Canadian Historic Sites: Occasional Papers in Archaeology and History No. 12

A Survey of Louisbourg Gunflints

by T. M. Hamilton and Bruce W. Fry

Abstract

The discovery of a large cache of gunflints in a defence work protecting Louisbourg harbour led to a study of all measurable flints from this site together with gunflints recovered from nine excavated sites within the 18th-century town of Louisbourg. Two distinct types of gunflints could be distinguished, in accordance with a classification generally accepted by historic archaeologists, although the attribution of types to exclusive areas of manufacture implied by this classification is questioned. In addition, gunflints from the cache are regarded as constituting a distinct group within the whole Louisbourg collection on the basis of manufacturing technique and over-all appearance.

Documents dealing with the sites from which the gunflints were recovered were studied in an attempt to define context and chronological limits. Documents concerning the purchase and manufacture of gunflints for Louisbourg and for the French army were also studied in order to compare historical evidence on desirable qualities of military gunflints with archaeologically recovered specimens.

Submitted for publication 1971, by T.M. Hamilton, Miami, Missouri, and by Bruce W. Fry, National Historic Parks and Sites, Louisbourg.