ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXCAVATIONS at SABBATH POINT (Debd-08), RED INDIAN LAKE

ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXCAVATIONS AT SABBATH POINT (DeBd-08), RED INDIAN LAKE LAURIE MCLEAN CONSULTING ARCHAEOLOGIST NOVEMBER, 2018 Plate 1: Laurie McLean checking notes inside the Sabbath Point (DeBd-08) housepit (James Williamson photo). Arrow points to part of September’s excavation. The author directed excavation of part of a Beothuk housepit and its exterior at the Sabbath Point archaeological (DeBd-08) site in September, 2018. Memorial University Ph.d student James Williamson and Grand Falls-Windsor resident Don Pelley assisted in the dig. The 10 m2 excavated area included 7 m2 in the housepit and 3 m2 outside the former structure. Beothuk housepits represent habitations and store houses whose interiors had been slightly excavated by their builders who piled the dirt around the floor. Wooden poles extended from the mounded perimeter and were covered with birch bark, bark from other trees, caribou hides and sails from European vessels. Eighty-seven archaeologically recorded Beothuk housepits from coastal Newfoundland and the Exploits Valley range in size from 7.68 m2 to 60 m2 and manifest a variety of shapes including round, ovate, square, rectangular, pentagonal and hexagonal (Marshall 1996:350; McLean 2018a:87). Sabbath Point’s housepit encompasses 51.45 m2, making it one of the larger ones found to date and it has six sides (McLean 2017:32). The Sabbath Point housepit was identified in 2016 during an archaeological survey of the south shore of Red Indian Lake. This research was looking for Beothuk settlements briefly described by John Cartwright in 1768 (Howley 1915: 43). The survey was directed by the author who was assisted by Don Pelley and Penny Wells, both of Grand Falls-Windsor. The Sabbath Point housepit was five meters from the top edge of the eroding shoreline in 2016 although it probably was up to 10 meters further from the beach when it was occupied during the latter half of the eighteenth century(McLean 2017:26). Calcined bone fragments and unburned bones and pieces were found in test pits dug inside the depression and in its mounded earthen perimeter. Fire-cracked rocks were present in some of the interior test pits and from one of the wall test pits, but artifacts were not recovered in 2016 (Ibid: 36). A subsequent visit by Provincial Archaeology Office (PAO) archaeologists recovered a high quality iron projectile point from a test pit dug outside the housepit (Erwin and Hull 2018:69) (Plate 2). This artifact shares many attributes with previously found Beothuk artifacts from a site on the Exploits River. They are the most intricate iron projectile points manufactured by Beothuk (McLean 2003:14)). The PAO archaeologists also noted that the housepit was threatened by rapidly advancing erosion (Hull and Erwin 2018:69). This led to Black Spruce Heritage Services (BSHS) being contracted in July, 2018 to excavate a 10 m2 portion of the housepit that was threatened by erosion. This excavation recovered a unique iron projectile point, three creamware potsherds, unburned caribou bone and calcined bone from inside the housepit (Schwarz and Hutchings 2018:37, 39) (Plate 3). The BSHS report recommended that further salvage excavation of the Sabbath Point housepit was warranted, given its importance and the threats of erosion and cultural disturbance. BSHS also advised that large trees growing through the housepit’s northern wall and slightly outside it should be cut down to avoid the possibility of their uprooting and destroying part of the feature (Ibid:51). The PAO accordingly released Terms of Reference for additional salvage excavations within the Sabbath Point housepit as well as removing large trees whose potential uprooting threatened the feature. Plate 2: Type 3D iron projectile point found outside the Sabbath Point (DeBd-08) housepit by Provincial Archaeology Office (PAO photo). Plate 3: Unusual iron projectile point found by Black Spruce Heritage Services inside the Sabbath Point (DeBd-08) housepit (Schwarz and Hutchings photo cited in the PAO Terms of Reference for Phase 2 Excavations at Sabbath Point (DeBd-08). SABBATH POINT (DeBd-08) HOUSEPIT SALVAGE OPERATIONS PERFOMED DURING SEPTEMBER, 2018 Plate 4: Don Pelley removing trees from the north and northwest walls of the Sabbath Point housepit. The right end of the meter stick is at the edge of the eroding bank. Note piled brush in front of the eroding bank. Sabbath Point’s tree cutting and salvage excavations – Part 2 were implemented from September 3 until September 11, 2018. Thirteen large trees growing through the housepit’s north wall were cut down on September 3 (Plates 1, 4). Seven additional large trees, along with numerous saplings, were eliminated from the northwest, northern and northeast exterior areas as well. The 20 large trees included four birch from the housepit walls and three birch from the adjacent exterior. The ample supply of birch suggests a likely source for birch bark identified