ARCHAEOLOGICAL HERITAGE AS A CATALYST
FOR PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT, RURAL
REJUVENATION, AND RETHINKING OUR SHARED
PAST: PERSPECTIVES FROM A QUARTER
CENTURY OF COMMUNITY ARCHAEOLOGY IN
NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR
Patrimônio arqueológico como catalisador para o
envolvimento público, o rejuvenescimento rural e o
repensar de nosso passado comum: perspectivas de
um quarto de século de arqueologia comunitária em
Terra Nova e Labrador
Barry C. Gaulton
Lisa K. Rankin*
ABSTRACT
Archaeological research in Canada’s easternmost province has
enjoyed a long and evolving history of community partnerships.
This is due, in part, to Memorial University’s unique mandate, as
well as the Department of Archaeology’s strong commitment to
working with individuals and organizations where excavations
are conducted. Three case studies from Newfoundland and
Labrador shed light on the motivations, experiences, challenges,
and outcomes that community–university research partnerships
can foster, and demonstrate that archaeology has the potential to
make valuable local contributions.
Keywords: Archaeology; community–university partnerships;
traditional knowledge; rural rejuvenation; social justice.
* Department of Archaeology, Memorial University of Newfoundland. St. John’s, NL,
Canada, A1C 5S7. +1-709-864-8869
E-mail: bgaulton@mun.ca; lrankin@mun.ca
História: Questões & Debates, Curitiba, volume 66, n.2, p. 19-44, jul./dez. 2018
20
GAULTON, B. C. e RANKIN, L. K. Archaeological heritage as a catalyst for public engagement…
RÉSUMÉ
La recherche archéologique dans la province canadienne située le
plus à l’Est du pays a longtemps profité d’une histoire de
partenariats avec les communautés qui a su évoluer dans le
temps. Cela s’explique, en partie, par le mandat exceptionnel de
la Memorial University, ainsi que par l’engagement prononcé du
département d’archéologie pour travailler avec les individus et les
organisations locales lors des excavations. À partir de trois études
de cas de Terre-Neuve et Labrador, cet article met en lumière les
motivations, les expériences, les défis, et les résultats que les
partenariats communauté–université peuvent générer, et démontre
le potentiel de la discipline archéologique à réaliser des
contributions importantes au niveau local.
Mots-clés: archéologie; partenariats communauté–université;
savoir traditionnel; rajeunissement rural; justice sociale
RESUMO
A pesquisa arqueológica na província mais oriental do Canadá se
beneficiou de uma longa e expansível história de parcerias com as
comunidades. Tal deve-se, em parte, ao mandato excepcional da
Memorial University, assim como ao engajamento forte do
departamento de arqueologia em trabalhar com indivíduos e
organizações locais durante escavações. A partir de três casos de
estudos da província de Terra Nova e Labrador, este artigo revela
as motivações, as experiências, os desafios, como os resultados
que podem surgir das parcerias comunidade-universidade, e
atesta do potencial da arqueologia em contribuir localmente de
forma vantajosamente.
Palavras-chave:
arqueologia;
parcerias
comunidade–
universidade; saber tradicional; rejuvenescimento rural; justiça
social
Introduction
The following paper presents an overview of community–
university research partnerships on archaeological sites in Canada’s
easternmost province, Newfoundland and Labrador. Using three
culturally and geographically distinct case studies, it demonstrates
how this province’s archaeological resources play an integral part in
engaging the public, in rejuvenating the social and economic fabric of
História: Questões & Debates, Curitiba, volume 66, n.2, p. 19-44, jul./dez. 2018
GAULTON, B. C. e RANKIN, L. K. Archaeological heritage as a catalyst for public engagement…
21
rural and Indigenous communities, in working towards reconciliation,
and in rethinking the past for the benefit of our shared future.
Memorial University of Newfoundland (MUN) was
established as a memorial to those who lost their lives during the First
and Second World wars and was designed to help build a better future
for the people of the province. As such, it has a unique mandate,
which includes the phrase “a special obligation to the people of
Newfoundland and Labrador” (MEMORIAL UNIVERSITY, 2013).
This obligation prioritized community-based research agendas,
promoting social justice at the local scale by providing education;
training; economic opportunities; and, more recently, paths toward
reconciliation with Indigenous communities. All this began long
before community engagement and knowledge transfer were
institutionalized elsewhere.
Social scientists at Memorial University embraced applied,
community-based research in the years following Newfoundland and
Labrador’s confederation with Canada (1949), when urbanization and
industrialization threatened the continuity of the new province’s
largely rural lifeways (WEBB, 2015). The initial goals were twofold:
to record a way of life before it disappeared, but also to encourage a
participatory democracy through which communities could find local
solutions to the social and economic issues arising from the
transformation to modernity. Archaeologists, operating largely in
rural settings, witnessed this disenfranchisement first hand and
integrated training, employment, and tourism strategies into their
research to assist the communities in which they worked.
Starting in 1979 in Red Bay, Labrador, local residents
partnered with MUN archaeologists to unearth, interpret, and preserve
the remains of the sixteenth-century Basque whaling industry. These
excavations provided summer employment and training opportunities,
local businesses thrived, and the discovery became an immense
source of pride for the community. The social and economic benefits
of the annual archaeological excavations, combined with the national
and international interest in these discoveries, transformed this sleepy
fishing village into one of Newfoundland and Labrador’s premier
tourist attractions, first as a designated National Historic Site of
Canada, in 1979, and more recently as a UNESCO World Heritage
Site, in 2013.
