Archaeology in Newfoundland and Labrador 1997
Edited by K. Nelmes
Stage 1 Historic Resources Assessment of Green Island Lake/Eastern Lake Proposed Cottage Developments Marianne P. Stopp
Introduction
This report presents the results of a Stage 1 Historic Resources Impact Assessment of the shorelines of Green Island Lake and the northern extremity of Eastern Lake. Green Island Lake and Eastern Lake are situated near the northern tip of the Northern Peninsula approximately six kilometres east of the community of Sandy Cove.
A crew of three archaeologists accessed and checked the cottage development area between July 2, 1997 and July 5, 1997. Access to the study area was made possible by two locally owned Argo all-terrain vehicles. Crew and gear were transported to the shores of Green Island Lake where a short outboard ride brought us to our field cabin on an unnamed island at the north end of Green Island Lake. Due to wet conditions, no other field transportation would have managed the muddy, deeply rutted (due to years of snowmobile, Argo, and ATV traffic) bog terrain between Sandy Cove and Green Island Lake.
Description of Study Area
The study area is an interior boreal forest and bog landscape. Cabins currently exist only along the northwest end of Green Island Lake and at the southernmost end of Eastern Lake. The marshy landscape between the coast and these lakes is extensively disturbed by countless all-terrain vehicle tracks. This is an isolated interior region inasmuch as there is no navigable water route connecting the lake system with the coast.
The study area is an interior boreal forest and bog landscape. Cabins currently exist only along the northwest end of Green Island Lake and at the southernmost end of Eastern Lake. The marshy landscape between the coast and these lakes is extensively disturbed by countless all-terrain vehicle tracks. This is an isolated interior region inasmuch as there is no navigable water route connecting the lake system with the coast.
The oral tradition of one particular family in Sandy Cove indicates that Micmacs had hunted in the interior of the Northern Peninsula around the turn of the century. This information came to one family member in particular from his uncle who passed away in 1991 at the age of 102. The nephew, his cousin, and the latter’s wife all recounted how their parents’ generation (and they, as children) used to walk into the interior to scythe and collect grasses for winter fodder. The grasses would be piled, covered with netting, and brought to the coast in winter by komatik. This was an enormous undertaking involving a walk of six kilometres across bog, and then walking further to the various widely interspersed grassy knolls. This family further tells of tilts throughout the woods which have long since decayed. The tilts were used during hay collecting time, and also for some moose hunting and trapping. Apparently trapping in this region was minimal and mainly for muskrat and mink. The interior of the peninsula was rarely used during the summer time, and then only for piling hay. Summer acess to the interior of the Northern Peninsula continues to be very occasional, with most visitors snowmobiling in during the winter.
Methods
Survey of the coastal region of Green Island Lake was done with a small outboard. Due to difficulties with access to Eastern Lake (pulling an outboard across 500 metres of bog) only its northernmost portion was foot-surveyed by crossing the isthmus from Green Island Lake. All surveyed areas were test-pitted. Areas which would have been considered relatively high potential along the seacoast, such as points of land, sandy terraces, did not exist at Green Island Lake. As a result, survey sites were chosen on the following basis:
- all river and stream mouths were checked as a first priority;
- a sample of all terrain surrounding the lake was test-pitted, including marshy zones, treed zones, the top of the terrace along the western shore, points of land, terraces, and islands;
- all cleared areas, including cabin lots and all-terrain vehicle tracks were carefully checked both visually and through subsurface testing;
- the extensive track between Sandy Cove and Green Island Lake was visually surveyed from a slowly moving Argo during the journeys to and from Green Island Lake.
Results and Evaluation:
The results of the Stage 1 Historic Resources Overview Assessment are summarized in Table 1 and Figure 1. No evidence of cultural material was found.
Figure 1. Map of Study Area.
