A Possible Stratified Hearth within the Eroded Shoreline
In May of 2010 I had the opportunity to spend a weekend camping and doing archaeological field work in the northeastern section of Lac Seul. The last day of the trip was a sunny Sunday and just after lunch I was at a known site doing a visual reconnaissance of the shoreline. In places where artifacts were observed, a marker was used to flag the location so that the distribution of cultural material could be documented. Some areas ended up with a dense cluster of marking flags indicating a high concentration of artifacts. These locations, designated as possible “hot spots”, were then carefully scrutinized and in some cases a light sub-surface trowelling of the ground was conducted to determine if additional artifacts were situated within the soils. The intensive sub-surface archaeological investigation is warranted due to the extensive shoreline damage that occurs across most areas of Lac Seul. This happens because the lake was flooded in the early 1930s when a dam was constructed at Ear Falls for the purpose of generating hydro-electric power.
Marker placed to indicate a concentration of cultural material
While troweling was being carried out at one specific spot, a small pottery rim sherd was uncovered. It contained an arrangement of exterior decorations that caught my attention as the pattern looked somewhat familiar. I recalled, if my memory served me correctly, that two rim sherds of a small sized vessel with a similar pattern had been recovered from roughly the same vicinity back in 2004. If that were the case, then this newly found sherd may be from the same vessel. (As an aside, upon returning home I pulled the two rim sherds collected from the site in 2004 for comparison. It turned out that not only was the newly discovered small rim sherd a match to the two previously recovered sherds, but it refit to the left side of one sherd to confirm that indeed they all belonged to the same vessel)!
Small rim sherd recovered in 2010
Rim sherds recovered at same location in 2004
2010 rim refit to 2004 rims (reconstruction)
Anyway, with the thought that this newly discovered small rim sherd may possibly be part of an important previous find, I began to dig a little deeper over a wider area in hopes of finding additional pottery sherds from the same vessel. As I was carefully shaving thin layers of dirt off the ground, a small streak of black, sooty soil sandwiched next to a greyish, white patch of soil that looked like ash was exposed. This indicated that the remnant components of a previous burning event possibly lay buried within the eroded shoreline. I was unsure whether it was the remains of a forest fire burned log or some other type of fire. So I dug a little deeper into the ground to expose a vertical profile of the charcoal and ash staining. In doing so I came across a number of pre-contact artifacts that were contained within the black and greyish-white soil and clearly associated with what I now determined was a hearth.
Ash and charcoal staining exposed from subsurface scrape
Edge of hearth feature exposed in 2010
A total of 419 artifacts were recovered from this feature consisting of 61 lithic items, 321 pottery sherds and 37 small mammal bone fragments unidentifiable to species. Although none of this material was matched to the small rim sherd that precipitated the need to dig deeper, some diagnostic items were salvaged including a Middle Woodland rim sherd, nine Late Woodland rim sherds and a flaked drill. I realized that further investigate of the hearth feature would require meticulous excavation involving many hours of work over several days. However, at this point I was out of time. It was late in the afternoon at the end of my weekend and I still had a 3 hour boat ride to get home for a regular Monday workday at my real (non-archaeological) job. Sticks with flagging tape were placed as markers along the edge of the profile and all the soil that had been removed from the test trench was used to backfill the hole. Gear and equipment was packed into the boat and I departed for home.
Stone drill (left) and refit rim sherds (right) recovered from hearth in 2010
I was unable to return to the site again until the spring of 2011 and even then I only had time for two days of field work. On top of that, the weather on the first day of the trip was cold, wet, and windy preventing any sub-surface work from being carried out. Instead, other research activities were carried out at the site and investigation of the hearth feature would have to wait for another day. However, I was able to visually examine the surface of the ground where the test trench had been dug the previous year exposing the hearth. A small rim sherd attributed to a miniature vessel was recovered from the surface in the vicinity of the hearth. This rim sherd was subsequently refit to the rim sherd of a miniature vessel recovered in 2010.
