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Archaeologists Investigate an Early Whaling Community

For over a decade, Smithsonian Arctic Archaeologist, William Fitzhugh, has been investigating an early European whaling site at Hare Harbor in Québec, Canada. The site and the artifacts recovered here have revealed information about the contact and trading relationships between Inuit peoples of Northern Canada and the European Basque whalers of France and Spain.

Learn more about the Smithsonian's archeological site investigation at Hare Harbor and the Arctic Studies Center's research expeditions in the St. Lawrence region.

Tags: Whales Maritime history Whaling Smithsonian scientists Native people
A map of the early European whaling site at Hare Harbor in Quebec, Canada
Preview The excavation site of an Inuit home in Hare Harbor, Quebec, Canada
Preview A fragment of European ballamine ceramic that was excavated at Hare Harbor in Quebec, Canada in 2011
Preview Map depicting the archaeological excavation site at Hare Harbor in Quebec, Canada in 2009
Preview Two men each hold a ceramic vessel at the archaeological excavation
Preview A diagram of the different soil layers located at Hare Harbor, Quebec in 2008. Wood chips were located at the deepest layer, then whale bone, then codfish bones.
Preview A researcher holds a maritime archaic point made of ramah chert that was found at Hare Harbor in Quebec, Canada in 2011
Preview A point made of Ramah Chert that belonged to the early Eskimo group known as the Groswater Dorset Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center
Preview a seven inch fragment of an Inuit soapstone pot recovered at Hare Harbor in Quebec, Canada
A map of the early European whaling site at Hare Harbor in Quebec, Canada

Map of Early European Whaling Region

Credit: Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center

For over a decade scientists have been investigating an early European whaling site at Hare Harbor in Quebec, Canada. Located in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, just south of the 16th century Basque whaling communities in Newfoundland and Labrador, Hare Harbor has revealed important contact and trading relationships between the Inuit peoples of Northern Canada and the European Basque whalers of France and Spain.

 

The excavation site of an Inuit home in Hare Harbor, Quebec, Canada

Excavation of an Inuit House

Credit: Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center

Excavations between 2002 through 2011 at Hare Harbor have shown that this site was a whaling and fishing station occupied by Basque and Inuit assistants ca. 1680-1730. Archaeologists have uncovered a cookhouse, a blacksmith shop, and the remains of several Inuit winter houses like the one seen here.   

Learn more about what has been recovered at Hare Harbor and how it has helped scientists understand the early whaling community and its occupants.

A fragment of European ballamine ceramic that was excavated at Hare Harbor in Quebec, Canada in 2011

Fragment of a European Bellarmine Jug

Credit: Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center

A 2011 excavation led by the Arctic Studies Center uncovered this fragment of decorated European stoneware called a bellarmine jug. Uncovering this fragment, that was likely manufactured in the 15th and 16th centuries, reveals information about European trade and influence in the Hare Harbor whaling community.

Learn more about what has been uncovered at Hare Harbor and how it has helped scientists understand the relationship between Inuit peoples of Northern Canada and Basque whalers of France and Spain in the 16th century.

Map depicting the archaeological excavation site at Hare Harbor in Quebec, Canada in 2009

Archaeological Site Map of Hare Harbor

Credit: Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center

The Arctic Studies Center's excavation site map of Hare Harbor maps some of the community's excavated structures that archeologists have unearthed. An Inuit house, blacksmith shop, and cookhouse are among some of the excavated buildings on site.

Learn more about what has been uncovered at Hare Harbor and how these discoveries have helped scientists understand the early whaling community and its occupants.

Two men each hold a ceramic vessel at the archaeological excavation

Ceramic Pottery Recovered from Early Whaling Community

Credit: Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center

Research at Hare Harbor in Quebec, Canada has revealed important clues about the connections between the Inuit peoples of Northern Canada and the Basque whalers of Spain and France.

