Volume 24-25, 1976-7 - The Arctic Circle - Home

38VOL. X)(\/ No. 1TTIE ARCTIC CTRCUIARIn sone of the buildings are srnall square boxes rnade of slate piecesset on edge. Thre Dorset people used identical slate boxes for heatingand ccoking; but ttre boxes at LrAnse aux Irbadows appear to be integralparts of the Ddcrse buildings, and were probably used for storing ernbers.l'trore ttran 24@ iterns have been found. Alrnrst tr5OO of tlrese are of rnrcod andwere found in ttre loog. The oldest artifacts are generally ttpse that r^,erefor:nd fa-r:tLrest out in the @ and at tlre greatest depthrs, but thestratigraphy is confusing so there is no easy way to deternri-:re ttreir ageand origin. Radiocarbon dating is not conclusive, for artifacts made frcmrdrifti^/ood will appear older thran their date of manufacture. Parks Canadais ncn^r rucrking to establish v/hich a:tifacts or wood pieces are of driftwood.One of the nore exciting discoveries at L'Anse au< lEadcnvs was the discoveryby tte Ingstads of iron slag in close association with charcoal that has beenradiocarbon dated to between A.D. 860-890 and A.D. 1060-1070.Ttre Ingstads also foi:nd 85 artifact-s associated with the Norse occupation;Parks Canada has unmr/ered another forty-five. This is hardly an irrpressivenunber but in terms of West I'dcrse building sites, the result is gurite fruitful.At the site of Hvitarholt 1n Iceland, which had about thre same ni.rnberand flpes of buildings €Lq Urose at LfAnse aux Meadoss but where t]rreebrrilding stages were found on top of each other, only about 88 artifactswere retrieved.At both L'Anse arx Meadovss and Hvitarholt, nost kry far of the artifactsare iron nails or rivets and urridentj-iiable iron fraginents. One soapstonespindle whorl was found. SpirrrLing was a fsnir:-ine occupation in Norsesocietlz, so we can infer that wonen we-re present at L'Anse aux ltttreadows.A bronze pin folrrd in one of the cooking pits in House A could have belongedto a rnErn or a woman. The same is true for a glass bead and a bone pin withra flat, triangular head witJ- a drilled hrole in the centre, bth found inHouse D. Another ornanent, a srnall piece of brass wi tJr a striated decorationwas also for:nd in House D. A couple of whetstones antl a plain stone lanpare rrerrentos of ordinarry household activities.Most of th€ objects found by Parks Canada are wooden and were for:nd in ttrebog belcr,s thre terrace but close to the build-ings. f)ne was a snalI sewncontainer of birch bark which, fiIled withr stone, mj-qlrt have been a netsinl