The late prehistory of Nova Scotia as viewed from the Brown site

Sheldon, Helen Louise (1987) The late prehistory of Nova Scotia as viewed from the Brown site. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

Unlike most other areas of North America where prehistoric cultural sequences have been established for some time and archaeological research can be directed toward solving more intricate problems such as determining settlement patterns and population dynamics, in Nova Scotia the fundamental research of the prehistoric period remains to be done, i.e., the culture history of the area has yet to be discovered. -- Excavation of a late prehistoric site on the Atlantic coast of the province in 1978 and 1985 produced information on the last 1000 years of prehistoric occupation in the area. The standard archaeological techniques of radiocarbon dating and artifact attribute analysis were employed to reveal the nature of human occupation at the site, which was found to be represented by one prehistoric component spanning the time from 1,300 years ago to the beginning of the historic period. -- Environmental and geographic data were used to postulate a settlement-subsistence pattern for eastern Nova Scotia. Additionally, the Brown site assemblages was compared to assemblages from other late prehistoric sites in the Maritime provinces with a view to determining general similarities and differences. -- It was concluded that a lengthy period of cultural stability occurred in eastern Nova Scotia beginning at least 1,300 years ago and ending with the arrival of Europeans. The late prehistoric peoples are viewed as ancestral to the modern native peoples of the province. The late prehistoric settlement pattern in eastern Nova Scotia is thought to have been a flexible one that could adapt swiftly to annual weather fluctuations and did not suffer from the rigidity of the early historic winter-interior, summer-coastal pattern. Some degree of cultural or ethnic difference is believed to have existed between the late prehistoric peoples of Nova Scotia on the one part and Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick on the other part.

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