved, they had missed their flight, leaving Yves, when he boarded the same plane in Quebec, wondering where his colleagues were. He did not learn about the complications until he landed in Chevery.

Fortunately, Erik and Frederic were able to re-book on the 2 nd , insuring we would only lose one day of the week they could devote to our project. Their work was to make an initial evaluation of the underwater archaeological potential of the Basque site we have been investigating over the past four years. Shortly after they arrived we were underway for Hare Harbor, loaded up with air tanks borrowed from Wilson Evans, the local wildlife officer and diver. His preliminary dive found roof tiles, ballast stone, anchors, and other artifacts at our site two years ago. Now we were prepared with professional colleagues to explore the possibility of linking the land excavations to a contemporary underwater site whose superior preservation would greatly enhance our understanding of the whole site, now believed to date ca. 1650-1740 based on Anja Herzog’s and Jean-Francois Moreau’s analysis of glass beads. We were not likely to find beads on the bottom, but we had every reason to believe that whale bones, wood artifacts, large ceramic vessels, and other materials might be forthcoming.

While in Harrington we got to know John Taft of Portsmouth, Maine, and his huge black Newfoundland retriever, who were cruising the Gulf of St. Lawrence in a small motor boat. The two were fixtures in town for several days while they waited for calm seas to make their next leg to Sept Isles. Once an engineer at MIT and now a legal professor at the University of Chicago, Taft has taken to exploring the northeast seacoast with his gruff and furry companion. We had interesting conversations and followed his peregrinations about town by the sound of his distinctive laugh and his dog’s deep bellows at seagulls, cats, and crackie-dogs. Harrington is a common layover for those exploring the Gulf and Newfoundland, and we heard about another group that called in just before our arrival and then went on to Rocky Harbor in Newfoundland; whale researchers connected with the Mingan whale research center.

Woods Hole Oceanographic, and the American Museum of Natural History. We had been in touch with them during the winter and offered samples of our whale bones from Mecatina. They were

particularly interested in identifying the species hunted by the Basque and Inuit groups in order to reconstruct whale migration patterns and population numbers through time. Archaeological samples can provide important data for historical studies of whale demography. It’s too bad we missed them, but we can send new samples for DNA analysis later this year.

It also seems that the Mecatina site has become known to amateur underwater archaeologists and collectors as well as biologists. Just before we left in mid-August we met a couple from Sept Isle traveling in a large zodiac with diving gear who had been diving at our site while we were surveying elsewhere. Well intentioned and sensitive to archaeological heritage, their diving in Hare Harbor raised the issue of how to protect Fig. 2.6: Erik with whale bone from underwater site underwater remains from those with predatory interests as the financial value and exposure of marine archaeology increases. With the growing speed and capabilities of zodiac-type vessels, it is becoming relatively easy for people with financial means to reach out-of-the-way locations and explore for maritime archaeological sites.

Erik and Frederic spent five days diving at Mecatina, assisted one day by Wilson Evans who brought out his compressor and a pump with which he blew a shallow hole in the sediments ca. 70 feet to check for buried artifacts and stratigraphy. Erik’s report is included in this report and documents the results of this initial exploration of the site’s underwater resources, which strongly support continuation of this project, hopefully with collaboration from the University of Montreal. The director of the Montreal program, Brad Loewen, assisted our work this summer with equipment and the expertise of graduate student Frederic Savard.

While the underwater work was underway our team opened up excavations at the eastern side of the land site where we had found wood planks and barrel parts in a cultural level buried under 20-30 cm of water-saturated peat at the end of the season last year. During the week we opened 2 m wide trench extending four meters north of our 2004 TP 3 from Area 3 (bog), finding more barrel parts as well as a wooden bowl in a deposit that included recurrent occupation floors separated by distinct sterile peat re-growth zones. These micro-levels did not contain enough artifacts to provide typological dates for these levels, but they clearly indicated the site had been re-occupied numerous times (at least 6-7 re-growth zones and a similar number of cultural levels) over the course of its history. Our earlier excavations at the cookhouse and other areas had given us the impression that the site was a single occupation, so this was an important new development.

The same pattern was evident in a large excavation conducted between 16-22E and 712N east of the 1 IE trench. This was the wettest portion of the bog (created by a north-south rock ridge rising near the surface at between 7-8E). Initial expectation that this area might contain dwelling structures proved wrong, and as excavation progressed we became convinced that much of the cultural material found (barrel parts, worked wood scrap, axe-cut brush, slabs and larger rocks, and small amounts of tile and other artifacts) had been thrown into this area to stabilize the surface and make if more suitable as a general wood-working area. A more specific function became clear toward the end of the excavation when we began to detect the presence of

a blacksmith’s shop in the area north of the bog - an area that will be featured in our 2006 field plans. Despite the lack of large collections or many interesting organic artifacts, the Area 3 excavations expanded our artifact inventory and provided a number of interesting new types and materials (see below). The weather throughout the week was excellent, and a number of visitors came by to see how our work was progressing.

Rowsell House and the Harrington Tourist

Assocation During one of our visits to Harrington we toured the new Rowsell House project, the old home of the Rowsell family that during the past year has been renovated and converted into a museum and the focus of the town’s tourist and heritage program. Under a committee directed by Keith Rowsell, who grew up in this house, the town has launched a drive to identify and inventory old artifacts, photographs, and records and to prepare small exhibitions on local heritage, culture, and history. The town has already secured historical materials from the collections of Bob Bryan, founder of the Quebec-Labrador Foundation whose programs were based out of Harrington for many years. Other assistance and collections should be forthcoming from Jim and Sharon Ransom and others with interest in Harrington history. The program is cooperating with heritage programs in other towns on the Lower North Shore and hopes to attract grants and assistance. The Arctic Studies Center has pledged to help with information on archaeological and cultural heritage and may be able to assist in some areas of exhibit or electronic presentations. During out visit we met with Keith Rowsell and the Rowsell House manager, Doris Rowsell, and in a later meeting with Keith outlined plans to begin an archaeological training project next summer in collaboration with the tourist association and the school. Harrington’s tourism and heritage program is only one of several underway in towns along the Lower North Shore, coordinated by a development association committee with management from Christine DuFour in Blanc Sablon. Our Basque project and surveys elsewhere could help provide resources and infonnation for these programs.

The last day the divers were working was a gorgeous sunny day that saw the land crew working without headnets and even without shirts, it was so warm and pest-free. Erik and Frederic completed their last dive and made a surprise discovery of an intact 19 th jug to complement the 17-18 th centeury materials they had already collected, and they completed a map of the underwater site. On land, Elyssa found a complete iron maul head, and Lena found thick layers of charcoal that we suspect is connected to a blacksmithing operation north of the bog. (A few days later, she found an iron rod, and Yves excavated test pits north of the excavation that confirmed the likelihood of a blacksmith shop nearby.) Perry, who had dedicated his free time away from the boat to bakeapple picking, had a less propicious day, and announced he was

Fig. 2.7: Bog excavation area at HH1 view to North

4 finished’ looking for bakeapples, which were remarkably few this year. But a fine day was had by the Harrington fishermen, with one boat landing over 13,000 pounds of codfish in one day. This and other signs throughout the region, including Newfoundland, herald a return of the codfish - an unprecedented surprise recovery after more than three decades of drastic decline. The day concluded with our return to Harrington and participation in a town buffet supper benefit for the church. The Pitsiulak ladies could not get enough entertainment at the dinner and ended up the evening on the pier dancing around our ship’s navigation computer, suitably reprogramed for music. The divers left the next day by plane from Chevery, this time with their diving weight properly documented, and we headed out for surveys around Providence and the islands offshore from Tete-a-la-Baleine. We found strong winds but little else.

b y the io‘ h we had completed most of our work at the bog and spent a rainy day digging testpits west of the cookhouse and Areas 1, 2, and 4. We had hoped to locate a productive midden or dump full of interesting Basque ceramics but instead only found tiles and a modest, thin layer of scattered Basque materials similar to collections we had already seen from this area. Still no sign of blubber furnaces, and with the confirmation that none of the many roof tiles found on the bottom of the cove had evidence of blubber stains or encrustations, we have pretty much ruled out whaling as a central economic focus for the site. While whalebones are found on the bottom and in small amounts in the land site, they seem too few to indicate a dedicated whaling economy.

St. Mary Island Survey When I arrived in Harrington I had asked Wilson to see if he could obtain permission for us to visit the St. Mary Islands for a brief archaeological survey. These islands are the most seaward in the Harrington region and were the site of an important (but now remotely operated) lighthouse. The Quebec Labrador Foundation used to use the island for summer youth programs, and we had reports from Quebec Labrador Foundation’s Kate Blanchard of stone pits in high boulderfields. We were curious to locate these pits, and Perry was eager to test out the berry fields. Wilson was able to secure permission, and we went out for surveys on 11 August, planning to spend the night in the small harbor near the lighthouse.

Fig. 2.8: Basque and later artifacts from the underwater HHl survey

Fig. 2.9: Wilson Evan’s boat at St. Marie Island

The day was foggy, rainy, but calm, and as we approached we sighted whales and abundant seabirds. It was clear that the refuge policy was working. Game was more numerous and tame than anywhere else in the area. One of the most interesting features was the presence of a red-throated loon in almost every large pond, and we found their young, flightless but wary, in almost every single tiny pond, where they seemed able to dive to escape the predations of the merciless saddleback gulls that

were always perched nearby. Almost as soon as we got ashore, we discovered Pitsiulak had dragged her anchor across the tiny harbor and was about to strike the rocks. Once we got aboard it took us two hours to figure out how to anchor safely, and in the end we had to abandon the anchorage for a more anchor-friendly bottom on the west side of Galibois Island, a location local people know as ‘Yankee Harbor’ but on the opposite side of the island from the charted location of this name.