História: Questões & Debates, Curitiba, volume 66, n.2, p. 19-44, jul./dez. 2018
22
GAULTON, B. C. e RANKIN, L. K. Archaeological heritage as a catalyst for public engagement…
The early 1990s saw an important shift in the nature of
partnerships between archaeologists and the communities in which
they conducted research. Following the collapse of the cod fishery in
1992, many communities requested assistance from the university to
help find local, culturally appropriate solutions to the ensuing
economic crisis. Having witnessed earlier implementations of
archaeological tourism, communities came prepared to develop
partnerships with the Department of Anthropology (now Department
of Archaeology) that formalized co-management strategies that would
equalize power relations between academics and locals and ensure
that both community and research goals guided the development of
archaeological resources (RICHARDSON and ALMANSASÁNCHEZ, 2015). These formalized strategies often spawned notfor-profit community organizations, the members of which – ranging
from fishers and business people to teachers and accountants –
brought valuable perspectives to the table and steered these research
partnerships in directions that sought to maximize education and
retraining opportunities, increase public input and engagement,
develop/expand tourism potential, and maintain an equal stake in how
their local history was represented.
More recently, our partnerships with Indigenous communities
have taken the process a step further by implementing research
agendas established by the communities themselves, helping to centre
the Indigenous voice in the presentation of their own history
(ATALAY, 2012). These new partnerships have developed around
the themes of social justice and reconciliation rather than particular
archaeological sites. Their focus is on the creation of a body of
archaeological, historical, and cultural material informed by both
traditional knowledge and academia that could serve as a community
resource used to bolster everything from land claims and identity to
education and economic initiatives.
Today, the majority of publicly accessible archaeological
sites in Newfoundland and Labrador involve strong community-based
management, whether from a community council, not-for-profit
foundation, or historical society. The recognized stakeholders have
also grown: government officials, the interested public, local
historians, avocational archaeologists, sport divers, and descendants
of those who lived and worked on the same lands where
História: Questões & Debates, Curitiba, volume 66, n.2, p. 19-44, jul./dez. 2018
GAULTON, B. C. e RANKIN, L. K. Archaeological heritage as a catalyst for public engagement…
23
archaeologists conduct their excavations all have a voice in the
interpretation, dissemination, and preservation of the past.
These partnerships, and the resultant approaches taken by
MUN archaeologists and community stakeholders, are not unique to
Newfoundland and Labrador. Notable community–academic
partnerships have taken place in many parts of Canada, from the
Arctic to the Maritimes to the Prairies (AUGUSTINE et al., 2007;
BROOKS, 2007; FRIESEN, 2002). The same can be said for
collaborations in the United States at such places as Little Rapids,
Minnesota, and Ozette, Washington (KIRK and DAUGHERTY,
1978; SPECTOR, 1993). The partnerships involving MUN are
highlighted here for their frequency, longevity, and commitment to
social justice. Of equal importance is the fact that both the
Government of Newfoundland and Labrador and Memorial
University recognize community archaeology as socially,
economically, morally, and pedagogically valuable in its own right.
We would argue that this provides fertile ground for the further
development and application of community-based approaches.
From a conceptual standpoint, the terms “community” and
“heritage” are utilized in the broadest possible sense. A community is
not easy to define, nor is it monocultural or necessarily unified in
thought or purpose (JAMESON and BAUGHER, 2007, p. 4-5;
MARSHALL, 2002, p. 215). As outlined by Marshall (2002, p. 216),
two kinds of community often emerge as a result of archaeology:
nearby residents with a stake in the project and/or descendants of
those who once occupied the lands under investigation. These two
communities are not mutually exclusive, nor do their interests fully
represent the goals of other stakeholder groups; however, this dual
construct provides a useful starting point for the following discussion.
Heritage is an equally problematic and diffuse concept, but one which
can be envisioned in both its tangible and intangible forms,
encompassing everything from landscapes, seascapes, oral histories,
and traditional knowledge to excavated hearths and stone walls,
preserved flora and fauna, and extant buildings.
História: Questões & Debates, Curitiba, volume 66, n.2, p. 19-44, jul./dez. 2018
24
GAULTON, B. C. e RANKIN, L. K. Archaeological heritage as a catalyst for public engagement…
Case Study 1: An evolving partnership at Ferryland,
Newfoundland
Our first case study is the archaeological site at Ferryland,
Newfoundland, located on the east coast of Newfoundland’s Avalon
Peninsula. Much of the research on Ferryland has focused on the
1621 colony established by Sir George Calvert (the 1st Lord
Baltimore) and the succeeding plantation of Sir David Kirke and
family, from 1638 to 1696 (GAULTON, 2013; GAULTON and
TUCK, 2003; TUCK, 2013; TUCK and GAULTON, 2013). This site
is a treasure trove of information because Ferryland is an
archaeologically rich and well-preserved seventeenth-century North
American colony for which there are only a handful of primary
sources. Archaeological investigations have demonstrated that
Ferryland was occupied for at least 100 years prior to official
colonization in 1621. So it is through excavation that we are obtaining
a more holistic understanding of all the past residents of this
community – including the Beothuk, the Indigenous people who lived
on what is now the island of Newfoundland, as well as migratory
fishers from Europe – and each group is represented through our
program of interpretation and dissemination.
Large-scale archaeological investigations at Ferryland
coincided with the 1992 Atlantic cod moratorium, an event that
forced approximately 25,000 fishers and plant workers in
Newfoundland and Labrador to abandon their traditional livelihoods
(GIEN, 2000, p. 121). The moratorium “triggered the largest
industrial closure in Canadian history,” and many rural communities
hit rock bottom socially and economically (DOLAN et al., 2005, p.
