Eastern Subarctic Flashcards
Where is the Eastern Subarctic
Northeastern Manitoba, northern Ontario and Quebec, Labrador, and Newfoundland
What period were the first inhabitants of the Eastern Subarctic from
Paleo Indian Period
Who were the first occupants in the Paleo Indian Period
Clovis culture
11,500 - 10,900 BP
Describe the Paleo Indian Period (Time, hunter/gatherer, Tools, practices)
Period of transition for North America (Warming, Extinctions, landscapes)
11,500 – 7,500 BP across southern Canada
Megafauna hunters
Started to see regional cultural diversity
Tools: clovis points, shaft straighteners
Habitation near water sources
Quarry sites
Seasonal dispersal
Ochre used in burials
Describe early Eastern Subarctic habitation
Few sites (glaciation)
8000 BP
Describe the Archaic Period in the Eastern Subarctic (Date, Diversity)
7,500 BP - 3,000 BP
Diversification of cultural practices based upon the region
Shield and maritime archaic
Describe the Shield Archaic (location, hunter/gatherer, Technology, 3 main categories of tools, resources, major archaeology issues)
Inland Quebec, Ontario, and Manitoba
Terrestrial hunters
Technology based on land resource exploitation
Three main categories of tools: Scrapers, knives, projectile points (spear heads)
Watercraft use
Copper usage
Preservation, site visibility, access
Describe the Maritime Archaic (Subsistence, Migration, tools, practices)
Subsistence based on maritime resources
Dugout boat construction
Migration based on resources
Toolkits adapted to dual environment exploitation
trade networks wiht the south
Ornamental and religious items
Burial mounds
Describe the time period after the archaic (cultural behaviours, time)
Following the end of the Archaic periods in the Eastern Subarctic new cultural behaviours emerge in the maritime and boreal forest regions
3,000 – 1,000 BP
Who replaced the maritime Archaic after the Archaic
Within coastal regions the Maritime Archaic peoples are replaced by the Early Pre-Thule and Dorset cultures
What did the Shield Archaic transition to? Practices?
Shield Archaic transitions to the early woodland period
Same subsistence period
Introduction of pottery
Few grave goods
Doors always faced east (rising sun)
What is the Laurel tradition
Culture of the woodland period.
Characteristic pottery unlike modern ceramics
Conoidal or pointed bases
Describe the occupation of newfound lands
- First occupation dates for the island ~5,000 BP
- Maritime Archaic culture
- Introduction of Pre-Thule and Dorset groups about 2,800 BP
Describe the late Woodland Period (Time, subsistence, traditions)
1,000 BP to European contact
No major shift in subsistence (diversification based on region)
New stylistic tradition
Blackduck pottery
Selkirk pottery
continuation of Laurel traditions
Types of pottery in the late woodland period
Blackduck pottery
Selkirk pottery
Describe rock art. Two forms?
Imagery on rock facts in important locations
Two forms: pictographs and petroglyphs
Pictographs vs Petroglyphs
- Pictographs
Images that are painted onto rocks
Paints a mixture of coloured ochre and a binding agent (water, grease) - Petroglyphs
Images that are chipped into a rock face
Describe the current Eastern Subarctic Populations
Part of the larger Algonquian language family
Cree
Naskapi
Montagnais or Innu
Algonquin
ANishinaabe
What is the culture in Newfoundland that developed form the Maritime Archaic
Beothuk culture
Describe the Beothuk culture (Structure, Subsistence, where did they live, technology, practices)
Structured around extended families
Primary subsistence from seals, salmon, and sea birds
Primarily lived on coast
Maritime technology (Harpoons, canoes)
Terrestrial technology
(Bow and arrow, drive lanes)
Elaborate burials
First European contact in Newfoundland?
