Inuit Plant Use in Southern Labrador: A Study of Three Sod Houses from Huntingdon Island 5, Sandwich Bay, South Labrador

Summary

Huntingdon Island 5 (FkBg-3), in Sandwich Bay, South Labrador is a year-round Inuit occupation used successively between the mid-16th to the late 18th century. Soil samples from three sod houses, representing different occupation periods, have been submitted for paleoethnobotanical analysis at the Memorial University Paleoethnobotany laboratory. The samples recreate a picture of Inuit plant use, mainly in connection to housekeeping practices, that spans over a period of increasing European contact. This paper uses house architecture patterns and European goods as proxies for the level of interaction with local European groups as well as other examples of Inuit groups living in more southerly environments, such as the Inupiat of Alaska, to discuss the significance of increasing plant use in the South Labrador landscape. The environment is seen as a backdrop for cultural negotiations between Inuit and European groups, leading to an inquiry into the notion of cultural viability for migratory groups finding themselves in contact with new environments that are contrary to their traditional lifeways.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Labrador Inuit and Europeans, Contact and Long-term Relations   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2014

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): SYM-66,09