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Eskimo Sites of the Dorset Culture in Newfoundland104

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2017

W. J. Wintemberg
W. J. Wintemberg*
Affiliation:
National Museum of Canada
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Extract

The material described in this article was secured by Dr. D. Jenness and the writer in 1927 and 1929 in the course of archaeological reconnaissances along the east and west coasts of Newfoundland. The purpose of both field trips was to locate sites and burial places of the extinct Beothuk Indians. Although the writer suspected that other people besides the Beothuk had inhabited the island in prehistoric times, he was surprised to find abundant evidences of the presence of an Eskimo people on the northwest coast: one of the sites visited by Dr. Jenness on the northeast coast also was inhabited by Eskimo.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 5 , Issue 2 , October 1939 , pp. 83 - 102
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1939

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Footnotes

104

This is the first instalment of this article; another will appear in a subsequent number of this series. The editor regrets that limitations of space make it impossible to print the bibliography at this time.

References

106 Strong, 1930, p. 134.

107 In one of his articles (1875, p. 36) he says: “Caution should, I think, be used in attributing all the relics to the ‘Beothucs,’ because some of them may have belonged originally to the Micmac Indians, and perhaps also to the mountaineers and Esquimos of Labrador, with whom it appears they were in communication.” The Micmac, however, did not come to Newfoundland until the eighteenth century, when they had probably discontinued using stone tools.

108 Howley, 1915, p. 330.

109 Lloyd, 18766, p. 234.

110 Of which Lloyd (Ibid., pp. 234–255) writes as follows: “A fisherman, named Flynn, who owns the ground at that spot, informed me that whilst clearing away the turf for a potato garden, he came upon what he supposed were the remains of a burial ground. As well as he could remember, the following appearances presented themselves. Below the surface of the turf, at a depth of about 18 inches, there occurred in descending order:

  • 1.

    1. A layer of yellow clay;

  • 2.

    2. A layer of charcoal and ashes;

  • 3.

    3. Slabs of large and small stones;

  • 4.

    4. Human skeletons arranged in natural position, the bones of which crumbled to pieces on being touched. With them were mixed bones of seals and whales. The deposit of bones extended over the whole area of the garden, and may have continued beyond it; he also found measures [?], stone pots, ‘drinking cups’ of stone, some whole and others in fragments, and a stone ‘knife,’ about 18 inches long.“

111 “The Spanish Basque fishermen frequented the northwest coast, and their port was Portachua, now called Old Port au Choix.” La Hontan, New Voyages to America, edited by R. G. Thwaites, vol. I, p. 308, note.

112 See Howley's description, pp. 328–330. Most of them, purchased from a Mr. Billard, by Dr. A. V. Kidder, are in the Peabody Museum, Cambridge, Mass.

113 The distances given are approximate; no measurements were made.

114 Kleinschmidt, in his dictionary of the Greenland Eskimo dialect, describes these nängissat as “big stones, found in various places lying on level ground with considerable intermediate space. They are ascribed by tradition to the old Icelanders, who are said to have placed them for leaping on them on one leg right through the whole row” (translated by Porsild, 1920, p. 297).

115 See Porsild, 1920, figs. 1–4; and Mathiassen, 1934, figs. 3, 25 (plan), and 27, 1936a, fig. 12, and 19366, Pl. 2 (map).

116 See Collins, 1937, pp. 26, 354–355.

117 Only one person previous to the writer is known to have found an arrowhead in passing along the trail.

118 Said to be in the Museum at St. Johns.

119 It resembles an Eskimo site on Button Point, Bylot Island, Baffin Island, in being connected with the mainland by a narrow neck of land (see Mathiassen, 1927, I, fig. 66). According to Cartwright, the Beothuk followed the custom of erecting their habitations on similar necks. He says: “Their wigwams are frequently erected on a narrow isthmus; so that their canoes may be launched into the water on the safe side, whenever an enemy's boat appears” (quoted by Howley, 1915, p. 36).

120 Identification confirmed by A. LaRocque, Geological Survey, Canada.

121 This is a somewhat leaf-shaped flake, triangular in cross-section, 1 3/8 inches long, ½ inch wide, and 1/8 thick, from lot 45, con. I, Vaughan Township, York County. One of the edges has been retouched or was chipped from use.

122 See Mills, 1907, fig. 63, and, 1921, fig. 21; Moorehead, 1910,1, fig. 26; Hootonand Willoughby, 1920a, Pl. V, fig. ., and, 1920b, fig. 10a; and Shetrone, 1926, figs. 25 and 28.

