Archaeology in Newfoundland and Labrador 1997
Edited by K. Nelmes
St. John’s Waterfront Archaeology Project 1997
Peter Pope
Brief Background
The St. John’s Waterfront Archaeology Project is designed to uncover, record, assess and conserve archaeological vestiges of the St. John’s waterfront and interpret these data through integration with the documentary record. The research project will continue over several seasons, with the intention of looking closely at several loci within the study area: the original beach waterfront on the north side of St. John’s Harbour, where Water Street is now. The project will assess the development of the waterfront, (A.D.) 1500 to 1900, with special attention to the changing character of exchange in a specific harbour as it evolved from a fishing station into a port.
1997 Field Season
The summer started with a significant boost from City Hall, when St. John’s Municipal Council accepted the recommendation of the City Planning Committee to advise the Provincial Culture and Heritage Division of development projects in a defined waterfront area. The Waterfront Archaeology Project has, in turn, agreed to help the Culture and Heritage Division with assessments in this area, defined on the basis of historic and archaeological sensitivity. The City Engineering Department put these promises to work when they invited us to carry out surveys at several development sites in or near the designated waterfront area. Surveys at two parking projects, Prince Street (CjAe-29) and Bell Street (CjAe-30) suggested there were no significant archaeological resources at risk. A revisit to Kenny’s (Civic #127-129 New Gower Street, CjAe-17), recovered materials from a 19th/20th century forge, with some 18th century materials in the form of grey Westerwald stonewares. The latter helped to clarify the 18th century occupation of the town but since the site itself is a redeposit associated with construction of about 1900, our work at the site was limited.
The Waterfront Archaeology Project operated as a field school for Memorial University of Newfoundland archaeology students, under the direction of Dr. Peter Pope of the Archaeology Unit, assisted by graduate students Amanda Crompton and John Wicks. We began the season at King’s Beach (Harbourside Park, CjAe-12), but recent fill to a depth of almost 3 m precluded further work at this time, given our limited budget for backhoe work. Our testing indicates that whatever remains of the King’s Wharf is deeply stratified.
A week of survey work followed. This included the development assessments already mentioned; the identification of two 19th century sites, 62 Water Street (CjAe-28) and Temperance Street (CjAe-31), as well as recovery of late 18th century glass during a revisit to 325-327 Water Street (CjAe-8), near the Murray Premises. These wine bottles may have surfaced during demolition at the site a few years ago. A test excavation near Water Street did not locate a source context, but did suggest that builders about 1840 cut into the natural slope. The area southwards, to the stone quayside identified in 1993, merits further attention pending redevelopment.
We spent most of our energy on extensive shovel and trowel excavations at Temperance Street. This site consists of the rear lots of the well-known stone houses built by the master mason of Cabot Tower. Large hardwood shade trees suggest that little has disturbed these lots since they were laid out after the Great Fire of 1892. Shovel test pits located fire rubble to depths of over 2 m, indicating extensive re-landscaping after the Great Fire. Finds of tin-glazed and other early modern earthenwares in tests at the bottom of the slope encouraged us to expand our excavations there, until we had several square metres exposed to sterile soil at a depth of nearly 3 m. We found no early features, except a disused sewage system, dating some time before the Great Fire. Nor did we locate the contexts from which our early finds were strays. We do have the basis for reconstructing the early 19th century landscape and we have tested the most easterly part of the City’s designated Waterfront Area. Since the lots are not accessible by backhoe, a crew matching our 20 or so was actually necessary to do this. (We were, unfortunately, denied access to one of the lots, and the adjacent commercial property.)
Students cleaned and numbered over 6000 artifacts, under the supervision of Paula French, our conservation assistant. The leather boots retrieved from Temperance Street will probably be our biggest conservation challenge. We have a fine range of late 19th century bottles from that site, many of local design, and several of which are complete. In general, this year’s excavations confirm the considerable depth of cultural deposits along Water Street. We continue to work at survey rather than detailed areal excavation but, without a wonderful increase in funding, this is probably all that is practical. It is also what is most needed, as the archaeological resources of the Waterfront area remain largely unmapped. The City has now recognized that the handful of sites identified to date are not by themselves the archaeological reources to be protected but are, instead, a sample which suggests the rich potential of the area to be developed as the times permit.