Middle Dorset in southern Labrador: an examination of three small sites in the Porcupine Strand Region

Wolff, Christopher B. (2003) Middle Dorset in southern Labrador: an examination of three small sites in the Porcupine Strand Region. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

This thesis examines Middle Dorset demographics in southern Labrador, defined here as the coastal region between Hamilton Inlet and the Strait of Belle Isle. Its focus is on three small sites on Huntingdon and Horse Chops Islands in the Porcupine Strand Region: Snack Cove 2 (FkBe-2), Snack Cove Island West 1 (FkBe-5), and Horse Chops 3 (FlBg-3). Southern Labrador is relatively unknown archaeologically in comparison to the island of Newfoundland and Northern Labrador. In those regions there is a substantial body of research relating to the Middle Dorset culture. In contrast, southern Labrador has primarily been considered a relatively uninhabited landscape that the Middle Dorset, and other prehistoric cultures, traveled through on their way to the north, or south, for trade and/or social exchange, and little research has been conducted there. The research presented in this thesis suggests quite a different picture of Middle Dorset demographics in southern Labrador. -- To date, there have been no large Middle Dorset settlements found in southern Labrador as exist on the Northern Peninsula of Newfoundland, most notably Port au Choix. The evidence that does exist is composed of a series of small seasonal sites that are found along the entire coastline of southern Labrador. Three of those sites are the focus of the research presented in this thesis. The examination of these sites is intended to demonstrate not only that there was a Middle Dorset presence in Southern Labrador, but to evaluate their settlement-subsistence patterns in connection to Middle Dorset groups on the island of Newfoundland and Northern Labrador. -- This thesis provides information concerning the culture history of southern Labrador, and may serve as a valuable platform on which to build future research in the region. The settlement patterns of southern Labrador Middle Dorset groups presented in this thesis may also serve as a valuable hypothesis to be tested as further evidence from Middle Dorset sites in the region is recovered.

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