Archaeology in Newfoundland and Labrador 1997
Edited by K. Nelmes
Archaeology at Ferryland, Newfoundland, 1997
Matthew Carter, Barry Gaulton and James A. Tuck
The 1997 season at Ferryland was perhaps the most productive and exciting of the six seasons of archaeology in the current field program. Despite what can only be described as completely miserable fall weather, that brought fieldwork almost to a halt, the results of the 1997 research are more than satisfying and the promise of things to come in 1998 even more so.
Excavation concentrated in two major areas, called Areas F and G. Each produced evidence of occupation or utilization during the first half of the seventeenth century. Excavations at each area are described briefly below.
Area G
Excavation at Area G was begun late in the 1996 season and was greatly expanded during 1997. Additional portions of a cobble pavement of unknown function were exposed at the eastern end of Area F. The pavement appears to date from the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. It appears not to be a roadway for it is with an identical pavement of similar date at the western edge of Area C (the waterfront premises), and is therefore not a road or path but some sort of large exterior pavement that served some undetermined function. The careful stonework does not suggest a platform for drying fish; such structures have been revealed elsewhere at Ferryland and are inevitably of much rougher construction.
Limited excavations beneath this stone pavement, largely in areas where the cobbles had been disturbed or removed, revealed an occupation layer that dates from the first half of the seventeenth century. It consists of a thin (up to about 10 cm) layer of dark, organic soil and what appear to be portions of a concentration of disintegrated brick. Artifacts contained within this layer included tobacco pipes characteristic of the first half of the seventeenth century, case bottles and ceramics also characteristic of that time, and iron nails. Between this occupation layer and the overlying cobble pavement is a layer of beach sand and gravel, up to 40 cm thick. It was clearly deposited there as a single episode, probably to level and raise the earlier occupation surface.
Below the seventeenth-century occupation surface was a thick (up to 60 cm or more) layer of rock and soil fill, clearly put there to reclaim land, along the south edge of The Pool, a process mentioned by Captain Edward Wynne, the Colony of Avalon’s first governor, in a letter to George Calvert in 1622. This fill was deposited on what appears to have been either a beach very close to the edge of The Pool or a part of the intertidal zone. Contained in the natural sand and gravel beach below the fill were iron nails and nail fragments and ceramics including a fragment of a vessel with a rouletted, check-stamped vertical applied bead of clay identical to cooking pots recovered in some numbers from the Basque whaling stations that operated at Red Bay, Labrador that were in use during much of the sixteenth century.
Additional evidence of the ambitious land reclamation project of the early settlers at the Colony of Avalon came from a second excavation at Area G, this one a short distance west of the earlier excavation. In this area the cobblestone pavement was not present. Instead a recent tilth zone was underlain by a layer of clay and rock fill, the lower portions of which contained significant numbers of roof slates and fragments. Although the presence of a slate-roofed structure somewhere in the vicinity of the excavations was suspected, no evidence of any structure was found in the 18 square metres excavated during 1997. A distinct occupation layer was revealed below this fill layer, but no real evidence of what sort of activities might have taken place there was recovered. Artifacts date from the first half of the seventeenth century and there is no reason to believe that the two occupation layers found at Area G are not contemporaneous. Artifacts include iron nails, which again suggest the presence of some sort of a structure, as well as coarse earthenwares, stonewares, tobacco pipes and fragments of glass bottles. The ceramics are consistent with a date in the first half of the seventeenth century, but were not produced exclusively during the early 1600s. Tobacco pipes, on the other hand, all have bowl forms (and sizes) and stem bore diameters typical of that period. Bottles are all of the square case bottle variety; no fragments of shaft-and-globe or onion bottles, that first appear at about mid-century, were recovered.
Also at Area G, additional evidence of the seawall that once bordered the southern edge of The Pool was revealed by excavation at the rare times when the tide fell low enough to permit access. In 1996 the seawall segment at Area C was followed westward to the point where it made a “jog” toward the northwest. In 1997 a complimentary “jog” that resulted in the seawall resuming an east-west course was revealed. We were able to follow that portion of several metres to the west where work was halted by water too deep to permit the wall to be followed further.
Although excavations at Area G are very much in their preliminary stages, a considerable area remains to be explored. Complete excavation of the area was made possible by the purchase of most of the area by the Colony of Avalon Foundation. Additional excavation is planned during the 1998 field season.
Area F
The major excavation of 1997 occurred at Area F, first explored in 1996. The results of the past season’s work there provided some surprises in the form of both architectural features and artifacts.
Area F is located at the eastern edge of the present settlement on the south shore of The Pool, on land formerly privately owned by a local family. In 1995 the Department of Tourism, Culture and Recreation purchased the property to permit excavation to take place at what seemed to be a potentially key area in understanding the Colony of Avalon and its successors. As it turns out, this potential was greater that any of us suspected when the property was purchased.
Excavation at Area F took place in two main areas, one east of the standing house and one to the west – the only two areas where space permitted any significant amount of work to be undertaken.
East of the house, work in 1996 had revealed late seventeenth-century deposits in association with burned timbers that were interpreted as the remains of a frame structure that was burned late in that century or early in the eighteenth century. Remains of a cobble pavement, interpreted as part of the central street that ran through the Colony of Avalon were also revealed.
