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Record W1751141037

The archaeology of gentry life in seventeenth-century Ferryland

2006· dissertation· en· W1751141037 on OpenAlexaboutno aff
Barry C. Gaulton

Bibliographic record

VenueMemorial University Research Repository (Memorial University) · 2006
Typedissertation
Languageen
FieldSocial Sciences
TopicHistorical and Cultural Archaeology Studies
Canadian institutionsnot available
Fundersnot available
KeywordsGentryFoot (prosody)ArchaeologyHistoryMiddenExcavationHearthGeographyColonialismAncient historyGenealogyArt
DOInot available

Abstract

fetched live from OpenAlex

The archaeology of gentry life in seventeenth-century Ferryland revolves around the excavation and analysis of a large timber-framed dwelling occupied by Sir David Kirke and family more than 350 years ago. The midden deposits associated with the house contained an impressive collection of artifacts, which not only assisted in dating the site and its range of occupation but it also provided a valuable opportunity to learn about the day-to-day activities of this gentry family. Clay tobacco pipes, coins and other datable objects clearly demonstrate that this structure was erected sometime in the 1640s and that occupation continued until the latter years of the seventeenth century - likely coinciding with the devastating French attack of 1696. -- The Kirke house was very large by Colonial Newfoundland standards. The principal dwelling was 21 by 53 feet but there was also a 12 by 22 foot lodging/servants' quarters, an 8 by 8 foot well house and a cobblestone courtyard. This domestic compound underwent a series of structural modifications and improvements over the course of the seventeenth century including the addition of a 14 by 14 foot buttery/pantry and an 8 by 12 foot dairy. These different phases reveal a household that was far from stagnant after the death of Sir David Kirke in 1654. Rather, they show a family that sought to expand upon their existing accommodations and diversify their business operations in light of changing social and economic times. -- The range of activities conducted in this series of buildings included everything from food preparation, cooking and sewing to serving alcoholic beverages in a tippling room, conducting business transactions relating to the family's Pool Plantation, frequently partaking in fine and elaborate dining practices, and possibly providing medical attention to those in need. Some of the latter activities distinguish the Kirkes from the majority of Newfoundland planter society, for the artifacts reveal that they were both literate and numerate, were involved in international commerce that may have relied upon close personal contacts and were surrounded by a diverse, and in some cases rare, collection of expensive household items and personal adornments. -- The Kirkes were not alone in their conventions regarding a lifestyle befitting their social and economic position. A comparison with contemporaneous gentry occupation in English North America illustrates numerous similarities; yet some lifestyle choices were influenced and shaped by specific environmental, economic or social conditions. Comparatively speaking, the Kirke occupation at Ferryland appears to be "average" in terms of architecture but truly exceptional with regard to other material culture.

Fetched live from OpenAlex and de-inverted. Abstracts are not stored in this database: the inverted indexes are 8.6 GB of the frame’s 9.3 GB of text, and the host has 13 GB free.

How this classification was reachedexpand

Full frame machine prediction

Teacher imitation

Not calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.

metaresearch head score (Codex)0.001
metaresearch head score (Gemma)0.001
Version: metacan-v3-hybrid-931329e0061cValidation status: machine_predicted_unvalidated
Candidate categoriesnone
Consensus categoriesnone
DomainCandidate signal: none · Consensus signal: none
Study designCandidate signal: Observational · Consensus signal: none
GenreCandidate signal: Empirical · Consensus signal: Empirical
Teacher disagreement score0.779
Threshold uncertainty score0.439

Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)

CategoryCodexGemma
Metaresearch0.0010.001
Meta-epidemiology (narrow)0.0000.000
Meta-epidemiology (broad)0.0000.000
Bibliometrics0.0020.001
Science and technology studies0.0060.005
Scholarly communication0.0010.001
Open science0.0010.002
Research integrity0.0010.001
Insufficient payload (model declined to judge)0.0040.000

Machine scores (provisional)

The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.

Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.

Opus teacher head0.024
GPT teacher head0.275
Teacher spread0.251 · how far apart the two teachers sit on this one work
Validation statusscore_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from it

Classification

machine, unvalidated

Machine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.

The models applied no category: nothing in the taxonomy fit this work.
Study designObservational
Domainnot available
GenreEmpirical

How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".

Quick stats

Citations5
Published2006
Admission routes1
Has abstractyes

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