This year we are going to have a bit bigger crew than usual, but still relatively small compared to some archaeological excavations. There are a couple of reasons for that. First, the site itself, while one of the richest sites on the island, is contained in a relatively small area and having a bigger crew would create difficulties, particularly since there are few places to camp at the site. Also, because the site produces so many artifacts, relatively small, controlled excavations provides substantial collections that need to be analyzed and catalogued, which takes more even more time than digging them out of the ground. We also want to minimize destruction of the site, and potential erosion. It is part of our professional ethics in archaeology to only disturb those parts of the site that will contribute to answering the questions we are pursuing. In that way, we preserve as much of the site as we can for future questions to be asked.

The field crew this year will include: the co-Principal Investigators, Dr. Don Holly and Dr. Chris Wolff; two graduate students from the University at Albany, Jessica Watson and Jessica Vavrasek; an undergraduate student from Eastern Illinois University, Brian Sparr, and other part-time visitors and assistants.

While in the field, we are largely unconnected to the internet, so updates will be sporadic throughout the summer, but we will try to keep everyone up to date about what we are finding out.

Prep Work

One of the most challenging parts of working in the subarctic is dealing with logistics. While many places in Newfoundland are easily accessible, Stock Cove can only be reached by boat. We usually leave from the town of Sunnyside because it has the nearest dock, and the people of Sunnyside are amazing and supportive of our project. We couldn't do it without them. Our boat captain, Warrick Seaward, is a local fisherman and is very involved in the community. He is our life support while we are out camping at Stock Cove. It takes us about 30 minutes in his boat to get to the site from Sunnyside.

Currently, we are compiling all of our equipment to camp there for about a month. This means tents, sleeping bags, cooking equipment, as well as all of the things that go along with that. We have to haul in all our food and water, and also have to think about how we cart out all of the artifacts we find at the site. There are a lot of moving parts, but we have it down to a science (mostly).

We plan to be on site by July 9th and will continue excavations until August 7th or 8th.

The dock at Sunnyside on a foggy day. 

Introduction to the Stock Cove Archaeology Project

Hello Everyone,

Today we are starting a new blog to keep people informed about the work we are doing at the Stock Cove Archaeology Project. This project began in 2008 when Dr. Christopher Wolff (Chris) of the University at Albany and three graduate students from Memorial University conducted test pits at the famous (or infamous) Stock Cove Site (CkAl-3) near the southern end of Trinity Bay in southeastern Newfoundland. Since that time, Chris and the co-principal investigator of the site, Dr. Donald Holly (Don) of Eastern Illinois University, have been regularly conducting archaeological research at the site and on the collections recovered from it and nearby sites. The site has turned out to be very important, with evidence of almost every culture that lived on the island going back perhaps over 5,000 years! We can tell this mostly from the thousands of stone tools we found at the site. The site is also in need of protection, both from the elements as it is being eroded every year, and from people taking important artifacts from the site and its beach area. Our hope is to work with nearby communities to bring the information that this site can provide to the public and to collaborate with those communities to study and preserve the heritage of the island.

This summer (2016) is particularly excited for us, because Don and I received a three-year National Science Foundation grant to conduct new research at the site. The focus of this research will be to discover evidence of the very first people who occupied Stock Cove, the Maritime Archaic. To do that, however, we will have to excavate through deep deposits of other cultures, so we think this summer is going to produce lots of amazing finds! Future blog posts will inform you about our progress over the summer, and will start to fill in the details as they come. We will also introduce you to the key researchers at the site and some of the people who help make it all possible.

Please feel free to post any comments or questions here.

Chris

Picture of Stock Cove from a nearby ridge.