Provincial Archaeology Office of Newfoundland and Labrador

06/12/2026

MUN Archaeology

Week Two of Memorial University's 2026 Field School on Turpin’s Island, Little St. LawrenceWe have now finished our second week at Turpin’s Island, which means we are halfway through the 2026 field season! Many of the students have completed their initial test pits; however, Test Pits 57, 58, an...

06/11/2026

What to do if you find something archaeological 👀
While we usually share interesting finds from around the province, this week we’re highlighting what you should do if you come across something archaeological.
First: Don’t go looking for artifacts. Excavating, digging, or using metal detectors to search for archaeological objects is illegal without a permit—and is a job for trained archaeologists.
Second: Leave the artifact where it is! When objects are removed before they can be recorded in situ (in place), valuable information is lost.
So, what can you do?
📸 Take a photograph of the artifact where it lies.
📏 Include something for scale (like a coin or key).
📍 Record the location—most smartphones automatically attach GPS coordinates to photos, but you can also use apps, smartwatches, or handheld GPS units.
Once you’ve done that, contact the Provincial Archaeology Office (PAO). You can reach us through Facebook or via the contact information on our website. Be sure to include:
Coordinates/location
Photographs
Date found
Any other helpful details for relocating the artifact
By reporting accidental finds, you help protect Newfoundland and Labrador’s heritage for future generations.
🔗 Provincial Archaeology Office website
https://www.gov.nl.ca/tcar/archaeology/provincial-archaeology-office/
📷 Pictured: A Palaeo-First Nations projectile point reported by a member of the public. This artifact is likely among the oldest types found in the province—and its discovery is thanks to responsible reporting.

06/08/2026

MUN Archaeology

One of our notable Artifacts of the Week from Turpin’s Island is a fragment of Breton coarse earthenware, which was found in Test Pit #59 during the first week of the 2026 field school! This small fragment originates from Brittany, a region in northwestern France that was pivotal in crewing and pr...

06/04/2026

Discovered by Dr. Ralph Pastore from MUN in 1981 during a survey of Notre Dame Bay, the Boyd’s Cove site is one of the most important archaeological sites on the island of Newfoundland. It’s a multi-component site with evidence of Cow Head Complex, Dorset, and ancestral Beothuk occupations, but it is best known as a Beothuk habitation site.
Testing revealed at least 11 Beothuk house pits, with central hearths. The images attached show the excavation of House 3, including an annotated version, along with a site map and cross-sectional drawing that helps reconstruct what these dwellings looked like.
By the late stage of their history, the Beothuk were becoming more sedentary. They built distinctive homes by digging large circular depressions into the ground, the remains of which can be seen at Boyd’s Cove. The excavated soil was piled around the perimeter, helping to block wind and insulate the structure.
In the photo, you can see:
• The house floor, where hearths and numerous artifacts were uncovered
• A post hole, once used to support the wall structure
• The surrounding soil berm, largely free of artifacts, formed from the excavated floor
These posts supported outer walls covered with birch bark or, in some cases, repurposed European sails.
Together, these features offer a powerful glimpse into Beothuk lifeways and their adaptation to the Newfoundland landscape.

05/28/2026

Environmental archaeology, which emerged in the 1970s, explores how past communities lived with and shaped their surroundings. By combining methods from paleoecology, biology, geology, and other natural sciences, researchers can reconstruct ancient landscapes, climate conditions, and the environmental setting of archaeological sites.
Within this field, beetles have become especially powerful clues. Because many species are highly sensitive to temperature, moisture, and habitat disturbance, their remains help scientists infer past environmental conditions. Their tough chitinous shells preserve well, offering insight into everything from diet and sanitation to storage practices and even burial customs. Archaeoentomologists use targeted sampling to recover these tiny beetle body fragments, and specialists identify them in the lab using morphological keys and comparative collections.
Some beetles point to very specific conditions, such as species associated with stored grain, while others reflect broader ecological settings, like those that feed on decaying organic matter. As a result, archaeoentomology provides both direct evidence of past environments and indirect evidence of human behaviour, especially valuable at sites where artifacts are scarce or poorly preserved.
Shown here are subfossil (organic remains that have not fully fossilized) beetle fragments (head, pronotum, and elytra) from Kivalekh in northern Labrador, the largest known Inuit winter settlement. Both specimens belong to the rove beetle family but represent different species: Holoboreaphilus nordenskioeldi (left) and Olophrum boreale (right). These species were identified in Labrador for the first time, giving researchers a clear timeline for their presence (mid‑15th to early 17th century, based on radiocarbon dating). Although both are native Holarctic species, their abundance and the overall beetle assemblage suggest synanthropic behaviour - species drawn to human settlements, likely attracted by organic waste. Stay tuned for more on what beetles can reveal!

05/27/2026

Colony of Avalon

05/22/2026

MUN Archaeology

Countdown to the start of Memorial University's 2026 Field School on Turpin’s Island in Little St. Lawrence!Returning this year with much anticipation, a new group of archaeology students from Memorial University will be continuing previous excavations on the Turpin’s Island site!! From May 25th...

05/21/2026

Something new this week.

Members of the Provincial Archaeology Office (PAO) are conducting fieldwork near Musgrave Harbour this week. Yesterday, we discovered a new precontact Indigenous site exposed in an ATV trail, including numerous stone flakes and a disturbed biface tip. Testing showed nothing insitu.

05/14/2026

The Maritime Archaic people were a coastal, sea-oriented culture who lived in Labrador from roughly 8800–3000 BP and in Newfoundland from about 6000-3200 BP. While their sites are found across the island, they are notably rare on the Avalon Peninsula-but rare doesn’t mean absent.

At some point in the past, a ground stone Maritime Archaic stemmed projectile point made of red slate was discovered near the mouth of a river flowing into St. John’s Harbour-likely somewhere along the Waterford River. The find was documented by geologist and historian James P. Howley, who illustrated it in his book 'The Beothucks or Red Indians: The Aboriginal Inhabitants of Newfoundland' (Object 7 in the grey scale image below).

Unfortunately, many details remain a mystery. We don’t know exactly where it was found, whether Howley discovered it himself or received it from someone else, or how it came to be in St. John’s. Was it once part of a larger site later lost to development? Or was it carried and eventually lost by someone from a later culture who found it elsewhere?

Today, this intriguing piece of the past can be seen on display at The Rooms in St. John’s-a small but powerful reminder that traces of the island’s earliest peoples may still lie hidden in unexpected places. (See the red slate artifact below)