In 1997 the late seventeenth-century deposits were removed and excavation proceeded beneath them. Layers of refuse and fill produced artifacts of all sorts – ceramics, tobacco pipes, bottle glass and so forth – in their proper stratigraphic and chronological positions, but no evidence of any recognizable features associated with these materials was apparent. Only when an area measuring about eight by fourteen metres was excavated to sterile subsoil, in places close to two metres below the present surface, did the significance of the deposit become apparent. What the excavations had revealed was unmistakable evidence of a large defensive ditch, some six metres wide and more than a metre deep in its central portion. The ditch runs north-south and clearly comprises part of the defences of the eastern boundary of the Colony of Avalon. To the north the ditch apparently runs beneath the present road and probably along what was then the eastern margin of The Pool. Barry Gaulton (1997:62) suggested as much in his thesis on the structures at the waterfront at Area C. To the south the ditch almost certainly extends up the hillside and is connected with a large and obvious earthwork, almost certainly a bastion on the southeast corner of the defences of Avalon.
Inside the ditch (i.e. to the west) remnants of an earthen rampart are clearly visible in the south profile. The remaining portion is about a metre above the edge of the ditch. Since, however, much of the fill in the ditch and to the west of the rampart is the same rock and subsoil as the rampart itself, we might suppose that the original rampart was somewhat higher than the remaining evidence indicates. No trace of post holes or post molds was found in the rampart. If the posts reported by Captain Wynne in 1622 were set atop the rampart, then erosion has reduced the earthen mound by at least the depth of the posts.
The ditch and rampart correspond exactly with the eastern end of the cobblestone street that appears to have run east-west through the Colony of Avalon. Much of the street is beneath the present paved road, but the west end, thirteen feet wide, was exposed in 1995 and the east end, of exactly the same width, during 1996. A small rectangular platform of cobbles projects eastward from the end of the road, slightly to the south of the centre of the road. Rocks piled roughly on either side of this small platform suggest that this marked the east entrance to the colony that permitted access to and from The Downs, where agriculture, husbandry, wood cutting and so forth were probably carried out.
Leading from the end of the road eastward across the ditch, remains of a wooden bridge were discovered. They consist of three bridge sills, squared timbers originally measuring about four by five inches and 11′ 6″ long with rectangular mortises cut through the timbers near each end and in the centre. The mortises must have held vertical timbers which supported longitudinal timbers that spanned the ditch. A portion of a row of large spikes found at the western end of the bridge near the gate once secured transverse planking that formed the surface of the bridge. There is no evidence that any portion of the bridge was designed to move (i.e. as in a drawbridge). The bridge itself was situated slightly off centre in relation to the road. The south edge of the bridge extended from the south edge of the cobble street while the north edge extended from the north side of the small cobble platform that we regard as the location of the gate. It may be that there was some sort of gatehouse located on the north side of the bridge and a few posts and post molds are located in this area, unfortunately disturbed by the excavation of an outflow from a septic tank dug earlier in this century.
The fill of the ditch contained large numbers of artifacts, especially around the bridge, from which trash was apparently thrown into the ditch. They include tobacco pipes, ceramics and case bottle glass that all indicate a date for the beginning of the filling of the ditch during the first half of the seventeenth century. It seems almost certain that these surprisingly massive defensive structures formed part of the original defences of the Colony of Avalon and were most likely built during the early 1620s under the direction of Captain Edward Wynne, a man with some considerable military experience.
The refuse in the ditch also provided some surprises in the form of preserved organic material in a water-saturated deposit north of the bridge. Fragments of shoes, staves from casks, wooden pegs and other fragments of cut wood, branches and twigs became both more numerous and better preserved as excavations proceeded northward where the ditch becomes deeper. The remaining portion of the ditch, now unfortunately covered by the present paved road, promises to reveal an unusual collection of preserved organic objects from the early seventeenth century.
Some objects from the ditch also suggest that the east end of the settlement was the location of the residences of persons of relatively high status. Notable among these are a gold-plated brass spur and a minute gold sequin or stud with seven circles of twisted wire soldered to the surface and a tiny hole still clearly apparent in the centre. Tin-glazed earthenware fragments and stoneware Bellarmine bottle fragments, both generally accepted as representative of high-status occupation of an area, reinforce the notion that the “upper class” residences were located at the eastern end of the settlement, something we predicted at the time that the forge was discovered at the western end of Captain Wynne’s “prettie streete.”
Excavations in 1996 and again in 1997 were successful in following the cobble road westward through a series of one-metre square test pits in the narrow piece of land between the house on the above-mentioned purchased land and the present paved road. The south edge of the pavement was followed for a distance of about ten metres, where it disappears beneath the existing paved road at a depth of about 1.2 metres below the ground surface. At almost exactly this point a cobble pavement extending southward from the road was discovered. Efforts to reveal the extent of this pavement, and to determine its purpose, were hampered (if that is the right word) by the presence of an incredibly rich midden deposit overlying the cobbles. Intensely black and up to 30 cm thick, the midden contained a concentration of artifacts unlike anything encountered at Ferryland and, we suspect, at most other seventeenth-century sites in North America. Literally thousands of iron nails of all sizes from small examples, almost tacks, to large spikes suggest the presence of a collapsed wood frame structure somewhere close by.
