Memorial University of Newfoundland
Department of Anthropology
Archaeology Unit
ANTHROPOLOGY 3291
PREHISTORY OF THE MARITIME PROVINCES
Instructor: Michael Deal
Office: QC2008
Telephone: 737-8864
E-mail: mdeal@mun.ca
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course concerns the prehistory of the Maritime Provinces and adjacent areas of Maine
and Quebec (a.k.a., the Maritime Peninsula). Emphasis is placed on cultural developments in this
region from the first entry of aboriginal groups to the arrival of European explorers. Changes in
aboriginal liveways over the last 10,000 years are related to environmental change and cultural
interactions.
TEXT
In recent years, the main text for this course has been Prehistoric Archaeology in the
Maritime Provinces: Past and Present Research, edited by M. Deal and S. Blair, 1991 (Council of
Maritime Premiers, Reports in Archaeology 8, Fredericton). This book is no longer in print, but
copies of the summary chapters will be placed on reserve at the Queen Elizabeth II Library, along
with some additional readings taken from the attached bibliography. Supplementary class notes are available at links in the lecture schedule below.
FORMAT AND EVALUATION
Classes will follow a lecture format, with audio-visual aides. The course will be evaluated
by four map quizzes (5 marks each), two examinations (25 marks each) and a research paper (30
marks). A list of potential research paper topics will be circulated, along with an instruction sheet
on writing archaeology term papers.
LECTURE SCHEDULE AND READINGS
Week 1: History of Research; Theory and Method.
Readings: Notes 1A and Notes 1B on Website
Week 2: Peopleing the Maritimes: The Paleoindians (Debert, Vail, Michaud).
Readings: Notes and Bonnichsen et al. 1991; Optional: Davis 1991b.
Map Quiz 1: Modern Geographic Settting.
Week 3: Gulf of Maine Archaic.
Readings: Notes and Tuck 1991; Optional: Petersen 1995; Robinson 1992.
Week 4: Late Archaic Cultures.
Readings: Notes and Bourque 1995:223-243.
Map Quiz 2: Paleoindian to Late Archaic.
Week 5: Late Archaic Continued.
Readings: Notes and Rutherford 1991.
MIDTERM EXAMINATION
Week 6: Transitional Archaic/Woodland Period Chronology.
Readings: Notes and Leonard 1995; Optional: Petersen and Sanger 1991.
Week 7: Early Woodland (Meadowood and Adena).
Readings: Notes and Rutherford 1990; Allen 1991:14-21; Optional: Turnbull 1976.
Week 8: Middle/LateWoodland in Maine.
Readings: Notes and Bourque 1995:10-11, 243-259; Optional: Sanger and Kellogg 1990.
Map Quiz 3: Late Archaic to Middle Woodland.
Week 9: Middle/Late Woodland in Passamaquoddy Bay.
Readings: Notes and Black and Whitehead 1988; Optional: Black and Turnbull 1986.
Week 10: Middle/Late Woodland in Eastern New Brunswick and Prince Edward
Island.
Readings: Notes and Allen 199122-36; O'Grady 1993; Optional: Pearson 1966.
Week 11: Middle/Late Woodland in Nova Scotia.
Readings: Notes and Nash et al. 1991.
Week 12: Protohistoric (Contact) Period.
Readings: Notes and Whitehead 1991; Optional: Turgeon 1997.
Map Quiz 4: Middle Woodland to Protohistoric.
Week 13: Future Research on the Maritimes Peninsula.
Readings: Blair 1998.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Allen, P.Pastore, R. T.
1990 Native History in the Atlantic Region During the Colonial Period. Acadiensis
20(1):200-225.
Pearson, R. J.
1966 Some Recent Archaeological Discoveries from Prince Edward Island.
Anthropologica N.S. 8(1):101-109.
Petersen, J. B.
1995 Preceramic Archaeological Manifestations in the Far Northeast: A Review of
Recent Research. Archaeology of Eastern North America 207-230.
Petersen, J. B., B. S. Robinson, D. F. Belknap, J. Stark and L. K. Kaplan
1994 An Archaic and Woodland Period Fish Weir Complex in Central Maine.
Archaeology of Eastern North America 22:197-222.
Petersen, J. B., and D. Sanger
1991 An Aboriginal Ceramic Sequence for Maine and the Maritime Provinces. In
Prehistory of the Maritime Provinces: Past and Present Research, edited by M.
Deal and S. Blair, pp. 113-170. Council of Maritime Premiers, Fredericton.
Preston, B. W.
1991 The Management of Nova Scotia's Archaeological Resources. In Prehistory of the
Maritime Provinces: Past and Present Research, edited by M. Deal and S. Blair, pp. 259-266.
Council of Maritime Premiers, Fredericton.
Robinson, B.
1992 Early and Middle Archaic Period Occupation in the Gulf of Maine Region:
Mortuary and Technological Patterning. In Early Holocene occupation in
Northern New England, edited by B. Robinson, J. Petersen and A. Robinson, pp.
