introduction

Introduction This large and well-preserved prehistoric soapstone quarry in Fleur de Lys, Newfoundland is the only known Dorset quarry of its kind. There are approximately one thousand Removal Scars preserved in the main exposed soapstone out crop. These carvings are testimony to the quarry's 500 year use, which began approximately 1600 years ago by Dorset peoples. The quarry provided raw materials and served as a workshop for the manufacture of cooking pots and oil lamps, which had been utilized in the tradition of their arctic predecessors for millennia.

Dorset Palaeoeskimos

Dorset peoples are known to us through their archaeological remains. Dorset were hunting and gathering peoples who occupied the Eastern Arctic, Greenland, Labrador and Newfoundland from about 2000 to 1000 years ago. While archaeologists know the Dorset Culture through preserved material remains, they also appear to us as the subject of Inuit oral histories and stories about an older arctic peoples which they knew as Tunnit.

History of Research at Fleur de Lys 1

The prehistoric soapstone quarry located in Fleur de Lys Newfoundland was first described by James Howley in The Beothuck or Red Indian (1915). In this work, Howley attributed the quarry to the aboriginal group known as Beothuk. In 1932, Canadian archaeologist Diamond Jenness reported the quarry in his synthesis of Canada's Native inhabitants, entitled: The Indians of Canada. In this work, Jenness cast some doubt on whether the Beothuk were responsible for the preserved soapstone workings in Fleur de Lys, and suggested that they may have originated with an older Eskimo culture. Finally, in 1940, archaeologist W.J. Wintemberg stated that the Dorset people were responsible for the carvings at Fleur de Lys. While the site was revisited by a number of archaeologists during the 1960s and 70s, it was not reported on again until 1975, when archaeologist Urve Linnamae made a synthesis of Dorset culture on the island of Newfoundland in her work entitled: The Dorset Culture. During the 1980s, the first systematic field investigations were carried out by Christopher Nagle and Callum Thomson to assess the extent and nature of the Dorset use of this soapstone outcrop. See the Archaeological Bibliography for the record of publication and research about the Fleur de Lys soapstone quarry.

Present Research

In 1996, the Newfoundland Economic Renewal Program provided funding for the development of a Dorset museum and interpretation center in the town of Fleur de Lys. In conjunction with this development, a regional Archaeological Survey and Excavation Program was initiated to develop a greater understanding of the archaeological resources and the prehistory of the Baie Verte region. In 1997 this project was directed by Christopher Nagle of Georgetown University, and in 1998, by John Erwin of the University of Calgary. See the Highlights of the 1997-1998 Excavations. During the summer of 1999, ten weeks of archaeological investigation were conducted. The focus of the third year of research was the excavation of a newly found Dorset habitation site known as Plat Bay Cove, and an intensive boat and foot survey of the northern portion of the Baie Verte Peninsula, including the Horse Islands. See the 1999 Field Work Summary. During the ten week field season in 2000, the regional survey was continued in the neighbouring town of Coachman's Cove. In addition, the season focussed on the excavation of a Groswater Palaeoeskimo site which we found during the previous field season. See the 2000 Field Work Summary.

Research Objectives

The general research objectives of the Fleur de Lys Archaeological Project are to: determine the nature and the extent of the Dorset occupation on the Baie Verte peninsula; explain the technological, economic, social and ideological significance of the Dorset soapstone industry in Fleur de Lys; and provide a more balanced view of Dorset pre-history in Newfoundland than is presently possible.