ARCHAEOLOGY IN NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR 1986 Annual Report 7 Edited by: J. Callum Thomson Jane Sproull Thomson Newfoundland Museum Historic Resources Division Department of Municipal and Provincial Affairs St. John's, NF April, 1989 Cover: Burial 57, Red Bay Basque Whaling site, southern Labrador (see James Tuck report). All publications of the Newfoundland Museum and Historic Resources Division, Department of Municipal and Provincial Affairs, St. John's are also available on microfiche from Micromedia Ltd. 158 Pearl St. Toronto, Ontario Canada, M5H 1L3 ISSN 0715-2086 Archaeological research in Newfoundland and Labrador - 1986..............1 J. Callum Thmon NLA3 Inc. report of the year's activities - 1986.. ..................... .10 Mark Allston Results of six historic resources uverview assessnents in Newfcnmlhd and Labrador - 1986.....................................................12 Gerald Penney The caribou trail continues: a survey of =te Point, between Saglek and Hebrm...............................................................27 J. Callum Thmon Tikkoatokak (HdCl-1): a late prehistoric Indian site near Nain.. ........ .52 Stephen Loring Archaeology in western Labrador..........................................72 Moira T. McCaffrey An archaeological recannaissame of the Seal Lake region, interior Labrador................................................................114 Moira T. McCaffreyr Stephen Loring and William W. Fitzhugh Hamilton Inlet and CartWright recormaissanoe............................164 William W. Fitzhugh A late 18th century settlement in southern Labrador: Captain George Cartwright's "Stage Cove'...............................................181 Kevin McAleese 1985 archaeological surwey of swrthern Labrador: guebec/Labrador to Cape Charles............................................................198 Reginald Auger and Marianne Stopp Brcavatiozls at IW Bay, Labrador - 1986................................213 James A. Tuck Field report: 1985 survey in Strait af Belle Isle region................ 238 Robert McGhee Main River/Sapls Island emrirorrmentdl -................. 242 James A. Tuck Maritime Archaic and Middle Dorset oaapaticns at Fleur de Lys: pre liminary results of 1986 investigaticns on the Baie Verte Peninsula.. .. .250 J. Callum Thomson Report for Permit No. 86-16: Inspector Island (DilQ-1) .................. 260 Ralph T. Pastore 17th century settlenents in ccmeption Bay. .............................270 Peter Pope Skeletal material retrieved fran Faxtrap. ............................... 290 Sonja M. Jerkic A report an constNCtion activities in the George Street St. John's, wenber - Dxdxr 1986......................................292 Ralph T. Pastore Brcavatims at Ferryland, Newfoudland - 1986..........................296 James A. Tuck The mrt Kim Project 1986............................................308 Janette M. Ginns ARCHAEOLOGY IN NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR 1986 ATLANTIC OCEAN c-- McCAFFREY AUGER & STOPP QUEBEC NEWFOUNDLAND -CAL RISENUX IN MAM) IXWWlR - 1986 J. Callum Thomson Newfoundland Museum FIHD #ESEAEE(B Note: The summary of fieldwork dras upon a preliminary compilation by Gerald Penney during his temporary assignment as Curator of Archaeology at the New- f oundland Museum (Penney 1987) . Field research in Newfoundland and Labrador continued the trerd toward increasing activity in historic archaeology and emiromntal impact assess- ments noted over the past few years. Of the twenty-four archaeological re- search permits issued in 1986 to fourteen researchers sixteen were for specific research projects -- nine concentrating on the historic period -- while eight were to assess potential development impacts on historic resources. Additionally, Parks Canada sponsored fieldwork at the Port au Choix National Historic Site. In Labrador , Gerald Penney assessed the impact by the Deparbnent of Na- tional Defence on historic resources of the construction of two long range radar facilities at Saglek and Cartwright. A survey of the Cartwright project area failed to locate any sites. A brief excursion outside the study area lo- cated a large stone house relating to Major George Cartwright's st* on the south Labrador coast (1770-86). Six prehistoric sites were inspected near the project area at Saglek and were judged not to require any mitigation. A one-day survey by Callurn Thomon and Penney of the area between Cape Uivak and White Point, south of the Saglek developnent, recorded 18 new sites. Maritime Archaic longhouses, other boulder features and/or surface lithics were found at ten sites, Middle Dorset material at two, and Neo-Eskim remains at thirteen. A coastal survey by William Fitzhugh between Goose Bay and Cartwright lo- cated new and revisited