Between 1996 and 1999, Sylvie LeBlanc conducted excavations at the Dorset pre-Inuit site on Dildo Island. In addition to the Dorset material, she found evidence of the earlier Groswater people who occupied Newfoundland between about 800 BC and 150 BC. However, the Dorset occupation of the island was clearly much more intensive. During her excavations LeBlanc uncovered the remains of two Dorset houses and there are almost certainly others that have yet to be discovered.
The first, House 1, which contained traces of three fireplaces, was located on the top of a terrace at the north end of the grassy point that extends south from the main part of the island. The relatively insubstantial nature of this structure led LeBlanc to speculate that it might have been occupied during the summer months. A single radiocarbon date from House 1 indicates that it was in use sometime around A.D. 720.