The Mansion House Faunal Assemblage, Ferryland 1625-1696

The Mansion House Faunal Assemblage, Ferryland 1625-1696 By Eric Tourigny University of Leicester (edt6@le.ac.uk) Introduction George Calvert, the first Lord Baltimore The community of Ferryland, located on Newfoundland’s Avalon Peninsula, approximately 80 km south of St. John’s, is one of the earliest permanent English settlements on the island. The historic remains of the original community are located on the northern shore of the Ferryland Peninsula, overlooking a sheltered inner harbour known as “The Pool”. The presence of a sheltered harbour undoubtedly made it an attractive destination for migratory fishing crews throughout the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. However, it wasn’t until 1620, when Sir George Calvert, then Secretary of State for King James I and later the first Lord Baltimore, purchased the property of Ferryland which would become his first attempt at setting up a colony in the New World (Fraser 1966: 162). In 1621, a dozen of Calvert’s settlers, under the direction of Captain Edward Wynne, arrived in Ferryland and began construction on their sponsor’s new community (Cell 1982; Gaulton and Tuck 2003:189). Much of the community’s infrastructure was built in the first few years of settlement, including a large kitchen, a parlour, a henhouse, a palisade, tenements and a forge, all completed by the summer of 1622 (Gaulton and Tuck 2003). Sometime between 1623 and 1625, a large two-story stone structure with a slate roof was constructed near the centre of the community. Historical documents reference this building as the “Mansion House”, built to house Lord Calvert and his family upon their arrival to Ferryland. The building actually consists of a complex of structures including the main living structure, built with two foot thick stone walls, a large hearth, a slate roof, wooden floors and interior walls coated with limestone plaster. Adjacent to and only accessible through this building was a small cobblestone courtyard which lead to a separate kitchen structure and cellar. Calvert arrived in Ferryland in the summer of 1628 and after one long, harsh winter, he decided to return to England never to step foot on the island again. Captain William Hill was eventually appointed as Lord Baltimore’s representative in Ferryland. However, his benefactor’s monetary contributions would drop considerably and eventually stop all together. George Calvert died in 1632 but his family went on to establish the colony of Maryland on the shores of the Chesapeake (Gaulton and Tuck 2003: 211). David Kirke, Governor of Newfoundland In November of 1637, the “Grant of Newfoundland” was signed over by Charles I to several court favourites providing them with the opportunity to impose a five percent tax on the fish caught or carried by foreign vessels in the waters off the Avalon Coast. The head of the syndicate imposing this charge was Sir David Kirke, who took it upon himself to manage the affairs of Ferryland and subsequently became the Governor the Newfoundland. He and his family moved to the community along with 100 settlers in 1638. Kirke was a shrewd businessman and invested heavily in boats, labourers, victuals, ordnance, commercial structures and ships. He settled quickly into the role of Ferryland’s principle merchant using existing contacts to further profit in the trade of fish and wine (Pope 2004). Kirke was recalled to England in 1651, charged with being a royalist. He died in prison in 1654 passing all of his Newfoundland possessions to his wife and children who remained on the island (Pope 1998:65). The Kirke family remained in Newfoundland throughout the civil war and became proprietors and managers of the community after the restoration of the Crown in 1660 (Gaulton and Tuck 2003; Pope 1992). The French Attack Ferryland On September 21st, 1696, nine French warships and over 700 soldiers sailed into Ferryland and laid siege to the community. The town’s inhabitants were either shipped back to England or were taken prisoner by French forces. Most of the community, including the Mansion House, was burned and destroyed in the attack. It wasn’t until the summer of 2005, after more than 13 years of archaeological excavations in Ferryland, that archaeologists uncovered the remains the Mansion House (see background image courtesy of Barry Gaulton). Included within associated deposits were a total of 8,846 faunal remains whose analysis is partly described here. These include 8,350 fragments analyzed by the author and 496 fragments previously identified and described by Hodgetts (2006) as part of her study of faunal remains in Ferryland. All faunal specimens were identified to as precise a taxonomic category as possible. Body portion distribution, age at death profiles, butchery patterns and the study of taphonomic effects on the bone were all examined and some of these results are presented in this poster. Materials from the