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- Title
Geoarchaeological Investigations at Two Intermediate Indian Sites near Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Labrador: Implications for Late Holocene Paleoshoreline Reconstruction and Settlement Patterning in Western Hamilton Inlet.
- Authors
Josephs, Richard L.; Neilsen, Scott W.
- Abstract
This paper presents the results of geoarchaeological investigations conducted at two intermediate Indian sites (ca. 3500--2000 B.P.) near Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Labrador. Micromorphology--the study of undisturbed soil and sediment in thin section--was the principal technique used to investigate sedimentologic and pedologic processes affecting the sites. Grain-size analysis of bulk sediment samples was also employed to support the micromorphology. Variations in soil particle size and particle sorting between the two sites evince deposition under distinctly different environmental energy regimes. Thin sections from the Ushpitun 2 site (FhCb--04) reveal a well-developed soil (Humo-Ferric Podzol) comprised of moderately to poorly sorted, predominantly coarse sand-size, mono- and polymineralic grains. Samples from the Pmiusiku1 site (FhCc--01) are composed of well sorted, fine sand-size, mono- and polymineralic grains. Here, the Humo-Ferric Podzol is less well-expressed. The poorer sorting and larger particle sizes at the Ushpitun 2 site suggest that these sediments were deposited in a turbulent, high energy environment. The better sorting and finer particle sizes exhibited by the Pmiusiku1 sediments indicate deposition under a more stable, lower-energy, depositional regime. This study's findings support previous paleoenvironmental reconstructions for Hamilton inlet, specifically the location of each site with respect to the 3000 B.P. paleo-shoreline. At that time, the Ushpitun 2 site would have been located along the shoreline of a small island at the head of the emerging Goose Bay peninsula (a high energy environment), whereas the Pmiusiku 1 site would have been sheltered near the center of the peninsula (a much lower energy environment).
- Subjects
GOOSE Bay (N.L.); HAMILTON Inlet (N.L.); NEWFOUNDLAND &; Labrador; ARCHAEOLOGICAL geology; MINERALS; PODZOL; PALEONTOLOGY
- Publication
Canadian Journal of Archaeology, 2009, Vol 33, Issue 1, p92
- ISSN
0705-2006
- Publication type
Article