Dildo Island

On Dildo Island archaeologists have unearthed structures and artifacts which demonstrate that the Island was occupied by at least two different peoples at different times in history:

Dorset Eskimo
Between about AD 100 and AD 750 Newfoundland was occupied by Dorset Eskimo people who arrived from the Arctic. One of the sites that the Dorset people inhabited was Dildo Island.

Archaeologist Silve Leblanc uncovered the uncovered the remains of two Dorset houses and over 5500 artifacts. The remnants of these houses can be seen on the island today. Radiocarbon samples recovered from these houses indicate that they were occupied from about AD 150 to AD 750 .

Dorset Eskimo Site on Dildo Island

Recent Indians
The remnants of a wigwam and hearth were found that were clearly part of an Indian camp. It has been determined that the people who established the camp were an earlier people than the Beothuks. A radiocarbon sample recovered from the fireplace produced a date range of between AD 720 and AD 960, at least 653 years before the Cupids colonists reported seeing Beothuks. In addition, these people made almost all of their tools from purple and blue rhyolites that came from a source in Bonavista Bay roughly 90 miles to the north. While the Beothuk people living at Russell's Point made most of their stone tools from a gray chert which seems to have come from somewhere in Trinity Bay. Archaeologist call these people Recent Indians and believe that they must have arrived in Trinity Bay from Bonavista Bay bringing the stone so essential for their survival with them. It is believed that they arrived shortly after the Dorset Eskimo left.

Recent Indian Site on Dildo Island

The Baccalieu Trail Tourism Association has published a booklet about their work over the past 10 years, including their work in Cupids. William Gilbert, the chief archeologist, is the author of the full colour, illustrated booklet entitled: "Journeys Through Time; Ten Years of Archaeology on the Baccalieu Trail."

The booklet is available for purchase at the Cupids Museum Office, the Dildo and Area Interpretation Centre, and The Baccalieu Trail Heritage Corporation Office in Carbonear. (Proceeds from sales go into projects aimed at increasing knowledge of the history and culture of the Baccalieu Trail.)

The cover of the booklet is illustrated at the left.