The Shamblers Cove site, located near Greenspond on the north side of Bonavista Bay, gains prominence in Newfoundland and Labrador archaeology due to the unique characteristics of its Dorset component. It should also be recognized for its multiple instances of First Nation occupations.
The Historic Resources Division first became aware of this site in June 1982 when plans for the Shamblers Cove-Greenspond causeway were proposed. In the preceding decade, the Bonavista Bay region had been a focal point for various archaeology projects, including those at Cape Freels, Terra Nova Park, and the inner islands of the bay, unearthing substantial evidence of human habitation spanning nearly 5,000 years. Armed with this knowledge and a thorough examination of the proposed causeway plans, the Historic Resources Division concluded that the area held archaeological potential and mandated a Historic Resource Assessment before any causeway construction could proceed. The 1982 assessment verified the presence of both Pre-Inuit and First Nations occupations at the site, along with indications of a European occupation in the 19th century.
It is highly probable that all these inhabitants were present in the area to take advantage of the abundant marine resources, such as harp seals, other marine mammals, sea birds, and fish. Terrestrial resources, particularly caribou, likely held significance too, although the acidic soils hindered the retrieval of substantial samples of faunal remains.
The Archaeology Unit at Memorial University (MUN) carried out initial archaeology testing from June 8-10, 1982. They examined a 50 metre right of way on the Shamblers Cove side, a similar stretch on Greenspond Island, and proposed borrow pit locations.
The MUN team assessed all the borrow pits, finding them to have low archaeological potential. They scrutinized numerous pits where overburden had been cleared down to sterile subsoil, as well as several undisturbed borrow pits, yielding no discoveries. Additionally, they inspected the suggested road, road banks, and causeway, along with natural exposures. In instances without exposures, they conducted excavations using 50 cm by 50 cm test pits until reaching sterile subsoil or bedrock.
Seven areas became the focus of archaeological testing. A test pit on Greenspond Island where the causeway comes ashore from the mainland contained only late 19th century European material. Five of the ten test pits on the Shamblers Cove side (mainland side) of the proposed causeway also contained late 19th century European material such as ceramics, nails, glass, buttons and fragments of smoking pipes. Nine of the ten test pits on the Shamblers Cove side contained precontact Indigenous material. Much of it was typical Groswater and Dorset Pre-Inuit material such as side-notched Groswater endblades or tip-fluted Dorset endblades as well as microblades, knives and scrapers. The majority of the occupation pertained to the middle Dorset Pre-Inuit according to the MUN team. Dr. Jim Tuck who headed the team also recognized several First Nation occupations at the site that he initially puzzled over although he did state that the occupations were not Archaic.
Three of the most productive areas recognized in June, areas 1, 5 and 7, saw full-scale excavations conducted from August 1 and 19, 1982 by another MUN team. Many of the areas had flakes and artifacts exposed on the surface because there was so little soil in the area. This lack of soil also resulted in there being no vertical separation of the culture layers, essentially all the cultures were sandwiched into a single thin cultural layer.
Area 1 had Dorset artifacts on exposed peat and bedrock, but the recent European occupation and a 1940s forest fire had disturbed the site. The MUN team chose not to fully excavate due to low productivity and compromised context.
Grass and small plants sparsely covered Area 5 with rocks and occasional flakes and artifacts protruding through the surface. A very thin European occupation was present with Dorset material below it. This layer contained a concentration of rocks that made up a fireplace measuring 1 m by 0.9 m designated Feature 1. A considerable amount of wood charcoal found mixed with, beneath, and scattered around the rocks returned a date of 2340+/-60 B.P. (Beta-5372), too early for middle Dorset on the Island but it would fit a Groswater occupation. However, there were no Groswater artifacts in this area.
Area 7 was very productive with evidence for at least three cultures. Again the stratigraphy was very thin, almost non-existent consisting of a root-infused humus underlain by a thin culture layer in which evidence from all three cultures had been compressed. This area contained three features.
A scatter of fire-cracked rocks and a charcoal lens extending over about three square metres with numerous Dorset artifacts made up Feature 1. Charcoal from the feature returned a date of 1890+/-100 B.P. (Beta-5369) deemed by Tuck to be acceptable for a Dorset occupation.
A concentration of large stones, suspected to be a scattered tent ring, measuring roughly three metres in diameter became Feature 2. A concentration of wood charcoal found near the centre of the feature, probably representing a small central hearth reinforced the idea of the feature being a tent ring. On the surface of this area was a small Little Passage (Beothuk ancestor) projectile point and a Groswater burin-like-tool. A date of 720+/-70 B.P. (Beta-5370) and a second Little Passage projectile point better associated with the hearth clearly suggests the central hearth and tent ring pertains to this culture.
Another hearth consisting of a large concentration of burned rocks measuring 2 m x 1 m resting on a poorly- defined humus zone and bedrock with associated archaeological material made up Feature 3. Wood charcoal from this feature returned a date of 3040+/-140 B.P. (Beta-5371) which Tuck suspected came from a First Nation occupation. Near the hearth was an ovate First Nation biface and a Dorset asymmetric knife.
The 1982 Shamblers Cove excavations produced more than 500 artifacts, from more than 130 square metres and according to Jim Tuck ‘considerable new information regarding the prehistory of northeastern Newfoundland.’ These excavations included the recovery of numerous 19th century European artifacts such as ceramics, glass, metal fragments, flint, kaolin pipe fragments, and other less numerous artifacts. See Tuck 1983 for a more thorough discussion of the European and Pre-Inuit artifacts.