202). A federal–provincial agreement had already been put in place in
1991 to excavate the Ferryland site, and this academic research, slated
to begin in 1992, had the added benefit of providing employment and
retraining opportunities for community members in both Ferryland
and the surrounding region (TUCK, 1993, p. 296). Locals were
trained in archaeological fieldwork techniques, the conservation and
stabilization of artifacts, and best practices in collections
management. Following the formative years of the early 1990s, as
História: Questões & Debates, Curitiba, volume 66, n.2, p. 19-44, jul./dez. 2018
GAULTON, B. C. e RANKIN, L. K. Archaeological heritage as a catalyst for public engagement…
25
more was uncovered, interpreted, and made available to the public,
our vision for the Ferryland site evolved, in close collaboration with
staff and community members.
The local not-for-profit Colony of Avalon Foundation was
established in 1994 with a mandate to “investigate, interpret, preserve
and develop the archaeological remains of Lord Baltimore’s Colony
of Avalon.” Volunteer board members from all walks of life, working
within the parameters of the Foundation’s core mandate – and in close
collaboration with archaeologists from Memorial University – strove
to make this archaeological site a key tourist attraction for the region.
Of equal importance was the fact that we as archaeologists sought to
make it a source of collective pride for the community and a way to
embrace our past to build a viable and vibrant future. In partnership
with the Foundation, our level of interpretation, public dissemination,
and infrastructure grew in leaps and bounds, spurring subsequent
growth and diversification at the community level.
Within five years, an interpretation centre, conservation lab,
and collections room were built not far from the archaeological site to
display, conserve, and store our finds. Guided tours were available
throughout the summer months, and three heritage gardens – a
gentlemen’s garden, herb garden, and kitchen garden – were
established using period plans and construction techniques. A gift
shop was opened, and directly behind it, a reproduction seventeenthcentury kitchen room, staffed by costumed interpreters who educate
visitors about the challenges of life in Newfoundland during the early
modern period. Integrated into the kitchen’s interpretative program
are reproductions of ceramic and glass vessels and clay tobacco pipes
found during the excavations.
História: Questões & Debates, Curitiba, volume 66, n.2, p. 19-44, jul./dez. 2018
26
GAULTON, B. C. e RANKIN, L. K. Archaeological heritage as a catalyst for public engagement…
Figure 1
Costumed interpreter Lori Pittman demonstrating how a seventeenth-century
puzzle jug works. The jug is a reproduction of a vessel found during
excavations at Ferryland. Image courtesy of the Colony of Avalon
Foundation.
Visitors learn about where and when the original historic
objects were made, how they were used, and where on the site they
were found, allowing them to directly relate to the processes of
archaeological excavation, analysis, and interpretation. These same
site-specific reproductions are available for purchase in the adjacent
gift shop.
With the addition of these new components, community
members receive further training and employment opportunities as
tour guides, heritage gardeners, living history interpreters, and retail
staff. Local artists are commissioned to produce a variety of sitespecific objects for sale in the gift shop, including ceramics,
jewellery, clothing, and paintings. Local gardening groups participate
in the planting and maintenance of the three gardens, and the
Ferryland Historical Society and the Folk Arts Council partner with
the Colony of Avalon Foundation in celebrating Ferryland-Maryland
Day through a variety of onsite activities that incorporate the
archaeological discoveries.
História: Questões & Debates, Curitiba, volume 66, n.2, p. 19-44, jul./dez. 2018
GAULTON, B. C. e RANKIN, L. K. Archaeological heritage as a catalyst for public engagement…
27
Local businesses flourish. Since 1995, the number of nearby
bed-and-breakfasts has increased from one to four. Entrepreneurs
utilize the popularity of the archaeological site and its thousands of
annual visitors to open restaurants and other cultural venues, such as
the Colony Cafe, the Lighthouse Picnics, the Tetley Tea Room, and
the Southern Shore Dinner Theatre. All provide local employment as
well as an opportunity to highlight the scenic beauty and unique
history and folklore of the Ferryland area.
In retrospect, it is within the context of growth and
diversification in archaeological tourism that we see two distinct
trajectories in staff employment, retention, and involvement. On one
path, we have a core group of employees who remained with the
project, even when Newfoundland’s economy improved and wellpaying jobs in the oil industry were readily available. For this group,
the archaeological site and its associated collections instill a deep
appreciation of their community’s history and pride of place. On a
personal and professional level, our core staff are invested in and
identify with this project and as such remain active stewards of the
archaeological site and its associated infrastructure year-round,
despite the fact that we can only provide seasonal employment.
On the other path, we have local high school and postsecondary students who work for several summers but then move on
to complete a degree or trade training and gain full-time employment.
It is worth noting that some pursued undergraduate and graduate
degrees in archaeology, history, or folklore. Despite the relatively
brief duration of employment, this group’s bond with the
archaeological project and its core staff endured. Many paid forward
their positive archaeological experiences by later volunteering their
time and expertise on the Foundation’s Board of Directors, or by
contributing in other ways through donations and/or promoting the
site through word-of-mouth.
Promotion and positivity at the local level have provided an
added benefit in the form of intra- and inter-generational staffing.
Siblings and extended family members of former field and lab crews
later worked as archaeological assistants, laboratory staff, tour guides,
living history interpreters, or gift shop staff. On other occasions,
children of early staffers were employed, or the parents of former
students became interested in working on the project after hearing
História: Questões & Debates, Curitiba, volume 66, n.2, p. 19-44, jul./dez. 2018
28
GAULTON, B. C. e RANKIN, L. K. Archaeological heritage as a catalyst for public engagement…
about their child’s experiences on “the dig”. Continuity in staffing
was not restricted to local residents. MUN undergraduate students
working in the field and laboratory were groomed to take supervisory
positions and eventually lead roles following the retirement of James
A. Tuck and Catherine Mathias, Ferryland’s first site director and
conservator, respectively.
