Archaeologists on Newfoundland’s east coast made a rare discovery earlier this summer, when they unearthed what is believed to be the first wampum beads found in the province.
Memorial University archaeology graduate student Calum Brydon came across seven beads while digging at the Colony of Avalon in Ferryland, the site of the former settlement of early Newfoundland governor Baron George Calvert of Baltimore.
“It was a pretty neat thing to find,” said Brydon, adding that, at first, he wasn’t entirely sure what he had dug up.
“There was part of me that realized it’s a shell bead and it just didn’t quite click…. I wasn’t really thinking that I would be the one to find them. So, it took me a second.”
Wampum are white and purple tubular beads made from quahog and whelk shells. They were used by Indigenous peoples on continental northeastern North America for ornamental and ceremonial purposes, and they were woven into belts as mnemonic devices to record traditions, historic events, diplomacy and laws.
They were also used as currency and for trading, and that’s how the group of archaeologists working in Ferryland believes they arrived at the Colony of Avalon.
“English merchants or Dutch merchants would have maybe traded with Indigenous people, acquired them … and then brought them up to Ferryland and again traded them here,” said Brydon.
While the Colony of Avalon is considered to be one of the best preserved and most substantial early European settlements in North America, it is also one of the most poorly documented, according to Barry Gaulton, professor of archaeology at Memorial University’s St. John’s campus.
He said the discovery of wampum is significant for researchers’ understanding of life at the 17th-century settlement, which was founded as a place for Roman Catholics to escape religious persecution in England.
Tiny wampum beads found in Ferryland a huge discovery, say archaeologists
“You think of Ferryland as a small isolated fishing village back in the 1600s, but the people of Ferryland were interacting with, trading with, communicating with various peoples in various parts of North America and continental Europe,” said Gaulton.
“So, these pieces really are a tangible reminder of those connections.”
A total of almost two million artifacts have been found at the site since excavations began under a community-university research partnership in 1992, including gold coins and a copper crucifix.
Gaulton said new artifacts are added every dig season, sometimes even on a weekly basis. It’s the result of a meticulous process — excavation happens by trowel, after which the soil is sifted with the help of a one-millimetre mesh wet screen.
Yet, this summer has been “exceptional,” said Gaulton, turning up many unexpected discoveries.
“We found a couple of small gaming pieces made of slate which were produced here locally in Ferryland back in the 1620s. So, it tells you a little bit about some of the craft activities and some of the leisure activities of the people here,” he said.
“We found some new structural remains this year that we didn’t expect, so this alters our interpretation of the colony and the layout, and the buildings that were here.”
One of the areas where new infrastructure was found is where Brydon came across the wampum — in the cold storage area, known as buttery, he also discovered previously hidden walls.
It’s discoveries like these that make working at the Colony of Avalon something special for him.
“Most sites that we get, I guess, in Atlantic Canada, the majority that are from this time period are generally going to be wooden sites. You’re not going to have these large stone structures,” said Brydon.
“Also just the amount of artifacts, the preservation of them is really just incredible…. It’s pretty unique in that regard.”
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