Abstract
From the 16th century onwards, English, Bretons, Basques, and Portuguese exploited the rich cod stocks of Newfoundland’s Grand Banks. Several permanent settlements in eastern Newfoundland were begun in the early 17th century, including the settlement at Ferryland (1621-1696). Planter families at Ferryland fished and welcomed seasonal fishing fleets, participating in a trade network that included the West Indies, New England, the Iberian Peninsula, the Mediterranean, and Great Britain. The colonization process brought about changes to the local environment due to both the intentional and unintentional importation of European plants and animals. The presence of a substantial percentage of nonnative plants and insects suggests that ballast dumping as well as the establishment of small cottage gardens contributed to the introduction of several species to Newfoundland. Data from archaeobotanical, archaeoentomological, and faunal analyses can be used to examine processes of biological transfer, landscape change, and development of local household economies of Ferryland residents.
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Bain, A., Prévost, MA. Environmental Archaeology and Landscape Transformation at the Seventeenth-Century Ferryland Site, Newfoundland. Hist Arch 44, 21–35 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03376801
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03376801