The end result is a long-term exercise in relationship
building, trust, and mutual respect. University faculty, staff, and
students become part of the local community; community members,
in turn, are integrated into every aspect of university research and
outreach. The importance of camaraderie and trust for a viable and
enduring community–university research partnership such as this
cannot be understated. James A. Tuck provides but one small
example: “Countless times these friends [community members]
picked up trowels or pumps or wheelbarrows and stored them safely
until the next morning; no better security could have been hired from
Brinks” (TUCK, 2013, p. 270-271).
An increase in local and regional visibility afforded by
community-based research has borne unexpected fruit by way of
improved communication and interaction with avocational
archaeologists, sport divers, and recreational metal detectorists. Open
dialogue with these groups – all of whom impact archaeological
resources to a greater or lesser degree – should be viewed as a means
to gain additional insight into buried or submerged cultural remains,
as well as an opportunity to promote careful recording or preservation
of the same. Several new archaeological sites around the Avalon
Peninsula and beyond have been identified as a result, one of which
was later surveyed and excavated in collaboration with the
recreational metal detectorist who first found it (VENOVCEVS,
2016). Instead of isolating or denigrating this oft-maligned group of
stakeholders, we need to find ways, when appropriate, to better
educate and assimilate them into the study of the past.
From a research and training standpoint, the Ferryland
archaeology project has proven to be an immense benefit to
archaeology faculty, graduate students, and undergraduate students at
Memorial University, as well as to archaeological conservators at
Fleming College and Queen’s University. Our ongoing efforts have
led to two post-doctoral fellowships, three PhD dissertations, 20
História: Questões & Debates, Curitiba, volume 66, n.2, p. 19-44, jul./dez. 2018
GAULTON, B. C. e RANKIN, L. K. Archaeological heritage as a catalyst for public engagement…
29
master’s theses, and 12 honours essays, and we have hosted 20
conservation interns and provided hands-on-training for more than
100 undergraduate students.
Despite all of the positive things happening at Ferryland,
archaeologically based heritage attractions such as this cannot and
should not remain stagnant. To survive and to flourish, we must
evolve. Starting in 2014, we embarked upon the next stage of this
community–university partnership, one that involves a greater variety
of experiences and opportunities for visitors and locals of all ages and
interests. While still maintaining the core experience of the ongoing
archaeological investigation and interpretation, visitors can now
participate in further educational and experiential learning
opportunities, such as working alongside dig staff as part of the
Archaeologist for a Day program or attending one of several annual
public lectures. The general public are challenged to recreate a
colonial recipe with the weekly program The Great Colonial Cook
Off, while children participate in scavenger hunts and artifact
identifications as part of the popular Baltimore’s Backpacks program.
História: Questões & Debates, Curitiba, volume 66, n.2, p. 19-44, jul./dez. 2018
30
GAULTON, B. C. e RANKIN, L. K. Archaeological heritage as a catalyst for public engagement…
Figure 2
“Explorer’s Passport,” on-site scavenger hunt activities, and backpack from
the Colony of Avalon Foundation’s Baltimore’s Backpacks program. Image
courtesy of the Colony of Avalon Foundation.
Further educational opportunities for children can also be
found in the recently published children’s book The Great Ferryland
Dig (MOULAND, 2014). Finally, local knitting groups have also
partnered with the Foundation on the Stitching Nine over Time
project, which seeks the public’s assistance in producing a large,
hooked rug with nine panels, each representing an important part of
Ferryland’s history, largely inspired by our archaeological findings.
In the context of Ferryland, archaeology is a catalyst for
social and economic change at the local and regional levels. It is a
source of pride for the affiliated academic institution as well as for
members of the community. These kinds of long-term archaeological
investigations enrich the lives of everyone involved; they provide a
collective sense of identity and, probably most important, a renewed
sense of optimism for the future.
História: Questões & Debates, Curitiba, volume 66, n.2, p. 19-44, jul./dez. 2018
GAULTON, B. C. e RANKIN, L. K. Archaeological heritage as a catalyst for public engagement…
31
Case Study 2: Archaeology with the People of
NunatuKavut
In 2001, after a 13-year absence, a new generation of
Memorial University archaeologists began work in coastal Labrador.
In the interim, the cultural landscape of this region had been
transforming. Inuit, Inuit-Métis, and Innu had made varying degrees
of progress in their quest for provincial and federal recognition and
had become more engaged in vetting the work of outside researchers.
At first, interactions between archaeologists and these communities
were basic and aimed to simply keep communities informed of
research results through presentations and school visits, while
allowing relationships of trust to develop. In 2006, we received the
first formal request for a research partnership from the Labrador
Inuit-Métis Nation (now the NunatuKavut Community Council).
Following the excavation of a small Inuit winter village near
Cartwright, Labrador, the Inuit-Métis approached Memorial
archaeologists to help them learn more about Inuit history in southern
Labrador. The Inuit-Métis trace their ancestry to the eighteenth- and
nineteenth-century marriages of Inuit women and European settlers.
By 2006, their land claims case was in development, and their legal
team had determined the need to make a case for the continuity of
Inuit occupation in southern Labrador because their oral traditions
alone would not satisfy the provincial and federal Canadian court
systems. Unfortunately, both archaeological and historical research in
the region up until that time had been limited. Previously published
literature made it impossible to be certain if the Inuit had ever resided
in southern Labrador and did not address how Inuit-Métis
ethnogenesis developed (RANKIN and CROMPTON, 2013).