in the ensuing excavation of the surface and sub-surface duff levels. The prolific tree growth through the housepit and outside it also probably regularly deposited leaves, broken limbs and uprooted trees into the depression. Although extant local trees conceivably would have been harvested by Beothuk who incorporated them into the superstructure built over the pit, it seems probable that rotting wood found in the duff level represents naturally occurring recent tree falls rather than structural elements. Most of the vegetation removed from the site in September was thrown over the edge of the eroding bank north and northwest of the housepit. Much of this organic debris was mounded against the eroding section closest to the housepit and will hopefully delay the onset of negative impacts at the latter (Plate 5). Plate 5: Sabbath Point eroding bank and piled vegetation debris removed from housepit. September’s excavation cut through part of the housepit berm and what appears to be a linear- shaped storage pit dug by Beothuk inside the structure (Plates 1, 6). The excavation results showed that Beothuk had built the perimeter mound from earth and cobbles, with the latter forming a discrete pile in one area. We did not have time to excavate the piled cobbles so further work is needed to check for artifacts and related cultural material among the rocks. Excavating the rock pile will also help to determine if it was present when Beothuk constructed the housepit or if it was created as part of the wall. This remains an intriguing subject for further research. 3 2 1 4 5 Plate 6: Sabbath Point housepit excavation, showing some of the exposed architectural features (James Williamson photo): (1) Feature 1: Beothuk backdirt pile from trench to the left (Feature 15). (2) Feature 15: Linear-shaped storage trench. (3) Feature 2: Mounded perimeter of the housepit. (4) Feature 17: Cluster of cobbles forming part of the perimeter mound. (5) Feature 18: Shallow trench at the base of the exterior of the perimeter. Excavation of a previously identified, but unexplained low earthen mound, resembling a wall, inside the housepit revealed the presence of a linear trench that contained an unfinished iron spear head, fire-cracked rocks and a few unburned cobbles near its bottom (Plates 1, 6, 7, 8). Similar storage areas have been reported in other Beothuk housepits, but they are rare. The Sabbath Point trench had not been filled in by Beothuk before they vacated the site, raising the possibility that they had hastily abandoned this mamateek due to a surprise visit by unfriendly settlers, or the threat of such contact. Similar unfinished features, or others suggesting disarray have been reported elsewhere in the Exploits Valley (McLean 2018b:19). The function of the shallow trench outside the housepit perimeter is not known, but a similar feature was reported at a housepit located 10 kilometers away at the mouth of the Victoria River (Lloyd 1876:223). Further excavations outside the Sabbath Point housepit will determine the cultural significance, if any, of Feature 18. Plate 7: Unfinished iron deer spear found in the trench inside Sabbath Point's housepit. Plate 8: Blade portion of the deer spear preform found inside the Sabbath Point (DeBd-08) housepit. The mounded boulders and earth making up the housepit perimeter in the excavated area were capped with household debris Beothuk had cleaned from the housepit floor and hearth. Fire-cracked rocks, unburned caribou bone, calcined bone and charcoal were present in this layer. This house- cleaning activity may have been implemented when Beothuk resumed occupancy of the structure after having been gone for a while, or it may have occurred while the mamateek was inhabited. The presence of a stone flake, containing a specially prepared edge for use as a serrated knife, with the household debris was a surprise as it is generally accepted that Beothuk had stopped using stone tools by the late eighteenth century, the presumed date for this housepit’s occupation (Plates 9, 10). This retouched flake appears to have come from the housepit floor which implies that further excavations of the housepit interior may produce additional stone artifacts. The iron projectile point from outside the housepit and projectile point preform recovered from inside the housepit are indicative of latter period Beothuk by which time they had become accomplished recyclers of European iron objects. Plates 9 and 10: Retouched flake found with discarded house debris from the Sabbath Point housepit. The stemmed iron projectile point previously found inside the Sabbath Point housepit is unique among the 171 iron artifacts of this type, including preforms that have been collected at Beothuk archaeological sites. Its morphology implies a different manufacturing process than the techniques Beothuk typically used to manufacture iron projectile points, raising the possibility that it was made by a European with the intention of trading it to Beothuk or other First Nations person.

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