INTRODUCTION
Archaeological research has expanded in the past
few years to incorporate gender issues in its advancement as a discipline.
The acknowledgment of feminism and women's contributions to archaeological
study and development has initiated papers which have attempted to present
archaeology in a more gender inclusive way. Traditional gender stereotypes
are slowly being replaced by a more specific awareness of women's achievements
within North American as well as global archaeology. Recent papers presented
to the CAA have initiated the transition to a more holistic discipline
within Canada. In this paper I hope to contribute to archaeology in Canada
by building on the former gender research regarding women in archaeology.
In essence, this paper documents the multifaceted contributions of women
to Newfoundland and Labrador archaeology and illustrates them as integral
components of archaeology in the Province and in Canada. My objective is
not to quantify individual contributions but to provide a historical background
that will reflect chronologically women's positions in Newfoundland and
Labrador archaeology.
In contrast with other Canadian provinces such as British Columbia and Ontario, archaeological investigations in Newfoundland and Labrador have been a relatively recent endeavour. During the lengthy period from the late 19th century until the 1950s, intermittent inquiries by various male archaeologists did not establish a firm archaeological framework in the province (Fogt 1996; Anton 1996). These initial sporadic inquiries were conducted by 'visiting' archaeologists as there were no provincial departments, institutions or individuals to direct this type of research. Developments in archaeology occurred slowly in Newfoundland and Labrador, however as with other regions, surveys and other types of archaeological investigations increased as time progressed. In fact subsequent investigations from 1960s onwards began a transition to more comprehensive reconstructions and interpretations. Therefore, for the most part, women’s recorded involvement began in the second half of the 20th century in Newfoundland and Labrador and it is with this period from 1960 until the present that I deal with. To begin, it is important to place Newfoundland and Labrador archaeology into context. Archaeological investigations in the province have concentrated along the coasts which were the economic focus of prehistoric and historic groups. In addition, the inception of feminism in the 1960s and 70s meant that more employment opportunities were acceptably available to women and an increasing number of women appeared in university archaeological programs (Stopp 1997: pers.comm.). For the most part, the delayed growth of the discipline in this province has corresponded with an increased awareness of feminist concerns and thus it is necessary to establish a record to reflect on what women have accomplished and continue to accomplish in Newfoundland and Labrador archaeology.
THE 1960s
The 1960s were a turning point for archaeology in
the province. Field and academic activities involved larger scale investigations
of the Island (Fogt 1996) and Labrador (Anton 1996) which have been important
components in later archaeological reconstructions of the province's past.
Fieldwork pursuits during the early 1960's by Norwegian archaeologist Anne
Stine Ingstad and her husband Helge resulted in the discovery of the Norse
site of L'Anse aux Meadows in 1961 (Wallace 1991: 69). The Ingstad’s subsequent
excavations at this site continued for 8 years until 1969. L'Anse aux Meadows,
located at the tip of the Great Northern Peninsula of Newfoundland has
since become a National Historic Site and a World Heritage Site and is
the location of the first Viking village in the New World. The discovery
and excavation of this site by the Ingstads established a legacy that is
quite renowned throughout the province and the nation.
Other archaeological endeavours were conducted contemporaneously elsewhere in the province. Helen Devereux conducted numerous surveys as well as some preliminary excavations from 1964 to 1966 throughout various areas of the island (Devereux 1969). In Bonavista Bay, Devereux's investigations generated interest at the extensive multi-component Beaches site. Following this, in 1965 Devereux ventured to the southwest corner of the island at the Palaeoeskimo site of Cape Ray. Her excavations at Cape Ray provided a justification for further examination of this site. Generally, her research on the island concentrated mainly on the Beothuk inhabitants of Newfoundland, however Devereux encountered a wide array of cultural material during her investigations.
Immediately following Devereux, Urve Linnamae continued excavations at the Cape Ray Light site as well as preliminary excavations at the Pittman site in White Bay in 1967 and 1968 (Linnamae 1975). Linnamae expanded on Devereux's excavations at Cape Ray and subsequently focused her energies on the Dorset Palaeoeskimo manifestation throughout the island. Linnamae's efforts, in addition to Devereux's earlier progress resulted in one of the early classifications of the Dorset culture in Newfoundland (Fogt 1996: 5).
Academically, Memorial University of Newfoundland incorporated anthropology as a course option in 1961 and 1962 within the department of Sociology. As well, in January of 1968 Dr. James A. Tuck was employed by Memorial University of Newfoundland, the first archaeologist on staff.
THE 1970s
In the 1970s there was increased involvement in both
academia and field work. Also, this period saw the first resident females
in Newfoundland involved in archaeology (Stopp 1997: pers.comm.). Fieldwork
began in this decade with Helen Devereux's (1970) excavations at the Indian
Point Site and Urve Linnamae's (1971) survey of Placentia Bay on the south
coast of Newfoundland in addition to her research into Dorset Palaeoeskimo
occupation of the island and elsewhere.