We initiated the project with a retreat that brought together
Inuit-Métis leadership and community members from southern
Labrador, as well as scholars with an interest in the history of
occupation of the region. Over four days, we collectively drafted a
research plan that ultimately led to a successful application to the
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of
Canada for a five-year, million-dollar project. There were many
História: Questões & Debates, Curitiba, volume 66, n.2, p. 19-44, jul./dez. 2018
32
GAULTON, B. C. e RANKIN, L. K. Archaeological heritage as a catalyst for public engagement…
concerns expressed by the academics upon entering the partnership,
not the least of which was the inability to predict what, if any,
archaeology might be found to support the Inuit-Métis claim. In the
same vein, we fretted over our role as social advocates; none of the
academics involved in the project were trained social strategists, and
we wondered how seriously our research would be taken by the
academic and legal communities if it were perceived as such.
However, it became clear at the retreat that what the Inuit-Métis
wanted from this particular partnership was for us to undertake
traditional academic research and disseminate the results following
normal academic procedures, in order to make their history more
accessible to the widest possible audience and to provide them with
the background context required for their land claim. All parties
strove to create a research project that would include a variety of
tangible outcomes for both the Indigenous community and the
academic partners, including specialist and general audience
publications; accessible research tools, such as websites; skills
training; films; and educational resources that would be valuable to
the local Inuit-Métis communities regardless of the results of the
archaeology.
We need not have worried. From the beginning, the InuitMétis told us, “We know who we are.” It was not long before we
discovered ways to demonstrate this history archaeologically. By the
end of the project, more than 40 Inuit and Inuit-Métis sites had been
identified in southern Labrador, of which 10 had been subject to
intensive excavation. The research has contributed to the
establishment of a chronology of Inuit occupation in the region and
has demonstrated the manner in which Inuit-Métis ethnogenesis
occurred (KENNEDY, 2014; RANKIN et al., 2015). This information
is now being integrated into land claims documentation by the InuitMétis and their lawyers. However, it was the other initiatives we put
in place which made the partnership thrive, built lasting relationships
between communities and academic researchers, and heightened the
sense of shared identity in the various communities represented by the
Labrador Inuit-Métis Association.
The partnership emphasized educational initiatives from the
beginning. Between 2009 and 2014, we worked with the various
provincial school boards to have Inuit-Métis people recognized at all
História: Questões & Debates, Curitiba, volume 66, n.2, p. 19-44, jul./dez. 2018
GAULTON, B. C. e RANKIN, L. K. Archaeological heritage as a catalyst for public engagement…
33
levels of the history and social studies curricula. This community is
now represented in all the relevant textbooks in the province. We also
ran school workshops throughout Inuit-Métis territory. Younger
students learned to replicate traditional artifacts, while high school–
level students (and their teachers) were trained in movie production
and editing so that each graduating class produced movies with
cultural themes. Various members of the team produced websites, but
the central project website, Understanding the Past to Build the Future
(www.mun.ca/labmetis), allowed students and teachers to directly
download all project reports and publications, as well as pictures of
artifacts and historical images of their communities. An interactive
exploration of an Inuit winter house, interviews with elders, and
family trees based on each of the original European/Inuit families
were also featured. To this day, we continue to have at least 2000 site
visits per month, with the majority coming from Labrador as locals
access information relevant to their own history. Our final
contribution to education, due in 2018-2019, , is “Lab-Life,” a virtual
world portal allowing teachers and students to explore the historic
Inuit-Métis world of southern Labrador in an online game format.
Skills training was also an important element of the
partnership. Each summer, high school students from Inuit-Métis
communities worked on archaeological excavations and in our field
laboratories. The goal was not to create a new generation of InuitMétis archaeologists, but to expose students to team-building skills
and enhance self-confidence. Every one of the 12 students we
employed continued on to post-secondary education, which exceeded
our expectations given the generally low graduation rate of InuitMétis high school students in the region. Furthermore, all of those
students have remained in Métis communities, building local
capacity. We also worked closely with the fledging tourism industry
in the region, providing destination stops at our excavations for boat
and kayak tours and developing heritage-interpretation skills with
those involved in the industry to enhance economic opportunities. We
also developed products, such as heritage-based placemats requested
by local restaurants, to promote local culture and destinations.
História: Questões & Debates, Curitiba, volume 66, n.2, p. 19-44, jul./dez. 2018
34
GAULTON, B. C. e RANKIN, L. K. Archaeological heritage as a catalyst for public engagement…
Figure 3
Heritage placemat requested by the hospitality providers in Inuit-Métis
communities. Image courtesy of the Understanding the Past to Build the
Future Project.
Finally, in addition to creating academic publications that
brought awareness of our research to historical scholars, we
publicized research for a general audience through radio, television,
newspaper, and magazine articles and the production of two films.
One of these films, The People of NunatuKavut, has been accepted to
various national and international film festivals and was recently
broadcast by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation to a television
audience of more than 60,000 Canadians. The Inuit-Métis story is
now widely known and accessible. Interestingly, the academic
publications, which include three books, are among the most soughtafter products of the research in Inuit-Métis communities, as locals
recognize their own history and the contributions they made toward
its dissemination.
Together, these outcomes delivered what the community
wanted from the research: data which could be integrated into their
land claims case, identity-building tools to be used by their members,
História: Questões & Debates, Curitiba, volume 66, n.2, p. 19-44, jul./dez. 2018
GAULTON, B. C. e RANKIN, L. K. Archaeological heritage as a catalyst for public engagement…
35
and media resources to create an external awareness of their culture.
Throughout this process, the Inuit-Métis continued on their own
journey of self-discovery. They now proudly self-identify as Southern
Inuit, and their membership is represented by the NunatuKavut
Community Council, which has established its own research wing and
continues to build and develop new research partnerships as their land
claims enter the final stages. As archaeologists, we also benefitted; at
the academic level, we made an influential contribution to the culture
history of a people and region, but, more importantly, we saw
firsthand the significance that well-derived partnered research can
have in local communities and the opportunities for social justice that
our skills can facilitate. This partnership established a pattern of
Indigenous community engagement that we continue to build and
expand.
