archaeology2004

fleur de lys archaeological project

2004 field school summary

Cow Cove

Field Work Highlights

	Our third consecutive year of investigations at Cow Cove 3 (EaBa-16) further delineated the extent of the Dorset occupation at this locality. Field School students excavated a total of 19 one by one meter units. This year's excavations were primarily situated along the southerly boundary of the site, along an ancient ridge that was adjacent to the water's edge during the period of the Dorset occupation of Cow Cove. The number of flakes and artifacts recovered in 2004 equaled the combined total for the 2002-03 field seasons.
As in past years, units were excavated by hand with trowel and dustpan and soils were screened to ensure maximum recovery of materials. The focus of this year's excavation, along an ancient beach ridge below the Dorset house structure, further demonstrated the extent of outdoor Dorset activities that occurred along the exposed beach. Activities, such as tool manufacture, were well-demonstrated by the presence of incomplete and broken tools, accompanied by scatters of flakes of comparable material, and size for the stages of manufacture. Planned re-fitting analysis of numerous flakes and incomplete tools of purple and grey rhyolite may yield further information on the activity areas across this site.
	Survey work was conducted in the Town of Fleur de Lys adjacent the main locality of the Dorset Soapstone Quarry. While limited testing of this area had been undertaken in 1997, no systematic survey or mapping had been previously conducted at this location. In addition to establishing a 10X10 meter grid with a theodolite and hand tapes over these lands, student shovel testing confirmed that Dorset made little to no use of this area during the use of the quarry.

Cow Cove 3 Excavation Summary Highlights

A variety of lithic material types have been recovered from the three years of excavations at Cow Cove 3. Of the Dorset material that has been found, these include chert, chalcedony, jasper, ramah, rhyolite, quartzite, and quartz crystal. Below are a variety of Dorset endblades of various materials that have been recovered to date. While no local sources of raw materials have been identified, a coarse grey-coloured chert is found in relatively large quantities on the Cow Cove 3 site, suggesting that the source may be local to the Baie Verte Peninsula.
	A large chipped jasper scraper (above) was recovered during the 2004 field season. While numerous jasper flakes have been recovered from the French Island Tickle site in 2000, little of this material had been recovered at Cow Cove 3 until this summer. This specimen is the only tool fashioned from Jasper that has been recovered from any of the Cow Cove sites. This is the second large scraping tool recovered from Cow Cove 3, with the first being fashioned from grey rhyolite (below) that was discovered in 2000. While atypical of Palaeoeskimo scrapers, both specimens are tentatively identified as Dorset, based upon the exclusion of any non-Palaeoeskimo material form the Cow Cove sites.
The on-going analysis of the Cove Cove 3 site, including the relationship of adjacent Groswater occupation of Cow Cove 1 continues to provide valuable information for warm weather Palaeoeskimo occupations on the Baie Verte Peninsula. In addition to further exploring the relationship of the Cow Cove 1 and Cow Cove 3 sites, fieldwork planned for 2005 is also intended to more fully explore seasonality and locational criteria for Palaeoeskimo sites on the Baie Verte Peninsula. Planned survey work along major river and lake systems that connect the east and west coasts of the Island of Newfoundland are suspected to produce further evidence for warm weather seasonality and mobility patterning amongst Palaeoeskimo groups.

2004 Field School Participants and Staff