Despite bad weather Yves and 1 located the probable site of Kate’s boulder pits in a high beach swale west of the lighthouse. In addition to several small conical pits one-meter or less in diameter we found a large 4-meter diameter pit with a flat bottom, large enough to serve as a dwelling, with two cache pits nearby. This site could be excavated and probably dates to one of the Intermediate Indian occupations of the coast post-dating the Maritime Archaic culture, about 2-3000 BP. We had seen similar pits at Belle Amours Peninsula near Blanc Sablon, but we’d need to excavate find out and that would be a job for next year with the support of a special permit. Clearly most of the pits we found in the high fossil beaches in boulder fields had been used as seal meat caches, while the smaller pits are likely for storing eggs collected from the numerous puffin or murre colonies. By themselves it is impossible to date these caches, and many may have been used repeatedly by different cultural groups for thousands of years, right up into the 20 th century. Only by excavating an associated dwelling might a more useful history be determined. Elsewhere on the island we found a probable historic period grave, empty and without bones. Closer inspection with subsurface testing might turn up other sites in the mossand peat-covered raised beaches behind the boathouse. Yves found some suspicious quartzite pieces high on the hill in the path to the lighthouse, but it seems most likely that these ‘utilized flakes’ and ‘pieces esquillees’ have resulted from crushed gravel imported recently to pave the pathway. We briefly surveyed the northeastern end of North St. Mary’s Island, and on this beach Yves discovered large amounts of ballast flint, including a variety of English and probably French flints which seem to have been thrown up by the surf, which is quite active here. There is no sign of a shore station, so the presence of quantities of flint is mysterious. This beach might be a good place to butcher and load whale blubber in good weather, but it is not a preferred site or harbor location. We also surveyed the Galibois Islands west of St. Marie, finding excellent site locales but all so heavily covered in peat and vegetation that we could not detect any archaeological presence. The most interesting feature of this island is an old fishing camp on the northeast cove with remains of several old boats, some containing hand-forged nails and lacking

motors and screw propulsion - boats from the sailing days of the early 19 th century. A homemade capstan and the presence of a cabin foundation were present also.

Yves left for Quebec on the 13 th , leaving our crew back at the original manning level when we left Lushes Bight; but the balance tipped back almost immediately with the arrival of Carolyn Colboume, Perry’s school-teacher sister, on the Nordik Express from Blanc Sablon. She had come to explore the myths about these mysterious archaeological projects that took Perry off every summer into other worlds. Kay was a trooper and adapted immediately to the Pits routine, and our cuisine took a dramatic upward turn. We returned to Hare Harbor to finish up work,excavating beneath the barrel parts and preparing stratigraphic profiles, and back-filling. Like the Basque before us, we filled the dig with the rocks and peat we had excavated, together will all of the brush and roots we had cleared to give the mushy deposit some structure. Kay tried her hand at digging but soon announced that archaeology was hard work, and more boring, than picking berries. So we ended up dirty and she produced a bakeapple cheesecake- a fair deal, all considered.

The day before we left Hare Harbor (the 15 th ) we climbed the hill north of the harbor and got some great photos of the surrounding landscape and did what everyone else before us seems to have done - built a rock cairn. These glacially scoured granite hills show traces of local climatic warming in the drying up and erosion of the thin moss and vegetation carpets that have built up on the rock faces. Large areas of clean, bare rock have appeared in the past few years, and the absence of lichen cover shows that these rock surfaces have been covered until now for a very long time. Photos of these uplands give the impression of a surreal landscape, part sky part land, with the hilltops appearing like a slightly more concrete form of cloud.

We spent the 16 th and 17 Ul in Harrington waiting out a storm, packing equipment, paying our bills, and saying goodbye to friends. By the i 8 th the storm waves had subsided enough for us to ship out for Mutton Bay, where we planned to spend a day or two surveying. Once again, we marveled at the GPS piloting system, which took us cleanly through the middle of a 200 meter pass at the end of the Mutton Bay peninsula. Here is where you discover how accurate your charts are, for a very small charting error might place the land directly in your path, seeing as you take your course line off the chart but get your actual position from a satellite. For this reason Nobeltec and other reputable electronic chart purveyors have to be sure that the chart is completely accurate, and some government charts do not pass muster and are not provided. So

you may find yourself sailing into a harbor with a fine-grained chart on the computer only to discover when in the harbor proper that your screen pops up with a useless mega-pixel image of the bay - not what you want to see when you get into tight quarters at night or in the fog. But Mutton Bay was wellcharted and we soon were tied up, again swatting mosquitoes that seem to take special delight in

Fig. 2. If): View West from Hare Harbor hill

plaguing visitors in this lovely village, most of which is now occupied by retirees or people working in Tabatiere, to which Mutton Bay is connected by a 10km stretch of road.

We set off shortly to find one of the Archaic sites at the head of the bay, a place we had heard about several years ago from residents who have made a hobby for decades of hunting arrowheads in the surrounding hills. These sites are on high raised beaches dating to the early Maritime Archaic period and are closely related to sites in the 6-9000 B.P. range that have been found along the Strait of Belle Isle, Blanc Sablon, and Old Fort. Their most striking feature is the large amount of quartz chipping, and their relative paucity of finished tools. We quickly located Mutton Bay-4 eroding from a thin turf mat on a glacially-polished granite outcrop on the hill above the old sawmill operated by Christine Vatcher’s father, Phil, a retired fisheries inspector. The site consisted of two loci, with clippings and beach cobbles scattered over an area of about 20 meters on the bedrock and in clumps of sod that had not yet been eroded. Locus 1 was too far destroyed to bother excavating, but Locus 2 about fifty meters to the east looked more interesting, and we excavated a portion of its remaining sod mat and mapped the finds. Unfortunately we found no finished tools in either loci and returned to the boat with little to show for our time other than the plotted location of another early site.

That evening Phil Vatcher showed me a point he had been given by a friend who had spent years scouring the quartz site across the road from the town reservoir. Apparently in those early days the collecting was more productive than it was when we visited the location three years ago. Phil’s point was a thin flat triangular one made of a poor quality felsite or rhyolite with a tapered stem, missing the bottom of the base which had probably snapped off in use, resulting in its disposal. This point was recognizable and well within the styles used by Labrador Early Maritime Archaic people, so we had now at least some minimal confirmation of the point styles of these early people who also used small circular quartz endscrapers and wedge-like core remnants of quartz sometimes called pieces esquillees. The next morning we visited the site (Mutton Bay 2) and found a few interesting pieces where we had collected previously. But more interesting was a new area where some local kids had recently been digging which produced flakes of high quality chert and slate in a pocket of sediment on the bedrock. We did not have time to excavate and will plan this for 2006. None of the high MA sites around Mutton Bay have yielded dwelling structure information or charcoal for radiocarbon dating, but I suspect all these sites date to ca. 7-8000 B.P.

Although the weather was beautiful, we realized by the morning of the 19 th that we were in danger of not getting back to Lushes Bight in time for Elyssa and me to make our flight out of Deer Lake,

Newfoundland, on the 25 th . We had fallen into this trap last year, eagerly continuing our work up until the last moment, with the result that 1 had to leave the vessel in St. Anthony and travel by rental car to Deer Lake while Perry had to wait

, , , , Fig. 2.11: Christine Vatcher showing Christie Leece the area where her

out several more stormy days * , , r

father had found Early Maritime Archaic points m Mutton Bay.

and relumed home without as much help as he needed. So after our inspection of the Mutton Bay 2 site we shelved our plans to work at Gros Mecatina and Bayfield Island near St.

Augustine, and instead headed directly to Blanc Sablon while we had the chance. By evening we were tied up at the Blanc Sablon pier next to a rank fishing boat that was planning to cast off about 4 am. Since the weather looked excellent, we decided to play ‘touch-and-go 5 and leave at the same time, and by noon on the 20 th we were off Cape Norman, the northern tip of the Great Northern Peninsula of Newfoundland running before in a fair southwest wind. We touched down briefly in Quirpon to take advantage of the harbor-side shower facilities and left again by mid-afternoon, reaching Englee about 10 that evening. From here we had only an 8-hour steam to make across the mouth of windy White Bay and on in to Green Bay and Lushes Bight.

Englee at 11pm was an quiet as could be, except for an inquisitive teenager who wheeled up on his bicycle. He informed us that almost all fishing here has stopped because the fishbuyers having shifted to other towns like La Scie, where commercial fishing continues. Consequently, there's almost no work available in Englee now, despite the nice trim homes and the recent upgrade to the town wharf.

Our young 12-year old ‘town crier’ infomied us he and his family were going to leave for Alberta tomorrow, where his mom had an offer of a teaching job and they could stay with his aunt. Dad would have to find whatever work as he could, as most do, because Newfoundlanders are a resourceful lot. They hoped to return to Englee next summer, re-open their house, and do some subsistence fishing. But what about their boat and house? “We’ll leave everything. No way to sell a house here - there’s no one to buy it. Everybody’s leavin’.” Then a pause; then, “Say, are you a tourist boat? You’ve got the best safety gear I’ve seen - real high guard rails. The fishing boats don’t have that! And when you leave tomorrow morning it’ll be still dark, so be sure to keep right fair in the middle of the channel or you’ll strike that rock like Dad did! Ruined the foot and gears of his new $9000 motor. All beat up.” And with that and a shower of gravel he peeled out of sight, leaving us to contemplate the decline of another small Newfoundland outport as we dug into a big pot of Lena’s spaghetti.

It seemed that we had out-skunked the sea demons with this lightning return voyage, faster and with less trouble returning from Quebec than ever before. This time of year is particularly tricky due to the prevalence of storms, which begin almost like clockwork around the 17 th of August. Leaving Englee on the morning of the 21 st , we seemed to have cracked the code as we could nearly see our destination. But the sea spirits were not ready to release us, and within an hour of departure Perry popped out of the engine room with the disturbing comment that we had a pinhole leak in our main engine exhaust pipe. We had had this problem before - in fact several times - the last two years ago when Perry detected it before we sailed and was able

Fig. 2.12: The 2006 crew passed out in the sun

to replace the old soft iron fitting with a fine stainless steel elbow.

The location is particularly stressful because this is where cold salt water is injected into the hot engine exhaust, and the toxic mix of salt, fumes, heat, and pressure corrodes metal rapidly. Now at least our problem was not the elbow, which was more or less indestructible, being of stainless steel, but it was the weld that was failing where it joined to the engine, and we had no way to tell how long before the pinhole grew into a hole that would release a torrent of salt water steam and exhaust into the cabin. Of course the weather now had begun to deteriorate and the GPS pilot went into one of its frequent Tits’, refusing to give course or rudder instructions, although the little boat icon continued to provide our correct position. By the time we reaching the Horse Islands the seas were leaping over the starboard bow and the crew had retreated into safe mode: prone position in their bunks. The passage around Cape St. John seemed interminable, and the crossing of Green Bay was not much better, with the wind shifting into its nastiest sector, the southeast. Nevertheless, after an hour the islands and headlands of Long Island began to give us some shelter, and by early afternoon we were tied up alongside the Lushes Bight wharf, shaking off the salt and catching up on the latest comings and goings on Long Island - a tragic car accident in Ontario that had claimed the life of a young Long Islander who had left home for work ‘outside’, as well as more welcome news of the growing reappearance of codfish in local waters.

Another voyage had ended, and we turned to the task of packaging artifacts, preparing field notes, and enjoying some great Long Island hospitality and the annual turkey dinner Perry’s wife Louise prepares. This time it was more appreciated than ever because our oven’s main gas valve had given up the ghost during the first few days of the trip, leaving us to fare with a Coleman camp stone and no oven capability. Gone were the girls’ brownies and cakes, and the roast meat meals for which Perry is famous. One thing was clear: we had come up with some excellent archaeological results. But next year we need more time on site, more time for maintenance, and a good shakedown of the GPS demons well in advance of our departure.

Fig. 2.13: The crew and the Pitsiulak stone monument on the cliff top at Hare Harbor

S 8

5 ~ Research /\re,a 2001 -200^5

Brador*

Blanc-Sahlon

Shckatika

Sainl-Augustin,

Bayfield

ile du Gros Mteatina

Mutton Bay

Tete-a-la Bulcine «lc du Petit MccaflmT Harrington Harbour,

l.a Romaine Cap Whittle

Musquaro

Baie-Johan-Beetz

100km

Fig. 3.1: Area of research 2001-2005

LABRADOR

f) rO

L'Anse aux Meadows

Brador

is M6catina Is.

Harbor-1

Island

■

.

Mutton Bay

Chevery Harrington Harbor —

Fig. 3.2: Map of2005 voyage area

4 “ Marc Marbor--1 Area of f\e sear cb

Fig. 4.1: Map of Petit Mecatina Hare Harbor-1 site. Section of map 12 J/ll

Borden Number: Ed Bt-3

Height ASL: ca. 9.14 meters

Military Grid Ref.: 50° 33.73’ N 59° 18.12’W

Culture(s): Groswater, Basque

Tentative Dating: ca. 1700

Areal Extent of Site: The entire area from the stone outcrop shelter to the southern ledge to the shore contains cultural materials.

Nature of Soils/Sediments/ Vegitation Cover: Grassy, alders, and some juniper under the dry

areas of the shelter. There is drainage through Area 2 from the boggy area (A3) down to the

shore. Spruce clusters cover the boggy area in the eastern part of the site

Collection Procedure: Controlled excavation-piece-plotted except for small pieces of tile

Samples Taken: Samples taken are now at Goverment Archaeological Labratory, Quebec for

analysis, preservation, and cataloging by Anja Herzog

Excavated By: Yves Chretien, William Fitzhugh and Pitsiulak 2005 crew

Dates Excavated: August 4-16, 2005

This year’s excavations at the Hare Harbor Basque site had three goals: surveying the underwater site discovered in 2003; excavating the wet deposits found in Area 3; and searching for other features and structures. For the first task we were fortunate to have the assistance of two underwater archeologists from Montreal, Erik Phaneuf and Frederic Savard, who were available for one week. Anja Herzog’s research with Jean-Francois Moreau on the glass beads found in the workshop/cookhouse structure had provided us with the possibility that the site may date to the late 17 th or early 18 th century, more than one hundred years later than Basque occupations in Red Bay and other locations where the Basque pursued whaling operations. We hoped that the underwater material would help us date the site and determine if whaling was a major activity or simply an incidental pursuit. The excavation of the Area 3 wet deposits in the bog were to explore the possibility of obtaining organic artifacts and materials not preserved in the drier areas of the site and defining the use of the bog area, in which we found planking, rocks, tile, and charcoal. The third goal was to explore other areas of the site for future excavation. Since the excavation crew this year numbered only six and we had only time for two weeks of work we could not undertake large-scale operations, so we focused on the bog area as our main target on land.

Underwater Surveys and Mapping The diving operation lasted one week and was devoted to exploring the waters near the site that had been briefly examined in 2003 by Wilson Evans of Harrington Harbor. At that time Evans had noted the presence of large amounts of tile, rock piles, wood timbers, whalebones, and several recent anchors resulting from use of the area annually by local lobster fishermen, and in earlier years of the 20 th century, for a harp seal netting operation. This year’s project was designed to explore the cove, prepare a preliminary map, plot and collect samples visible on the bottom, and determine the depth of the deposit and potential for future excavation. This portion of tour work took place over five days when the weather was suitable for diving. We were assisted by Wilson Evans who loaned tanks and provided air, a compressor, and a dredge. The following report by our diving team provides details on the work and accomplishments. Interviews documented on videotape provide further information.

The diving exploration was very productive and revealed excellent potential for future work. Surveys revealed cultural materials from about 10m offshore in 10-20m to about 70-80 m some 80-100 in from shore (Fig. 4.13). Water conditions are ideal for diving, with excellent clarity and little current or wave surge. Water depths in Hare Harbor reach 90-110 feet inside the harbor, which connects with sea over a sill 60-70 feet deep. This and the small size of the harbor help create an ideal environment for sedimentation and preservation. Exposure of tiles and other material suggests that a certain amount of storm surge, but during the summer the cove is still and visibility can be as great as 40 feet. Much of the cultural deposit is found between 10-40 feet, where it is easily visible with natural light. The only complication is the pronounced slope of 10-30 degrees in the area of the deposits, from the shore to 60-70 feet, making excavation and mapping more challenging.

Exploration revealed several large discrete ballast piles beginning 10-12 m from shore and oriented perpendicular to it, apparently the result of ballast discharged by vessels moored with stem fasts ashore and anchors offshore. Various types of ballast stone have been recovered and should provide information about their sources. The discrete nature of the piles suggests episodes of ballast dumping by several ships or by one or two ships returning to the location at

intervals, with the vessels anchored in fixed locations.

But It is also possible that the rock piles are footings for a shore-fixed pier. This possibility will be explored next year.

Roof tiles are the most abundant artifacts seen on the bottom and cover a large area.

Virtually all are broken and probably were damaged tiles discarded over the side during the process of off-loading tiles for use on facilities ashore. A half-meter deep dredge hole excavated to test for subsurface deposits revealed tiles and wood shavings present to that depth. Wood shavings and other types of cut wood was also present on the bottom in large quantities. The large timber partially buried in the mud seems to be a worked log rather than a ship’s timber or keel. No evidence of a wreck or small boats was noted, but time did not allow us to investigate the harbor area beyond the cove.

The small number of artifacts collected included materials dating provisionally from the 18-20 th century. These specimens were plotted and collected so we could begin to compare the land and marine materials, and because local interest in the site’s underwater finds has made its visible artifacts vulnerable.

Our finds collected include two early (18 th C.) bottle forms, a ceramic vessel fragment similar to ones known from the land site, a series of tiles; samples of wood and whale bones; a fragment of a sewn leather garment; and an intact 19 th C. jug and bottle fragment. These finds suggest a variety of events beginning with and extensive Basque deposit and some 19 lh and 20 th century materials. The 19 th century objects may be related to the Hare Harbor 2 site, since that site has no harbor at its location, and they may have used Hare Harbor 1 as their mooring location.

Land Site Operation Excavations on land were directed at Area 3, where in 2004 we recovered cultural deposits with wood in a peat bog that begins upslope east of grid 6-7E. Last year’s finds from TP 1-3, which included barrel parts, a wood pin, and other worked wood artifacts, suggested this area might produce organic remains not present elsewhere and evidence for activities not represented in Areas 1 and 2.

Datum for the Area 3 excavation was established with a triangle post datum plane 81 cm above the datum triangle plane for Area 1 (structure 1), which in turn is 10.4 m asl or 3.2 m below site datum on the ledge crest south of Area 1 (13.6m asl). The Area 3 datum triangle was situated in 13N/17E.

Drainage became an immediate problem when we started working on the Area 3 squares, so we excavated a 20 cm wide trench west roughly following the 9N line to carry seepage and

Fig. 4.2: HH-l areas of excavation 2001-2005

rain runoff out of the excavation area. This, combined with a siphon hose helped but did not eliminate excavation difficulties because we had to leave wood remains in place in the pit and they impounded water.

N

P= Pipe stem w = Whet stone X = Glass fragment • = Ceramic I - Iron S = Slate fragment # = Artifact

Fig. 4.3: Hare Harbor 1, Area 3 artifact distribution. Artifacts: 1- Bone fragments, 2- Fishing spoon, 3- Ramah flake, 4- Iron pyrite, 5- Broken oar, 6- Lead piece, 7- Cork fragment, 8- Copper sheet, 9- Copper piece, 10- Wood with metal residue, 11- Iron pyrite, 12- Iron maul head, 13- Nephrite-like green rock, 14, Lead ball, 15- Iron bar

Preservation The wet peaty deposits are highly acidic and have preserved wood and some other materials that were not found preserved elsewhere in the site. Wood was in excellent condition in the water-saturated sterile peat beneath the cultural levels, but was less well preserved at higher levels. Some of wood planks (barrel parts primarily) were ephemeral in the uppermost cultural level, but in other areas was in good condition, particularly when associated with charcoal, which was abundant at the interface between the post-occupation peat and the cultural level, raising the possibility that burning may have been associated with the termination of the occupation. Even the most well-preserved barrel parts had soft and flaky surfaces and eroded edges, making identification of their details difficult. On the other hand, a sheet of copper came out of the peat in bright metal condition, although much of its body had disappeared, and an iron maul head appeared little rusted when removed from the soil. The wood and iron pieces collected were packed wet and sealed in plastic bags to retard deterioration, while most of the worked planks and obvious wood artifacts were reburied. All of the staves/planks were mapped, measured, and sketched, and except for the pieces collected, all were numbered, sealed in plastic, and re-interred in an ‘archive’ square, 6N/17E for future research, study, and conservation.

