James Tuck (archaeologist)
James A. Tuck, ONL, FRSC is an archaeologist born in New York State. With a doctoral degree from Syracuse University, he began teaching and doing archaeology at Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, NL, Canada. From the late 1960s to the present he has been instrumental in clarifying the prehistoric and historic archaeology in Newfoundland and Labrador. His early work included establishing the foundation of much of what is known of the pre-history of Labrador, and unearthing the important Maritime Archaic burial ground at Port au Choix on the west coast of the island of Newfoundland. From 1977 until the late 1980s he excavated the sixteenth century Basque whaling station at Red Bay Labrador. He was awarded the Order of Newfoundland and Labrador for his work in archeology with Memorial University.
Tuck has worked tirelessly since the late 1980s, unearthing the seventeenth century Colony of Avalon located at Ferryland. To date the dig has found and catalogued over two million artifacts from the 4-acre (16,000 m2) site established by Lord Baltimore.
Awards
- 1982 elected to fellowship in the Royal Society of Canada,
- 2000 awarded the Manning Award for Excellence in the Public Preservation of Historic Places by the Historic Sites Association
- 2003 awarded the Heritage Award by the Newfoundland Historical Society,
- 2003 the Henrietta Harvey Chair at Memorial University of Newfoundland and in
- 2004 awarded the Order of Newfoundland and Labrador
