Abstract
Priscilla Renouf’s more than 30 years of research on the human history of the Port au Choix peninsula was longue durée in execution as well as in perspective and contribution, resulting in notable insights into adaptations at Port au Choix itself and on the island of Newfoundland. This paper finds inspiration in Renouf’s work at the site of Phillip’s Garden (EeBi-1) on the Port au Choix peninsula. It proposes a model of integration and shared social context between Dorset in southern Labrador and Dorset in northwestern Newfoundland. Mobility and interconnection, key hallmarks of northern forager societies, are suggested through multiple lines of evidence that include the proximity and contemporaneity of sites in the two regions, the evidence of long-distance networks for exchange of Ramah chert, and the requirements of travel imposed by the twice yearly harp seal migration, which passed close to the Port au Choix peninsula in spring but followed the Labrador shore in late autumn.
Highlights
The impressive continuity of Dorset culture in the Canadian Northeast is widely recognized by archaeologists. Renouf (1991, 1993, 1994, 1999) noted that central mechanisms of Dorset long-term continuity were risk reduction, for which predictable species were especially important, and the interplay of mobility and human ties that allowed the Dorset to exist successfully in western Newfoundland for about 800 years
This paper considers archaeological, analogical, and inferential evidence to propose that Dorset in southern Labrador were part of a regional network that included Dorset in northwestern Newfoundland, with specific reference to the site of Phillip’s Garden on the Port au Choix peninsula (Fig. 1)
This paper has suggested archaeological approaches for identifying Dorset social networks across a study area that included southern Labrador and northwestern Newfoundland
Summary
The impressive continuity of Dorset culture in the Canadian Northeast is widely recognized by archaeologists. Renouf (1991, 1993, 1994, 1999) noted that central mechanisms of Dorset long-term continuity were risk reduction, for which predictable species were especially important, and the interplay of mobility and human ties that allowed the Dorset to exist successfully in western Newfoundland for about 800 years. This paper considers archaeological, analogical, and inferential evidence to propose that Dorset in southern Labrador were part of a regional network that included Dorset in northwestern Newfoundland, with specific reference to the site of Phillip’s Garden on the Port au Choix peninsula (Fig. 1). Pit features in southern Labrador are found in areas where the early winter seal migration passes very close to shore and would have served as a means of storing a large amount of nutritional fat and protein for future use (see below).
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