I

ION OK

ion in-:

8N 9E

6N 9K

1= Soapstone pendant 2= Barrel top 3= Leather piece 4= Green stone fragment 5= Wooden bowl 6= Mica fragments 7= Greenstone hammerstonc 8= Barrel top fragment

X = Worked wood C = Ceramic

\\ = Whctstonc/grindstone

O

i= Charcoal concentration

Shaded planks arc worked woot

8N 1 IK

6N 11 K

Fig. 4.4: HH l Area 3 West artifact distribution

2T

f\2 Excavation and Interpretation

The 9-1 IE Trench While excavating the drainage trench we came across tiles and worked wood artifacts, particularly in the 10-1 IE area north of TP3. We therefore decided to extend TP3 north as a 2x6 m trench to incorporate these funds. Yves excavated 8N/1 IE adjacent to TP3 and found micro-levels within the cultural zone that could be related to reoccupation horizons. These ‘floors’ could be detected most easily when excavating by hand, as the sterile peat lenses were not well-rooted through into in the underlying occupation levels and would be peeled up like a peat carpet. Trowel excavation also could follow these micro-levels. In the future it would be interesting to excavate this area by micro-level to gain a more precise understanding of these short-term occupation horizons, which is some cases may correspond to single seasonal surfaces.

Yves’ square (8N/1 IE) produced a number of finds, the most interesting of which was a wood bowl found in the upper part of the cultural zone at -159 BT (below the A3 datum). The bowl was about 20 cm in diameter and rested right-side-up in the peat. Its rim and inner surfaces were poorly preserved but its bottom was sound. We photographed it and immediately packed it sealed in wet peat for shipment to conservators in Quebec. This square also produced a barrel top, tile fragments, the top fragment of a 0.5 cm thick perforated soapstone object (a pendant?), and a piece of leather. The cultural material in this square begins at 15 cm below the surface with a heavy concentration of charcoal.

The square to the north (1 ON/1 IE) excavated by Fitzhugh had the drainage trench excavated through the middle of the southern half of the square, so only the northern 110 cm of the square was excavated. Small rocks that had fallen from the cliff were present in the sterile upper peat (level 2). The cultural level began with abundant charcoal. The square contained only a small amount of worked wood: a barrel top and stave, and some trimmed branches. As in 8N/ HE there were several distinct layers within the cultural zone, with layers of axe-cut wood chips, slivers, and charcoal interspersed with thin layers of sterile peat. Tiles and other artifacts (seven fragments of earthenware - some with punctuate decoration), mica fragments, a grindstone fragment, were relatively rare. No nails or iron were found. Here and in most other squares we found small cobbles or pieces of heavy greenstone rock. They appear to have been used and were quite common, but their function eluded us. Sterile peat with wood and roots extends 30-40 cm below the base of the cultural level to sand and bedrock.

This area does not seem to have a specific functional signature, but contains some interesting wood artifacts. Eventually we should excavate the remaining areas on either side of this trench, connecting Area 2 with the main bog excavation.

The Bog Excavation We began digging the main portion of the bog by setting up a grid between 16-22E and 6-12N after shovel tests east and south of 22E and 6N showed cultural materials the site did not extend beyond these margins. We also extended TP3 2x2 (6N11E) unit into a 2x6m trench by excavating two 2x2 units to the north. The stratigraphy throughout Area 3 was different from the Area 1 ‘cook house 5 structure and Area 2, whose thin cultural level rested on a sandy beach deposit.

Area 3 is situated at the west end of a bog created by a rock ridge that runs north and south beneath the surface of the 6-7E line, restricting the flow of water from the flat terrain between Hare Harbor 1 and Hare Harbor 2. The area is too wet for alder and spruce and is vegetated by sphagnum and other mosses, and a variety of small plants. The wet, spongy soil has four levels: (1) a 3-5 cm thick turf level; (2) 10-15 cm of wet unconsolidated peat; (3) 5-15 cm

of more consolidated peat containing charcoal, roof tiles, wood artifacts, and cut or burned wood, and within this level one can recognize several sub-levels of charcoal-stained ‘floors’ alternating with sterile brown peat levels that lack charcoal or cultural material; and (4) a sterile level consisting of consolidated peat with rotting wood and roots. Stratigraphy demonstrated these re-occupation levels, whose light brown sterile peat zones vary in thickness from 0.25-1.0 cm depending on the length of‘fallow’ periods between occupations and the degree of mixing between micro-levels. Recognition of these zones depended to some degree on the degree of local disturbance by foot traffic and the stability of the turf, with wetter areas having these levels obscured by foot churning. In the wetter areas, especially where we had removed brush and disturbed the turf, the upper two levels quickly merged into a mire. The most abundant charcoal and the best preserved culturally-modified wood were found in either the highest or the lowest parts of Level 3.

It appears that site occupants tried to stabilize this surface to make it more suitable as a work area. We found large and small rocks, and sometimes flat paving stones, present in Level 2 and 3, the wettest central part of the excavated area, where they had been tossed to stabilize the surface. In some cases these rocks formed a partial pavement, and in the northern squares (12N/ 17-18E) these slabs and rocks seem to form part of a floor that extends north into what we think may be a blacksmithing area. All wood found in these levels show signs of working (trimmed branches, axe-cuts, planed surfaces). However Levels 2-4 also often contained rocks that appear to have fallen from the cliff above. These could usually be distinguished from placed rocks because the latter were usually rounded beach rocks or slabs whereas the former were angular and match the geology of the cliff’s granites and schist.

Cultural Deposits The cultural materials recovered from Area 3 were different from those found in Areas 1 and 2. Area 3 appears always to have been wet, to varying degrees, which precluded it from being used as a work surface. This is contrary to my hypothesis of last year based on TP 1-3, which suggested the possibility that the area might have been a habitation or work area that subsequently, post-occupation, become boggy due to the build-up of turf and peat. What seemed to be oriented planking in TP 2 turned out to be the oriented barrel staves, and upon full excavation, the area seems not to have any special spatial organization other than as a rough wood-working or chopping area where rocks, branches, and wood were tossed into the wettest part of the area between 8-ION. However with preperations of the field maps it begins to appear that there’s an alignment of slabs and barrel parts in a SW-NE direction. Perhaps this relates to the adjacent blacksmith shop.

Most different from A1-2 were the paucity of roof tile, nails and spikes, and ceramics. But there were some similarities, including abundant charcoal (present in patches and not dominant throughout the area or within all micro-levels in a given square). Formal hearths and distinct pavement areas were not present except possibly in the 12 N squares. These features suggest that Area 3 was not used as a habitation or a roofed work station like Area 1, and the absence of artifacts, hearths and tiles suggests it was not the same kind of work area as seen in Area 2. Except for barrel staves and headers, the other planks and wood remains do not show signs of having been parts of structures or to have been oriented in any particular direction or as part of a structure. Rather, they appear to have been placed opportunistically, often crossing at random angles, lying on top of each other in ways to suggest their use of bog fill or dropped in the process of preparing firewood or splitting and cutting billets in primary wood-working activities.

Wood Most of the wood artifacts present in Area 3 were barrel staves and headers, most of which were found in four clusters. These barrel parts seem to have been used as fill or were abandoned in haphazard ways since they are not oriented and do not have enough pieces to have been collapsed whole barrels. Only one of the many barrel staves (most of which measure ca.

11x80cm and had beveled ends on the same side of the board) had a groove for head or foot boards, and only this specimen had a possible bung hole); otherwise the pieces resemble unfinished staves and headers. However, most of the barrel features had both stave and header pieces present, suggesting that they were barrel preform bundles or partially-preserved barrels whose other parts are missing or were not preserved. In fact, many of the barrel parts and much of the wood present was soft and poorly preserved, and much did not survive excavation, although was always plotted. All of the barrel and plank fragments were made of the same type of wood, which we could only identify in the field as not being conifer. None of the barrel parts had any numbers or identification marks. One had a number of small holes that had been plugged with wood dowels. The barrel feature in 11N/20E had charred parts and was associated with large amounts of charcoal, suggesting it had been burned and may have been filled with charcoal.

A few pieces of wider, thicker plank wood were found and pieces of worked wood whose functions could not be determined. We collected five pieces of worked wood: two barrel staves, two pieces of round-edged headers, and a possible blade of a paddle or oar.

Roof Tiles As noted above roof tiles were present in almost all of the Area 3 squares, but in much lower frequency than in the Areas 1 and 2. Most tiles were small fragments and were highly frost-fractured. They were distributed more or less evenly from upper to lower sections of the culture zone.

Other Artifacts Other artifacts were present in very low frequency in Area 3. Iron nails were almost entirely missing, with only a few specimens present, on marly in the northern squares.

Two pieces of a single iron rod, rusted into two pieces, from 12N/18E, appear to have been iron bar stock of the sort used by blacksmiths for making nails and other artifacts. Most other artifacts recovered from Area 3 were also unique single type finds: a lead musket ball, whetstones, a single flake of Ramah chert (a strange find for a Basque cultural level), small pieces of glass and earthenware (some with remnants of green glaze), a few pieces of slate (roofing?), a piece of iron pyrite, two pieces of lead sprue, a perforated iron spoon-like object

I! A

1 cm thick

- 54 cm

2 Too decayed to save or record

1 cm thick

60 cm

4 Z

55.5 cm

1 cm thick

(ll

-58 cm

Top side tapers at ends, 5 and 6 were center boards of one barrel 6 has small holes with 0.5 cm plugs

V°"J

cm thick s

58 cm

I cm thick

11

-75 cm

Width of orriginal plank was probably 11 cm

Fig. 4.5: Barrel staves 1-7 submerged in water at the site see p. 29 for the rest of the collection

that looks like a fishing lure, the head of a double-ended iron hammer or maul, a small sheet of bright unoxidized copper, a lump of bronze, a piece of bottle cork, two pipestem fragments, and a piece of iron folined as a short tube or sleeve, and a lump of coal. Absent were any fragments of stoneware, flint strike-a-lights, beads, and soapstone that were so conspicuous in Areas 1 and 2 .

