14 
Burial Place or “Battle Fields ”. A site at the east side of the Barney 
River bridge at Ocean, is thought by Mr. Wallace Copeland of Merigomish 
to be a burial place or “battle field", because many bones have been 
ploughed up at the place. He made the statement on the authority of 
Mr. George Patterson, of Merigomish. 
Supposed Earthwork. A supposed earthwork, locally known as the 
“Boar’s Back," near Barney river, is reported by Mr. Copeland. He 
made the statement on the authority of Mr. J. E. Mason of Central Ponds, 
who believed the earthwork to be artificial. Patterson (b, page 34) 
relates a tradition recorded by Rand to the effect that at the time of the 
last war there, in which the Micmacs of the harbour fought other Indians, 
the Micmacs were entrenched in a blockhouse or fort at the mouth of 
Barney river. “These blockhouses were constructed of logs raised up 
.around a vault first dug in the ground.’’ 1 He further states: “the old 
Indian fortifications were a sort of palisaded enclosures, formed of trees 
and stakes driven into the ground between them, with branches of trees 
interlaced’’ and that “in times of war the women and children were always 
kept in such fortifications,” but that after obtaining axes from Europeans 
they may have made one like the blockhouse above referred to. This 
supposed earthwork, however, is probably natural or made by white men, 
as earthworks of aboriginal origin are not known 2 in the Maritime Pro- 
vinces or nearer than Massachusetts. 
Possible Workshop. According to Mr. Finlayson, of Merigomish, 
many chipped points for arrows and a very great number of chippings 
have been found on Thomas Patton’s point, now owned by Mr. R. Patter- 
son, at Lower Barney river. The site may have been a workshop where 
stone was chipped into points for arrows, knives, and scrapers. 
Finds on and in Merigomish Harbour. Four adzes made of stone 
and two awls made of ivory, in the Patterson collection, are catalogued 
as from a shell-heap on Merigomish harbour, and an implement made of 
bone in the Patterson collection is catalogued (Cat. No. 203) as from a 
mussel bed in the harbour. 
Other Archaeological Sites. Archaeological sites are not confined to 
the immediate neighbourhood of Merigomish harbour, but are found 
also along the shore to the west, and on Prince Edward Island to the 
north, although none is known along the seaside to the east or back from 
it nearer than Antigonish 3 . A few of the nearest sites to the west are 
mentioned in order from east to west. 
Shell-heap on Black Point. A small shell-heap, near the shore at 
“Black point” on the farm of Mr. Alexander G. Reid, near Little harbour, 
was visited by W. J. Wintemberg, on August 2, 1913. It was obscured 
by sod. Mr. Reid said it was 30 feet long by 20 wide by about 1 foot 
high, and that the shells are mainly of the large clam, Spisida solidissima. 
Mr. Reid has found stone adzes and chipped stone points for “spears” 
and arrows on his farm. He presented to the Museum a large, leaf-shaped 
point chipped from stone, and an adze. These are catalogued under 
Nos. VIII-B-21 and VIII-B-20. 
1 Cf. Patterson to), p. 673. 
1 Cf. Patterson (c), p. 673. 
5 See Patterson (a), p. 238. 
