Environmental Archeology and Cultural Systems in Hamilton Inlet, Labrador: A Survey of the Central Labrador Coast from 3000 B.C. to the Present

• Published in: Smithsonian Contributions to Anthropology
• Main Author: Fitzhugh, William W.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 1972
• Subjects: Arctic; Hamilton Inlet; Indian; arctic small tool tradition; Dorset culture; eskimo*; North West River; Sea ice; Tundra; Shield archaic
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5479/si.00810223.16.1

This monograph presents the results of a two-year investigation of the prehistoric and contemporary cultural geography of the Hamilton Inlet region of the central Labrador coast. Previously archeologically unknown, this 200-mile estuary cross-cuts the boreal-tundra ecotone and is an area in which there exists contemporary cultural diversity, including Eskimos, Indians, white trappers, and codfishermen. Until recently these cultures maintained distinctly different settlement patterns and economies and existed in basically a hunting and gathering tradition. These cultures provide models of potential prehistoric cultural diversity for an archeological study involving regional environmental and cultural analysis, which resulted in contributions to culture history, paleoenvironmental studies, and the role of ecology and adaptive configurations in the cultural geography of the region through time. The study is divided into five parts, including methods of cultural ecology, the natural environment, the contemporary cultural environment, the prehistoric cultural environment, and configuration and adaptation patterns. Two regional sequences for Hamilton Inlet are proposed. The sequence for the forested interior at North West River represents 3500 years of Indian occupation and includes eight cultural units. The Groswater Bay sequence contains nine units which constitute both Indian and Eskimo occupations on the coast, Two of these units Groswater Dorset and Ivuktoke (Labrador Eskimo) are Eskimo, while the remainder are Indian and extend back to about 2500 B.C. At least four different cultural traditions are represented in the combined sequences of the two areas. The Maritime Archaic Tradition (2500-1800 B.C.) is the first major occupation. A second Indian tradition is the Shield Archaic of the Canadian boreal forest, here dating to the early centuries A.D. In addition, two Eskimo traditions are seen Dorset culture of the Arctic Small Tool Tradition (800-200 B.C. in Hamilton Inlet) and Thule-derived Labrador Eskimo, who arrived in central Labrador from the north about A.D. 1500. Other cultural relationships can be seen, but no clear traditions have been defined. The lack of Eskimo culture in central Labrador at the time of the Viking visits indicates that here at least the Skraelings were Indians of the Algonkian linguistic stock. Algonkian related cultures can be traced back archeologically to about A.D. 600 in central Labrador. A functional analysis of nine archeological units resulted in the definition of culture-specific subsistence-settlement systems for these groups. From this emerged a typology and comparative analysis for these systems. Four basic adaptation patterns were identified, including Interior, Modified-Interior, Modified-Maritime, and Interior-Maritime types, as well as three adaptive processes. These adaptation patterns and the processes forming them have changed through time as a result of culture-historical and ecological pressures. Theoretical and descriptive ecological data is presented to explain shifts in subsistence-settlement systems and adaptation patterns. A hypothesis is developed and tested with ethnographic and archeological data which suggests that culture change in Labrador is a reflection of differences in the structures of terrestrial and marine ecology. This hypothesis explains much of the great diversity of the prehistoric Indian populations of the region and supports the contention of more stability for Eskimo cultures of the coast. Finally, it appears that climatic control, operating through changes in the prevalence of forest fires, winter icing of caribou feeding grounds, and shifts of sea-ice distribution, have had important effects on cultural development and diversity. SISP