A Possible Iron-Working Feature or Structure Following the recovery of a piece of iron bar stock and presence of thick layers of charcoal and hearth rocks in the two 12N squares, Yves excavated four 50 cm test pits in the area north of the Area 3 bog, finding abundant charcoal, iron, and paving. A3 TP4 revealed what seems to be part of a rock pavement 10-15 cm below the surface on which were found with two nails and a piece of burned bone; beneath the rocks is a thick deposit of charcoal. TPS had a cultural level between 15-30 cm below the surface with tile and charcoal and a piece of mica. TP6 also had abundant tile and charcoal, and a level of charred planks that suggest the remains of a burned building. TP7 contained charcoal and fragments of burned and unbumed wood in a cultural layer 9-30 cm thick. It seems very likely that this area contains the remains of a iron-working shop or work space and that some of the worked wood in the bog results from processing fuel for this facility, which will be a target for our 2006 excavation program.

Area 5 Sampling We had limited time for working in other areas of the site, but spent one day expanding test pit coverage in Area 5 downslope from Area 1 where some interesting ceramics were recovered in 2002-3. In particular Anja Herzog had asked us to try and obtain a larger sample of glazed wares. Expanding Area 5 TPS into a 2x2 unit, Christie Leece, Helena Sharp, and Elyssa Gelmann found large amounts of tile, four pieces of stoneware, 8 pieces of iron (nails primarily), glass, a piece of chert or flint strike-a-light, 7 pieces of grooved earthenware with remnant areas of glaze, an iron point or knife tip, and abundant charcoal. The deposit seemed to be a shallow midden and gave no indication of a structure or paving stones.

Yves Chretien excavated a 2x2 m TP8 between some the large boulders in the middle of Area 5, finding large amounts of tile, 13 pieces of earthenware (some with remnants of glaze), two fragments of iron spikes, 3 nails, and pieces of flint and glass.

Bill Fitzhugh excavated a 1x2 m unit on a mound of boulders a few meters southwest of TPS in an area that seemed like it might be a furnace structure. In addition to large amounts of tile, two fragments of an earthenware strap handle and a sample of charcoal were recovered, but there was no evidence for a furnace, midden, or other unusual feature. Bill also excavated three other 50x50 cm pits in the bank above the landing cove, finding tile, charcoal, and nails in very thin deposits. There is no extensive midden in this area.

!~iM~l £)arrei Parts (re-interred in 43 W corner o fAV7NM7E.se,.)

Fig 4.6a

8 \ 10 {_ 0 £

cm thick

10.5

J

-75 cm

Original width probably was 11 cm.

Very thin plank - possibly eroded - no obvious tapered ends

-65 cm

115 1 cm thick 17 J

10

11

Straight cut, slightly curved

-28 cm —

j j^j 7 1 cm thick

.y

14 1 cm thick

-65 cm

12

1 cm thick

10

80 cm

13 ([ 10 - 5 I 1 cm thick J10.5 V

-58 cm

Bevelled ends top side only, curvature on ends

Il5

14 /'y 16 | 1 cm thi

thick

-81 cm

Cupped bevel only unilaterally, curvature on ends

Fig. 4.6c

#30, 34, 36, 37 - too rotted to save

JT"

Worked wood 8 N row

cm thick

- 64 cm

29. Stave/Plank, possibly 2 staves rotted together

3 1. Possible barrel top

32. 8N 19E, ends eroded

85 cm

1.5 cm thick

16

-33 cm

32 cm

33. Rotted fragment nf

of stave ^

--38 cm

35. Barrel top - no\icm thick | g working obvious too rotten

-39 cm

Fig. 4.6b

15. Stave, can't tell if bevelledtoo eroded

16. Stave

17. Stave, curved end

4

12

85 cm

1 t 10 '

1 cm thick

-21 cm

J 10 1

l cm thick

— 83 cm—

i'oj

OIL

18. Stave

19. Stave

11 N 20 E

20. Stave, no bevelles, ends rotted away

25. Stave with bevelled edge

26. Stave, ends too rotted to detect bevel 1c

27. Stave, charcoal and

roof tiles frags, adhering to bottom —

28. Barrel top, too <c:

eroded to see if bevelled

9 J • cm thick j^8 j -51 cm

4 Jl3 (l^N

1 cm thick

-43 cm

t cm thick |9 0

— 50 cm

.3

Q4

ToT4

10

64 cm

1 cm thick

K)

78 cm

—■-. ” ” 1 cm \

3 10| hole . )

-50 cm

!3|

-50 cm

Fig. 4.6d

8N 17E

Cl

38. Stave fragment

39. Barrel stave, Tappered

inner side with groove 3 cm from the end., burrned end

41. Tapered worked piece, burned at end rectangular cross-section

42. Plank fragment, havily charred 1.5 cm thick

8

-40 cm

[7

C.

n

14 cm | 14.5

-59 cm

43. Plank in excellent condition, tapered ends on one face of the plank. 1 cm thick

' jlO 12J 1

44. Stave fragment, 1 cm thick U

-28 cm

12N 19E

45. I cm thick'solid' C_

wood, cut in this shape ~-

but not an oar or -49 cm —

paddle blade

46. Plank embeded in the wall and not

excavated- stave appearance, ca 11 cm wide

MM -1 F* rof lies

I IN 20E line at 57 cm IIT

ION 20F.

Fig. 4.7a: Profile lIN 20E to ION 20E

7N 16E

1 IN 16E

charcoal lens cultural layer

iH = r « ck

fill = charcoal

Fig. 4.7c: Profile 7N I6E to UN 16E

1 IN 17 E

ION 17E

Fig. 4.7d: Profile 11 17E to 1 ON 17E

Y ve s’ Notes on ~] est pits in /\rca 5 (artifacts left in situ )

TP 4: At about 10-15 cm deep there is a kind of pavement with 8 rocks. In the comer, beneath the rocks there is a lot of charcoal. A nail came from above the rocks. In the center in a crack between the rocks there is a good tile fragment and a piece of burnt bone (white). We are certainly in a structure.

TP 5: At the top, about 8-10 cm of peat. After there is -7-8 cm of black sandy sediment coming from the slope drainage. The cultural level appears at —17-18 cm deep, and there are some tile fragments at about 17cm. There is a heavy layer of charcoal overlying a natural peat level that is at 27-30cm deep. There is a big rock in the middle of the pit that comes probably from a cliff fall. No pavement, some mica found.

TP 6: At the top, 10 cm of clear color peat. After, there is -8-9 cm of black sandy sediment (same as TP4). Just beneath, the cultural level shows good tile fragments and what appears to be a heavy covering layer of charcoal (-20 cm deep). Actually the charcoal is a wooden plank which is in situ and completely charred, maybe a building was burned here.

TP 7: At the top, -8-9 cm of clear color peat. Just below the cultural layer appears tile fragments and a nail. The soil is heavily stained and blackened by charcoal. At -17-18 cm there is a solid layer of charcoal, this layer is -3 cm thick. After, at 20 cm, the soil is still black but becomes slightly sandy (white grains). There is nothing in this level, but at 28 cm a tile fragment appears along with good pieces of charcoal and pieces of wood (planks?). At 32 cm, the bottom of the pit is covered with pieces of wood and patches of charcoal. I left the wood in place to see how it will articulate with the surrounding excavations.

H t iP 5

S «r> sc

Htp 4

>r,

cs i

12N I8F,

n Area 3 10 N 22 E

I

TP 6

TP 7

Fig. 4.8: Area 3 test pit locations

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

4.5 H are M ar bor-i Field | nventory

Square

Artifact

Material

Comments

4N 21E

sherd

ceramic

green glaze

4N 21E

flake

quartz

4N 21E

worked wood

wood

4N 21E

roundbottle cork frag.

cork

5N 21E

corroded metal lump

bronze

7N 20E

burned bone fragment

7N 20E

fragments

slate

2 pieces

7N20E

7N 20E

fishing spoon? whetstone

iron

4 pieces

7N 20E

shard

green glass

7N 20E

barrel stave

wood

submerged at site

7N 20E

7 planks

wood

planks submerged at site

8N 11E

bowl wood

in several pieces

8N 11E

barrel top

wood

8N HE

pendant?

soapstone

8N HE

leather fragnent

leather

8N HE

stone fragments

local soapstone

2 pieces, unworked

8N 17E

paddle blade

wood

8N 18E

sprue

lead

8N 18E

pipestem

clay

8N 19E

sherd

green glass

*

8N 19E

8N 19E

pipestem chopped wood

clay

broken

8N 20E

musket ball

lead

9N 17E

broken rock

green nepherite like

unknown stone

9N 18E

whetstone

sandstone

9N 18E

lead piece

lead

bar fragment?

9N 19E

unidentified

black hard substance

coal?

9N20E

ceramics

earthenware

17 fragments

9N20E

ceramic

earthenware

strap handle

9N 20E

whetstone

sandstone

ION HE

ceramics

earthenware

7 fragments

ION HE

ION HE

cut burned wood frag, worked wood

ION HE

whetstone

sandstone

ION HE

pitted hammerstone

ION HE

barrel top frag

wood

suinerged in water at site

ION HE

rounded stone

green stone

ION HE

worked wood

wood

ION 19E

metal sheeting

copper

ION 19E

ION 19E

wood with metal iron pyrite

residue

abutted iron pyrite

ION 20E

ceramics

earthenware

10 pieces

ION 20E

maul head

iron

utilized head

ION 21E

flake

ramah chert

patinated

11N 17E

barrel strap

wood

11N 18E

pipestem

clay

11N 18E

nail

iron

2 fragments

11N 18E

iron piece

iron

perfored iron

3

3

3

3

5

5

5

5

5

5

5

5

5

5

5

5

5

5

5

1 IN 20E

iron pyrite

cross shaped eroded inclusion

12N 18E

bar

iron

long iron bar for making nails?

