Description of Historic Place

Cow Point site represents the remains of a large First Nation’s cemetery utilized for a brief period around 3900 years ago. The cemetery site is located approximately 8km south of Douglas Harbour on Grand Lake, New Brunswick. The site is comprised of the remains of a large Late Archaic period cemetery. The formal recognition consists of the estimated extent of the cemetery, based upon archaeological investigations conducted at the site.

Heritage Value

Cow Point site is designated a Protected Provincial Historic Site for its representation of a large, short-term cemetery attributed to the Late Archaic period and for being a sensitive site for the First Nation’s communities.

Cow Point site is an excellent example of a Late Archaic period, Late Moorehead Burial tradition cemetery on the Lower Saint John River Valley which demonstrates the complex ceremonialism and social structure employed by some of the residents of Lower Saint John River Valley ca. 3900 years ago. The site also provides clear evidence of the interconnectedness of First Nation’s groups at this time, particularly in the suggestion of close affinities with the nearby State of Maine.

Cow Point site is the best surviving example in the Lower Saint John River valley of a large, single component cemetery dating to this important transitional time period. So important is this site to our understanding of the past, that archaeologists have introduced the name “Cow Point Complex” to refer to similar sites of this time period in Northeastern North America. Very few burial sites of this period survive within the Saint John River Valley, particularly those which have been largely undisturbed by historic period development. Based upon archaeological investigations conducted at the site, the artefacts and organic material preserved within the cemetery represent an extremely important source of information about ceremonial practices of the First Nation inhabitants of the Lower Saint John River Valley during the time that archaeologists have come to refer to as the Late Archaic period (circa 5000-3900 BP).

Cow Point site is also recognized as an important and extremely sensitive site for the First Nation’s communities still living within the Saint John River drainage. The site is viewed as an important link to the past which should be preserved intact and treated with the utmost respect.

Source: Archaeological Services Unit, Heritage Branch, Department of Wellness, Culture and Sport

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements that describe the site’s heritage include:
- located on the eastern end of the Lower Thoroughfare between Maquapit and Grand Lake, approximately 8 km south of Douglas Harbour.

The character-defining elements that describe the site’s external heritage include:
- representation of an entire technological tradition in Northeastern North America;
- undisturbed nature of the site’s cultural bearing levels.

The character-defining elements that describe the site’s function as a large village site within the Grand Lake Meadows include:
- setting of the site within the Grand Lake Meadows, subject to periodic water-level fluctuations;
- size and quantity of the cultural features at the site;
- quantity and variety of cultural material at the site;
- important continued link to the past for current First Nation’s communities within the Saint John River Valley.