Sweeping the floor: an archaeological examination of a multi-ethnic sod house in Labrador (FkBg-24)

• Main Author: Beaudoin, Matthew A.
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Memorial University of Newfoundland 2008
• Subjects: inuit
• Online Access: https://research.library.mun.ca/9359/; https://research.library.mun.ca/9359/1/Beaudoin_MatthewA.pdf

The Labrador landscape is littered with the remnants of sod houses that cannot be readily associated with a specific ethnic group because of the rapid adoption of this method of construction by Labrador Inuit, Europeans and culturally-mixed families. Sod houses occupied by culturally mixed families of Labrador Inuit and Europeans, which are today known as Labrador Metis, have not previously been studied, so a nineteenth-century Labrador Metis sod house (FkBg-24) was excavated and analyzed. The results were compared with contemporary Labrador Inuit and European sites to determine the distinguishing features of early culturally mixed families and to develop an initial archaeological definition that can be used to identify Labrador Metis sod houses.