12N 18E

spike

iron

12N 18E

nail

iron

4 nails

TP 5 ext

shards

blue glass

2 pieces

TP 5 ext

strike-a-light?

flint

TP 5 ext

ceramic frags

stoneware

4 pieces fit together

TP 5 ext

nails

iron

8 nails/iron frags

TP 5 ext

spike

iron

TP 5 ext

point

iron

2 pieces

TP 5 ext

ceramic

earthenware

7 pieces, green glaze on one

TP 5 ext

charcoal sample

charcoal

Test pit 8

ceramic

earthenware

13 fragments

Test pit 8

spike

iron

2 pieces

Test pit 8

nails

iron

4 pieces

Test pit 8

silex flake

9

missing

Test pit 8

glass shard

glass

missing

Test pit 11

iron fragments

iron

Test pit 11

charcoal sample

4.4 ^)lte and /\rtifact photos

Fig. 4.9: Maul Head from A310N 20E

Fig. 4.10: A3 bog excavation area, early excavation phase

Fig. 4.11: Wooden bowl from A3 8N 10E

Fig. 4.12: Barrel staves from A3 1 IN 20E

6« feet —

«—0 4 feet

Fig. 4.13: Map of underwater survey

(Jnderwater^ite Notes

By Erik Phaneuf

In early August 2005, an underwater archaeological investigation of the bay in front of the Petit Mecatina Basque site was preformed. Over the span of a week, Erik Phaneuf and Frederic Simard from the Universiy of Montreal logged about 12hrs of diving to evaluate the archaeological potential of the site in the hope of finding Basque material contemporaneous to the terrestrial site and also to map a general plan of the bottom.

After an evaluation dive down to a depth of 80 ft, a 40 m long base line was installed at a depth of 40 ft. This matched the deepest visible point of the ballast mounds observed at site. The eastern point A was positioned at 50.33.81 N and 59.18.25 W, and the western point of the base line B was at 50.33.78 N and 59.18.35 W. (see image) This was the reference line used in the mapping of the overall bottom plan and the positioning of the artifacts. The accuracy of the map was compromised by the steep incline of the bottom and the elevation of the ballast piles.

We first observed ballast mounds of different size place side by side. Many of these are more than six metres long by three metres wide and about two metres in height. The main central mound seems to be three ballast mounds so close together that they formed one great mound six meters wide, (see image). The mounds themselves are composed of grey calcareous stones varying in dimension the largest being more than one meter and averaging 0.5 m diametre. The stones are a porous limestone, with holes about 2 cm in diameter, (see image)

The geographical origin of these stones is not yet established.

Interestingly, an encrusted four shoulder gin bottle exhibing a style reminescent of the 18th century was found resting on top of the central ballast mound.

From its position and the level of encrustation, this bottle gives us a tantalising clue about the 18th century origin of the mounds.

One complete gin bottle dating also from the 18th century and some common Iberian redware jar fragment were found resting on the bottom along side the ballast mound. All of these artifacts are contemporaneous with the terrestrial site.

There were also numerous red roof tiles dispersed all over the bottom around the ballast mounds. We observed a high concentration of tiles south of the mounds at a depth between 30 and 40 ft (see map.) In this particular area of the site, the bottom was litterally littered with fragments ranging from half tiles to small sherds. Finding these tiles at this depth suggest that these particular tiles were thrown in the water directly from the boat and were probably used as ballast along side the stones.

Another particularity of the site was the presence of wood chips and slivers spread evenly over the bottom ranging from the 10 ft depth line to the 60 ft line. These slivers of wood were the remnants of adze or axe work on site. Two large pieces of oak timber were found, one of which was resting at 10 ft depth. Though not completely uncovered, it could represent a piece of frame work either from a vessel or a terrestrial construction.

Also noted was the presence of whale bones all over the bottom of the site. Though there is a concentration of whale bones in a localized area, we can not yet conclude that this concentration is a butchering locus. In the area of concentration we found approximately two to three bone fragments per three square feet. The majority of the observed bones were very fragmented or obviously sawed in half (see images). Besides bone slivers, the most frequent bones encountered were epyphises of verterbra about 20 centimetres in diameter. This suggests that juvenile whales were selectively hunted.

In summary, the majority of our observations and the artifacts support our current theory of an 18th century Basque terrestrial occupation. However this was not the only assemblage observed at the underwater site.

Artifacts likely dating from the 19th century include two small grapnel anchors found along with a fragment of a wheat motif whiteware plate and a stoneware jar. These artifacts are probably remnants of seal hunts which were active on the other side of the bay.

We must mention that these observations were made without excavation of the underwater deposit, however this preliminary survey presented many areas of interest and opportunities for further work. The buried cultural deposit still presents a rich source of information which would enhance the understanding of the activities at Hare Harbor-1.

Fig. 4.15: Collection of underwater artifacts (also see Fig. 2.8)

Fig. 4.16: Erik and Frederic returning to surface with artifacts

Fig. 4.17: Sample of whale bones from underwater site

Fig. 4.18: Erik with large whale bone

1 )9

^hort description of tfie main artifacts found on tfie underwater f~]are f~jarbor site summer 200^

By Yves Chretien, Ph.D., archaeologist

Identification: Ceramic jug

Period: 19 th century (a post-Basque occupation)

Dimensions:

Height : 32 cm Width : 20 cm

Description: The jug show a belly shape with a strap type handle and an expanding mouth. The bottom part is cream colored and the upper part is yellow. This piece comes from England and was made during the 19"’ century.

Identification: Large mouth ceramic jug Period: 17-18 th century Dimensions:

Mouth width : 9.0 cm Handle width : 5.0 cm

Description: Top part of a large jug with a wide open mouth and a strap type handle. The mouth show a spout and there is collar at the top of the neck. The traces of the fingers during the pot making are used as decoration and the pot show a brown glaze. Probably linked to the Basque occupation.

TO

Identification: Glass gin bottle Period: 19 th century Dimensions:

Height: 27 cm Width : 9.5 cm Base width: 6 cm

Description: A complete square bottle with flattened sides (no vertical lines). The base show curved lines making four supporting points. On the bottom, there is a stylized pontil mark in a star-like pattern.

Identification: White granite plate Period: 19 th century Dimensions:

Width : 23 cm Height : broken

Description: This plate is made of England stoneware, white granite type, probably produced later than 1850. Around the rim, there is wheat ear patterns and a scalloped line at the edge between the rim and the bottom. The plate is white color glazed.

Ti

Identification: Ballast stones Period: 17 th to 19 th century Dimensions:

Length : 14 cm Width : 9.3 cm (the larger one)

Description: Pieces of gray limestone, that are not natural for this region in such quantity. The large piece show many holes that could be characteristic in determining his geological origin, maybe from Europe. Probably accumulated in the bottom at the dumping location of the ballast of a boat.

Identification: Whale bones Period: 17 th to 19 th Dimensions:

Height : 18 cm Width : 22 cm (the larger one)

Description: One flat disc that fits between a large bone (left hand side) and a vertebra (Epiphysis?still to be confirmed) on the right hand side. The vertebra shows a clear cut (on the opposite side of the one shown). This bone was cut by a saw probably during the dismembering. This seems to relate to an industrial way of cutting up the whale. Some big long bones were found on the bottom of the harbor with the same characteristics, sawed along the long axis. It could be a clue to the age of these bones, pointing to the 19 th century.

T2

Mutton P)ay-''h Area of Research

Fig. 5.1: Mutton Bay, Mutton Bay-4, Topographic Map on left. Aerial Map on right

Mutton Bay 4 (EeBs-05)

Height ASL: Ca 100 ft.

LI: 50 47.16’N 59 03.31 W L2: 50 47.18N 59 03.31 W Culture: Maritime Archaic Tentative Dating: 7000 BP

Site Type: Small chipping stations with cores, hammer-stones, lots of quartz debitage in small eroded locations

Site Location: Northwest of shore of Baie du Portage at Mutton Bay, on rocky bedrock outcrops where vegetation has eroded revealing two small loci of activity. Found on one of the trails from the shore to the pond above the sawmill. Elevation not measured but it must be ca. 100 feet contour. The next terrace above is the pond.

Areal Extent of Site: 2 loci each about 5x15 meters

Raw materials: Quartz, brown, and milky quartzite, red-grey quartzite, brown/tan slate.

Nature of soils: Thin moss vegetation mat on top of bare glaciated granite.

Collection procedure: surface collections form LI, L2, excavated 1 sq meter at L2 Samples Taken: Only lithic samples taken 18 August 2005

Location 1 (LI) is found on a sloping granite bedrock outcrop with a small area of vegetation and humus remaining, but being eroded rapidly. Part of the vegetation mat has been peeled back from the top of the vegetation patch, either by kids who have collected from this location in the past, or by the wind, revealing quartz flakes in situ. Some small circular scrapers are found here and some ramah chert-like lithics, but not confirmed. No bifaces or slate artifacts. The material is spread down the slope of the rock by wind and water.

5.2 Interpretation

This site is typical of the early archaic sites previously found in Mutton Bay- lots of debitage and very few tools. It’s elevation is high and the small circular scrapers and many pieces esquillees indicate an Early Maritime Archaic age.

This site was mentioned to me by local people who had collected from it as boys. This maybe why so few artifacts are present, but we excavated some in situ material and did not find any diagnostic material there similar to Mutton Bay-3

Mutton Bay-4, L2

330/150 baseline

X = Quartz core O = Hammer stone SS = Sandstone flake S = Scraper

FKR = Fire cracked rock BTF = Bifacial thinning flake

Ll A

i, _

Circular Scrapers Pieces Esquillees

LIB: Several flakes of slate, dark quartzite, tan chert, 1 piece of fine brown chert, and clear quartz.

Brown quartzite biface preform midsection

L2 Surface Collection: Flakes of dark chert, quartz, and milky quartzite

AT

Pieces Esquillees

Scrapers

L2 Excavation

5: Biface thinning flake

Fig. 5.2: Mutton Bay-4 artifacts

Fig. 5.3: Mutton Bay-4 area

TT

Fig. 5.4: Mutton Bay-4, site overview, view SW.

Fig. 5.6: Site sketch of Mutton Bay-2

ffi .Addendum to Mutton £)aq~2 ^jite (f 7 efSs-2)

Culture: Early Maritme Archaic Site type: Workshop/summer camp.

Description of site: Returned to this high elevation above the town south of the road and resivoir after Phillip Vatcher showed me a point he had been given by one of the kids in town who used to collect artifacts from this location. A felsite or rhyolite point with a “pot-lid” spall on one side and the base of its tapered stem missing. A quite flat crossection.

We visited this site again and collected a few more materials to add to the 2001 collection and found a new locus of artifacts.

Nature of soil: Eroding aprons around granite knobs and marshy deposits.

Collection Procedure: Surface collection

Samples Taken: Representative lithics from 2001 loci and new west locus.