In the final weeks of the season a row of spikes was discovered embedded in the almost completely decomposed remains of a large wooden timber. The spikes lie horizontally in the ground about 15-20 cm apart, with their heads to the north. A possible explanation is that the decomposed wood represents the sill of a frame structure and that the spikes fastened the lower ends of vertical board siding. Almost exactly three metres of this feature were exposed before excavations were brought to a halt. The east end of the timber shows every sign of continuing beneath the house, while the western portion stops abruptly at a rough stone wall (most likely a footing) built atop the cobbles. One portion of the cobble pavement stops almost at the timber we interpret as a sill, suggesting that the pavement and wooden structure may be contemporaneous. To the west of the end of the sill, which is tentatively interpreted as the corner of the structure, the cobble pavement extends southward to the limit of the 1997 excavations. A carefully constructed drain formed of long cobbles forming a depression in the pavement leads northward from what we interpret as the west end of the frame structure. The basal portion of this drain is formed from two rows of red bricks.
If the description of this complex of features seems confusing, it accurately reflects our understanding of them at the close of the 1997 season. A possible interpretation, and one that probably should be viewed with more than a modicum of caution, is as follows.
The cobblestone street, running from east to west through the settlement is that built under Captain Wynne’s direction in the early years of the Colony of Avalon. It is this feature that he referred to as a “prettie streete”. The cobble pavement leading south from the street is somehow related to a wood frame structure that stood south of the street. We have exposed about three metres of a sill of this structure and, very likely, the northwest corner of the building. Some of the cobbles end near the sill while another portion continues southward along what might be the west side of the structure. A carefully made drain may have been designed to carry water from the hill south of the structure to lower ground (and ultimately The Pool). If our own experience with run-off from this hill is any indication, frequent flooding may have posed a considerable problem for the residents of whatever structure stood there.
Sometime later in the seventeenth century a low stone footing was built on top of the cobble pavement, parallel to, and just east of, the brick-lined drain. Its dimensions, relation to the original structure, and purpose remain unknown. To the east of this footing, a rich midden accumulated during the early to mid-seventeenth century. Objects from the midden confirm the impression given by objects from the defensive ditch that these excavations are revealing the upper class residential area of Avalon and the succeeding Pool Plantation.
Two iron spurs, one still bearing traces of silver plating, were recovered. Neither these nor the gold-plated example from the ditch necessarily indicate the presence of horsemen at Avalon. Spurs were, during the first half of the seventeenth century, part of a gentleman’s costume. They probably indicate more about the status of the occupants of this area than they do their possible equestrian pursuits. Ceramics also indicate an area of high status occupation. Coarse earthenwares typical to most of the Ferryland site are present, but tin-glazed ceramics were far more common in this area than in any other. In fact, a rough calculation indicates that about 80% of all the tin-glazed ceramics from Ferryland come from the ten squares excavated in this area. Stoneware, specifically “Bellarmine” bottles are also usually taken as evidence of status.
Perhaps most striking among the ceramic assemblage is the presence of Portuguese terra sigillata ware. According to Jan Baart (1992) this extremely fine orange earthenware was a sort of speciality item produced at Estremoz, Portugal in imitation of Roman ceramics. It was apparently manufactured during both the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Often incised with floral and curvilinear designs, sometimes infilled with a white slip, terra sigillata ceramics are both distinctive and striking. Many of the finer pieces appear not to have been functional, but were very clearly markers of status. Fragments have been found throughout the eastern end of the Ferryland site, with a large number from the excavations just described. The unusual vessel forms, with a variety of bases, necks, spouts and handles, make it difficult to assess the number of vessels represented in the Ferryland collection but as many as ten or a dozen would not be surprising. One vessel from the Area F midden bears a three-dimensional moulded face about 4 cm high that compares very closely to an example on an elaborate jar illustrated by Baart (1992:277).
Other objects that indicate a high-status occupation include a small silver straight pin and a silver thimble, both from the latter part of the seventeenth century suggesting that the east end of Avalon remained the location of high status dwelling(s) during most of the century.
Who these people might have been remains a matter of speculation, but it is certainly tempting to suggest that the 1997 excavations are very close to the Mansion House, where both the Calvert and Kirke families dwelt during their tenures at Avalon and the Pool Plantation. Whether this is the case awaits further excavation and some major logistical moves, for much of the site lies beneath an existing house, the present paved road and the Downs, or Lighthouse Road.
References Cited
Baart, Jan
1992 – “Terra sigillata from Estremoz, Portugal,” in Everyday and Exotic Pottery from Europe c. 650-1900, D. Gaimster and M. Redknap, eds., pp. 273-277. Oxbow Books, Oxford.
Gaulton, Barry
1997 – “Seventeenth-Century Stone Construction at Ferryland, Newfoundland, Area C.” Unpublished Master of Arts thesis, Department of Anthropology, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s.