Norse contact around 1,000 BP
Estblished L’Anse aux Meadows
Vinland
Traded but conflict lead to the Norse leaving
Describe the permanent European settlement in Newfoundalnd
Italian John Cabot reached the coast of Newfoundland in 1497
* Commissioned by Henry VII of England to find a passage to Asia
* Made landfall on what today is believed to be Bonavista Bay in eastern Newfoundland
* Did not leave the shore
- Basque whalers and cod fishers enter around 1525
How did the european settlers interact with Algonquian groups and Beothuk groups
Trading relationships between the Basque and Algonquian groups
Beothuk groups avoided contact
Describe the extinction of the Beothuk Culture
Populations moved inland to avoid contact
Which impacted their subsistence bcause they relied on maritime resources they were out competed
Infectious diseases and violence with European settlers led to a population decrease over the next 300 years
What is Shanawdithit
- Shanawdithit – “Last of the Beothuk
1801
Encountered trappers and was taken to St. Johns where she reufsed to work and died of tuberculosis
provided much of the known oral history of Beothu culture
Describe the inland contact with subarctic groups
- First major European settlement in Quebec– Samuel de Champlain
- Gradual expansion north and west as European fur market expanded
- English directly enter region through James Bay in 1670
- Royal Charter granted to the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1670
- Inland trade impacted Indigenous groups
- Disruption of traditional economies and subsistence practices
Introduction of alcohol and diseases
Increase in violence
Describe the interaction between subarctic groups and the government
No large involvement by government within these regions
Treaties were drafted in conflict areas
What is the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement
Implemented in 1975
Response to hydroelectric development in Northern Quebec
Delineated: indigenous land rights, environmental and social protections, economic development and compensation, education, government, health care
What are mammoths (Genus, Time period, size, Subsistence, adaptions, how much did they need to eat)
Elephantid genus
Wooly mammoths present in NA during last Ice Age
Between 2.3m and 3.5m high
Weighed between 2.8 and 8.2 metric tons
Grasses and sedges
Adapted to the cold
trunk allowed them to pick up plants and large sections of grass
Molars adapted for grinding and processing plants
Adults needed to forage 180 kg daily
Well suited for Beringia
What happened after 8,000 BP in the east?
Settlement beginning at about 8,000 BP
Northern Plano point tradition
Transition to Shield Archaic technologies at around 6,000 BP
Technology similar to that of the Shield Archaic in the Eastern
Subarctic (lanceolate points, spear and possible atlatl, copper usage)
Describe the artic peoples in the subarctic around 4, 000 BP (Migration, which cultures, meet the shield archaic?)
Cooling period that occurred ~4,000 BP
Expansion of Pre-Thule (Pre-Dorset) groups eastward
Also moved to the south
Likely did not meet the shield Archaic groups
Moved north around 2,600 with warming
Describe migration with warming temperatures around? (which culture developped)
New peoples move into the newly established boreal forests
Taltheilei tradition
Describe the early Taltheilei (When, technology)
2,600 BP - 1,800 BP
Lanceolate points
Chi-thos
What are Chi-thos
Circular hide scraping tools
Describe the middle Taltheilei (When, tech)
1,800-1,100 BP
* Use of lanceolate points similar to the Northern Plano
* Smaller points that may be from arrows
* Occupied only the high northern portions of the southern provinces
Describe the Laurel tradition in this region (When, where, tech)
- 1,600 – 700 BP
- Emerges and expands from the east
- Occupies the southern boreal forest areas
- Atlatl use with bow and arrow suspected of being used ~900 BP
Describe the Late Taltheilei (When, Tech)
- Late Taltheilei – 1,100 – 300 BP
- Side- and corner-notched points
- Spear, atlatl, and bow and arrow use
Describe the blackduck and Selkirk in this reaction
- Blackduck – 1,200 – 600 BP
- Selkirk – 700 – 300 BP
Who is associated with who out of the following groups
Past:
Taltheilei
Selkirk
Dakota
Modern:
Siouxan language/ wahpeton nation
Athapaskan language groups
Cree (Algonquian)
- Taltheilei associated with Athapaskan language groups
- Selkirk associated with Cree (Algonquian)
Dakota and Whapeton
How did trade with Europeans impact Indigenous societies within this region
- Cree migrated west with the trade
- Attempted to exclude Athapaskan groups from direct contact
- Smallpox in Cree groups forced them south
- Athapaskan and Inuit groups moved south in response
What was settler and governmental interaction with the region based around
Resources
What are the ecological practices in this region
- Anthropogenic burning
- Practice of using traditional knowledge in ecological management
- Controlled fires set to create a patchwork of environments in the
boreal forest - Grasslands or “islands”
- Custom hunting areas
- Also rejuvenated the forest
- New growth
- Diminished the impact of fires regionally