Potential for further work: 2001 Loci were surface collected and a few biface performs and fragments were found. West Locus find had been disturbed in the past few years (since 2001!) by someone excavating a pocket of sediment containing materials washed in (?) from surrounding area. Some well preserved slate flakes (some with possible polished/ground surfaces) were present, red quartzite, dark fine-grained chert. A possible ground celt fragment (spalled in pieced), scrapres and a notched crystal piece (possible notched point?). The eared stem fragment is a new point type for early MA here.

Surveyed 19 August 2005, Pitsiulak Crew and Christine vatcher.

Missing piece Missing piece

Felsite/Rhyolite stemmed point from Mutton Bay-2. Phillip Vatcher Collection.

Fig. 5.7: Above: Point from Vatcher collection. Left: Mutton Bay 2 West locus finds. Below: Mutton Bay 2, 2001 finds

2001 Loci finds

Tan quartzite biface preform fire cracked and patinated

Patinated, ftrccracked quartz biface midsection

Quartz biface preform base

Quartz piece esquillee

Brown quartzite biface tip, eared biface base

6 - MaHe Island /\rea of [Research

Fig. 6.1: Topographic Map 12 J/5 of St. Marie Island, St. Marie Island-2 and 4 on left, aerial photograph on right

St. Marie Island-2 (EbBv-2)

50 17.75 N 59 37.95 E

Map. Ref: 12 J/5 Culture: Unknown?

Site type/Seasonality: Small rectangular grave bordered with naturally squared blocks and associated cache pit.

Nature of Soils/Sediments/ Vegetation Cover: This site is located on a broad raised beach series that rises to the south from the boathouse cove. Almost all of the beach series is vegetated with only a few areas of exposure.

Not excavated-Survey only

St. Marie Island-4 (EbBv-1)

50 18.40 N 59 39.60 E Height ASL: 8-10 meters

Map. Ref: 12 J/5

Site type/Seasonality: 3-4 meter boulder pit with floor and well formed walls- dwelling structure with associated cache pit

Nature of Soils/Sediments/ Vegetation Cover: Larger area of exposed rocks about 20 by 30 meters. Found a deep 3 by 4 m pit that had been excavated about one meter into the beach.

Not excavated-Survey only

T7

6 .1 f^esearch Rectors, Methods and Interpretations

St. Marie Islands

On 11 August we traveled to the St. Marie Islands in company with Wilson Evans, the local wildlife official, to visit the sanctuary islands in this offshore group, and surveyed the southernmost island, St. Marie.

This island has been the site of a lighthouse that has operated throughout the 20 th century and was decommissioned in 1999.

The complex of buildings at the top of the island included a old ‘bungalow’ dwelling, a duplex for two families, an old lighthouse tower of cement, and a relatively new helicopter pad and steel frame light tower that now is the St. Marie Light, operated by batteries and solar power. There is also a decommissioned generator building. The harbor serving the complex has a boathouse and a floating dock maintained by Evans for the Wildlife Service. At one time the island had several families in residence and during the summer served as camp for training and natural history instruction for LNS youth run by the QuebecLabrador Foundation. Today the island is abandoned to wildlife with minimal management (for instance, irradication foxes that find their way to the island and its large puffin, murre, and other sea bird colonies over the winter ice), and maintaining a very low rate of visitation, by permit only. Signs posted every few hundred meters or so around the entire shore of the island announce the existence of the sanctuary to any who might accidentally blunder ashore without prior knowledge.

St. Marie Island-1 (No site designation)

We surveyed most of the southern end of SMI during a foggy afternoon and found five sites. SMI-1 is found on a high boulder beach south of the harbor boathouse and consists of a few small one-meter diameter boulder cache pits without any sign of other structures, but much of this beach is vegetated. Site significance and prospects for research at this site are minimal.

St. Marie Island-2 (EbBv-2)

This site is located on a broad raised beach series that rises to the south from the boathouse cove. Almost all of the beach series is vegetated with only a few areas of exposure, and in one of these we found what appears to have been a small grave excavated about one half meter into the boulder beach, about 1.5 long and 0.5m wide. The southern end of the grave had been formed by natural squared blocks that gave the graves its rectangular shape. Several meters to the south there was a small pit that had been opened. No bones or other objects were visible. This beach has good potential for site prospection, as it has a gentle slope and in places many have sandy deposits.

Fig. 6.2: Bay of Saint Marie Island

TS

St. Marie island-3 (No site designation)

Yves Chretien found several pieces of brown quartzite in small pockets of sediment in cracks in the bedrock on the walkway up to the lighthouse buildings. The finds came from scattered pockets in the bedrock and were not concentrated in one tight locale but occurred within a 20-30 m area just above the steep wood ramp. The bedrock here is quite steep and it is not place one would expect to find a site; in fact the location, so near the top of the island, which if contemporaneous with the sea level at this location would make this a tiny isolated rock in the middle of the sea. However, three or four of the pieces - a pieces esquillees, and some flakes had indications of working that seem cultural, and the presence of brown quartzite which is not found in local bedrock at first also suggested cultural importation. However, we noticed some small pebbles of brown quartzite that had been brought in to create the walkway; might have been a source of this material.

St. Marie Island-4 (EbBv-1)

Kate Blanchard, an ornithologist who worked with the Quebec-Labrador Foundation for many years mentioned to me a few years ago that she had seen curious pits in the raised boulder beaches on St. Marie Island. Since they sounded like cache pits we had found on high beaches elsewhere along the coast I assumed this might be the explanation. So in our survey we kept our eyes peeled for something that would be quite obvious to a non-archaeologist, and for much of the survey, failed to find any good candidate. However, near the southern end of the island, in the last major beach pass, there are four areas of raised boulder beaches. Three of them had some signs of moved rocks, and a few small pits, but nothing obvious. But on the highest, southernmost beach midway across the isthmus, we found two small cache pits in the uppermost boulder patch, and about 50 meters to the north, in a larger area of exposed rocks about 20 by 30 meters we found a deep 3 by 4 m pit excavated about one meter into the beach, with its walls well-formed, and a fairly broad floor area ca. 2 by 3 meters. Someone had moved a few of the boulders in the floor to see what might be found beneath them, but other than that this structure was intact and is one of the best-preserved and most obvious candidate for a dwelling that I’ve seen in this stretch of coast. The closest comparison is with some structures reported by Rene Levesque at Point de Belles Amour near Blanc Sablon, some of which contained chert implements. We did not see anything on the floor, but there is some vegetation present. A wellmade open cache pit is a few meters southwest of the large pit, and two more at the west end of the boulder patch. The elevation of these structures appeared about 8-10 m above sea level, but lacking a level or a GPS this is only an approximation. This site is a good candidate for future excavation and could be of interest to the wildlife authorities for its historical value in promotion of the island’s culture history.

7 - Harrington Harbor-1: A rea o f R esearch

Haut-fond Bobbitt

_ i

fleau' : \ Gotland I

* ♦

v fie H^rringtoh

iJ3 V^24000m. E.

. . C *

Fig. 7.1: Topographic Map 12 J/5 of Harrington Harbor Island. Topographic map of Harrington Harbor -1 on left, aerial photograph on right

Harrington Harbor-1 (EdBu-1)

50° 30.00 N 59° 29.20W

Map Ref: 12J/5 and 12J/6 Culture: Prehistoric Indian Tentative dating: 3000BP

Site type/Seasonality: Small summer camp, most likely based on fishing resources available and lack of forest protection at the time.

Areal Extent of the Site: 10 X 20 meters?

Raw Materials: Patinated tan chert, grey, black, and a greenish chert; Small flakes of ramah chert (5); Several of milky opaque chert.

Nature of Soils/Sediments/ Vegetation Cover: Moss/ Peat upper humic level above leached grey sand. Site appears to extend into the spruce growth to the east and north, which is growing on a small “pocket” beach of sand (a small terrace in the side of the hill).

Collection Procedure: Surface collection; 1 test pit, 50 x 50 cm Samples Taken: Small collection of 19 flakes; 2 tool fragments

J. 1 Research Rectors, Methods and Interpretations

Yves Chretien located a small prehistoric Indian site on the west side of the village of Harrington Harbor, eroding from the path north of town about halfway between the cemetery and the crest of the hill, where is a small marine terrace levels the slope for a few meters west of a small wood shelter built as a club or game house by local children. Chips of light- and dark-colored chert and 5 flakes of Ramah chert were eroding around a rounded rock outcrop, and we collected a small biface tip, the tip of what appears to be a bifacial drill, and tiny thinning and re-sharpemng flakes from the surface. We excavated a small 50x50 cm test pit in the thick sod and spruce root ground cover in a small clearing in the nearby spruce thicket about fifteen meters to the northeast and found a few small chert flakes, suggesting excavation might be worthwhile in the future. Based on the fine-grained cherts, drill bit, and the elevation estimated from the 1:50,000 topo map to be ca. 15-20 meters above sea level, the site is likely a Indian site dating to ca. 3000-3500 BR A few chert flakes were also found at a second small site eroding from the trail where the path begins to rise up the hill west of the cemetery.

Fig. 7.2: Harrington Harbor-1 site sketch and artifact illustration of drill bit

3 ~ (3.oncl

onclusions

The 2005 St. Lawrence Gateways project completed most of the goals set out for what turned out to be a rather brief three-week field season, of which only about two weeks were available for actual archaeological activities. Nevertheless, we significantly advanced our understanding of the Petit Mecatina Basque site, located a prehistoric site on Harrington Harbor Island, surveyed the St. Mary Islands where we located several sites, and excavated a new Early Maritime Archaic site in Mutton Bay.

The most important results came from the Hare Harbor site at Petit Mecatina. Approximately ten hours of diving time by two archeologists procured data for an initial map of the cove bottom adjacent to the Basque land site. Finds and structures plotted upon this map include a series of large linear stone deposits aligned perpendicular to the shore and a small sample of artifacts, bones, wood remains, and a leather garment fragment recovered during the survey. The stone deposits are of substantial size and volume, and their precise form suggests a specific function. Lacking further study and information, our current hypotheses see these stone alignments as either ballast piles from ships moored perpendicular to the shore - or more likely — foundations for footings of a shore-fast pier structure. A key feature will be study of the geological source of the rocks, most of which are large cobbles, to see if they represent local or foreign materials.

