Palaeoeskimo sealskin processing in Port au Choix, northwestern Newfoundland: a paleoenvironmental analysis

Bambrick, Jillian (2009) Palaeoeskimo sealskin processing in Port au Choix, northwestern Newfoundland: a paleoenvironmental analysis. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

Recent palaeolimnological investigations of Bass Pond, Port au Choix, have revealed a disturbance history concurrent with the Groswater and Dorset Palaeoeskimo occupations of the nearby Phillip's Garden, Phillip's Garden East, and Phillip's Garden West sites. Additionally, sealskin processing tools have been identified from the Dorset assemblage recovered from Phillip's Garden, leading to the hypothesis that Bass Pond was used in the sealskin processing procedure. Results of a second palaeolimnological investigation of Bass Pond, presented in this thesis, indicate that the disturbance observed in Bass Pond may be more associated with the Groswater occupation of the area, and not the Dorset as previously hypothesized. The addition of geochemical investigations of δ¹⁵N, used elsewhere to show marine mammal influence on fresh water ponds, indicates a marine mammal presence within the pond during the same disturbance period, possibly as a result of sealskin processing activities. This, however, is not corroborated by the archaeological record. This investigation provides some of the earliest evidence of hunter-gatherer environmental impact in Canada.

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