formerly-recorded Groswater, Intermediate Indian, Middle Dorset and Neo-Eskimo sites on the mainland and offshore islands. Stephen Loring spent several weeks excavating a Late Point Revenge site at Tikkoatokak Bay near Nain to clarify the relationship between the late prehis- toric Point Revenge complexr its antecedents, and the succeeding Innu groups of the historical record. In addition, Loring sought to understand the mechanisms of maintenance of social boundaries and ethnic identities among prehistoric and historic Indian groups in Labrador. A survey at Seal Lake, northwest of Goose Bay, by Fitzhugh, Moira McCaffrey, and Loring resulted in the location of historic Naskapi camps and several large Innu winter camps but disappointingly little evidence of prehis- toric activity. Efforts failed to delineate the source of Seal Lake cherts, abundant at coastal sites during the prehistoric period. It is now suspected that the source locations must lie east of Seal Lake. McCaffrey surveyed three lakes in Western Labrador for lithic sources and located five sites on Menihek Lake with raw material of the Wishart chert formation. McCaffrey includes in her report a well-deserved chastisement of Thmon and Penney for their (separate) generalizations on the paucity of prehistoric remains in western Labrador. A survey of Petitsikapau Lake by McCaffrey included a visit to the site of Fort Nascopie, a Hudson's Bay Com- pany post (1830-60). Kevin McAleese investigated the vernacular architecture of a late 18th century fishing/sealing/fur trapping settlement at Stage Cove, 80 km northeast of Red Bay. George Cartwright's Journal vaguely describes his construction of a dwelling and store house, servants1 quarters and various shore facilities. McAleese's excavations revealed seven features representing these structural remains and 1000 artifacts including fragments of bottle, lantern and beverage glass, ceramics, various iron and copper items and such organic materials as leather, feathers and a small faunal sample. James Tuck's team from Memorial University of Newfoundland , aided by the Canadian Conservation Institute , continued excavations at the Basque whaling site at Red Bay. On Organ's Island a large, but little used, tqnmrks of six fireboxes was excavated, while on Saddle Island a second tryworks was pr- tially exposed. The rendering ovens hme not been exposed but post molds of a 30 by 32 foot structure =re established. Near this structure are a number of Recent Indian hearths containing Little Passage and Point Revenge style projectile points as well as roof tiles, nails, cut baleen and Europan leather. During the excavation of a Middle Dorset site, near the whalers' cemetery, several additional 16th century graves were encountered. An unusually deep burial produced the remains of an individual upon whose chest rested a large wooden cross, the first item of grave goods in more than 60 burials excavated to date (see cover illustration). Reginald Auger and Marianne Stopp conducted a survey initiated by the Historic Resources Division with partial D.R.I.E. funding to assess site at- trition and the potential for further research, protection and tourism developnent in southern Labrador. Their team surveyed the north shore of the Strait of Belle Isle from the Quebec/Labrador border to Cape Charles. Seventy-five new sites were located. Site distribution ranges frm Maritin-e Archaic through early and late Palaeo-Eskimo, Recent Prehistoric Indian, Labrador Inuit, Basque, and other European. A rectangular, sod block Inuit house of the late 18th century was excavated on Seal Islands near Henley Harbour, where 11 other Inuit sites were discoverd in close proximity to European shore stations. Robert McGhee's report on a 1985 survey in southern Labrador, inadver- tently omitted by the editors from the 1985 Annual Report, is included this year, McGhee revisited the L'Anse Amour site, noting new boulder structures similar to longhouses and, .perhaps, a "roadway" like those reported by other investigators in Maritime Archaic sites in central and northern Labrador. On the Island, Priscilla Renouf continued her Parks Canada-sponsored ex- cavations at Phillips Garden, Port au Choix; her surveys resulted in the dis- covery of sixteen previously undiscovered sites. The Point Riche site with some thirteen house depressions is about one third the size of Phillips Garden. Radiocarbon dates from Point Riche (2000-1200 BPI are contemporaneous with Phillips Garden and there is similar material culture. At Phillips Gar- den East, Brenda Kennett excavated a Gromter site which yielded a large faunal sample and three types of harpoon heads. This site, dating to ca 2600 BPI shows typological similarities to the Early Dorset sites of Labrador and Independence I1 sites of the Arctic,