Case Study 3: Partnering with the Nunatsiavut
Government
In 2015, archaeologists helped establish a new and ongoing
partnership with Inuit in northern Labrador. Tradition and Transition
Among the Labrador Inuit is a five-year SSHRC partnership between
a large, interdisciplinary group of scholars and the Nunatsiavut
Government. In 2015, this Indigenous government celebrated its tenth
anniversary, and it is now in the process of implementing a number of
wide-ranging Inuit-driven policies, including a regional tourism
strategy, the development of the new Illusuak Cultural Centre, and
local responses to the recommendations of the Truth and
Reconciliation Commission of Canada. Hoping to embed both
traditional Inuit ideals and Western research results in their
endeavours, the Nunatsiavut Government initiated this partnership to
draw on the skills and expertise of Memorial University faculty and
graduate students to develop, combine, and compile these data. At the
same time, academics realized that many of our own scholars were
nearing retirement age and there was a real need to both publish
História: Questões & Debates, Curitiba, volume 66, n.2, p. 19-44, jul./dez. 2018
36
GAULTON, B. C. e RANKIN, L. K. Archaeological heritage as a catalyst for public engagement…
extant data and reinvigorate humanities and social science research in
northern Labrador. The overall aim of the project is one of
reconciliation, which brings local knowledge bearers together as
partners with academic researchers to share data and interpretations
openly, respectfully, and equally. Only archaeological projects
requested by the communities, and vetted by an Inuit-driven
partnership-management board, are pursued. Thus, archaeologists are
playing numerous roles, by excavating and monitoring Inuit sites at
risk due to climate change or mandated as tourist centres; offering
skills development; helping integrate oral histories into the narratives
of past Inuit lifeways; providing access to artifacts and literature;
assisting with the development of territorial heritage and tourism
policies; and, perhaps most significant, establishing practices which
allow for knowledge transfer between youth and elders — both Inuit
and academic.
Inuit sites near Rigolet, Hopedale, and Nain are being
excavated to expand local tourism strategies, as the Nunatsiavut
Government increasingly opens northern Labrador to cruise ship
traffic and invites visitors to the co-managed Torngat Mountain and
Mealy Mountain national parks. To date, excavation has taken place
at the Double Mer Point site, near Rigolet. In preparation for an
increase in tourists associated with the new Mealy Mountain National
Park, the community of Rigolet wants to offer culture-based tourism
options to visitors. The site of Double Mer Point lies at the end of a
nine-kilometre boardwalk constructed by the town to take hikers
through a variety of local coastal ecosystems. The site itself, a late
eighteenth- to early nineteenth-century Inuit winter village, was likely
the last settlement occupied by the Inuit in a traditional fashion before
the establishment of the modern community of Rigolet. For the past
three years, the excavation has been advertised as a tourist
destination, and a working lab has been established near the Rigolet
ferry dock for tourists and community members to view the finds
daily. Because of its central location and open-door policy, the
laboratory has become a hub of community activity where elders and
youth meet daily to examine artifacts and help archaeologists interpret
the finds.
História: Questões & Debates, Curitiba, volume 66, n.2, p. 19-44, jul./dez. 2018
GAULTON, B. C. e RANKIN, L. K. Archaeological heritage as a catalyst for public engagement…
37
Figure 4
Interactions in the archaeology lab in the Net Loft Museum, Rigolet,
Labrador. Image courtesy of the Tradition & Transition Partnership.
Access to the artifacts sets the scene for storytelling and
knowledge transfer between youth and elders. Undergraduate and
graduate archaeology students work side by side with high school,
college, and university students from the local community in the lab
and at excavations and, through these daily interactions, learn the
significance and impacts of locally based partnerships as well as more
traditional archaeological skills. There are plans to reconstruct the
village upon completion of the excavation and to provide local
interpretation to visitors. Local students, along with archaeologists
and elders, will develop the format for interpretation. In the
meantime, the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network chose to
highlight the excavation of the site in their new program Wild
Archaeology, adding further publicity.
The partnership will also be supporting the work of many
graduate students undertaking a full range of archaeological work,
from traditional excavations, like those underway at Double Mer
Point, to archaeology policy development and reconciliation
initiatives. At Double Mer Point, master’s student Kayley Sherret is
working with the community to provide 3D replicas of artifacts for
História: Questões & Debates, Curitiba, volume 66, n.2, p. 19-44, jul./dez. 2018
38
GAULTON, B. C. e RANKIN, L. K. Archaeological heritage as a catalyst for public engagement…
display in the town. PhD student Jamie Brake is currently the
Nunatsiavut Government archaeologist, and his dissertation will
result in the first Nunatsiavut-driven archaeological policy, which
seeks to integrate typical resource management protocols with
traditional Inuit knowledge, such as the protection of important
landscapes. His dissertation will be subject not only to traditional
academic protocols, but also to vetting through community
consultation prior to implementation. Another PhD student, Michelle
Davies, has begun work on the Hebron Family Archaeology Project,
designed to map and excavate twentieth-century homes in Hebron
with Inuit elders who were forced to abandon the community when it
was closed by the Moravian missionaries in 1959. This project is part
of a community healing program initiated by the Nunatsiavut
Government and supported by their Department of Health and Social
Development. Over the next three seasons, the program will involve
both elders and youth in an effort to confront the multigenerational
trauma associated with relocation policies of Canadian federal and
provincial governments in the past. Other archaeologists will monitor
remote sites in danger of destruction through storm surge and peat
degradation associated with climate change, create GIS maps of local
toponyms, and integrate oral histories and archaeological data
concerning the arrival and expansion of Inuit in Labrador.