Areas 1 and 7 revealed 15 to 20 Groswater artifacts, including a diagnostic box-based endblade, side blade, bifaces, end scraper, and miscellaneous flake tools. In Areas 1, 5, and 7, Dorset artifacts were found, featuring numerous harpoon end blades, chert or quartz end scrapers, a bifacial knife, knife fragments, ground slate, tip-flute flakes, microblades, and quartz crystal microblade cores. In a discussion of those artifacts, Tuck noted that the small Groswater collection had typical artifacts, crafted from fine-grained, colorful cherts found near Cow Head, including the culturally diagnostic box-based endblade.
The Dorset collection at Shamblers Cove is atypical, featuring an over-representation of hunting and butchering tools, particularly endblades and microblades. Conversely, tools for tasks like hide preparation, such as end scrapers, are under-represented. Tuck suggests a specialization in hunting and butchering for the Shamblers Cove occupation, with a secondary emphasis on weapon maintenance.
A First Nation occupation in area 1 was identified based on just 12 artifacts; six appeared to be unfinished bifaces, four broken biface pieces, a single scraper and a flake. According to Tuck two bifaces could be assigned to the Beaches complex or early Beothuk ancestor.
The overall forms of 28 artifacts found in area 7, the raw materials chosen for their manufacture and the flaking techniques used to produce them all indicate a First Nation origin. Despite these similarities, Tuck believed they came from several different First Nation groups over a 2000-year period.
Area 7 contained six projectile points, two were broadly side-notched and both had round bases, an unusual trait for Newfoundland First Nation projectile points. Tuck pointed out that projectile points with similar base forms came from the Beaches and Bloody Bay Cove sites and that these points may be from an Intermediate First Nation occupation. A collection from the Indian Point site from Beothuk Lake contains a similar point, as does Inspector Island in Notre Dame Bay. Further, similar bifaces have been found at the Intermediate period site of Iceberg site in Labrador, see c and biface d in particular in plate 13 and biface f in plate 15.
Several corner-notched and or stemmed projectile points in area 7 represent the Little Passage or ancestral Beothuk. Tuck did not assign a cultural affiliation to another projectile point found in area 7 that he described as unique in Newfoundland archaeology.
Sixteen bifaces or biface fragments make up a second class of area 7 First Nations artifacts. According to Tuck, they showed considerable variety in terms of form and dimensions. Three were un-notched round-based specimens, made from whitish chert, six were triangular and the remaining were broken pieces. Tuck was confident in that the bifaces were post Archaic i.e. Intermediate or Recent period.
Shamblers Cove has artifacts from a typical Groswater Pre-Inuit and European occupation and an unusual collection from a Dorset collection. Tuck believed Shamblers Cove contained at least three distinct, albeit brief, First Nations occupations. Several bifaces in area 5 suggested a very brief Beaches complex occupation. Area 7 clearly contained a Little Passage occupation as was seen in the diagnostic artifacts found near a hearth in a probable tent ring. The hearth returned a Little Passage era date of 720+/-70 B.P. (Beta-5370). Dr. Don Holly and colleagues were convinced enough with the tent ring that is was included in their recent paper on the evolution of Beothuk and Beothuk ancestor houses and households (Holly et. al. 2023). The side-notched and round bottomed bifaces represent the third First Nations occupation according to Tuck. He thought those bifaces were Intermediate and similar to those found in Labrador dating between 3500 and 2000 years ago. Perhaps these bifaces belonged to the people responsible for the 3040+/-140 B.P. (Beta-5371) date from area 7 though they were not directly associated with the charcoal that returned the date. Initially Tuck suspected the charcoal would return a date more typical of the Dorset on the Island. However, it is much older, he ventured that because all the cultural layers at the site were compressed into such a thin layer that the date might actually be correct and date an older Intermediate First Nation feature. Since the charcoal for the date and the bifaces were not in direct association and he acknowledged that these were speculations of the most tenuous kind. If his speculation is correct it would be the first Intermediate period occupation dated on the island. There may even be a fourth First Nations occupation when you consider the projectile point Tuck described as unique in Newfoundland archaeology; he did indicate that this biface was likely not Pre-Inuit.
Shamblers Cove gained archaeological prominence due to its unique Dorset component. Discovered during plans for a causeway in 1982, the site underwent a Historic Resource Assessment, revealing a 19th-century European presence with multiple Pre-Inuit and First Nations occupations alongside. At least one of the First Nations occupations was likely an Intermediate period occupation, a rarity for Newfoundland.
Holly, Donald H Jr., John C. Erwin, Christopher B. Wolff, Stephen H. Hull, Amanda Samuels, and Jamie Brake
2023 Scaling up and hunkering down: The evolution of Beothuk houses and households. North American Archaeologist 1–30
Madden, Marcie
1976 A Late Archaic Sequence in Southern Labrador. MA, MUN.
Tuck, Jim
n.d. Atlantic Prehistory Draft.
1982 Archaeological Resources in the Shamblers Cove – Greenspond Area.
1983 Excavations at Shamblers Cove – 1982 A Stage 3 Impact Report. 82.07.
INSIDE NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR ARCHAEOLOGY 