The terrain is low potential if assessed against outer coast criteria. For instance, there are no open points of land that are not boggy or clear of dense overgrowth. Nor is there any dry terrain, except on the intermittent 150 m terrace along the west shore. The terrace sections are discontinuous and surrounded by very boggy terrain. The shoreline is often sloping, and either heavily treed and bounded by bogs, or altogether boggy.
Table 1: Description of Cottage Development Areas at Green Island Lake and Eastern Lake
| Area | Test Units | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Green Island Lake | ||
| A | 4 | -peat; permafrost at 20 cm |
| B | 3 | -tuckamore; peat to 50 cm and continuing |
| C | 8 | -island at south end; heavy tree fall, difficult to move through; test pits shallow (8 cm) with peat over bedrock |
| D | 4 | -boggy with 15 cm peat over bedrock |
| E | 20 | -deep bog with alder growth; test pits to 25 – 50 cm depth; test pits at west end of cove had ash lenses 4-8 cm below surface |
| F | 10 | -heavy tree fall and tree cut area; peat layer approx. 10 cm over bedrock, but deeper in spots |
| G | 18 | -deep bog with alder growth; test pits to 25 – 50 cm depth; test pits at west end of cove had ash lenses 4-8 cm below surface; also walked westward over terrace and test-pitted in bog behind (west of) terrace |
| H | 7 | -surveyed entire cove; area bisected by all-terrain vehicle trail which was visually checked; boggy throughout with deep, bottomless peat layer |
| I | 4 | -on terrace test pits were 7 cm of peat over bedrock; elsewhere 2-3 cm of peat then clay layer |
| J | 3 | -on small island; test pits ranged 12-150 cm depth with bedrock under peat; dense tuckamore cover throughout; gull nesting area |
| K | 3 | -extremely heavy tree fall throughout sloping zone; on terrace test pits 12 cm to bedrock |
| L | 4 | -shallow (4 cm) peat over bedrock on terrace; tree fall extensive throughout slope to lake |
| M | 4 | -shallow (5 cm) peat over bedrock on terrace; tree fall extensive throughout slope to lake |
| N | 9 | -bog, test pits bottomless (greater than 1 m) peat; beach along cove also test-pitted |
| O | 16 | -pulled aluminum boat over land bridge and test-pitted terraces along west side; visually checked all tracks through bog behind terrace |
| P | 15 | -island partially logged with heavy tree fall; peat layer approx. 12 cm deep over clay/silt layer |
| Q | 5 | -shallow peat over hard-packed clay/silt layer resembling decaying bedrock |
| R | 30-40 each side of river mouth | -test-pitted entire mouth of Green Island River northeastward for a distance of approximate 2.5 km ending at narrows; entire area is deep bog with test pits either bottomless peat or 60-70 cm peat over permafrost; checked highland knoll to north of bog; extensive all-terrain vehicle trails throughout, and these were all visually checked |
| S | 8 | -checked entire shoreline of small coves; two with unusual feature of sandy shore edge; also visually checked all open ground (extensive moose trails) through bog to east of shore |
| Eastern Lake | ||
| a | -northeast side of Eastern Lake test-pitted at intervals of 25-30 metres to bedrock; further test pits throughout the top of the 150 m asl terrace on northeast side and along all all-terrain vehicle tracks; tree cover dense but was possible to walk through and test-pit; test pits mainly peat with a sand layer at 5-10 cm over bedrock and occasionally thin ash lenses. Debris (beer bottles, garbage bags) throughout and many areas of decaying tree falls; located one very large stump with 102 growth rings |
Conclusions
In closing, extensive surface and subsurface testing of the Green Island Lake cottage development area yielded no evidence of cultural resources. The northern end of Eastern Lake was also tested with similar results.
