Memorial University of Newfoundland
Research Grant Co-ordinator, Archaeology
Co-ordinator, SSHRC-CURA
Thesis Title: The Historical Archaeology of a French fortification in the Colony of Plaisance: The Vieux Fort Site (ChAl-04), Placentia, Newfoundland.
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Dr. Peter Pope
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About
My research interests revolve around the historical archaeology of Newfoundland and Labrador. My Ph.D. research examined various archaeological sites from the French colony of Plaisance (located in Placentia, Newfoundland). Plaisance was the only official French colony in Newfoundland, occupied between 1662 and 1713. I spent four field seasons excavating the remains of the first fortification built by the French in Plaisance, which remains virtually unknown from documentary resources. Specifically, I am interested in reconstructing the life history of the fort, understanding how the fort functioned within the larger landscape of the colony, and how the soldiers of the garrison were intertwined with the 'civilian' population. I am also interested in how the Vieux Fort collections can reveal interactions with the outside world-- to identify the larger trade networks that supplied the fort and the colony.
I am also the co-ordinator for a SSHRC-CURA funded research project titled "Understanding the Past to Build the Future" (Dr. Lisa Rankin, Principal Investigator). This project is a multidisciplinary study of the origins, history and modern development of the Labrador Metis. In the course of my work for this project, I have developed a new interest in the French historical archaeology of southern Labrador. This has allowed me to combine my interests derived from my PhD research (on the French presence in Newfoundland) with a new research area, in Labrador.
Between 2008 and 2010, I was also the Instructor for Memorial University's Archaeology Field School at Signal Hill National Historic Site in St. John's, Newfoundland. For two seasons, we concentrated our efforts on a nineteenth-century British soldier's barracks near Ladies' Lookout, at the summit of Signal Hill. We also maintained a dig blog for the field school; you can check it out under the 'websites' link on my page.
Please send me an email if you'd like more information!
