An Ancient Technology for Hunting Sea Mammals
At L'Anse Amour, Labrador, archaeologists discovered a unique mound of stones dating from over 7,500 years ago. Buried deeply under the mound were the remains of a young teenage boy. Buried with him were an array of hunting and fishing tools; among them a walrus tusk and bone harpoon head were found. This led archaeologists to believe the boy may have died during a walrus hunt.

The distinctive bone harpoon head is one of the earliest examples of harpoon toggling technology known in North America, suggesting a long tradition and knowledge of marine mammal hunting. The toggling harpoon is a sophisticated technique specifically adapted to hunting sea mammals. The harpoon is detachable from the spear shaft, but once thrust into the animal, it twists, or toggles, and remains fastened to a retrievable line, preventing the prey from escaping or sinking.

Fishing on the Coast and Offshore
The coastal and offshore waters of Atlantic Canada are characterized by the rugged, rocky coastlines of Newfoundland and Labrador and the more subdued shorelines and sandy beaches of the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence.
These coastlines and waters offer highly diverse habitats for a diverse range of marine mammals, such as large and small species of whales, porpoise and seals.

Offshore islands also attract waterfowl and sea mammals in great numbers, the harp seal being one of the most important to migrate there. During the late winter and early spring, they come south from the Arctic on ice packs into the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

A wide range of well preserved utilitarian and ornamental objects indicate a life closely linked to the sea. Early people possessed elaborate fishing and sea mammal hunting tools to exploit the shore and offshore marine resources. They also had the know-how to travel long distances.

The Atlantic walrus was once present in great numbers, but today they are noticeably absent from East coast waters. In Canada, they now only found along the Arctic coastline.

From earliest times walrus were a significant source of food and oil. They were also valued for their ivory and bone used in making tools and ornaments, and for a tough hide that had many uses. At a recently discovered archaeological site in the Tantramar region of Nova Scotia, walrus remains were found with a large number of fishing weights or plummets dating to about 3500 years ago.

The most populous walrus areas of Atlantic Canada were the Magdalen Islands, Sable Island, and the southern coast of Newfoundland. It is estimated that walrus populations on the Magdalen Islands numbered over 100 000 as recently as 1750. Uncontrolled hunting and high demand for walrus ivory and walrus oil destroyed all the walrus populations by about 1800.

We can only speculate about when people first developed watercraft. It is believed by many archaeologists that 11 000 years ago, the earliest peoples of Atlantic Canada had some knowledge of water transportation. Early forms of watercraft found elsewhere in the world include skin-covered and bark boats, reed boats, rafts and log dugouts and archaeologists believe similar boats were used in Atlantic Canada as well.

Four-thousand-year-old heavy woodworking implements found at Port au Choix, Newfoundland, and at a similar site at Twillingate, Newfoundland, were probably used in the construction of dugout canoes. Although most of types of watercraft types, including caribou and moose hide skin boats, persisted until historic times, it is suspected that the most efficient watercraft, the birchbark canoe, was developed about 3000-3500 years ago. The disappearance of the gouge used to hollow out logs about 3500 years ago supports this idea.

The Mi'kmaq, Newfoundland Beothuk and the Maliseet/Passamoquoddy peoples all used a variation of the birchbark canoe.

The Mi'kmaq developed several styles of birchbark watercraft suited to both open water and rivers. The ocean-going seven-to-nine-meter birchbark canoe, with its distinctive rounded bow and stern and high central gunwales, is distinctively Mi'kmaq. It was sufficiently seaworthy to cross the Gulf of St. Lawrence between Newfoundland and Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.

A shorter version, four to six meters in length, was easier to handle and lighter and was especially suitable for rivers and protected coastal bays and estuaries.

Like the Mi'kmaq canoe, the Newfoundland Beothuk birchbark canoe was also suitable for the open seas and for travelling to offshore islands in search of birds and marine mammals. The high gunwales prevented swamping when pulling seals and other game out of the water.

Paddled or poled, the Maliseet canoe was light, stable and ideal for the shallow rivers and lakes of New Brunswick, Quebec and Maine. The protective bark flap, or wulegessis, on the bow and stern was a distinctive feature. It was often decorated with a personal mark or symbol of the canoe owner or builder. Many of today's recreational canoes are patterned after original Maliseet designs.