Ingeborg Marshall, a well known Beothuk researcher and a Masters graduate from Memorial, conducted surveys of Notre Dame Bay in 1973, 1974 and 1978 as well as a survey interior Newfoundland at Red Indian Lake (Marshall 1973, 1974, 1978). Her investigations have provided a large body of data concerning the Beothuk inhabitants of the island and these data are a credible source of information regarding Recent Indian occupation in Newfoundland.
At Memorial in 1971, Dr. Sonja Jerkic became the first female employed within the Archaeology Unit's faculty. Dr. Jerkic, as a physical anthropologist, has assisted in many archaeological endeavours throughout the province. Her primary involvement has been in the area of Beothuk research where she continues to accrue rare skeletal material for analyses.
Memorial University of Newfoundland, as the sole degree-granting institution in the province, offered archaeology as a potential course of study in 1973 within the department of anthropology where it remains today. The first undergraduate degrees were awarded under the subdiscipline of archaeology in the early 1970's as well. Memorial's archaeology graduate program bestowed the first Masters degree in 1974 and two years later, in 1976 the first female students Janet Chute, Marcie Madden and M.A.P. Renouf received this graduate degree. Two of these first female graduate students, Marcie Madden (1976) and M.A.P. Renouf (1976), investigated archaic sequences in southern Labrador as part of their thesis work while Janet Chute (1976) did a comparative study of material culture of three aboriginal groups. Since the Master's program was offered in the early 70s, 26 male students and 19 female students have either completed or are completing their course of study. Topic areas for these Master's students primarily deal with Newfoundland and Labrador regions and culture history.
Field pursuits at the Viking site of L'Anse aux Meadows resumed in the mid 1970s under the direction of Brigitta Wallace (Anton 1996). She continued excavations at this site and began reconstructions of the historic activity that occurred there.
Provincially, with the mid 1970s came some government changes. It was during this time that Brenda Clark, a Masters graduate from Memorial became the first female provincial archaeologist. Her position as provincial archaeologist classified her as both curator of the provincial museum and as administrator of all archaeological activity in the province. Further developments within archaeology occurred during the 1970s. During this decade, Selma Barkham, a historian from Quebec, discovered important Basque sites along coastal Newfoundland and Labrador when she analyzed historic legal documents from Spain. In particular she uncovered the location of the 16th century Basque Whaling station in Red Bay, Labrador.
Since excavations at Red Bay, conservation has remained an important component of archaeology in the province and women have secured most of the available positions. Cathy Mathias worked at Red Bay and has directed conservation activities at the European site of Ferryland since 1992. Other conservators that worked at Red Bay including Louise Fox and Charlotte Newton from Parks Canada as well as Judith Logan are linked with numerous other female conservators and non-conservators who have been instrumental in the development of conservation methodology within the province.
THE 1980s
The 1980s brought a boom in archaeological research
throughout the province and a greater awareness of archaeological resources.
Then a Master's candidate at Memorial, Anna Sawicki conducted excavations
as well as salvage work in Terra Nova National Park, Newfoundland in 1980,
in which she examined the extent of Palaeoeskimo occupations in Bonavista
Bay (Sawicki 1982). Also, in 1980 Brenda Kennedy examined marriage patterns
through an analysis of skeletal material from a cemetary at Port au Choix
in western Newfoundland (Kennedy 1980). This analysis provided the basis
for her Masters thesis and has since been published in the Mercury series.
Susan Kaplan's investigations since the early 1980s in central and northern Labrador have involved fundamental reconstructions of Neo-Eskimo culture. Her investigations in Labrador have documented economic and social change of these early Neo-Eskimo inhabitants (Kaplan 1982).
Archaeologist Jane Sproull Thomson, conducted investigations throughout various areas of the province during the 1980s. As provincial archaeologist in the mid-1980s, she co-edited the publication series "Archaeology in Newfoundland and Labrador" during the 7 years it was printed (Thomson and Sproull-Thomson 1980; 1981; 1982; 1983; 1984; 1985; 1986).
In 1983, Priscilla Renouf became the second female archaeology faculty member at Memorial University. In 1984, she conducted a survey of the Northern Peninsula and investigated the Port au Choix and Point Riche Sites for Parks Canada. The following year, Renouf began nearly a decade of excavations at the same Palaeoeskimo sites and thus significantly developed on previous research of the area. This large-scale, systematic field project has expanded our understanding of Palaeoeskimo adaptation.
During the 1980s recurrent underwater investigations occurred in various areas of the province. Janette Ginns, in connection with the Newfoundland Marine Archaeology Society (N.M.A.S) assisted in numerous underwater surveys around the island (Ginns 1986).
In 1986, one of the few investigations in interior Labrador was conducted by Moira McCaffrey, a Masters candidate at McGill. McCaffrey surveyed this area in order to "characterize lithic source localities in the interior eastern subarctic" (McCaffrey 1986). By the end of the decade Linda Jefferson assumed the responsibilities as provincial archaeologist and she her post for approximately 3 years.
Nineteen eighty-six was also the year Carol Krol, then a graduate student at Memorial, began work at Port au Choix and eventually conducted her own excavations at Broom Point in western Newfoundland. She explored the function of the Palaeoeskimo component of the site in connection with general Palaeoeskimo settlement and subsistence patterns (Krol 1986).
Marianne Stopp, a Masters graduate from Memorial, assisted in the early 1980s investigations at the historic site of Red Bay in southern Labrador, however between 1986 and 1992 she has conducted coastal surveys of southern Labrador and of Notre Dame Bay in Newfoundland. As well, Stopp has operated a CRM consulting company since 1989, periodically lectured at Memorial University of Newfoundland, and has been employed as an environmental assessments officer for the provincial government (Stopp 1997: pers.comm.).
THE 1990s
The 1990's have shown an increase in survey work
and excavations in addition to academic endeavours. At Memorial, 6 of the
7 honours dissertations written by females were composed in this decade.
As well, female graduate students have increased through the years. Maribeth
Murray (1992) analyzed faunal remains from the Palaeoeskimo component of
Port au Choix, western Newfoundland while Brenda Kennett (1991) also concentrated
on this area for her 1991 thesis. Also in this decade Helen Kristmanson
(1992) has documented the ceramic sequence in Nova Scotia, Jan Warren (1995)
has observed coastal sedentism in Norway and Jeannette Macey (1996) has
investigated demography and disease in southwest Denmark. In 1996 Sylvie
LeBlanc traced Groswater Palaeoeskimo settlement and subsistence patterns
in the Gulf of St. Lawrence in her Masters thesis (LeBlanc 1996). Most
recently, in 1996 Lisa Fogt, currently a Master's candidate at Memorial,
resumed excavations at the Cape Ray Light site that Devereux and Linnamae
launched in the 1970s. Fogt discovered a Dorset dwelling and plans to utilize
her findings as the basis for her Master's thesis (Fogt 1997: pers.comm.).
As well, two other current Masters candidates Amanda Crompton and Jennifer
Cridland are concentrating on archaeology in Newfoundland.
M.A.P. Renouf, in 1990, continued with her investigations at Port au Choix as well as some additional survey work on the west coast of the island (Renouf 1991, 1992, 1993). Renouf's research at Port au Choix was constant until 1992 and subsequent excavations are scheduled for 1997. At present, Renouf completes her functions as Head of the Anthropology Department at Memorial. Her achievements within the archaeology profession have placed her in an academic position where she encounters and influences all students. In this capacity, Renouf also serves as a role model for aspiring female archaeologists.
In 1992 the present provincial archaeologist, Martha Drake, was appointed. Her capacity as provincial archaeologist within the Division of Historic Resources has broadened since 1992 to incorporate auxiliary personnel to assist her in her duties.
Also in the 1990s, Ingeborg Marshall completed her long-term research into the Beothuk with the publication entitled "A History and Ethnography of the Beothuk" (1996). In addition, Susan Kaplan continues fieldwork in the Okak region of Labrador.
CONCLUSION
Individually, all this information is merely a general
account of women in Newfoundland and Labrador archaeology since the 1960's.
Addressing the following questions can help clarify this information. What
can be discerned from this data and what have women brought to the discipline,
especially in Newfoundland? Three main deductions can be made from this
research: firstly, it is important to note that although women’s contributions
may not have been as visible in the field or academically, their achievements
are just as significant. In this paper I have illustrated many women and
their contributions to archaeology in Newfoundland and Labrador however
many other women, both directly and indirectly have influenced the growth
of the discipline in the province. Secondly, women have and continue to
be role models for other women, both in academia and in the field; and
thirdly, women's perspectives in archaeology in Newfoundland and in archaeology
general were not sufficiently recorded in the past and therefore it is
important to illustrate their contributions now. Women's endeavours in
Newfoundland and Labrador archaeology have made some progress towards a
gender-aware interpretation and presentation of the past. The basic notion
I hope you can take away from this presentation is that women have been
full participants in and have made significant contributions to archaeology
in Newfoundland and Labrador since initial exploration. Perhaps today it
is most important to synthesize women’s contributions in particular because
men’s achievements have been implicit in the field itself. In essence,
only a greater awareness of an "engendered" archaeology can employ archaeological
discourse effectively.
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