Mansion House were compared to other Ferryland assemblages as described by Hodgetts (2006). For complete results, see Tourigny (2009). Of all of the deposits associated with the Mansion House, only six events contained large enough samples to consider. This includes data from the Front Door Midden analyzed in Hodgetts (2006). Table 1 presents a list of species identified within the Mansion House deposits analyzed by the author. Table 1: Number of Identified Specimens (NISP) for deposits associated with the Mansion House identified by the author. Minimum Number of Individuals (MNI) presented within brackets. East Wall Deposit Main Structure Collapse Scientific name Gastropoda sp. Bivalvia sp. Common name Gastropod sp. Bivalve sp. Osteichthyes sp. Clupea harengus Gadidae sp. Gadus morhua Pleuronectidae sp. Indeterminate fish Atlantic herring Cod family Atlantic cod Flat fish family Pleuronectes glacialis Salmonidae sp. Arctic flounder Salmon and trout family Aves sp. Gavia immer Gavia stellata Indeterminate bird Large bird Medium - large bird Medium bird Small - medium bird Small bird Common loon Red-throated loon Phalacrocoracidae sp. Anatidae sp. Anserinae sp. Anser anser Anatinae sp. Anas rubripes Anas acuta Clangula hyemalis Somateria sp. Cormorants Ducks and geese family Geese sub-family Domestic goose Ducks sub-family American black duck Northern pintail duck Long-tailed duck Eiders 1 3(1) 10 1(1) 1(1) 3(1) 2 1(1) 1 Somateria mollissima Common eider 4(2) 3(1) Somateria spectabilis Melanitta deglandi Galliformes sp. Lagopus sp. Lagopus lagopus Meleagris gallopavo Gallus gallus King eider White-winged scoter Pheasants order Ptarmigans Willow ptarmigan Turkey Domestic chicken Scolopacidae sp. Actitis macularia Larinae sp. Larus sp. Larus hyperboreus Larus marinus Larus argentatus Larus delawarensis Rissa tricactyla Sterna paradisaea Alcidae sp. Pinguinis impennis Uria/Alca sp. Uria aalge Cephus grylle Columba livia Bubo scandiacus Bubo virginianus/ Bubo scandiacus Corvus corax Woodcocks and sandpipers family Spotted Sandpiper Gulls and terns Larus genus Glaucous gull Great black-backed gull Herring gull Ring-billed gull Black-legged kittiwake Arctic tern Auks and murres family Great auk Murres and razorbills Common murre Black guillemot Domestic pigeon Snowy owl Great horned owl/ Snowy owl Common raven 1(1) 1(1) Mammalia sp. Indeterminate mammal Large mammal Medium - large mammal Medium mammal Small - medium mammal Small mammal Rabbits and hares family Mice and rats superfamily Rat genus House mouse American beaver Whales and dolphins family Carnivores order Canids Wolves, coyotes and dogs Domestic dog Red fox Domestic cat True seals family Harbour seal Harp seal Even-toed ungulates order Domestic pig Caribou Bovids family Domestic cow Cow sized Sheep/goat sub-family Sheep/goat sized Domestic Horse 243 21 151 25 3 234 2 (1) 205 9(3) Accessory Structure Deposit 1 Accessory Structure Deposit 2 1 1 11 170 1(1) 90 10(2) 52 1509 2(2) 721 66(14) 2 53 6(1) 100% 90% Southeast Midden 80% 1 1 20 3(1) 61 6(2) 70% 60% %NISP This poster presents a summary of faunal remains recovered from deposits associated with the Mansion House, in the seventeenth-century settlement of Ferryland, Newfoundland. Built in the mid 1620s to serve as George Calvert’s family home, the Mansion House later served as the household of the island’s first Governor, David Kirke, and other elite members of the community. Faunal remains recovered from the structure’s deposits point to differences in the consumption patterns of those occupying the Mansion House compared to other Ferryland residents. Faunal remains associated with the collapse of the structure also provide information on the building’s final moments during the 1696 attack on the community by French Forces. Faunal Evidence Recovered from the Mansion House Fish 50% Bird 40% 30% Leporidae sp. Muroidea sp. Rattus sp. Mus musculus Castor canadensis Cetacea sp. Carnivora sp. Canidae sp. Canis sp. Canis familiaris Vulpes vulpes Felis catus Phocidae sp. Phoca vitulina Phoca groenlandica Artiodactyla sp. Sus scrofa Rangifer tarandus Bovidae sp. Bos taurus Caprinae sp. Equus caballus 2(1) 1 25 1 41 22 15 1 18 22 1 1 Mammal 20% 50 7 4 1 174 4 127 159 9 23 20 10% 19 11 0% East Wall Deposit (n=1276) 1(1) Main Acc. Structure Acc. Structure Southeast Structure Dep.1 Dep.2 Midden Collapse (n= (n=351) (n=4297) (n=345) 674) Front Door Midden (n=496) 1 1 2 3 1 4 1 32 1 2 *Includes the presence of one nearly complete individual Results suggest the diet of the Mansion House’s inhabitants was primarily based on the consumption of mammals (Figure 1). However, the consumption of fish, mainly cod, did play an important role in their diet. The poor preservation of fish skeletal elements suggests that they played a greater role in the diet than the number of recovered bone would indicate. The presence of birds in the assemblage was not as significant as that of mammals and fish but their numbers indicate