The Wigwam Brook site and the historic Beothuk Indians

LeBlanc, Raymond Joseph (1973) The Wigwam Brook site and the historic Beothuk Indians. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

This thesis is concerned with a description of the historic Beothuk using both ethnohistoric and archaeological data. A summary of ethnohistoric descriptions of Beothuk material culture is provided. This consists of descriptions of such things as canoes, habitations, storage and smoke houses, deer fences etc., most of which would not survive in the archaeological record. As such, it constitutes an important part of the existing knowledge of the Beothuks, and furnishes a valuable source of information for the interpretation of the archaeological remains. -- Archaeological data consist of earlier work done on Beothuk burials and more recent work on a number of habitation sites on the Island. The former is reanalyzed in light of new information on the prehistory of Newfoundland. The latter consists of a summary of the results of excavations previously conducted at two Beothuk habitation sites and a description of the results of archaeological field work carried out for this thesis at the Wigwam Brook (DfAw-I) site, a late historic Beothuk component located near Grand Falls in central Newfoundland. -- The work at Wigwam Brook furnished the data for a detailed discussion of the characteristics of such things as features and artifacts at an interior late historic Beothuk encampment: Analysis of recovered faunal material indicate an unexpected year round occupancy, a fact which may be important in the understanding of the possible causes for the eventual extinction of the Beothuks in the early nineteenth century.

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