All the archaeological work will be accessible to the
Nunatsiavut communities on the project website, on Facebook, and in
publications. As well, many of the details and artifacts will be
integrated into exhibits at the Illusuak Cultural Centre/ Illusuak
IlikKusiligijingita SuliaKapvinga, or through travelling exhibits and
locally established data hubs over the next five years.
Most importantly, this work is about reconciliation. Youth
and elders from Inuit communities and academia are coming together
to transfer, perpetuate, and expand local knowledge. This partnership
also establishes new protocols for community research that prioritizes
and respects local goals and decision making and where the value of
traditional knowledge and academic knowledge is equalized in hopes
that youth, both Inuit and academic, will embrace a new way forward.
História: Questões & Debates, Curitiba, volume 66, n.2, p. 19-44, jul./dez. 2018
GAULTON, B. C. e RANKIN, L. K. Archaeological heritage as a catalyst for public engagement…
39
Discussion and Conclusion
What have these experiences taught us? For one, it is
imperative that archaeologists be sensitive to and cognizant of the
varying perspectives and interests of community members. Our
interpretations – our storytelling – cannot be holistic or broadly
meaningful unless we incorporate multiple voices. The archaeological
study of the past is multifaceted, and academia is but one face among
many. Archaeologists and community members often have disparate
agendas (POPE and MILLS, 2007, p. 183), and we sometimes see
things from different, occasionally contradictory perspectives: What
is important? What should be preserved and presented to the public?
What can be discounted as a superfluous theory or idea? But whose
history are we really representing here, and who is our intended
audience? The power of community archaeology lies in its ability to
serve as both a grounding mechanism and a means of mutual learning
and sharing. Simply put, “the involvement of local communities in
archaeological investigations from the outset results in better
archaeology” (MOSER et al., 2002, p. 222) and in better
archaeologists.
Community-based archaeology also takes outreach and
dissemination in exciting new directions. As competent and capable
as we believe we are as academics, we should not operate in isolation.
Community-driven ideas and initiatives, including heritage-based
placemats for restaurants, interactive onsite children’s activities, and
online gaming based on archaeological finds, are all non-traditional
forms of archaeological outreach and dissemination. They are made
possible thanks to the diverse backgrounds and the personal and
professional experiences of community members. Educational
initiatives and resources are likewise identified as being a highly
neglected feature of community archaeology (TULLY, 2007, p. 168)
but have been integrated into the above-mentioned projects though
film, children’s books, updated history and social studies curricula,
and school workshops in Indigenous territories. These types of
educational initiatives are best achieved, and most influential, when
developed in a collaborative context.
História: Questões & Debates, Curitiba, volume 66, n.2, p. 19-44, jul./dez. 2018
40
GAULTON, B. C. e RANKIN, L. K. Archaeological heritage as a catalyst for public engagement…
Important among Indigenous communities, but also other
communities marginalized by geography or economic circumstance,
is that archaeology has the potential to contribute to social justice, by
bringing skills training, by emphasizing social cohesion, and pride in
their heritage to communities that have felt powerless. An
archaeology of reconciliation places power back in the hands of the
community and brings community members together through a sense
of ownership of their heritage (TULLY, 2007:158). It also allows
archaeologists to use their skills and knowledge in new ways that
benefit local communities; compiling and archiving data and making
it accessible might seem basic, but this is often beyond the capacity of
small, remote communities. However, access to archaeological
materials is one way to generate further communication and
knowledge transfer, not only between archaeologists and
communities, but also between elders and youth within communities,
to keep history and traditions alive.
To conclude, community-based archaeology has a long
history in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, and Memorial
University has been part of the process for nearly 40 years.
Throughout this time, there has been an increasing awareness and
acceptance of the ways in which archaeology and traditional
knowledge can overlap. In turn, this has increased the number and
types of questions we have sought to address together and has pushed
archaeology in new, socially relevant directions. Archaeological
heritage and its interpretation and dissemination are no longer the
exclusive purview of academia. At Memorial University, almost all of
our students participate in community archaeologies over the course
of their programs, and the relationship between archaeologists and
communities in Newfoundland and Labrador is balanced as we
collectively move toward many common goals.
História: Questões & Debates, Curitiba, volume 66, n.2, p. 19-44, jul./dez. 2018
GAULTON, B. C. e RANKIN, L. K. Archaeological heritage as a catalyst for public engagement…
41
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Allison Bain and Réginald Auger
(Université Laval) for organizing the “What does heritage change?
Case studies in archaeology” session as part of the 2016 ACHS
conference, and for their efforts in producing and editing these
conference proceedings. Two anonymous reviewers provided useful
suggestions to improve this manuscript, for which we are grateful.
Any omissions or errors are ours alone.
Bibliography
ATALAY, Sonya. Community-based Archaeology: Research with, by
and for Indigenous and Local Communities. Berkeley: University of
California Press, 2012.
AUGUSTINE, Madeline, TURNBULL, Christopher, ALLEN,
Patricia & Pamela WARD. To Hold it in My Hand. In: John H.
JAMESON & Sherene BAUGHER (eds.). Past Meets Present:
Archaeologists Partnering with Museum Curators, Teachers, and
Community Groups. New York: Springer, 2007.
BROOKS, Meagan. Reconnecting the Present with its Past: The
Doukhobor Pit House Public Archaeology Project. In: Barbara J.
LITTLE & Paul A. SHACKEL (eds.). Archaeology as a Tool of
Civic Engagement. Plymouth: AltaMira Press, 2007.
DOLAN, A.H., TAYLOR, M., NEIS, B., OMMER, R., EYLES, J.,
SCHNEIDER, D. & B. Montevecchi. Restructuring and Health in
Canadian Coastal Communities. EcoHealth, n. 2 (3), 2005, p. 195208.