123 See Fowke, 1892, p. 174

124 Ibid.

125 See Mathiassen, 19306, fig. 39, 5.

126 Mathiassen, 1927, I, Pl. 19, fig. 1.

127 See de Laguna, 1934, Pl. 30, fig. 23.

128 Compare with similar barbs on a point from near Poplar Bluff, Mo., illustrated by Moorehead, 1910, I, fig. 56.

129 See Wilson, 1899, Pl. 38, figs. 24, 25.

130 See Jenness, 1925, fig. 4b.

131 See Mathiassen, 1927, I, Pl. 7, figs. 2, 6, 8, Pl. 63, fig. 2, and Pl. 65, figs. 28–30; and Thomsen, 1917, Pl. XII, figs, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 13, and Pl. XIV, figs. 3, 5, 10, 11.

132 See Howley, 1915, Pl. XXI, figs, 33, 34; the localities are not given.

133 Even some bone harpoon points (See Jenness, 1925, fig. 8a, g, and Mathiassen,1927, I, Pl. 2, fig. 6, and Pl. 65, figs. 2, 4) and some long antler deer arrows figured by Mathiassen (Ibid., Pl. 8, figs. 5, 6, and Pl. 10, fig. 3) have the tips similarly carinated or faceted.

134 Howley, 1915, Pl. XXI, figs. 8–12, 19–26, 28–31, 37–39, 41, 45, 46.

135 Lloyd, 18766, Pl. XI, figs. 9–12.

136 Cat. No. 66420 (three specimens).

137 Cat. No. 66445 (thirteen specimens).

138 Cat. Nos. 66408 (one specimen) and 66409 (five specimens).

139 See Strong, 1930, Pl. 6. fig. o.

140 A crude specimen, lenticular in cross-section, chipped from dark grey quartzite, and a plano-convex specimen chipped from dark grey material, were both collected here by F. Johanssen in 1927 (Cat. Nos. IX-B-44 and IX-B-45, National Museum Canada).

141 One chipped from white quartz collected by F. Johanssen in 1927 (Cat. No. IX-B-51).

142 One with concave base, chipped from chert, and a broad one with convex edges and straight base, chipped from chalcedony, collected by H. C. Gunning in 1933 (Cat. Nos. IX-B-57 and IX-B-58).

143 A finely chipped specimen with deeply concave base (Cat. No. IX-C-2375).

144 Two small specimens chipped from quartz and another 3/4 inch long and 7/16 inch wide, chipped from grey chert, collected from the surface of an ancient camp site by A. P. Low in 1902 (Cat. Nos. IX-B-9 to IX-B-11).

145 See Mathiassen, 1927, I, Pl. 77, fig. 5.

146 Ibid., Pl. 77, figs. 16, 17.

147 See Jenness, 1925, fig. 4f, g. Smaller ones than those illustrated are Cat. Nos. IX-C-2179, IX-C-2180, and IX-C-2183. They are not so wide across the base as some of the points from Coats Island.

148 See Mathiassen, 1927, I, Pl. 61, figs. 7–9, showing specimens from Button Point, Bylot Island.

149 From Alaska (Cat. No. IX-F-3136b).

150 According to Wilson (1899, p. 910) triangular points “appear in greater numbers on the Atlantic coast than in the interior. Dr. Abbott says that in a series of 3300 arrowpoints from Mercer county, New Jersey, 1428 were triangular.” In his Pl. 32, figs. 7, 13, 14, he shows specimens from Connecticut and Georgia, which are almost like some of the Eskimo specimens here described.

151 Three from Oil Island (Cat. No. 66420), five from Roberts’ Arm (Cat. No. 66445), and four from Sunday Cove Island (Cat. No. 66409).

152 Three from Oil Island (Cat. No. 66420) and one from Sunday Cove Island.

153 One of about the same size as some of those described, chipped from chert, was found by A. P. Low in 1902 in an ancient camp site on Hopewell Sound, east coast of Hudson Bay (Cat. No. IX-B-8).

154 See Thomsen, 1917, Pl. XII, figs. 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 11, Pl. XIV, figs. 1–5, and especially figs. 9 and 10.

155 See Mathiassen, 1933, fig. 30, 2., also Pl. 3, fig. 3, showing one from Greenland, and Mathiassen, 1930a, Pl. 15, fig. 9, one from Alaska. There is a specimen from Hopewell Sound, west coast of Labrador, Collected by A. P. Low, in 1902, in the National Museum of Canada (Cat. No. IX-B-6), but the shoulders are more rounded than those on the specimen illustrated.

156 From the counties of Elgin and Norfolk (Cat. Nos. VIII-F-291, VIII-F-649, VIII-F-932, VIII-F-4059, VIII-F-4166, VIII-F-5247, VIII-F-5514, and VIII-F-7434).

