The archaeology of a late 18th century sealing post in southern Labrador : George Cartwright's 'Stage Cove'

• Main Author: McAleese, Kevin E., 1953-
• Other Authors: Memorial University of Newfoundland. Dept. of Anthropology
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 1991
• Subjects: Cartwright; George; 1739-1819; Excavations (Archaeology) > Newfoundland and Labrador > Stage Cove; Stage Cove (N.L.) > Antiquities; Newfoundland; Canada; inuit; Newfoundland studies; University of Newfoundland
• Online Access: http://collections.mun.ca/cdm/ref/collection/theses2/id/237268

Thesis (M.A.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, 1991. Anthropology Bibliography: leaves 164-193. Clarke suggests that text-aided archaeology can "increasingly provide vital experiments in which purely archaeological data may be controlled by documentary data, bearing in mind the inherent biases of both" (1973:18). This thesis uses artifacts and text in order to investigate life at Stage Cove, a small sealing post in southern Labrador. Its occupation during the 1770s by approximately 20 to 30 Anglo-Irish sealers, fishermen, fur trappers, and a few Inuit was documented by George Cartwright, the merchant who managed Stage Cove. His journal contains a wealth of general and specific information on the social and economic structure and operation of this and other late 18th century frontier posts in southern Labrador. Like the journals of many explorers or traders however, it presents a singular view of that social and economic structure tailored for a select audience, apparently the British elite (Cartwright 1792 vol.1:xiii-xvi). -- This thesis compares artifacts and architectural remains recovered during an archaeological excavation of the site in 1986, with Cartwright’s journal and other site documentation. Comparing these independent lines of evidence should provide a more comprehensive interpretation of site activity than would archaeology or the documentary record alone. The degree to which the lines of evidence converge will help strengthen interpretations of the site's history.