Archeology
The Musée de la Côte-Nord owns a large collection of archaeological objects. The total collection from the prehistoric period represents some 1,100 tools and tool fragments, more than 8,000 flakes, and a few dozen ceramic shards, copper pieces and bone fragments.
The majority of these come from the eastern end of the Basse-Côte-Nord (Brador and Blanc-Sablon regions), though some were found on sites in Haute- and Moyenne-Côte-Nord (Rivière-Pentecôte, Port-Cartier, Rapides River and Bouleau River sectors). These artifacts were unearthed during work done between the 1960s and the early 1980s and were found in various contexts—while some objects are incidental discoveries, most were the result of archaeological interventions carried out on the territory of the Côte-Nord over the years.
The prehistoric artifacts in the collection reflect the periods of occupation during the Palaeo-Indian; the Maritime, Middle and Terminal Archaic (Little Passage and Point Revenge complexes); as well as the Palaeo-Inuit episode of the Groswater and Dorset cultures, representing about 6,000 years of Indigenous history.
The Brador fishing post
During the 1980s, the Brador fishing post, north-west of Lourdes-de-Blanc-Sablon, revealed a rich and complex past. The region was home to a succession of Breton, Norman, Basque, Spanish and Euro-Canadian fishermen and merchants, whose activities centred on seal and whale hunting, salmon fishing and trading. The concession granted circa 1705 to its first grantee, Augustin Le Gardeur de Courtemanche, had the appearance of a permanent colony where up to a hundred people of French, Canadian and Indigenous descent could live during the busy season. More in-depth excavation of the main residence of this site led to the discovery of an exceptional collection of several thousand artifacts, entrusted to the Musée de la Côte-Nord, showing numerous aspects of the social and economic life during that period.
VIEUX-POSTE DE SEPT-ÎLES
The Sept-Îles trading post was founded circa 1673 by a group of French-Canadian traders. Famous explorer Louis Jolliet joined its operations a few years later. This trading post, which depended on the contribution of Innu and Naskapi hunters, was part of the King’s Domain , an expansive territory stretching from Île aux Coudres to the Moisie River rented to merchants by the state. In 1759, it was destroyed by the British fleet on their way to conquer Quebec City. Under British rule, it was operated by several shareholders before the North West Company, followed by the Hudson’s Bay Company, took control of its destiny from 1831 until it shut down in 1842.
In the trading post’s heyday, in the 19th century, salmon from the Moisie River and the oil of seals hunted within the Sept-Îles Archipelago joined fur exports (beaver, marten, mink, fox, etc.) to the European market. The ongoing historical reconstruction of the trading post, visited by thousands annually, is inspired by an inventory of buildings done by Edward Harrison in 1786.
