The background image well illustrates the cross-section of a particular dig, and reinforces the theme message.

In this case, the star artifact graphic is replaced with an illustration of a profile of a dig at Ferryland.

Inset images show measurement and recording.

Theme Text
At an historic site, archaeologists may find dozens of strata: distinct layers of soil, overlying one another and representing successive human occupations over several centuries. The Colony of Avalon site is largely undisturbed, so the deeper archaeologists dig here, the farther back in time they reach.

The deepest and oldest strata lie on the original beach, now deeply covered by soil. These deep strata have yielded pottery used by migratory European fishermen in the 1500s, as well as the worked stone tools of Newfoundland's Beothuk people.

Later and somewhat higher strata show evidence of Calvert's Colony of Avalon of the 1620s; above that, excavation reveals artifacts that would have been used by the Kirkes or their neighbours between 1638 and 1696. Nearer the surface, excavators have recorded distinctive assemblages of 18th and 19th-century materials, not to mention the 20th-century pop bottles and squid jiggers found in the top sod layer.

Key Symbol
Graphic of soil section showing strata

Display Case
"Layers" of artifacts - didactic representation of stratigraphy

The Twentieth Century - What will today's discarded, lost or hidden objects tell future generations about us?

The Nineteenth Century - A typical assemblage of artifacts (composite).

The Eighteenth Century - A typical assemblage of artifacts (composite).

Drawer 1
The Early Seventeenth Century - A typical assemblage of artifacts of the 1620s and 30s (Composite, largely of Events 177 & 178 at the Smithy)
See Artifact List.

Drawer 2
The 16th Century - A typical assemblage of artifacts of about 1550 to 1580 (Composite, largely of Events 187 & 188 at the Smithy).
See Artifact List.

Drawer 3
The Late Seventeenth Century - A typical assemblage of artifacts of about 1670-1690 (Composite from several areas.)
See Artifact List.

© 1999, Colony of Avalon Foundation.

Revised March 2002.