FRIESEN, T. M. Analogues at Iqaluktuuq: the social context of
archaeological inference in Nunavut, Arctic Canada. World
Archaeology, n. 34 (2), 2002, p. 330-345.
História: Questões & Debates, Curitiba, volume 66, n.2, p. 19-44, jul./dez. 2018
42
GAULTON, B. C. e RANKIN, L. K. Archaeological heritage as a catalyst for public engagement…
GAULTON, Barry C. The commercial development of
Newfoundland’s English Shore: The Kirke Family at Ferryland
(1638-1696). In: Peter E. POPE & Shannon LEWIS-SIMPSON
(eds.). Exploring Atlantic Transitions: Archaeologies of Permanence
and Transience in New Found Lands. Society for Post-Medieval
Archaeology Monograph no. 7. Woodbridge: Boydell and Brewer,
2013.
GAULTON, Barry C. & TUCK, James A. Archaeology at Ferryland
1621-1696. In: James A. TUCK & Barry C. GAULTON (eds.).
Avalon Chronicles 8: The English in America 1497-1696. St. John’s:
The Colony of Avalon Foundation, 2003.
GIEN, L. Land and Sea Connection: The East Coast Fishery Closure,
Unemployment and Health. Canadian Journal of Public Health n.
91(2), p. 121-124, 2000.
JAMESON, John H. & BAUGHER, Sherene. Public Interpretation,
Outreach, and Partnering: An Introduction. In: John H. JAMESON &
Sherene BAUGHER (eds.). Past Meets Present: Archaeologists
Partnering with Museum Curators, Teachers, and Community
Groups. New York: Springer, 2007.
KENNEDY, John (ed.). History and Renewal of Labrador’s InuitMétis. St. John’s, ISER Press, 2014.
KIRK, Ruth & DAUGHERTY, Richard D. Exploring Washington
Archaeology. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1978.
MARSHALL, Y. What is Community Archaeology? World
Archaeology, n. 34 (2), 2002, p. 211-219.
Memorial University of Newfoundland. Vision, Mission and Values.
Statement
from
the
Office
of
the
President.
www.mun.ca/president/home/vision.php, 2013. Accessed November
13, 2016.
MOSER, S., GLAZIER, D., PHILLIPS, J., EL NEMR, L.N.,
MOUSA, M. S., AIESH, R.N., RICHARDSON, S., CONNER, A. &
SEYMOUR, M. Transforming Archaeology through Practice:
Strategies for Collaborative Archaeology and the Community
História: Questões & Debates, Curitiba, volume 66, n.2, p. 19-44, jul./dez. 2018
GAULTON, B. C. e RANKIN, L. K. Archaeological heritage as a catalyst for public engagement…
43
Archaeology Project at Quseir, Egypt. World Archaeology, n. 34(2),
2002, p. 220-248.
MOULAND, Necie. The Great Ferryland Dig. St. John’s: DCR
Publishing, 2014.
POPE, Peter E. & MILLS, Stephen F. Outport Archaeology:
Community Archaeology in Newfoundland. In: John H. JAMESON
& Sherene BAUGHER (eds.). Past Meets Present: Archaeologists
Partnering with Museum Curators, Teachers, and Community
Groups. New York: Springer, 2007.
RANKIN, L. K. & CROMPTON, A. The Labrador Metis and the
Politics of Identity: Understanding the Archaeological Past to
Negotiate a Sustainable Future. International Journal of Heritage and
Sustainable Development, n.7 (3), 2013, p. 71-79.
RANKIN, L.K. & STOPP, M. & CROMPTON, A. (eds.). The Inuit
in Southern Labrador. Études Inuit Studies, n. 39 (1), 2015.
RICHARDSON, L & ALMANSA-SÁNCHEZ J. Do you even know
what public archaeology is? Trends, theory, practice, ethics. World
Archaeology, n. 47(2), 2015, p.194-211.
SPECTOR, J. D. What this Awl Means: Feminist Archaeology at a
Wahpeton Dakota Village. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society
Press, 1993.
TUCK, J. A. Archaeology at Ferryland, Newfoundland.
Newfoundland Studies, special issue Archaeology in Newfoundland
and Labrador, n. 9 (2), 1993, p. 294-310.
______. Ferryland’s First Settlers (and a Dog Story). In: Peter E.
POPE & Shannon LEWIS-SIMPSON (eds). Exploring Atlantic
Transitions: Archaeologies of Permanence and Transience in New
Found Lands. Society for Post-Medieval Archaeology Monograph no.
7. Woodbridge: Boydell and Brewer, 2013.
TUCK, James A. & GAULTON, Barry C. The evolution of a
seventeenth-century manor. In: E. KLINGELHOFER (ed). A
Glorious Empire: Archaeology and the Tudor-Stuart Atlantic World.
Oxford: Oxbow Books, 2013.
História: Questões & Debates, Curitiba, volume 66, n.2, p. 19-44, jul./dez. 2018
44
GAULTON, B. C. e RANKIN, L. K. Archaeological heritage as a catalyst for public engagement…
TULLY, G. Community Archaeology: general methods and standards
of practice. Public Archaeology, n. 6 (2), 2007, p.155-187.
VENOVCEVS, Anatolijs. Newfoundland Winter House Investigation
– Final Report Permit No. 15.10. Submitted to the Provincial
Archaeology Office, Department of Business, Tourism, Culture and
Rural Development, 2016.
WEBB, Jeff A. Observing the Outports: Describing Newfoundland
Culture, 1950-1980. Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 2015.
RECEBIDO EM: 01/06/2018
APROVADO EM: 12/07/2018
História: Questões & Debates, Curitiba, volume 66, n.2, p. 19-44, jul./dez. 2018