Memorial University DAI: A comparative study of the bark, bone, wood and hide items made by the historic Micmac, Montagnais-Nascapi and Beothuk Indians

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Title	A comparative study of the bark, bone, wood and hide items made by the historic Micmac, Montagnais-Nascapi and Beothuk Indians
Author	Chute, Janet Elizabeth
Description	Thesis (M.A.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, 1977. Anthropology
Date	1976
Pagination	xiii, 391 leaves : ill., map.
Subject	Indians of North America--Implements; Indians of North America--Antiquities; Beothuk Indians--Culture
Degree	M.A.
Degree Grantor	Memorial University of Newfoundland. Dept. of Anthropology
Discipline	Anthropology
Language	Eng
Notes	Bibliography: leaves 372-389.
Abstract	This thesis is concerned with the description and comparison of bark, bone, wood and hide objects manufactured by the historic Montagnais/Nascapi, Micmac and Beothuk Indians. Both artifactual and ethnographic evidence was examined during the course of the study. Artifactual collections were viewed first-hand at eight museums throughout northeastern Canada and the United States. The Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde, Leiden, Holland, and the British Museum were contacted overseas. Literary sources included primary historical accounts and secondary compilations, as well as recent anthropological studies. -- The Beothuk material was re-analyzed in view of the information derived from comparison of this evidence with non-lithic items made by the Micmac and Montagnais/Nascapi. This comprised the bulk of the work, as it involved the detailed description of artifact types categorized according to function. An investigation of the stylistic design elements and the mortuary practices of the three tribes provided additional information for comparison. -- During the final stages of this study the functional categories of historic artifacts were projected back in time to correlate with parallel classes of non-lithic objects recovered from Maritime Archaic, sites in the Northeast. Whereas the Beothuk evidence exhibited traits similar to certain aspects of the Maritime Archaic, the historic Micmac and Montagnais/Nascapi items showed closer affinities to the material cultures of other historic northeastern Algonkian peoples. This data tended to isolate the Beothuk Indians as an older resident group in the Northeast composed of an assimilated body of Maritime Archaic descendent peoples with an Algonkian speaking, or proto-Algonkian speaking, migrant population, which expanded eastward to the Labrador coast in prehistoric times and eventually crossed into Newfoundland.
Type	Text
Resource Type	Electronic thesis or dissertation
Format	Image/jpeg; Application/pdf
Source	Paper copy kept in the Centre for Newfoundland Studies, Memorial University Libraries
Local Identifier	76005675
Rights	The author retains copyright ownership and moral rights in this thesis. Neither the thesis nor substantial extracts from it may be printed or otherwise reproduced without the author's permission.
Collection	Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Scanning Status	Completed
PDF File	(78.91 MB) -- http://collections.mun.ca/PDFs/theses/Chute_JanetElizabeth.pdf
CONTENTdm file name	235175.cpd