Archaeological sites are well known for much of the coastal area of the Great Northern Peninsula. Not well understood are the peninsula’s interior prehistoric cultural resources prompting the call for this Stage 1 Historic Resources Assessment. Northern Peninsula sites not situated on the outermost coast have been recorded at Parsons Pond and Portland Creek (Thomson 1987). These latter locations differ significantly from true interior sites in that they are situated along the shores of bodies of water with direct access to the seacoast. Interestingly, previously recorded prehistoric sites on the island of Newfoundland which are not on the outer coast tend to share this characteristic of being situated along interior waterways with either direct access to the outer coast as inlets, or relatively direct access to the sea via short river runs from interior ponds or lakes. The exceptions are Beothuk sites along Red Indian Lake and other interior lakes, and along the Exploits River inasmuch as these sites are situated on waterways without direct access to the outer coast (Marshall 1996, Table 16.1).
A cursory look at Stage 1 Historic Resources Assessments carried out in interior locations on the island of Newfoundland (Table 2) first of all reveals that these assessments are in response to developments which by their nature tend to be in areas of interior lakes and ponds, such as cottage development areas (for instance, Butts Pond [Stopp 1991], Old Man’s Pond [Renouf 1991, Schwarz 1992]). No archaeological sites have been found during surveys of such locations. The results of these interior studies suggest that there is a low probability of finding sites at interior locations which are not directly accessible to the sea. The second trend, and the exception to the previous statement, suggests that Beothuk sites are the most likely site to be found at interior locations, and that these tend to be on both major interior waterways and on small ponds with access to the seacoast. These observations further suggest that prehistoric land use of the interior of Newfoundland may have differed significantly between culture groups, with a greater use of the interior by the Beothuk than other groups.
Coastal accessibility, and the visibility of an access route from the sea, may or may not prove to be signifying factors in assessing site potential for prehistoric near-coastal lakes and ponds. Future interior and near-coastal assessments should, however, consider these factors as potentially useful for predicting site potential.
| Table 2: Summary of Interior Sites | |
|---|---|
| Site | Reference |
| Sites Situated on interior shore of inlet with direct access to outer coast: | |
| Portland Creek | Thomson 1987 |
| Parsons Pond | Thomson 1987 |
| Deer Lake Beach site | Carignan 1975; Reader 1995 |
| Sites situated on near coastal lakes or ponds with relatively direct access to sea: | |
| Gambo Pond sites | Schwarz 1989,1994 |
References
Carignan, P.
1975 – “Archaeological Survey – 1975.” On file at Culture and Heritage Division, Department of Tourism, Culture, and Recreation, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Marshall, I.
1996 – A History and Ethnography of the Beothuk. Montreal, McGill-Queen’s University Press.
Reader, D.
1995 – “Humber Valley Archaeological Project: Interim Report of 1994 Investigations.” On file at Culture and Heritage Division, Department of Tourism, Culture, and Recreation, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Renouf, M.A.P.
1992 – “Results of Phase 1 Historic Resources Impact Assessment, Old Man’s Pond, Western Newfoundland, 31 July and 4 August, 1991.” On file at Culture and Heritage Division, Department of Tourism, Culture, and Recreation, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Schwarz, F.
1989 – “Gambo II: A Report on Excavations Conducted at Five Prehistoric Sites on Gambo Pond, July-August 1988.” On file at Culture and Heritage Division, Department of Tourism, Culture, and Recreation, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador.
1994 – “Paleo-Eskimo and Recent Indian Subsistence and Settlement Patterns on the Island of Newfoundland.” Northeast Anthropology 47:55-70.
Stopp, M.P.
1991 – “Cultural Resource Assessment of Butts Pond-Middle Brook Remote Site Development.” On file at Culture and Heritage Division, Department of Tourism, Culture, and Recreation, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador.
1998 – “Results of a Stage 1 Historic Resources Assessment of the Long Pond-Traverse Brook Cottage Development Area.” On file at Culture and Heritage Division, Department of Tourism, Culture, and Recreation, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Thomson, C.
1987 – “Archaeological Survey of Two Interior Remote Cottage Areas at Parsons Pond and Portland Creek Pond.” On file at Culture and Heritage Division, Department of Tourism, Culture, and Recreation, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador.