Barry Gaulton

Position
Professor
Editor, Newfoundland and Labrador Studies
Recipient of the President’s Award for Public Engagement Partnerships (with the Colony of Avalon Foundation), 2017
Contact
Email: bgaulton@mun.ca
Phone:
Office: QC 2009
Ph.D. Memorial University, 2006
Research Interests
Historical archaeology, early modern fisheries, European exploration and settlement, mobility-movement, vernacular architecture, material culture, historic graffiti, conflict archaeology, Eastern North America and Newfoundland.

Current Research Projects
I have a longstanding community-university research partnership with the Colony of Avalon Foundation at Ferryland, Newfoundland. Ongoing excavations focus on interpreting the remains of George Calvert's colony of Avalon (1621) and the subsequent plantation established by Sir David Kirke in 1638. Visit the Colony of Avalon website for more details.
- Ferryland Interim Report 2011 (PDF)
- Ferryland Interim Report 2012 (PDF)
- Ferryland Interim Report 2013 (PDF)
- Ferryland Interim Report 2014 (PDF)
- Ferryland Interim Report 2015 (PDF)
- Ferryland Interim Report 2016 (PDF)
- Ferryland Interim Report 2017 (PDF)
- Ferryland PAO Report 2018 (PDF)
- Ferryland PAO Report 2019 (PDF)

As part of the Avalon Historic Petroglyph Project, I am collaborating with a team of researchers to record instances of historic graffiti and parietal art on Newfoundland’s Avalon Peninsula. The second phase of this research – The Newfoundland Historic Petroglyphs Project – will begin in 2020.
- Avalon Historic Petroglyph Project PAO Report 2018 (PDF)
My students and I have also spent several field seasons investigating transhumant forager-fishers at sites such as Sunnyside in Trinity Bay, Newfoundland.

As well as exploring a variety of other historic-period sites around the province.
Ph.D. Dissertations
- Hogan, Jared T. (in progress). Research topic. Just representation? Investigating the visibility of Indigenous cultures at museums in Newfoundland and Labrador. (Co-supervised with Dr. Scott Neilsen).
- Lacy, Robyn (in progress). Research topic. Sic Finis: 17th-century Burial Places and Spaces in Northeast North America and Newfoundland.
- O'Toole, Aubrey (in progress). Research topic. Investigating the intersection of material culture and identity among New Netherlanders and their descendants, 1650-1750. (Co-supervised with Dr. Catherine Losier).
- Morrison, Adrian (in progress). Research topic: Merchants, Migrants, and Military Men: An Archaeology of Life in Early Eighteenth-Century Canso, Nova Scotia. (Co-supervised with Dr. Michael Deal).
- Clausnitzer, Art (2018). The Seventeenth-Century English Cod Fisheries of Newfoundland and New England, circa 1600-1713: An Archaeological and Historical Comparison.
- Miller, Aaron (2013). Avalon and Maryland: A comparative historical archaeology of the seventeenth-century New World provinces of the Lords Baltimore (1621-1644).
M.A. Theses
- Roberts, Sarah (in progress). Research topic: “Thy Reale Friend George Skeffington”: An Archaeological Investigation of 18th-century European Salmon Fishing on the Gander River (DhAp-01)
- McMillan, Alessandra (in progress). Research topic: Death and Heritage: An Archaeological Analysis of the Differential Treatment of Two Historic Burial Grounds in Ferryland, Newfoundland
- Perri, Carli (in progress). Research topic. Hardworking Households: An Archaeology of Ferryland's 19th Working Class.
- Jones, Natasha (in progress). Research topic. tbd.
- Tamblyn, Colleen (in progress). Research topic. A Wealth of Small Pieces: Community Archaeology and Ceramic Analysis in Placentia, Newfoundland. (Co-supervised with Dr. Catherine Losier).
- Northover, Karen (in progress). Research Topic. An Archaeological Investigation of Fox Island, Trinity Bay, Newfoundland: A (Civilian) Defensible Position Built in the Early 18th Century.
- Lewis-Sing, Emma (in progress). Research topic: Before Avalon, Beyond Contact: A palaeoethnobotanical inquiry into Beothuk-European interaction at 16th century Ferryland. (Co-supervised with Dr. Michael Deal)
- Archer, JD (2022). "Smoky, Noisy, Bloody, Violent, and Smelly": Ferryland's 'Manor House' kitchen.
- De La Plante, Jake (2022). Examining the Lives of Garrisoned Soldiers at Admiral's Point in Trinity, Newfoundland (ca.1744-1820).
- Bethune, Eileen (2022). Cobbling Together the Past: Investigations into Ferryland's "Prettie Streete".
- Spiwak, Alexa (2020). "A slator or two": Exploring the 17th-century slate industry at Ferryland.
- Petty, Ian (2019). "As Elegant as They are Novel": Exploring Consumption Patterns of 18th Century Ceramics in Newfoundland and the Northeast.
- Jones-Doyle, Annique (2019). Maritime Consumption on Newfoundland’s Petit Nord: Material Expressions of Identity on the Champ Paya Fishing Station, 1504-1904.
- Williams, Duncan (2019). ‘A Large House on the Downs’: Household Archaeology and Middle-Class Gentility in Early 19th-century Ferryland, Newfoundland.
- Newcombe, Simon (2017). Research topic: An Examinaiton of Military Life in 18th Century Newfoundland Using the Archaeological Remains of an Officer's Barracks on Bois Island, Ferryland.
- Lacy, Robyn (2017). "Here lieth interr’d": An Examination of the 17th-Century burial landscape of coastal British North America.
- Venovcevs, Anatolijs (2017). Not Just Fisherfolk: Winter housing and Seasonal Lifeways of Rural Euro-Newfoundlanders.
- Hawkins, Catherine (2016). Research topic: English Border Ware Ceramics in Seventeenth-Century British North America.
- Ingram, Sarah (2015). "By Which So Much Happiness Is Produced": An Analysis of the Seventeenth-Century Tavern at Ferryland, Newfoundland.
- Clausnitzer, Art (2011). "As well as any beere": The seventeenth-century brewhouse and bakery at Ferryland, Newfoundland.
- Cromwell, Tom (2011). The new fort : an examination of the design and construction of an 18th-century fort in Placentia, Newfoundland.
- Tourigny, Eric (2009). What ladies and gentlemen ate for dinner: The analysis of faunal material from a seventeenth-century high status English household, Ferryland, Newfoundland.
B.A. Honours Essays
I am seeking dedicated undergraduate honours' students on the following research projects:
- Artifacts of religious expression and faith at Ferryland, Newfoundland ca, 1621-1900 (crosses, crucifixes, and religious medallions).
- A study of 17th- to early 18th century leather footwear (including women's and possibly children's shoes) excavated from French colonial contexts at Placentia, Newfoundland.
- The analysis of numismatic finds at Ferryland, Newfoundland excavated from 2002-2021.
I am open to supervising other projects that fall within my research interests.
- Roberts, Sarah (2021). Exploring the Archaeological Potential of the 18th-century European Salmon Fishery in Newfoundland.
- Hollahan, Jordan (2021). An Analysis of Seventeenth-century Firearms at the Ferryland Site (CgAf-2).
- Burgess, Neil (2021). Two 17th-century Marine Astrolabes Recovered from a Shipwreck near Isle aux Morts, Newfoundland.
- Hoskins, Robynn (2020). Deoraithe i dTalamh an Eise: Changes in Irish Immigration in 18th- and 19th-Century Newfoundland - A Historical Archaeological Approach.
- Cole, Johanna (2019). Invisible Women: An Archival Approach to Unearthing the Historic Sex Trade in St. John’s, Newfoundland (co-supervisor Dr. Madeline Mant).
- Miller, Mikayla (2013). Examination and Interpretation of Architectual Remains of Structure 32, Ferryland, Newfoundland.
- Whalley, Meaghan (2013). The Conservation of Nineteenth Century Waterlogged Archeological Cork.
- Graham, David (2012). Where once they stood...and dropped things: Answering Questions about Frenchmen's Island (ClAl-1) through an artifact analysis. (Recipient of the ITC Scholarship in Historical Archaeology for 2012).
- Hawkins, Catherine (2012). English Border Ware Ceramics at Ferryland, Newfoundland.
- Matte, Sarah (2011). Telling time in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Colonial North America.
- DeRoo, Tessa (2009). All the King's Ponies: The story of Ferryland's Horses as told by their furnishings.
- Elwood, Kathleen (2009). Sparking an Interest in the Past: An examination of the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century gunflints from Ferryland Newfoundland.
- James, Margaret (2009). Death and Christianity in the New World: An examination of Christian Burials in 17th- century Atlantic settlements. (Recipient of the ITC Scholarship in Historical Archaeology for 2010).
- Gushue, Jennifer (2008). "Concerning the Healthfulness of this Countrie": Health, Hygiene and Medical Practices in seventeenth-century Newfoundland. (Recipient of the ITC Scholarship in Historical Archaeology for 2007).
- Young, Jaclyn (2007). Kirke and his Curios: An examination of seventeenth-century Curiosity Collecting at Ferryland, Newfoundland. (Recipient of the ITC Scholarship in Historical Archaeology for 2007).
- Flower, Abbey (2006). All Work and No Play: An archaeological analysis of simple pastimes in Early Modern Newfoundland.
- Hynes, Kyla (2006). Tuscan Export Olive Oil Jars: A case study of a late eighteenth-century jar found in Bareneed, Newfoundland. (Recipient of the ITC Scholarship in Historical Archaeology for 2006).
HATCH Laboratory (Queen's College, MUN)
Graduate students conduct some of their artifact analyses in my historical archaeology lab at Queen's College. The lab has several tables for layout space; a small library of material on clay tobacco pipes, glass and ceramics; a computer; and a compact photography studio with tripod and scales.
Ferryland Collections Room and Conservation Lab (Ferryland, Newfoundland)
Student's researching artifact assemblages from the archaeological site at Ferryland will have access to the extensive collection of 16th- to 19th-century material housed in our collection's storage room in the Colony of Avalon Foundation building at Ferryland, Newfoundland. Two decades of excavation at Ferryland has unearthed one of the best collections of 17th-century material culture in North America. Our faunal collection (mostly from the 17th century) is contained within a separate storage facility in the same building.
Recent Publications
- Rankin, Lisa K. and Barry C. Gaulton, 2021. Archaeology, Participatory Democracy and Social Justice in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Archaeologies. https://rdcu.be/chHt4
- Gaulton, Barry C. and Catherine Losier, 2020. Recasting Mobility and Movement in Eastern North America: a Fisheries Perspective. In Handbook of Global Historical Archaeology, edited by Charles E. Orser Jr., Pedro Funari, Susan Lawrence, James Symonds, and Andrés Zarankin, pp. 828–850.
- Gaulton Barry C., Bryn Tapper, Duncan Williams, and Donna Teasdale, 2019. The Upper Island Cove Petroglyphs: An Algonquian Enigma. Canadian Journal of Archaeology/Journal canadien d'archéologie. 43(2): 123-161.
- Gaulton, Barry C., 2018. Made in France? Investigating seventeenth-century French clay pipes in North American contexts. Historical Archaeology 52(2): 438-453.
- Venovcevs, Anatolijs and Barry C. Gaulton, 2018. Winter Housing: Archaeological Perspectives on Newfoundland’s Non-Pastoral Transhumant Tradition. In Historical Archaeologies of Transhumance across Europe, edited by Eugene Costello and Eva Svensson. Themes in Contemporary Archaeology Volume 6:43-57.
- Gaulton, Barry C. and Lisa K. Rankin, 2018. Archaeological heritage as a catalyst for pubic engagement, rural rejuvenation, and rethinking our shared past: perspectives from a quarter century of community archaeology in Newfoundland and Labrador. História: Questões & Debates 66(2): 19-44.
- Lacy, Robyn, S., Barry C. Gaulton and Stephen J. Piercey, 2017. Inscriptions, Outcrops and XRF: Analysis of the Ferryland Gravestones. North Atlantic Archaeology 5:1-20.
- Gaulton, Barry C., 2017. Exploring Devon-Newfoundland Connections through 25 Years of Archaeology at Ferryland. Rep. Trans. Devon. Ass. Advmt Sci. 149: 153−178.
- Guiry, Eric J. and Barry C. Gaulton, 2015. Inferring Human Behaviors from Isotopic Analyses of Rat Diet: a Critical Review and Historical Application. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 23(2): 399-426. DOI 10.1007/s10816-015-9248-9
- Gaulton, Barry C. and Tânia M. Casimiro, 2015. Custom-made ceramics, transatlantic business partnerships and entrepreneurial spirit in early modern Newfoundland: an examination of the SK vessels from Ferryland. International Journal of Historical Archaeology 19 (1): 1-20.
- Gaulton, Barry C., 2014. The Curious Case of the Clay Tobacco Pipes from Frenchman’s Island, Newfoundland. North Atlantic Archaeology 3:1-23.
- Clausnitzer, Arthur R. and Barry C. Gaulton, 2013. The 17th-century Brewhouse and Bakery at Ferryland, Newfoundland. Northeast Historical Archaeology, 41 (accepted for publication, winter 2013).
- Gaulton, Barry C., 2013. The commercial development of Newfoundland's English Shore: The Kirke Family at Ferryland (1638-1696). In Exploring Atlantic Transitions: Archaeologies of Permanence and Transience in New Found Lands. Edited by Peter E. Pope and Shannon Lewis-Simpson. Society for Post-Medieval Archaeology Monograph no. 7, Woodbridge, Suffolk, UK: Boydell and Brewer (in press).
- Tuck, James A and Barry C. Gaulton, 2013. "The evolution of a seventeenth-century manor". In Glorious Empire: Archaeology and the Tudor-Stuart Atlantic World. Edited by Eric Klingelhofer. Oxbow Books.
- Miller, Aaron F, John D. Krugler, Barry C. Gaulton and James I. Lyttleton, 2011. "Over Shoes over Boots": Lord Baltimore's final days in Ferryland, Newfoundland. Journal of Early American History 1:167-182.
- Gaulton, Barry and Misha Ewen, 2021. An Indigenous or African representation on a French-made tobacco pipe found at a 17th-century English colonial site in Newfoundland: preliminary insights and interpretations. Paper presented at the Canadian Archaeological Association Virtual Conference, May 2021.
- Gaulton, Barry and Anatolijs Venovcevs, 2021. Social distancing in the woods: archaeological expressions of isolated winter habitations of Newfoundland’s early European fisherfolk. Society for Historical Archaeology 2021 Virtual Conference, January 2021.
- Gaulton, Barry, 2020. Sanitation and Industry in 1620s Ferryland: miasmatic theory, effluent management, and notions of health and cleanliness, Council for Northeast Historical Archaeology Virtual Conference, November 2020.
- 2020 Health, Hygiene and Disease Prevention in 17th-century Ferryland. September 28th. 21st Annual General Meeting of the Colony of Avalon Foundation. Virtual AGM and public presentation.
- 2019 The History and Archaeology of early industry at George Calvert’s colony of Avalon 1621-1629. Council for Northeast Historical Archaeology conference held in Lake George, New York. November 2019.
- 2019 “A profitable merchandise”: the archaeology of early industry at Avalon 1621-1629. Paper presented at the 52nd Annual Meeting of the Canadian Archaeological Association, Quebec City, Quebec, May 2019.
- 2019 (Invited) Climate Change at the Colony of Avalon National Historic Site. Presentation to the Climate Change & Heritage Places Information Forum and Adaptation Workshop (Parks Canada), St. John’s, April 2019.
- 2019 Archaeology, Advocacy and the Public Good (Lisa K. Rankin and Barry C. Gaulton). Paper presented at the 84th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Albuquerque, April 2019.
- 2018 The Power of Our Past: 25 years of community‐university engagement at Ferryland. People, Place and Public Engagement Conference, Oct 25-28th, 2018. St. John’s, Newfoundland (Barry Gaulton and Jane Severs).
- 2018 The Avalon Historic Petroglyph Project: preliminary investigation of historic graffiti and other parietal art on Newfoundland’s eastern Avalon Peninsula (Barry Gaulton, Bryn Tapper, Duncan Williams and Donna Teasdale). Council for Northeast Historical Archaeology conference held in Halifax, Nova Scotia. October 2018.
- 2017 Exploring Devon-Newfoundland connections through 25 years of archaeology at Ferryland. The Devon-Newfoundland Story Symposium held in Exeter, Devon, U.K. April 2017.
- 2016 Trepassey’s Mystery Fort: A Cautionary Tale in Aerial Prospection or a Forgotten Fortification from Ages Past? (Barry C. Gaulton, Steve Mills and Henry Cary). Council for Northeast Historical Archaeology conference held in Ottawa, Ontario. October 2016.
- 2016 Archaeological Discoveries in 2016. Public lecture for the Colony of Avalon Foundation as part of ‘Colony Day’ celebrations, August 4th, 2016.
- 2016 Archaeological heritage as a catalyst for pubic engagement, rural rejuvenation, and rethinking our shared past: perspectives from a quarter century of community archaeology in Newfoundland and Labrador (Barry C. Gaulton and Lisa K. Rankin). Association of Critical Heritage Studies conference. Montreal, Canada, June 2016.
- 2016 Archaeology Report 2015. Presented April 25th at the 17th Annual General Meeting of the Colony of Avalon Foundation. Ferryland, Newfoundland.
- 2015 How much can a big hole in the ground tell you?: Preliminary investigations into the 1620s builder’s trench associated with Lord Baltimore’s Mansion House at Ferryland, Newfoundland. Paper presented at the Canadian Archaeological Association conference in St. John’s, Newfoundland. May 2015.
- 2015 Buildings, Bombardments, and Burnings: Archaeological evidence for the multiple occupations and destructions of Ferryland, Newfoundland (1621-1705). Co-authored paper presented by Catherine Hawkins at the Canadian Archaeological Association conference in St. John’s, Newfoundland. May 2015.
- 2015 George Calvert, David Kirke, and Jim Tuck: three visionaries and their impact on Ferryland, Newfoundland. The Rooms Provincial Museum, Coffee & Culture Series. Presented April 2nd.
- 2014 Exploring the Presence and Prevalence of 17th-century French Clay Pipes in Newfoundland, and Beyond. Paper presented at the Council for Northeast Historical Archaeology Conference held in Long Branch, New Jersey. November 2014.
- 2014 New discoveries (and rediscoveries) in 2014. Public lecture for the Colony of Avalon Foundation as part of ‘Colony Day’ celebrations, August 4th, 2014.
- 2014 Clay Pipe Research in Newfoundland: What works, what doesn’t and what more can be done? Paper presented at the Society for Historical Archaeology Conference in Quebec City.
- 2012 A Terraced Village at 'Avalon': The Construction and Evolution of George Calvert's 1621 Colony at Ferryland, Newfoundland. Council for Northeast Historical Archaeology, St. John's, Newfoundland.
- 2011 Exploring the Changes in Economics and Architecture at Ferryland, Newfoundland (1621-1696). Council for Northeast Historical Archaeology, Utica, New York.
- 2011 Transhumant European Forager-Fishers in Seventeenth-Century Newfoundland: Preliminary Interpretations from Sunnyside 1. Society for Historical Archaeology, Austin, Texas.
- 2010 Consolidating Settlement: Life after the Calverts, the Kirke family at Ferryland (1638-1696). Society for Post Medieval Archaeology, St. John's, Newfoundland.
- 2021 Toward a Partnership for Maritime Archaeology in Canada: Atlantic Region Workshop 2021. Quick Start Fund for Public Engagement, Office of Public Engagement, MUN
- 2020 The Newfoundland Historic Petroglyphs Project. Funded by the Provincial Archaeology Office, Department of Tourism, Culture, Industry and Innovation.
- 2018 The Avalon Historic Petroglyph Project. Funded by the Provincial Archaeology Office, Department of Business, Tourism, Culture and Rural Development.
- 2017 The P53 Project: Research and Conservation of a mid-nineteenth-century crate of Enfield rifled muskets recovered off the coast of Cape Freels, NL (co-applicant with Donna Teasdale). Funded by the Provincial Archaeology Office, Department of Business, Tourism, Culture and Rural Development.
- 2017 Survey and Testing at Backside Beach 1 (CjAj-10). Funded by the Provincial Archaeology Office, Department of Business, Tourism, Culture and Rural Development.
- 2017 SSHRC Travel Grants Competition Award for keynote address presented at the Devon-Newfoundland Symposium in Exeter, U.K.
- 2015-2019 Ferryland Archaeology Project. Funded by the Department of Business, Tourism, Culture and Rural Development, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador and administered through the Colony of Avalon Foundation.
- 2015 Continued Excavations at Sunnyside 1 (ClAl-05), Trinity Bay, Newfoundland. Funded by the Provincial Archaeology Office, Department of Business, Tourism, Culture and Rural Development.
- 2011-2014 From Colonial Enterprise to Mercantile Venture: the archaeology of social and economic change at Ferryland, Newfoundland (Principal Investigator). Funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
- 2013 Further Investigations at Sunnyside (ClAl-05), Trinity Bay, Newfoundland. Funded by the Provincial Archaeology Office, Department of Tourism, Culture and Recreation, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador.
- 2009-2012 Ferryland Archaeology Project (Co-investigator with Dr. James A. Tuck). Funded by ACOA’s Strategic Community Investment Fund and administered through the Colony of Avalon Foundation.
- 2010 Preliminary investigations at Sunnyside 1 (ClAl-05), Trinity Bay, Newfoundland. Funded by the Provincial Archaeology Office, Department of Tourism, Culture and Recreation, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador.