Kineo-Traveler Mountain Porphyry
and
Sea Mink Bones:
An Archaeological Puzzle

Sea Mink Remains

Sea Mink bones found
with KTMP artifacts
  KTMP
  Kineo-Traveler Mountain porphyry (KTMP) is a 
  unique type of volcanic rock, having a glassy 
  texture and a blue-green colour, speckled with 
  rectangular white crystals and beads of clear 
  volcanic glass.  KTMP occurs only in bedrock 
  in the mountains of northern central Maine and 
  as boulders left by glaciers between the 
  mountains and the central coast of Maine.  It 
  was one of the types of rock preferred by 
  Native people for making stone tools. 		   Sea Mink
  The Sea Mink (Mustela macrodon) was a 
  distinct species, 25-50% larger than the 
  common Mink (Mustela vison).  Sea Mink lived 
  on rocky shores and islands in Maine, and 
  perhaps elsewhere on the Northeast coast. 
  They were valued for their fur and where 
  trapped to extinction between 1860 and 1900. 
  Most formation about Sea Mink comes from 
  finds of their bones in camp sites used by 
  Native people before Europeans came to North
  America.
artifacts
KTMP scraper found between the north and central mounds
Map of the Weir Site
Map of the Weir Site
Click on above map to view in larger format
 samples
KTMP biface found at the east mound

Flakes of KTMP

KTMP flakes found
at the central mound
  Interpretation
  For several decades naturalists and 
  historians have questioned whether Sea 
  Mink lived on the shores of Charlotte 
  County in the past.  The Sea Mink bones 
  discovered in 1993 at the Weir site on the 
  Bliss Islands will help to answer this 
  question.  These are the first Sea Mink bones 
  to be identified on the New Brunswick coast. 
  They include parts of a skull, a jaw and teeth, 
  and various leg, foot and tail bones.		   At the Weir site, the Sea Mink bones were 
  found in the remains of a camp site where 
  Native people lived about 1000 years ago, 
  during the Late Woodland period.  The bones 
  are preserved because the clam shells Native 
  people discarded around the camp 
  neutralized the acidity of the soil.  In both 
  places where Sea Mink bones were found, 
  they were near stone tools made of KTMP. 
  KTMP must have been brought to the islands 
  by Native people.
  We do not believe the bones show that Sea Mink were living in Charlotte County. 
  Since the Sea Mink bones were found with KTMP, we believe they were also 
  brought to the Bliss Islands, as preserved food, as clothing, or as decorative or 
  ceremonial items.  The Late Woodland period is a time when there is considerable 
  evidence for exchange among groups of Native people in Maine and the Maritimes. 
  Sea Mink pelts and KTMP artifacts may be two of the valubles exchanged.
  Reference
  Black, D.W., J.E. Reading & H.G. Savage. 1988. 
  Archaeological Records of the Extinct Sea 
  Mink, Mustela macrodon (Carnivora: 
  Mustelidae), from Canada.  The Canadian 
  Field-Naturalist 112(1):45-49.		   Acknowledgements
  This research was supported by the Social 
  Sciences and Humanities Research Council of 
  Canada, Archaeological Services of New 
  Brunswick, the University of New Brunswick, 
  the University of Toronto, and the New 
  Brunswick Museum. 

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This page was transcribed by: Brent Suttie, Undergraduate Student.