Russell's Point (CiAj-1) : a Little Passage/Beothuk site at the bottom of Trinity Bay

Gilbert, William (2002) Russell's Point (CiAj-1) : a Little Passage/Beothuk site at the bottom of Trinity Bay. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

Russell's Point (CiAj-1) is a Little Passage/Beothuk site located on the western side of Dildo Pond roughly 2.4 km (1 ½ miles) south of Dildo Arm at the bottom of Trinity Bay. It was found using information contained in John Guy's journal of his voyage into Trinity Bay in the fall of 1612 and is believed to be the site visited by him on October 26, 1612 and described by him in his journal. Between 1994 and 1997, twenty-six weeks were spent working at the site, 158 square metres were excavated, 23 major features were located, mapped and photographed and 1225 artifacts recovered. Excavation and subsequent analysis focused on determining how long the site had been utilized by the Beothuk and their ancestors, what role the site had played in the seasonal round of the Trinity Bay Beothuk, and what effect, if any, contact with Europeans had had on the material culture of the Trinity Bay Beothuk by the second decade of the seventeenth century. -- Analysis of the data indicates that the site was utilized by the Beothuk and their ancestors for roughly 650 years from circa A.D. 1000 to circa A.D. 1650 and that it probably served as a fall and winter base camp. The limited amount of European material recovered indicates that while the Beothuk at Russell's Point had adopted a certain amount of European material by the time the site was abandoned and had begun to modify iron, their material culture was still largely based on traditional materials and suggests that the adoption of European materials must have greatly accelerated in the second half of the seventeenth century after Russell's Point was abandoned.

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