Seven tiny pearls discovered in Newfoundland, Canada, are a rare discovery – they can be the only Wampum ever found in the province, and they refer to trade between indigenous peoples and European settlers.
The pearls were found in July at the Avalon colony site in Ferryland, which was an early European colony and a trading station against Aboriginal people in the 17th century.
“All wampum pearls were found in a mid -century midden [garbage] Layer deposited inside a storage room associated with the main house or house of Manoir de Ferryland, “archaeologist Barry GaultonProfessor at the Memorial University of St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, told Live Science.
Aboriginal people often used Wampum as a currency with colonial settlers, but these pearls can be the first Wampum ever found in the vast most east province of Canada.
“No wampum pearl was found in the Avalon colony [more than] 30 years of ongoing archaeological investigation, “Gaulton said in an email.” To our knowledge, no wampum pearl has never been found in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. “”
Shell money
“Wampum” is a term of English colon derived from the word algonquin “wampmpeag” “signifier”White shell pearl chain“Many indigenous peoples, especially in the eastern parts of pre and post-colonial North America, initially used wampum pearls for for ceremonies: The staked belts and necklaces made from Wampum pearls, for example, were used to record important events, such as treaties and war declarations.
But the indigenous peoples also later used wampum pearls as a currency for trade with colonial settlersAnd Gaulton thinks that this is how these particular wampum pearls arrived on the Colony of Avalon site.
“Wampum was probably brought to Ferryland by trade or exchanges with Dutch merchants or New England who had previously exchanged or exchanged Wampum with Aboriginal peoples,” he said.
The site was mainly abandoned at the end of the 17th century, so wampum is probably older than that.
The style of pearls and their drilling method indicates that they were made around 1600. Pearls “probably arrived in Ferryland in the years 1640 or 1650,” said Gaulton. “Their discovery in a domestic means dating from the middle at the end of the 17th century suggests that they were thrown or lost during this period.”
Wampum pearls are often attributed to Aboriginal “First Nations” groups in Canada, such as the Mi’kmaq People who lived in Newfoundland at that time; But we do not know who did the latter or where, said Gaulton.
Avalon colony
THE Avalon colony was officially the province of Avalon under the British crown and one of the first parts of North America colonized by European settlers.
It was founded in 1621, but it was abandoned a few years later due to the harsh winters of the region and was in conflict with indigenous peoples. It was resettled in the 1630s and was transformed into a fishing and trading center, according to the Inheritance of Newfoundland and Labrador website.
The site is now part of the city of Ferryland, which is around 30 miles (50 kilometers) south of St. John’s.
Since the 1980s, Tens of thousands of artefacts were found during the excavations of the site, including fragments of English, Dutch and German pottery; glassware; colonial clay pipes; Iron tools, such as knives and spoons; Mousquets and musque bullets, for having defended against the attacks of indigenous peoples and pirates; and settlers’ jewelry.
Archaeologists also found the remains of the paved streets; Part of a dike that protected the buildings from erosion and high waves; And the ruins of a large “mansion house” perhaps built by George Calvert, the founder of the colony and actually the first governor of the province.
