Latonia J. Harterly, Project Archaeologist,
maps an excavation site.

Incredible Discoveries

For over 5000 years the great Northern Peninsula on the island of Newfoundland has been providing rich resources from the land and sea for diverse groups of people. In Bird Cove, we have unearthed woodworking and hunting tools once used by the Maritime Archaic Indians 4500-3500 years ago; gouges, notched and stemmed projectile points, lances and bayonets, bifaces, whetstones, axes, adzes and blades.

In his youth, local resident Lawrence Caines, along with friends, played in a dense forested area by his house, which Newfoundlanders call a Droke. Little did he realize, the numerous artifacts which he and others collected over a twenty year period from the Big Droke area led to the discovery of an undisturbed habitation site and tool production area of the Maritime Archaic people. It was not until 1993, that he and fellow community members formed a group that eventually attracted the interest of several prominent Newfoundland archaeologists. Test pits were dug and the rest is history. Archaeological excavations have been ongoing since the summer of 1997.

Today, the Bird Cove Project has 28 registered archaeological sites, and is quickly becoming noted for significant archaeological finds and contributions in the province. The Big Droke and Caines sites in Bird Cove are possibly the most important in Newfoundland for depicting the day to day life of the Maritime Archaic culture; they are undisturbed and are accompanied by a specialty tool production area. Together both the Big Droke and Caines sites have over 12 hearth features and numerous tools.

Additional Finds

Evidence of other prehistoric cultures have been excavated at various sites in Bird Cove and surrounding communities. The Groswater and Dorset Palaeoeskimo artifacts recently discovered at the Peat Garden and Peat Garden North sites are providing new information on the foods consumed by these peoples. Previously thought to be solely sea-mammal hunters, the remains found in the Bird Cove sites have indicated a wide variety of food resources; mostly birds. In the Peat Garden North site, shell middens have been discovered; the only shell middens found at a Dorset site anywhere in the world. This would indicate a Dorset spring-summer site. Another astonishing recent find is that of the terminal date of Groswater occupation. Thought to have disappeared from the island of Newfoundland between 2100 and 1900 years ago, the radiocarbon dates from the Peat Garden site are as late as 1750 years ago. This leads us to believe that the Groswater occupation of the island might overlap with the Dorset; possibly answering questions whether the Groswater and Dorset Palaeoeskimo cultures were a cultural continuum or two different groups altogether.

Similarly, new finds at the Peat Garden site are shedding light on the duration of occupation of the Cow Head complex in Newfoundland; a Recent Indian culture. Once accepted as 2000-1600 BP (Years Before Present), this site indicates dates from 1800-1100 BP. Cow Head complex sites are extremely rare and only the museum in the Bird Cove Interpretation Centre is displaying identified Cow Head complex material. These dates also indicate an overlap in the occupation of the Beaches complex; which was once considered a descendant of the Cow Head complex.

Another excavation site in Bird Cove, the North Cove site, is turning up some remarkable finds as well. Strong indications are that this site depicts not only the Beaches complex but Labrador Recent Indians as well; the Daniel Rattle and Point Revenge complexes. If so, it is the only site of its kind in Newfoundland and raises important archaeological questions.

European Occupation

Prehistoric occupants of the Bird Cove area came to utilize many natural resources, such as seals, caribou, fish, whales, birds, (walrus taken out) and plants. Similarly, Early European cultures, such as the Basque, English, French, and Irish came to the Northern Peninsula initially for the fish and whales. Many of these early European peoples would eventually come to settle in this area and learn to call it home. A few historic excavations have been carried out under the Bird Cove Project, such as at Meany’s Point, to shed light on intriguing historic finds. As one hikes along the trails and shorelines of the close by Dog Peninsula, it is not unusual to find early European artifacts. There is much work to be done!

Future Community Model

Just as prehistoric peoples and our European ancestors depended on the rich local resources of the land and sea, so too, have the people of Bird Cove and surrounding communities. In an ironic twist, because the present day fishing industry is failing the local inhabitants, it is the discovery and promotion of the extinct cultures that is providing a resource on which the community will build its future. The efforts of the Bird Cove Project are completely community driven, and with the assistance of several funding agencies and the concerted cooperation of many local and regional development groups, it is expected that it will become the model for community run archaeological projects in the future.