Seven tiny wampum beads were found at the Colony of Avalon in Ferryland earlier this summer. They are believed to be the first wampum beads found in the province. (Henrike Wilhelm/CBC)

Archaeologists on Newfoundland's east coast made a rare discovery earlier this summer, when they unearthed what is believed to be the first wampum beads found in the province.

Memorial University archaeology graduate student Calum Brydon came across seven beads while digging at the Colony of Avalon in Ferryland, the site of the former settlement of early Newfoundland governor Baron George Calvert of Baltimore.

"It was a pretty neat thing to find," said Brydon, adding that, at first, he wasn't entirely sure what he had dug up.

"There was part of me that realized it's a shell bead and it just didn't quit

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