Miniature rim sherd from 2011 (left) refit to rim recovered in 2010 (right)
I returned to the site in the spring of 2012 with the primary objective of additional investigations including, if possible, exposing a vertical profile of the hearth feature. I had carefully planned out the expedition but, in my exuberance to embark on the trip, I forgot to bring the map and photographs of the work done in 2010. Consequently, finding the hearth location was not a straightforward task as the shifting soils and wave action over a two year period had erased any trace of the original sub-surface work done previously. After a few hours of trowel work I discovered a scrap of blue flagging tape and was finally able to zero in on the approximate location of the feature. Following this a grid consisting of four units each 1 square meter in size was established. The area within each unit, along with some sections of the ground adjacent to but outside of the grid, was scraped in order to locate the hearth and then expose a vertical wall. All soils were shaken through a ¼ inch mesh screen. The recoveries in the preliminary upper layer of soil contained artifacts from both the Middle and Late Woodland periods suggesting a disturbance and/or mixing of material from two different time periods. Therefore, maintaining vertical control and screening soils per level did not appear justified. Horizontal controls were kept in place and material from each distinct unit was screened separately.
View of grid layout consisting of four units each 1 square meter in size
Following the light sub-surface scraping and removal of an upper soil layer about 4 to 6 cms in thickness I decided that the initial exposure of the hearth carried out in 2010 was most likely to have occurred within the area designated as unit 2. As soil was removed and screened charcoal and ash staining sections were observed but no distinct vertical profile was apparent as I dug along the east side of the wall. The same method was employed for unit 3 and as digging proceeded charcoal and ash stains were also encountered. A number of unscreened soil samples of the “greasy” looking charcoal-ash material were bagged following removal to undergo a different level of analysis (possibly flotation). Obviously I was cutting down into a section of the hearth but neither a defined horizontal border nor a distinct vertical edge was apparent. However, once material down to approximately 24 cm below surface level (bsl) in both units 2 and 3 had been removed, a clear vertical outline emerged along the southern wall of the excavation.
As the face of the south wall was cleaned up it was revealed that the hearth profile consisted of three, distinct charcoal layers. Therefore, the unearthing of a fairly intact hearth feature within an eroded shoreline was even more amazing because it appears to have distinct layers! As shown in the photo the lower charcoal layer extends for a distance of approximately 1.5 meters across units 2 and 3 but the upper two layers merge together over a shorter distance. It is unclear as to what this means in terms of a time interval between depositional layers.
Profile of hearth feature with distinct charcoal layers extending through unit 3
The edge of a pottery sherd was exposed within the lower layer of charcoal of unit 3 as the wall profile was being cleaned. It was removed and turned out to be a Late Woodland textile impressed body sherd. However, although units 1 and 4 each had only about 4 to 6 cms of soil scraped off their upper levels, I decided to halt digging at this point. Based on the fact that stratification rarely exists on sites in this region I felt it was prudent to stop, analyze the material recovered so far and then develop a strategic plan in order to maximize the amount of data that can be obtained from researching such an important feature. A tarp was placed over the dig area and secured in place with rocks before the entire excavation was completely backfilled. This system will provide a protective barrier for the exposed hearth profile and, at the same time, allow the dig area to be quickly and easily uncovered to proceed with future excavation.
Pottery sherd within lower charcoal layer
Late Woodland textile body sherd removed
Hearth feature sealed with tarp for reburial
As a result of the activities conducted on the hearth feature in 2012 a total of 1606 artifacts (206 lithic, 842 pottery, and 558 other) were recovered. The overall assemblage of material collected included a number of interesting items including 1) a possible unused but fired coil of pottery, 2) rim sherds attributed to multiple vessels, 3) rim sherd of various miniature vessels, 4) the tip of a broken bone needle and 5) an assortment of fish vertebrae.
In addition to these substantial and fascinating recoveries, if the layers of this hearth feature turn out to be stratified, then this unearthing represents a rare discovery within the context of the boreal forest. Consequently, the future research of this hearth may provide an opportunity to gain valuable new information.
Unused fired clay coil remnant
Rim and rim fragment of same miniature vessel
Rim sherds from the same vessel but not refit
Rim sherds from separate miniature vessels
Rim and neck sherd from the same vessel
Assortment of fish vertebrae recovered in hearth
