Survey Archaeology in Rigolet: New Findings - William Fitzhugh & Jamie Brake

Recent surveys by the Nunatsiavut Archaeology Program and the Smithsonian expand knowledge of Inuit, Innu, and Settler history in eastern Hamilton Inlet. A new sod house on St. John Island extends 17/18 C. Inuit winter settlements for the first time into eastern Lake Melville, where Inuit and Innu summer camps occur, as well as in Back Bay east of the Narrows. Sites on the southwest coast of Groswater Bay have middens and artifacts that suggest winter occupations by 19th C. Inuit or Inuit-Settler families, while Inuit spring seal-hunting camps are found on East Indian Island. Strangely absent are Inuit summer camps, and there is little evidence of prehistoric Inuit or Indian settlement except for Early Maritime Archaic sites on West Indian Island and Intermediate Period finds on Mason Island. A biface reduction station at Shell Island near Rattlers Bight helps establish the infrastructure for the extensive prehistoric Innu Ramah chert trade.