157 A slightly shouldered one was collected by the writer near Tadoussac, Saguenay County (Cat. No. VIII-E-604b).

158 See Skinner, 1920, Pl. VIII, figs, a, b, and Parker, 1922, Pl. 4, fig. 3.

159 Willoughby, 1935, fig. 66f.

160 See Wilson, 1899, fig. 162, showing one from Edmondson County, Kentucky; another, from Dane County, Wisconsin, is illustrated by Fowke in his fig. 213.

161 See also Howley, 1915, Pl. XIX, figs. 12, 15, 16, 18, 23, Pl. XXI, figs. 48, 49, 54, 55, 58–62, and Pl. XXII, figs. 33, 34; some of these may be from Eskimo sites.

162 See Mathiassen, 1927, I, Pl. 44, figs. 16, 19, 21, 22, Pl. 61, figs. 1–6, Pl. 63, fig. 3, Pl. 67, fig. 7, Pl. 70, fig. 4, and Pl. 74, figs. 6–8; and Mathiassen, 1930J, Pl. 5, fig. 17, and Pl. 8, fig. 1. Most of the lance heads from the Western Eskimo are stemmed and shouldered (see Murdoch, 1892, figs. 183–185, 232, 240, 244, and 246, and Mathiassen, 1930a, Pl. 7, figs. 16, 17, Pl. 14, figs. 4–6, and Pl. 15, fig. 9).

163 Howley, however, illustrates some which may be from Eskimo sites (PL XXI, figs. 47, 50–52).

164 Points with similar broad notches have been found in an Eskimo site in Greenland [see Mathiassen, 1933, Fig. 30, 2; and Solberg, 1907, Pl. 3, figs. 12, 16,18).

165 Cat. No. VIII-F-2939, from Malahide Township, Elgin County, Ontario, but much wider across the base.

166 See Ritchie, 1932, Pl. V, fig. 32, and Pl. VI, fig. 16, showing specimens from an archaic Algonkian site near Lamoka, New York.

167 See Wintemberg, 1931, PL IV, fig. 3.

168 One, plano-convex in cross-section, 7/32 inch thick, chipped from translucent smoky quartz, with two lateral notches in each edge, was collected by Hawkes in east Labrador (Cat. No. IX-A-25). Howley, 1915, PL XIX, fig. 19, illustrates one from Newfoundland, with one notch on one edge and two on the other. There are two chert points with multiple notches from Notre Dame Bay in the Peabody Museum, Cambridge, Mass., one of them with two and the other with three notches on each edge (Cat. Nos. 66420a and 66408l).

169 See Mathiassen, 1927, I, PL 77, fig. 20, showing one from Port Harrison, on the east coast of Hudson Bay. Two specimens, both with two notches in each edge, were collected by A. P. Low, in an ancient camp site on Hopewell Sound (Cat. Nos. IX-B-2 and IX-B-3), and another, with three notches by E. W. Hawkes on Big Island, Baffin Island (Cat. No. IX-B-40).

170 See Wilson, 1899, PL 34, fig. 2, showing one from Maine; and Beauchamp, 1897, figs. 42, 119 and 120, showing specimens from New York.

171 See Jenness, 1925, fig. 4h. Mathiassen, 1927, I, Pl. 44, fig. 21, shows one from Pond's Inlet, Baffin Island, Pl. 67, fig. 7, one from Southampton Island, Hudson Bay; and Mathiassen, 1930a, Pl. IS, fig. 10, one, much longer and wider, from Alaska.

172 See Birket-Smith, 1924, fig. 67; and Mathiassen, 1927, I, Pl. 61, fig. 16, and 1933, Pl. 9, figs. 1 and 3, also text fig. 30, 7, 8.

173 See Lloyd, 18766, Pl. XI, figs. 1–3.

174 See Howley, 1915, Pl. XXII, figs. 1–3.

175 See Mathiassen, 19306, fig. 39, 10 (after Thomsen); 1931–32, Pl. 7, fig. 7; 1933, Pl. 9, fig. 6, and p. 91, on which he says: “This concave-edged scraper is a form that is peculiar to west Greenland, beginning in the Inugsuk Culture, but attaining rich development in the West Greenland Stone Age”; and, 1934, Pl. 9, fig. 13: See also, Solberg, 1907, Pl. 2, figs. 1–24.

176 One from an ancient camp site on Hopewell Sound, collected by A. P. Low in 1902 (Cat. No. IX-B-22).

177 See Collins, 1937, Pl. 41, figs. 22, 23.

178 Several specimens included under Cat. No. IX-C-412.

179 See Pl. 3, figs. 7 and 8.

180 de Laguna shows a somewhat similar specimen in her Pl. 20, fig. 1, from Halibut Cove, Cook Inlet, Alaska, which she classes as a planing adz.