Canadian Historic Sites: Occasional Papers in Archaeology and History No. 7

Archaeological Explorations at Signal Hill, Newfoundland, 1965-1966

by Edward B. Jelks

Interpretation Centre Area

At the time archaeological excavations began at Signal Hill in 1965, a new visitors' centre was scheduled for construction in the marshy vale between Gibbet Hill and the Queen's Battery (Figs. 6, 7). One of the major criteria in selecting a site for the centre was that it be where there was little likelihood of encroachment on any building foundations or other historically significant remains that might lie buried beneath the ground. Even though there is no record that the vale ever held any fortifications or other structures, it was thought advisable to make certain, and therefore archaeological exploration was undertaken.

6 Archaeological base map of Interpretation centre area. (click on image for a PDF version)

7 View from Gibbet Hill, looking northeast across Interpretation Centre area swale. In the background is Cabot Tower; the knoll with structure 1 on top of it is at centre.

A crew excavated a series of squares and trenches in the Interpretation Centre area. The results were generally negative. Much of the area was so marshy that groundwater began to fill a hole as soon as it was started. Tests dug on higher ground, although dry enough, were completely sterile of cultural material except for one exploratory pit near the eastern edge of the area which yielded the only artifact unearthed in the Interpretation Centre excavations, an iron wedge.

On top of a small knoll just to the north of the Interpretation Centre area proper was discovered a circle of stones about 12 ft. in diameter, plainly visible on the surface of the ground (Figs. 6-9). It was designated structure 1 and was excavated and recorded.

8 Structure 1, view looking northeast.

9 Plan of structure 1.

Stratigraphy

As in many places about Signal Hill Park, the bedrock in the Interpretation Centre area was quite erratic in its surface configuration, lying bare on the surface in some spots and dipping several feet below the surface in others. Save for the marshy areas, the soil overlying bedrock in the Interpretation Centre area consisted of intermixed glacial till and talus containing numerous irregular grain sizes ranging from a minimum of 1 mm. or 2 mm. to a maximum of 2 cm. to 3 cm. in diameter. The grains tended to have angular edges that were often softened by abrasion.

Overlying the bedrock was a zone of dark grey, gravelly soil up to more than two feet thick; over that lay a yellow-orange soil averaging about a foot thick which also contained small stones, but fewer than in the underlying grey zone. Above the yellow-orange zone was the surface zone of humus-stained soil, averaging about six inches thick. All the buried upper surfaces of the bedrock, as well as the upper surfaces of the larger stone inclusions in both zones, were coated with a thin layer of fine grained, light grey clay, varying from less than a millimetre to more than a centimetre thick. This material was evidently picked up from the overlying deposits by percolating water and redeposited on the buried rock surfaces. In the marshy places soil profiles could not be studied because of ground water. As only one artifact was found in the entire Interpretation Centre area, the stratigraphic zoning was of no value to artifact distribution studies.

Structure 1

Structure 1 was an arrangement of 37 stones forming a circle some 12 ft. in diameter that rested on the modern ground surface atop a small knoll in the Interpretation Centre area. All but two or three of the stones were fragments of the pink sandstone that composes the bulk of Signal Hill. The stones tended to be more or less flat but otherwise were quite irregular in outline, many having sharp, angular edges. The majority were between 1 ft. and 2 ft. in their maximum dimension and between 3 in. and 7 in. thick. None had dressed faces.

Although the over-all form of the structure was almost a perfect circle, the individual stones were not neatly fitted together. In some instances a stone may have overlapped its neighbor at the edge, but there was essentially only a single tier in the circle. No evidence of mortar was observed.

A nail picked up from the surface of the ground within the circle was the only artifact found in the Vicinity of structure 1, but it is by no means certain that the nail and the structure were of the same age. Structure 1 does not seem a suitable foundation for a masonry building—or even for a substantial wooden building for that matter—and both its purpose and its age remain unknown.