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Glossary
- airplane dope
- A lacquer-based adhesive which is sometimes used to repair artifacts.
- alchemist
- The forerunner of today's chemist. During the middle ages and
the early modern period, alchemists were concerned with transmuting base
metals into gold. An assayer of potential ore.
- anvil
- A flat-topped block, usually of iron, on which metals are worked in forging.
- anvil stump
- The wooden block, usually a tree stump, upon which a blacksmith's anvil was mounted.
- aqueous cleaning
- Cleaning artifacts using water.
- archaeology
- The interpretation of past human behaviour by interpreting material objects.
- bastion
- A projection, often at the corner of a defensive work; on which
cannons were usually mounted.
- battens
- Small strips of wood. At Ferryland, battens were horizontal members of the roof
frame immediately beneath the thatch.
- bellows
- The device that supplies air, hence oxygen, to a forge to increase combustion and temperature.
- block–lifting
- A technique used by conservators to carefully lift fragile artifacts from a burial matrix.
Essentially, a block of soil surrounding the artifact is encased in a variety of materials, such
as plaster or wax, to facilitate the object's safe removal.
- bodkins
- Flat needles, sometimes used for sewing ribbon or for decorative purposes.
- byre
- A stable.
- cask
- A general term for a container made of wooden staves bound by iron or wood hoops.
The specific names for casks denote different capacities, for example a "barrel" holds approximately
200 litres.
- cesspit
- A pit, often stone lined, into which waste drained or was deposited. Because of their
water-saturated nature, cesspits often preserve organic materials.
- cellulose
- The structural portion of wood; comprises the cell walls of woody plants.
- Civil War
- English Civil War (1642-46) between the Royalist supporters of King Charles I
and the Parliamentarians. The war was followed by the "Interregnum", a transitional period of
parliamentary rule and military dictatorship which lasted until 1660.
- consolidant
- A substance used to bind together parts of objects in a state of near deterioration.
- cook room
- During the migratory fishery of the 16th and 17th centuries, a small structure on
shore where meals were cooked; often little more than a framework of poles covered
with sailcloth.
- cooper
- A craftsman who manufactures wooden casks.
- cooperage
- Noun (1) The work performed by a cooper. (2) The shop where the work of a cooper is done.
- cross mends
- The term applied to fragments of objects from two areas that actually fit together; usually
glass or ceramics.
- crucibles
- Small heat-resistant containers used in testing rocks for precious metals.
- crystalline
- Adjective: 1. Like, or as clear as crystal. 2. Having the structure and form of crystal.
- culvert
- Cylinder of steel used to carry small streams beneath roads; at Ferryland sections
of culvert were used to line a well as it was being excavated to prevent the sides from
collapsing.
- cupels
- Heat-resistant ceramics used in assaying.
- curtilagia
- An area attached to a dwelling house and forming one enclosure with it. Also called curtilage.
- damsons
- Small plums, now common on the Southern Shore, and brought there by the first settlers.
- dowels
- Cylindrical sections of wood; usually cut longitudinally.
- downs
- An area of open, rolling land; in Ferryland, it refers to a large clear peninsula of land east
of the original Colony of Avalon.
- electron microprobe
- A device used to detect the presence of minute traces of elements in a substance;
used, for example, to identify clay sources in ceramics.
- English Shore
- Beginning in the late 1500s, English involvement in the Newfoundland migratory fishery
increased dramatically. By the mid–17th century they dominated a section of the south–east
coast of Newfoundland — from Bonavista to Trepassey — which became known as the
"English Shore."
- entomologist
- A scientist who studies insects.
- farrier
- A tradesman who specialized in shoeing horses.
- feldspars
- Feldspars are considered the most important group of rock-forming minerals, comprising
silicates (silica and oxygen) of aluminium linked together with those of calcium, potassium or
sodium. They are common in igneous rocks like granite and in a wide variety of metamorphic rocks.
Some feldspars are utilized as household abrasives, while others are
important in the glass-making and ceramic industries.
- flake
- A platform built near the shore on poles and spread with boughs for drying cod-fish; also
called fish-flake.
- flax
- A blue flowered plant cultivated for its textile fibres and seeds.
- forge
- Verb: To heat metal to a high temperatures in a fire and hammer into shape. Noun: (1) A
blacksmith's shop, also known as a smithy. (2) An open fireplace where metal is heated to a
high temperature before being hammered into shape.
- fritter
- (1) A small cake of fried batter sometimes containing fruit or other food. (2)Bits of blubber
remaining after rendering, or trying; used as fuel for the rendering process on whale ships.
- gable end
- The end of a peaked-roof structure.
- gilt
- A thin layer of gold or a gold-coloured substance which is applied over the surface of an
object for the purpose of decoration.
- goldfiner
- Also known as an assayer. A person who tests rocks in order to determine the quantity of gold, silver, or
other metals which they contain.
- hearth
- The floor of a fireplace.
- hemp
- Cannabis sativa, a tall, annual, herbaceous plant native to Asia. Also known as Indian
hemp. The tough fibres extracted from the stem of the plant have been used to make heavy rope and
strong cloth for hundreds of years.
- husbandry
- The care of domestic animals.
- inorganic
- A substance not produced by some life form (e.g., metals, glass, or ceramics).
- kiln
- An oven used for the firing of pottery.
