Over the Hump and (Almost) Out of the Test Pits!

Week Three of Memorial University's 2024 Field School on Turpin’s Island, Little St. Lawrence

Week three of excavations have begun on Turpin’s Island (July 8-14)! We are continuing to excavate test pits on the west side of the island, close to the former stages. However, we started to slow down on the amount of test pits we are opening and focus on finishing the ones currently being excavated. Our aim for the week is to continue explore the features and uncover new artefacts that will help us to better understand the centuries long history of Turpin's Island (almost 500 years according to the historical data). As we finish the excavation of test pits, we begin to transition into the lab to wash and photograph artefacts discovered during field work.

Fig. 1 Aerial picture of the northwestern side of Turpin's Island

Fig. 2 Valentin and Catherine getting in the water

After a relaxing weekend off, excavations started back up this week on Monday morning and boy was it ever a hot one. The sun was shining, and spirits were high. We even got to have a few popsicles on the field for a little treat to beat the heat. At the beginning of this week, we had a total number of 39 test pits opened! Valentin and Catherine took advantage of this great weather to snorkel around the stages to better understand their construction and assess the underwater features and the presence of artefacts.

With the weather as lovely as it was, we could not pass up the opportunity to take another journey back to Shoal Cove Beach for a swim and a fire. The best way to end a hot working day is to take a dip in the "chilly chilly" Newfoundland waters and wrap up around the campfire having hotdogs and s’mores. Couldn’t ask for a better way to start our week.

Fig. 3 Another fine evening at Shoal Cove Beach, even whales were at the rendez-vous!

In true Newfoundland style, the weather turned on us quickly and we woke up Tuesday morning to clouds, fog, and mist. But nevertheless, we dig on! While excavating, something that stood out to us is the neck of a green glass bottle. It was found in our newest test pit, test pit # 40, which is located on the western area of the island, just within the tree line. Based on first observations it appears to be a type of English glass, flared, v-shape bottle neck. We will look deeper into this particular find as we hopefully uncover more shards in further excavation of the test pit.

Two undergraduate students, Sarah Morgan and Kaitlyn O’Leary got to have an RTK lesson with Valentin. They learned how to set up the machine and even got to calculate a few altitude points for some finished test pits. We left the field a bit early that day because we had to catch the semi-final soccer game between France and Spain. We wanted to send out a big thank you to the town of St. Lawrence for opening up the Trophy Lounge early in order for us to watch the game. Even with a devastating loss for France, it was a great experience to watch a thrilling game with a wonderful crew!

We started off Wednesday with a much-needed trip to the lab to clean up our artefacts. With toothbrushes in hand, we began to scrub, scrub, scrub. Keeping up with lab work is crucial because it allows for us to get a better look and understanding of the artefacts that we have found which helps us when it comes to dating and putting the artefacts in the right historical context. After a few hours the majority of the team ventured to go to the field, but Kayla Low and Kaitlyn O’Leary stayed back to continue the lab work. The pair were in charge of photographing the previously cleaned artefacts and organizing them back into their respective bags for further examination.

Fig. 6 Artefacts from test pit 19, layer 2

Thursday the team was split up again as some ventured to the lab and others to the field. Back at the lab, Kayla set up her DinoXcope. This is a portable microscope that we can use to take a closer look at some of the artefacts we were photographing. During our cleaning endeavours, we did a happy dance as we discovered Basque roof tile! This goes to further show the Basque presence in the area which has been dated to be around 16th and 17th century. Meanwhile, our team in the field braved the rain for a few hours to continue excavating the eight remaining test pits! Joey extended test pit # 31 to a trench of 0.50 meters x 3 meters to better document the foundation of a building! Once the rain was too much they returned to the lab and continued cleaning up some artefacts with the rest of the team. We also wanted to say a big thank you to the Hynes family for dropping off some coffee to us at the lab. It really put a pep in our step, and we are so grateful for it!

Fig. 7 Kayla observing a ceramic artefact with the DinoXcope, Leah after excavating in the rain

Friday, we went to the lab to tie up some loose ends for the week before having a group lunch at the Lunch Tin Café. We wanted to say a huge thank you to the lovely staff there who served us the best lunch we’ve had since coming to St. Lawrence. We then spit off again after lunch as some returned to the lab and others to the field where we began wrapping up some of our remaining test pits! Including our deepest test pit to date # 37 excavated by Alyson which reaches a whopping 86 centimetres below the surface! To end off this eventful week we gathered together for some fresh cod and a hilarious game of Quiplash! What better way to end off a busy work week than with food, laughter, and friends?

Fig. 8 Alyson celebrating in test pit #37, the crew grabbing lunch at the Lunch Tin Cafe!

It is bittersweet as this is our last weekend out in St. Lawrence, but we had to make the most of our glorious weekend off. And what would be better to do on Saturday afternoon than to take a trip out to Chambers Cove and do a beautiful hike. The weather was perfect and the view was spectacular! We capped off our evening by going to our favorite spot, Shoal Cove Beach. Surfing and yummy snacks around a campfire is exactly what we needed to relax after a long working week. We ended our week with a birthday BBQ for Leah while watching the nail-biting soccer final between England and Spain (Come on Lads!)… Spain won the game (Olé!).