they constitute a regular component in the diets of the building‘s former inhabitants. Figure 2 identifies sea birds as the most commonly consumed. These are species that are readily found along the coast where Ferryland is located. A fair number of chicken and ptarmigan were also consumed. The most prominent mammalian taxa identified in the assemblage were, in order of importance: domestic pig, domestic cow, caribou, seal and caprines (sheep/goat). These results are consistent with species identified elsewhere in Ferryland with the exception that a greater number of cattle were identified in the Mansion House (Figure 3). The wealthy planter’s role in Ferryland’s economy is one possible explanation for this scenario. Wealthy planters were not entirely pre-occupied with the fishery and had the resources to spend time and money on tasks unrelated to the fishery. Larger numbers of cattle not only required having the land to send them out to pasture but it also required their owners to gather enough fodder to feed them throughout the long winters. Growing and gathering fodder requires time spent away from the cod fishery at the height of the fishing season. Therefore it was not everybody in Ferryland who had the means to raise large numbers of cattle. For a more complete discussion on this subject, see Tourigny and Noël (in press). The age at death profiles for domesticates suggest most animals were killed as soon as they reached the prime slaughtering age. Additionally, a significant number of neo-natal pig remains recovered throughout Ferryland suggests a possible form of population control (Hodgetts 2006; Tourigny 2009). These patterns point towards a need to control livestock populations possibly due to an inability to support larger numbers. Age at death information also suggests that most animals were used for their meat and not their by-products. 5 Destruction of the Mansion House Figure 1: Class distribution between various events associated with the Mansion House. Front Door Midden data from Hodgetts (2006). 1 1(1) 6(2) 1(1) 1(1) 1(1) 6(2) 1(1) 3(1) 1(1) 2(1) 1(1) 1 2 1 1(1) 3 1 6(1) 4(1) 1(1) 3(1) 1(1) 2(1) 3 1 4 2 20(5) 1 2(1) 7(2) 1(1) 3 1(1) 5 2 6(1) 9(2) 1(1) 1(1) 1(1) 1 1 1(1) 5(1) 1(1) 2(1) 1(1) 1(1) 1(1) 2(1) 1 1(1) 1(1) 15 3(1) 2 1(1) 3 1(1) 10(2) 2(1) 1(1) 1(1) 1(1) Figure 2: Bird groups identified within Mansion House deposits. Presented according to NISP. 60 Indeterminate class Discussion 4(2) Pig 2(1) 118 13 28 13 64 6 13 5 3 21 237 46 667 104 11 27 59 10 34 6 21 170(10) 1(1) 1(1) 2 23(3) 2 1 2 1(1) 1(1) 1 23(2) 2(1) 3(1) 1 2 1 2(1) 1(1) 7 1(1) 1(1) 33 36(3) 46(2) 18(1) 14 1 1 10 1(1) 1(1) 165(1)* 1(1) 3 8(2) 8 32(3) 20(2) 2 20(2) 1(1) 4 10(2) 13(2) 27(3) 2 1(1) 6(2) 1 3(1) 39 1 71(1) 17(2) 22 36 69(3) 35(3) 1 61(2) 219(4)* 1 66 Cow 1(1) 4 1(1) 17 9(2) 10(2) 15(1) 1 5(2) 5 The complete skeleton of a mid-sized, female dog was recovered from a deposit associated with the collapse of the auxiliary structure containing the cellar. Its location in the rubble suggests the dog was up on the upper floor of the building when it collapsed during the French Attack of 1696. Its right tibia (Figure 4), was recovered exhibiting a bullet wound and bits of lead surrounding the entrance wound. It appears the dog was shot in the leg sometime during the attack and likely made its way to the upper floor of the building where it succumbed to its injuries or died when the French felled the building overtop of it. This dog represents the only known casualty of the French attack on Ferryland. 40 30 Acknowledgements 20 10 1(1) 2 50 % identified mammal NISP Abstract 0 East Wall Deposit Main Structure Collapse Acc. Struc. Dep. 1 Acc. Struc. Dep. 2 Southeast Midden Front Door Midden* Early Midden* Brew/Bake House* Kirke Midden* Figure 3: Distribution of Pig and Cow specimens throughout Ferryland. The first six deposits are events associated with the Mansion House. The last four deposits are from Hodgetts (2006). Standard error bars indicate a 95% confidence interval. Special thanks to Barry Gaulton and the Colony of Avalon Foundation for access to the faunal materials. This project is part of research sponsored by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Institute of Social and Economic Research and the J.R. Smallwood Foundation. Figure 4: Upper right tibia of a dog exhibiting a bullet wound and pieces of embedded lead above the entrance wound. Photo courtesy of Barry Gaulton. References Cell, G.T. 1982 Newfoundland discovered, English attempts at colonization, 1610-1630. Hakluyt Society, London. Fraser, A.M. 1966 Sir George Calvert. In Dictionary of Canadian Biography, Volume I, pp. 162-163. Gaulton, B and J.A. Tuck 2003 The Archaeology of Ferryland, Newfoundland until 1696. Avalon Chronicles, 8: 187-224. Hodgetts, L.M. 2006 Feast or famine?: Seventeenth-century English colonial diet at Ferryland, Newfoundland. Historical Archaeology, 40(4):125-138. 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