The Basques

Question 1

Where did the Basques live?

Answer 1

an area in northern Spain and southwestern France called the Bay of Biscay

Question 2

What made the Bay of Biscay economically prosperous?

Answer 2

successful fisheries

Question 3

What sort of economy did the Basques have, and why?

Answer 3

whaling since the 13th century, the Basques were leaders in fishing and shipbuilding, possibly because their land was poorly-suited for agriculture

Question 4

What are the earliest historical records referring to the Basques?

Answer 4

13th-century documents describing whale oil purchased from the region

Question 5

How long did the Basques operate out of the Bay of Biscay?

Answer 5

till the 16th century

Question 6

When did the Basques come to North America?

Answer 6

as early as the late 15th century, but surely by the early 16th century

Question 7

Why did Selma Barkham peruse the Basque archives?

Answer 7

to establish a connection to her native country, Canada

Question 8

What did Barkham discover in the Basque archives?

Answer 8

evidence of a 16th-century whaling ship that journeyed on the coast of Labrador called the San Juan

Question 9

What did Parks Canada uncover thanks to Barkham’s research?

Answer 9

many Basque sites on shore and underwater, including the wreck of the San Juan

Question 10

What time of year did the Basques occupy Canada, and why?

Answer 10

they summered in the region, fishing and hunting whales, and returned to their homes for the winter

Question 11

What was Barkham’s primary focus in the Red Bay?

Answer 11

the San Juan, which sank in November 1565

Question 12

What remained on the San Juan after the wreck?

Answer 12

all the barrels of whale oil, some of which were recovered later

Question 13

What led archaeologists to believe that the San Juan sunk in shallow water?

Answer 13

most of the cargo was salvaged

Question 14

What allowed archaeologists to estimate the San Juan’s location?

Answer 14

comparing the wreck of the San Juan to that of the Bernier, a ship which sank in the 1960s

Question 15

When did archaeologists find the timbers of the San Juan, and what made excavations difficult?

Answer 15

• 1970s

- water temperatures ranged from 28-37 degrees fahrenheit

Question 16

How long were archaeologists able to explore the wreck of the San Juan in a single dive, and what did they do to fix this issue?

Answer 16

• no more than 30 minutes at a time

- they pumped hot water into their suits from the ship

Question 17

What was the primary goal of archaeologists investigating the shipwreck in Red Bay?

Answer 17

determining whether or not the ship was Basque in origin

Question 18

What findings from the Red Bay wreck pointed to Basque origins?

Answer 18

cask remains with oily residue and roof tiles

Question 19

How large were the grid squares controlling provenience in Red Bay?

Answer 19

2x2 meters

Question 20

Why is provenience control so important?

Answer 20

excavation is destruction

Question 21

What was the role of stratigraphy at the Red Bay site?

Answer 21

stratigraphy is not according to a timeline, but a record of everything on board

Question 22

What is a dredge, and how did it aid the archaeologists in Red Bay?

Answer 22

acts as an underwater vacuum, clearing sediment from the shipwreck

Question 23

How did the Red Bay archaeologists take notes underwater?

Answer 23

mylar clipboards

Question 24

What is the difference between keel and frame timbers?

Answer 24

• keel: long

- frames: across

Question 25

What techniques did archaeologists utilize at Red Bay?

Answer 25

dendrochronology and stratigraphy

Question 26

How did archaeologists perform dendrochronology at Red Bay?

Answer 26

a pneumatic drill powered by a scuba tank

Question 27

What mark did the sailors of the San Juan leave on the ship?

Answer 27

graffiti

Question 28

How did archaeologists get to subsequent levels of the San Juan?

Answer 28

they cut through the planking

Question 29

What remnants of the Basques’ trade did the Red Bay wreck include? (3)

Answer 29

• whale bones
• an astrolabe
• Iberian ceramics

Question 30

How did the archaeologists at Red Bay handle the timbers of the shipwreck?

Answer 30

the team recorded the location of the timbers, disassembled and removed them, documenting the fastening patterns and cleaning/examining them

Question 31

What did the archaeologists at Red Bay ultimately do with the timbers of the shipwreck?

Answer 31

after documenting the location, patterns, and markings of the timbers, they were returned to the wreck