63-116. Occasional Papers in Maine Archaeology 9. Maine Historic
Preservation Commission, Augusta.
1996 A Regional Analysis of the Moorehead Tradition: 8,500 - 3,700 B. P.
Archaeology of Eastern North America 24:95-148.
Rojo, A.
1990 Faunal Analysis of Fish Remains from Cellar's Cove, Nova Scotia. Archaeology
of Eastern North America 18:89-108.
Rutherford, D. E.
1990 Reconsidering the Middlesex Burial Phase in the Maine-Maritimes Region.
Canadian Journal of Archaeology 14:169-181.
1991a Continuity of Moorehead Phase Populations in New Brunswick and Maine.
Proceedings of the 1990 Algonquian Conference, St. John's, pp. 329-336.
1991b The Ceramic Period in New Brunswick. In Prehistory of the Maritime
Provinces: Past and Present Research, edited by M. Deal and S. Blair, pp. 101-111. Council
of Maritime Premiers, Fredericton, in press.
Sanger, D.
1991 Cow Point Revisited. In Prehistory of the Maritime Provinces: Past and Present
Research, edited by M. Deal and S. Blair, pp. 73-88. Council of Maritime Premiers,
Fredericton.
Sanger, D., and S. A. Davis
1991 Preliminary Report on the Bain Site and the Chegoggin Archaeological Project.
In Prehistory of the Maritime Provinces: Past and Present Research, edited by M.
Deal and S. Blair, pp. 59-71. Council of Maritime Premiers, Fredericton.
Sanger, D., and D. C. Kellogg
1989 Prehistoric Archaeology and Evidence of Coastal Subsidence on the Coast of
Maine. In Neotectonics of Maine, edited by W. A. Anderson and H. W. Borns,
Jr., pp. 107-126. Maine Geological Survey, Bulletin 40, Augusta.
Sheldon, H.
1991 The Brown Site and the Late Prehistory of Nova Scotia. In Prehistory of the
Maritime Provinces: Past and Present Research, edited by M. Deal and S. Blair, pp. 221-225.
Council of Maritime Premiers, Fredericton.
Speiss, A. E., B. J. Bourque, and S. L. Cox
1983a Cultural Complexity in Maritime Cultures: Evidence from Penobscot Bay, Maine.
In The Evolution of Maritime Cultures on the Northeast and Northwest Coasts
of America, edited by R. Nash, pp. 91-108. Department of Archaeology, Simon
Fraser University, Burnaby.
Speiss, A. E., B. J. Bourque, and R. M. Gramley
1983b Early and Middle Archaic Site Distribution in Western Maine. North American
Archaeologist 4(3):225-243.
Speiss, A. E., M. L. Curren and J. R. Grimes
1985 Caribou (Rangifer tarandus L.) Bones from New England Paleoindian Sites.
North American Archaeologist 6(2):145-159.
Speiss, A. E. and D. Wilson
1989 Paleoindian Lithic Distribution in the New England-Maritimes Region. In
Eastern Paleoindian Lithic Resource Use, edited by C. J. Ellis and J. C. Lothrop,
pp. 75-97. Westview, Boulder.
Stewart, F. L.
1989 Seasonal Movements of Indians in Acadia as Evidenced by Historical Documents
and Vertebrate Faunal Remains from Archaeological Sites. Man in the Northeast
(38):55-77.
Stright, M. J.
1990 Archaeological Sites on the North American Continental Shelf. Geological
Society of America, Centennial Special 4:439-465.
Tuck, J. A.
1978 Archaic Burial Ceremonialism in the "Far Northeast." In Essays in
Northeastern Anthropology in Memory of Marion E. White, edited by W.
Engelbrecht and D. Grayson, pp. 67-77. Occasional Publications in
Northeastern Anthropology 5.
1991 The Archaic Period in the Maritime Provinces. In Prehistory of the Maritime
Provinces: Past and Present Research, edited by M. Deal and S. Blair, pp. 29-57. Council of
Maritime Premiers, Fredericton.
Turgeon, L.
1997 The Tale of the Kettle: Odyssey of an Intercultural Object. Ethnohistory 44:1-29.
Turnbull, C. J.
1976 The Augustine Site: A Mound from the Maritimes. Archaeology of Eastern
North America 50-62.
1988 Reflections on a Ground Slate Bayonet Fragment from the Tantramar Marsh,
Upper Bay of Fundy. Canadian Journal of Archaeology 12:87-107.
Whitehead, R. H.
1991 The Protohistoric Period in the Maritime Provinces. In Prehistory of the
Maritime Provinces: Past and Present Research, edited by M. Deal and S. Blair, pp. 227-258.
Council of Maritime Premiers, Fredericton.
Wright, J. V.
1995 A History of the Native People of Canada. V. 1 (10,000-1,000 B.C.), V. 2 (1,000-A.D. 500), V. 3 (A.D. 300-European Contact). Canadian Museum of Civilization, Ottawa.