- Knight of the Garter
- A male elected as a member of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, an English order of
knighthood founded in 1348 by King Edward III. It is considered to be the highest of all
British civil and military honours. Existing knights elect new knights into the order. The
bestowal of this honour brings adoption into knighthood, as well as the right to use the
title "Sir." In addition, members are also permitted to add the abbreviation "K.G."
(Knight of the Garter) after their names. Although its original purpose remains
obscure, the order's medieval membership consisted of the British sovereign,
the Prince of Wales, and a dozen companions each. The order contained five
officers: prelate (always the bishop of Winchester), chancellor, registrar (always the Dean
of Winchester since the reign of Charles I), Garter King of Arms, and Gentleman Usher of
the Black Rod. Although there have been changes to the order over the past few centuries, the
Order of the Garter still exists today.
- livyer
- Also liver, livere, liveyer, liveyere, livier. Meaning 'inhabitant' or ‘resident'. A
permanent settler of coastal Newfoundland (as opposed to a migratory fisherman from England).
- mattock
- A sturdy hoe or adze-like tool used to loosen dirt; a grubber or grub-hoe.
- matrix
- In archaeology, the material (soil) in which objects are preserved.
- midden
- A garbage dump situated near a dwelling.
- organic
- A substance originating from some life form (e.g., wood, leather, or ivory).
- palisade
- Also known as a palizado (see below). Defensive work surrounding a settlement. At the Colony of Avalon the palisade was
made of posts, rails and trees which were seven feet tall and sharpened at the top.
- palizado
- Also known as a palisade (see above). Defensive work surrounding a settlement.
At the Colony of Avalon the palisade was made of posts, rails and trees which
were seven feet tall and sharpened at the top.
- porray
- A type of stew.
- pottage
- A type of stew.
- privy
- A small outdoor toilet; an outhouse.
- proprietorship
- The ownership of territory granted by the crown to an individual or
group in whom all governing rights were vested.
- purlins
- Substantial horizontal members in a roof frame. At Ferryland they were
the lowermost members surmounted by rafters (vertical) and battens.
- quintal
- A unit used in Newfoundland for weighing fish, especially cod, equal to 112 pounds (about 50.8 kg).
- rampart
- A defensive earthwork. At Avalon a portion of the rampart measured
approximately 6.1 metres (20 feet) wide and about 1.2 metres (four feet) high. It was
constructed from earth dug from a defensive ditch just outside the rampart.
- rafters
- Vertical members of a roof frame.
- Royalist
- A supporter of King Charles I against the Parliament during the
English Civil War (1642-49).
- scale
- Iron-rich waste substance produced when hot iron is pounded on an anvil.
- seawall
- A single-faced wall at the edge of a harbour.
- sgraffito
- A method of decoration made by scratching through
slip on ceramics to show a different coloured undersurface. 'Slip' used in
this process is a creamy mixture of clay and water that is mainly used
to decorate earthenware.
- shaft and globe type wine bottles
- Bottles with round bodies and long necks, manufactured of dark green
glass beginning about 1640.
- share system
- The system in which specified proportions were assigned to the owner
and crew of the value of the catch taken in a fishing or sealing voyage,
after deducting the expenses of the enterprise (i.e., the "boats's share").
- sherd
- A shortened version of ‘potsherd', also a variant of ‘shard'. A broken
piece of ceramic material which has been found at an archeological site.
- slag
- Waste substance produced in a forge as a result of heating iron,
consisting largely of silica and iron. "Stringers" (fine threads) of slag
also characterize wrought iron.
- smith
- A person who works with metals. In Ferryland, it referred to a
‘blacksmith', a person who shaped iron by heating it in a fire and
hammering it.
- smithy
- A blacksmith's shop, also known as a forge.
- snuff
- Powdered tobacco taken by sniffing up the nostrils.
- surgeon
- A physician of the 17th century.
- swage
- A tool for drawing iron into a regular elongate shape.
- tenements
- In the 17th century, the word meant dwellings.
- terra sigillata ceramics
- A fine, orange-bodied earthenware produced at Estremoz, Portugal
beginning in the 16th century; very rare on archaeological sites and
a luxury item during the 17th century.
- tombolo beach
- A narrow boulder beach connecting two larger landforms. Such a beach
connects the area of Avalon and the Ferryland Downs with the mainland of
Newfoundland.
- vitner
- A person who manufactures or sells wine.
- wattle fence
- A fence made of upright stakes around which slender sticks are
woven in the fashion of a wicker basket.
- X-radiography
- Similar to hospital X-radiology, but more powerful X-ray
equipment is used to penetrate the matrix covering excavated objects;
especially useful in penetrating the corrosion on iron artifacts. All
iron artifacts from Ferryland are routinely X-rayed.
Sources:
Walter S. Avis et al., Gage Canadian Dictionary (Toronto: Gage Publishing Limited, ©1983) 464, 474, 496, 545, 922.;
G.M. Story, W.J. Kirwin and J.D.A. Widdowson, eds., Dictionary of Newfoundland English, 2nd
edition (St. John's, ©1990) 187.;
Della Thompson, ed., The Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 9th edition (Oxford,
©1995) 515, 531, 571, 627, 632, 1070, 1203, 1270, 1276, 1307, 1313, 1318.;
The New Encyclopedia Britannica, 15th edition, Vol. 5 (Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica, ©1991) 133-4.
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