Excavations at the site between 2002 and 2011 have shown that this site was a whaling and fishing station occupied by Basque and Inuit assistants ca. 1680-1730. Archaeologists have uncovered a cookhouse, a blacksmith shop, and the remains of several Inuit winter houses. Researchers have discovered large piles of ballast, butchered whalebones, and other cultural materials like ceramic vessels, roof tiles, and barrel parts at an underwater site in the harbor. Here, divers Frederic Simard and Erik Phaneuf display two two ceramic vessels that were found during in an underwater excavation in 2007.

Learn more about what has been uncovered at Hare Harbor and how it has helped scientists understand this early whaling community and its occupants.

A diagram of the different soil layers located at Hare Harbor, Quebec in 2008. Wood chips were located at the deepest layer, then whale bone, then codfish bones.

Underwater Archaeological Stratigraphy

Credit: Created by Ben Ford

An underwater archaeological stratigraphy reveals the different levels of soil in Hare Harbor, Quebec. The stratigraphy – a process archeologists use to help date materials by identifying soil layers – showed the deepest level of soil (labeled G) contained wood chips, possibly the residue of site construction. The second level contained large whale bones (labeled E), marking a period when whales were caught and processed. The third level, the top-most, was full of codfish bones (labeled B). This means that after whales had declined, people turned to processing fish for the commercial market in Europe.

Learn more about what archaeologists have uncovered at Hare Harbor and how it has helped scientists understand this early whaling community and its occupants.

A researcher holds a maritime archaic point made of ramah chert that was found at Hare Harbor in Quebec, Canada in 2011

Ancient Maritime Archaic Indian Point

Credit: Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center

Smithsonian surveys along the lower north shore of Hare Harbor in Quebec, Canada have revealed evidence of a long history of Native American occupation, beginning with the Maritime Archaic Indian culture beginning 8000 years ago. Their later descendants of 3,500 years ago built longhouses with multiple family rooms have been found at Mécatina Cove.

At Kegaska a cache of stone blades found by Hughie Stubbert indicates that early Innu peoples living here ca. 1000 AD were in contact with peoples of Ramah Bay in northern Labrador.

In this photo the Arctic Studies Center's Lauren Marr poses with an ancient Maritime Archaic Indian point made of Ramah Chert, found in 2011.

Learn more about what has been uncovered at Hare Harbor and how it has helped scientists understand the relationship between Inuit peoples of Northern Canada and Basque whalers of France and Spain in the 16th century.

A point made of Ramah Chert that belonged to the early Eskimo group known as the Groswater Dorset Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center

Early Eskimo Point

Credit: Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center

About 2,500 years ago cold climate brought the first Inuit peoples into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, off the coast of Eastern Canada. Early Eskimo groups, known as Groswater Dorset, occupied many sites along the Lower North Shore, and as far west as Cape Whittle. With warming climates these Eskimo groups retreated north and were replaced with Innu (Indian) peoples.

Seen here is a Dorset point made of Ramah Chert that was recovered Hare Harbor, Canada.

Learn more about what has been uncovered at Hare Harbor and how it has helped scientists understand this early whaling community and its occupants.

 

a seven inch fragment of an Inuit soapstone pot recovered at Hare Harbor in Quebec, Canada

Inuit Soapstone Pot

Credit: Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center

For over a decade, Smithsonian Arctic Archaeologists have been investigating an early European whaling site at Hare Harbor in Quebec, Canada. The site and the artifacts that have been recovered has revealed important information about the relationships between Inuit peoples of Northern Canada and the European Basque whalers of France and Spain.

Seen here is an Inuit soapstone cooking pot found at an Inuit house in Hare Harbor, which is evidence of Inuit occupation in the region. In the 1500s when Basque whalers were active, Inuit conducted raids in Southern Labrador and the Strait of Belle Isle to get iron, boats, and other European materials. However, their ancestral homes remained in central and northern Labrador. After Basques departed, Inuit began moving into the Strait of Belle Island and into Québec, establishing winter villages at Brador, Belles Amours and Petit Mécatina where they begin working for Basques at Petit Mécatina.

Learn more about what has been uncovered at Hare Harbor and how it has helped scientists understand the relationship between Inuit peoples of Northern Canada and Basque whalers of France and Spain in the 16th century.