In addition to a series of artifacts of 17/18 th century which are probably related to the Basque occupation on land, we found 19 th and 20 th century ceramics from post-Basque activities. Basque tiles are common on the bottom, as well as in the sub-bottom deposits, which also contain large amounts of wood chips and fragments. Whalebones, including some very large pieces, were also noted but not collected. A large timber, partially worked but probably not part of a vessel, is also present.

Many questions remain concerning the underwater finds, but our preliminary survey holds excellent promise for more concerted work in the future. We need to determine the nature of the stone structures, the large timber, the depth and extent of the underwater midden, the types of artifact materials present and their preservation status. Preparation of a more detailed map, excavation of several test pits, determination of the midden extent, and survey of the rest of Hare Harbor floor will be priorities for new research in 2006.

The land site work produced interesting results from a wet portion of the site that contained barrel parts and a poorly-preserved wood bowl, in addition to an iron maul, iron bar stock, copper sheeting, and other materials. Perhaps most important is the identification of what may be a blacksmith shop to the north of the bog excavation and which may have been the source of the materials found in the bog. Elsewhere on the site a series of test pits produced rather slim evidence and did not lead to identification of other structures or productive middens. A small piece of worked soapstone was recovered south of Area 3 and appears to be part of a pendant or small ornament rather than a fragment of a pot or lamp.

An important result of lab work accomplished in 2005 is the identification of one DNA sample of whalebone as being humpback. The presence of at least one large whalebone element from the underwater site suggests that there may be more solid evidence for whaling in these deposits than found so far on land. The continued absence of charred blubber from the land site suggests that whale oil processing at Hare Harbor was being conducted aboard ship rather than, as practiced at 16 l1 ' century Basque stations, on land.

Activities in other areas provide evidence of a small prehistoric site of uncertain age and culture north of the Harrington Harbor cemetery; a probable Maritime Archaic pithouse settlement on St. Mary Island South, and a new Early Maritime Archaic site in Mutton Bay.

Artifacts recovered have been sent for processing to the Quebec Ministry artifact conservation center in Quebec City.

8 .1 - Recommendations

Now in its fifth year, the Gateways Project has begun to address many of the goals established at the outset of the work in 2001. Since that time we have (1) filled in many gaps in knowledge of the cultures and chronologies of peoples who have lived along the Lower North Shore; (2) identified new cultures and new cultural boundaries for early Indian and Inuit groups; (3) added a new chapter to the story of Basque occupations; and (4) drawn the attention of local communities and outsiders and scholars to the importance of history, archaeology, and cultural heritage of the LNR region.

Because we have found considerable local support, we believe that this program should continue for the foreseeable future, both as a research project and as an educational and cultural development program. We would like to broaden these efforts and find more ways to engage the coastal communities, both in the field research operation and through educational projects in the villages and local culture centers, schools, and museums. Our recent discovery of underwater resources at the Basque Mecatina site adds another new and interesting dimension to the project. We believe that the program, while modest in cost and scope, has made significant contributions to knowledge of LNS prehistory and history and can continue to contribute to the cultural, educational, and scientific values in a region that is soon to emerge from relative isolation.

A issue that has become more and more pressing recently is project finances. Since 2001 the Gateways Project has been conducted with support almost exclusively from the American side, through resources from the Smithsonian and a few private donors. Budget cuts at the Smithsonian and ‘donor-fatigue’ have eroded the small amounts of money that have been available to the project, which have cost ca. $45,000 per year, of which about half have been to support the research vessel and captain. If the project is to continue, and particularly if we are to begin supporting underwater research, we need to find some Canadian sources of support. At the moment all travel, field expenses, and crew salaries for American and Canadian participants are being paid by the Smithsonian.

Another issue that needs consideration is the need for a management plan for the land and underwater site. We need to develop a long-term strategy for how to deal with the Hare Harbor Basque site and its land and marine resources. How should the land site be stabilized? Should the cook house be completely excavated down to sterile bedrock or left with its slab floor pavement intact? Should a systematic sampling plan for the entire site be undertaken, as opposed to the opportunistic and judgmental sampling strategy that has.been emplyed to date? What plan should direct the investigation of the underwater site? A series of similar concerns relate to the recovery and conservation of artifacts from both land and marine sites. At present we have been re-interring most perishables in the field, but future work may require returning more conservation-sensitive materials to Quebec for analysis and study. There is also a need to determine how the work at Hare Harbor and other sites along the LNS can be made available to local residents and the increasing flow of tourists who are now visiting the region.

For the moment the following steps or recommendations seem prudent for 2006, considering the limited funds and human resources available:

For the Hare Harbor-1 land site:

1. production of a more detailed site map with total station surveying equipment so that site features, excavation areas, and geographic data can be more precisely plotted;

2. excavation of the ‘blacksmith’ shop area north of Area 3

3. Complete excavation of a portion of the cook house below the paving slabs to test for earlier Basque or prehistoric comnponents.

4. Map and excavate test squares at Hare Harbor-2, the 19th century historic site, possibly as a teaching project in collaboration with the Harrington Harbor school. *

For the Hare Harbor-1 marine site: (in collaboration with Univ. Montreal — Brad Loewan; cannot be done without additional financial resources *)

5. Complete a more detailed map of the underwater features and midden;

6. Determine the depth and extent of the midden deposit and sample its contents with stratigraphic controls;

7. Explore Hare Harbor with remote sensing equipment to check for the presence of wrecks or other archaeological remains;

8. Acquire video and still documentation of underwater work;

General recommendations: (* = needs new funds)

9. Continue regional surveys, site surveys, testing and limited excavations between Cape Whittle and Blanc Sablon;

10. Work with Harrington Harbor to initiate a student training program involved with excavation, artifacts processing and documentation; *

11. Assiste Harrington Harbor Tourist Association with information for exhibits and educational programs; *

12. Produce a web site and other reporting venues to make information about the Gateways Project more widely available to the local and other publics (needs financing); *

13. Secure assistance of Quebec artifact conservation facilities; *

14. Begin collaboration with Harrington Harbor, Lower North Shore regional authorities, and Quebec Ministry on a long-range plan so that archaeological research can expand its contributions to regional economic and cultural development. *

(References CLited

Drouin, Pierre

1988 Des Baleiniers Basques a 1’Ile Nue de Mingan. Canadian Journal of Archaeology’ 12:1-15. Fitzhugh, William W.

2001 The Gateways Project 2001: Archaeological Survey of the Quebec Lower North Shore, Gulf of St. Lawrence, from Mingan to Blanc Sablon. 90 pp. Arctic Studies Center, Smithsonian Institution. Report on file at the Ministry of Culture and Communication, Quebec.

In press Cultures, Borders, and Basques: Archaeological Surveys on Quebec’s Lower North Shore. In: From the Arctic to Avalon: Transforming the Histoiy of Northeastern North America. A conference in honor of Dr. James A. Tuck, Jr. St. John’s, Newfoundland, October 14-16, 2004. 30 pp.

Fitzhugh, William. W. and Matthew D. Gallon

2002 The Gateways Project 2002: Surveys and Excavations from Petit Mecatina to Belles Amours. 174 pp. Arctic Studies Center, Smithsonian Institution. Report on file at the Ministry of Culture and Communication, Quebec.

Fitzhugh, William W., Yves Chretien, and Helena Sharp

2004 The Gateways Project 2004: Surveys and Excavations from Chevery to Jacques Cartier Bay. 211 pp. Arctic Studies Center, Smithsonian Institution. Report on file at the Ministry of Culture and Communication, Quebec.

Fitzhugh, William, and Helena Sharp

2003 The Gateways Project 2003: Surveys and Excavations from Hare Harbor to Jacques Cartier Bay. 196 pp. Washington DC: Arctic Studies Center, Smithsonian Institution. Report on file at the Ministry of Culture and Communication, Quebec.

Harp, Elmer, Jr.

1963 Evidence of Boreal Archaic Cultures in Southern Labrador and Newfoundland. National Museum of Canada Bulletin 193:184-261. Ottawa.

Levesque, Rene

2002 Bible d’Amenagement du Saint-Laurent Fleuve, Estuaire, Golfe. Phase Premier. La BasseCote-Nord: Porte Priviliegee des Pionniers d’Amerique. Draft manuscript available from the author and on file at Arctic Studies Center.

McGhee, Robert, and James A. Tuck, Jr.

1975 An Archaic Sequence from the Strait of Belle Isle, Labrador. National Museum of Man. Mercury Series, Archaeological Survey of Canada. Paper 34. Ottawa: National Museum of Man.

Niellon, Francoise

1986 Intervention Archaeologique sur les Sites Historiques de la Bale des Cinq Lieues et de la Bale du Milieu, Basse-Cote-Nord. Report on file, Ministere de la Culture et de la Communication, Quebec.

1996 Du territoire Autochtone au Territoire Partage: le Labrador, 1650-1830. In Histoire de la CoteNord, edited by Pierre Frenette, pp.135-178. Les Presses de l’Universite Laval, Quebec.

Niellon, Francoise, and G. Jones

1984 Reconnaissance sur les Sites Historiques de la Basse-Cote-Nord, ete 1983. Rapport d’Activites. 3 vol. Report on file, Ministere de la Culture et de la Communication, Quebec.

Pintal, Jean-Yves

1998 Aux Fronteres de la Mer: La Prehistoire de Blanc Sablon. Les Publications du Quebec,

Dossiers 102, Collection Patrimonies et Municipality de Blanc-Sablon, Quebec.

Turgeon, Laurier

1987 Pechers Basques et la Traite de la Fourrure dans le St-Laurent au 16 Siecle. In Le Castor Fait Tout, Bruce Trigger, Toby Morantz, and L. Deschene (eds), pp. 14-25. Societe Historique du Lac StLouis, Montreal.

1990 Basque-Amerindian Trade in the Saint Lawrence during the Sixteenth Century: New Documents, New Perspectives. Man in the Northeast 40:81-87.

1994 Vers une Chronologie des Occupations Basques du Saint-Laurent du XVIe -XVIIe Siecle: un

Retour a FLIisloire. Recherches Amerindiennes au Quebec 24(3):3-15.

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