Artefact of the Week: The Leisurely Side of Fishing, the Clay Tobacco Pipe Bowl

An exciting find from this week’s excavations is a clay tobacco pipe bowl recovered from Unit 3A on Turpin’s Island! 

Fig. 1 The clay tobacco pipe bowl that was found this week!

Interestingly, this pipe bowl can tell us a lot about the people who occupied the island during the last 500 years.

Fig.2 Unit 3A, shown in the red box

This particular artefact is the bowl of a clay tobacco pipe, likely produced in England, which were common personal items among European fishermen in the 17th century. Based on the London typology developed by Atkinson & Oswald (1969), this pipe was made between 1660 and 1680, when pipe bowls became larger, with either small ‘spurs’ or heart-shaped heels. These pipes were largely inexpensive, as they were mass-produced. They were also easily broken and often purchased en masse, usually in cases of 144, which is why these artefacts are commonly found on archaeological sites. 

Fig. 3  Clay tobacco pipe types seen in Atkinson & Oswald’s work (1969). This week’s pipe bowl structure aligns with sketch 18.  

The archaeological context of the pipe bowl suggests that it was likely used by French fishermen on Turpin’s Island. In the mid-1600’s, French fishermen actively fished in Little St. Lawrence (Petit Saint-Laurent). They had established seasonal stations where cod was salted and dried, as is evident by the thick layers of cod bone found in French contexts on Turpin’s Island. Since this was an English-made pipe bowl, it suggests that the French fishermen were relying on certain English trade goods as they occupied the land. Excavations at Turpin’s Island since 2023 have unearthed a great number of artefacts from the 17th century, such as Basque tile, Breton coarse earthenware pots, and Normandy coarse stoneware vessels, so the 1660-1680 dating of this pipe bowl aligns well with this era of French activity. This interesting find aids our understanding of daily life within a historic fishing station! 

Fig 4. Taylor with the pipe bowl

Author: Emma Turner

References:

Atkinson, David, and Adrian Oswald

1969 London Clay Tobacco Pipes. Journal of the British Archaeological Association, Third Series 32:171–227.

Constantine, Leah

2024 Artefact of the Week Series: Basque Tiles, From Roofs to Ballasts. The Cod Road Project Blog, August 23, 2024.

Losier, Catherine

2025 Turpin’s Island, Little St. Lawrence, CfAu‑05: Scaling Up Data Collection. Provincial Archaeology Office Review 24:185–201.

Losier, Catherine

2024 Turpin’s Island, Little St. Lawrence, CfAu‑05: Survey and Identification of Features. Provincial Archaeology Office Review 23:188–201.

Losier, Catherine, Paul Ledger, and Pete Whitridge

2023 Turpin’s Island, Little St. Lawrence, CfAu‑05: Small‑Scale Archaeological and Paleoenvironmental Excavation. Provincial Archaeology Office Review 22:95–104.