Settled by the English in 1621, the colony of Avalon in Ferryland, Newfoundland has been studied by archaeologists for decades revealing, among other things, what may be the first European sanitation system in North America. Used to redirect and dissipate various forms of wastewater and excrement, the partially excavated 17^th-century remains include subterranean masonry drains associated with the village’s brewhouse, stable, and kitchen, surface gutters placed along exterior cobblestone pavements, and even a communal privy positioned beside the inner harbor so that its contents were ‘flushed’ twice daily with the tides. Through the combined efforts of archaeologists and engineers, a project is underway to investigate the design, construction, and operation of individual drainage features and combined sanitation systems at Ferryland through the application of civil engineering principles. GPR, LiDAR, high-resolution Digital Elevation Models and computer simulations will be employed in these investigations. The goal is to provide a comprehensive local case study of early modern sanitation management, which includes considerations of site-specific ground slope, drainage, and availability of materials into How, What and Where things were built. Future research will contextualize these early sanitation practices within comparable traditions in Southwest England where most of Ferryland’s colonists originated.

In 2022, the Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center in collaboration with the University of Montréal carried out archaeological work in northwestern Newfoundland, on Old Ferolle Island. The work was part of my doctoral research on Basque and indigenous interactions around the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, which assesses evidence of contemporary occupations on transatlantic fishing sites.

Historical research by Selma Barkham (1989) identified Old Férolle as a Basque fishing station during the 16th to 18th centuries. In 1993 and 1995, Callum Thomson, in a survey of Old Férolle, confirmed its use as a fishing post by Basque and French fishermen and by English in the 19th century. Thomson also reported the discovery of ten tent-ring features on the fishing station, which may belong to Inuit or other indigenous groups. Our work aimed to document the tent-rings and sought to identify evidence of Basque, Inuit, or other indigenous presence. The lack of in situ artifacts prevented us from drawing firm conclusions as to the cultural affiliation of the encampments. However, we obtained relevant information on a variety of forms of tent-rings that raise new hypotheses about indigenous presence in this cod fishing station and the dynamics of their occupations in the 17th century.

In 1931, Fort Saint-Louis, in the remote coastal community of Port La Tour, Nova Scotia, was declared a national historic site. The basis for the declaration was the association of the location with the early seventeenth-century, fortified fur-trade post of Charles de Saint-Etienne, Sieur de La Tour (c. 1593-1666), of Saint-Just, Champagne, France and Port Royal, Annapolis Basin, Acadie.  Under the care of landowners and community, Fort Saint-Louis remained largely undisturbed since the eighteenth century. This status changed in 2010, when archaeological assessment was required.  The arhcaeological work inspired a community-driven partnership, in place since 2017, to explore through archaeology, the landscape of Fort Saint-Louis and the multiple identities represented therein.

This paper summarizes the archaeology underway at Fort Saint-Louis and the success of a layered community approach. Focus will be placed on artifacts and cultural belongings that address the long cultural-landscape history in the bay as well as a long-standing gap in Nova Scotia's archaeological record. Underpinning the work, is a sense of urgency given increasing impacts to the site due to climate change events.