Evidence for Two Beothuk Subsistence Economies

INGEBORG MARSHALL

Memorial University of Newfoundland

A review of the Beothuk's exploitation patterns shows that the concept of one subsistence economy for all Beothuk groups does not fit the evidence.

At least two distinct adaptations can be identified: a generalized adaptation

centering around coastal base camps, and a specialized one concentrating on the exploitation of migrating caribou herds.

The subsistence economy of the prehistoric Beothuk, or people of the

Little Passage complex, has been described as a generalized marine and inte­

rior adaptation (Tuck 1976:69; Tuck and Pastore 1985:77; Pastore 1985:326).

According to this model the Indians procured food on the coast, including

several species of seal, whale, porpoise, salmon and other fish, seafoods and birds between March or April and November. In late fall and winter they

supplemented their diet by hunting caribou, beaver and other terrestrial

animals inland. Following a study of the sizes, locations, and composition of lithic

tool assemblages of 18 Little Passage campsites Schwarz elaborated on this model. He suggested that their generalized exploitation centered around

a base camp at the bottom of a bay, often close to a river system, which

offered quick access to and from the interior (Schwarz 1984:39-40). The base camp was connected to a network of other exploitation camps, which

were either central to various resources and situated in sheltered locations on the coast or inland, or were of a more temporary nature and set up on headlands, on islands, or also inland. The model can be extended by con­sidering where the various social functions such as feasts and ceremonies may have been carried out, either in base camps or in one or other of the larger exploitation camps.

Schwarz's examples of prehistoric base camps, which would have been supported by peripheral exploitation camps, were the sites at Frenchman's

Island, L'Anse a Flamme, The Beaches and Boyd's Cove (Schwarz 1984:30; Evans 1982; Penney 1985:41; Devereux 1969; Carignan 1975; Pastore 1985:

216

EVIDENCE F O R T W O B E O T H U K SUBSISTENCE E C O N O M I E S 217

322). Other networks of this type were proposed for the Port au Port, Burgeo and Hermitage Bay areas, where so far only exploitation camps have been found (Schwarz 1984:28-29). That the Beothuk continued with this generalized subsistence economy into the contact period is indicated by archaeological evidence of their occupation of the sites at Boyd's Cove and The Beaches into the early 1700s and by records of Beothuk camps in St. George's Bay (in 1594), Bonne Bay (in 1718) and Hare Bay (in 1720) (Pastore 1985:325; Carignan 1977:27; Howley 1915:12; Morandiere 1962:1:22-23).

The goodness of fit of the model for the historic Beothuk can be illus­trated using John Guy and Henry Crout's descriptions of camps in Trinity Bay in 1612/13 (Cell 1982:70-75, 83-86). Thus a settlement at Dildo A r m may have been their base camp; while camps at the bottom of Bull Arm, by a salmon river in Placentia Bay, at Dildo Pond and possibly that at Stock

Cove had characteristics of central exploitation camps; others recorded on Hopeall Island and on the coast east of Hopeall appear to have been of a more temporary nature. According to Guy the Beothuk were still present on the coast at the beginning of November. This time frame matches that

suggested for the historic Beothuk occupation of the Boyd's Cove and The

Beaches sites (Cell 1982:76; Pastore 1985:326; Carignan 1975:138). The second subsistence economy which is proposed here, as an entity

in itself, was based on a specialized interior adaptation recorded for those Beothuk bands who dwelt on the Exploits River and Red Indian Lake.

These bands controlled the migration routes of large caribou herds which

migrated in late fall from the Northern Peninsula to southern Newfoundland and in spring returned by the same routes to their northern feeding grounds. During migration herds consistently follow their lead animal. Taking ad­vantage of this habit the Beothuk built extensive fenceworks and pounds to intercept the herds at lake or river crossings or to trap them in the pounds. They also developed specialized techniques for preserving large quantities of surplus meat, which they packaged, froze and stored in specialpurpose

structures (Howley 1915:30, 37, 39, 69, 75). After Capt. Buchan visited

a Beothuk camp at Red Indian Lake in 1811, he wrote that the amounts of venison which the Beothuk had packed up were "incredible" (Howley

1915:87). Their diet of caribou would likely have been supplemented dur­ing the winter season with meat from other terrestrial animals, particularly fur bearers, and with migrating ducks and geese, overwintering game birds, trout, landlocked salmon and plant food. The caribou-hunting Beothuk also utilized seal skins and oil, though it is not clear whether they were

derived from harbour seal which come into the Exploits River and whelp onshore, or from harp seal, which could have been procured on the coast

(Marshall 1989:127, 131; Howley 1915:246).

218 I N G E B O R G M A R S H A L L

They overwintered in community quarters in inland villages, which were centers for production and for social activity. For example the Beothuk feasted there, celebrated their victories and performed ceremonies, such as

the application of a new coat of ochre to their bodies (Howley 1915:238, Sketch I; Speck 1922:62-64). A large cemetery on Red Indian Lake sug­

gests that ritual at the time of burying the dead was — at least in the 1800s — also performed inland (Howley 1915:192-193). W h e n the cari­bou herds returned northward, the Beothuk could have staged a second

drive. In May they moved to the coast in time for the salmon run; for the

summer season they appear to have dispersed on the shore and islands in

small units to procure birds and sea food (Howley 1915:46, 49, 284; Mar­shall 1977:225; 1989:128-129). In September, the Indians returned to their

inland habitations and fence works, using the Exploits River as their high­

way (Marshall 1989:127). This special adaptation not only focused on the

harvest of a particular game species but required changes in the timing of

seasonal movements — longer absence from the coast — and considerable

co-operation between groups, which would have had social implications. The interception technology may have originally involved the construc­

tion of fences from slender poles to which birch bark tassels were attached.

Fences of this type were recorded in 1720 close to Hare Bay and were

later described on the banks of the Exploits River (Morandiere 1962(1):22-

23; Howley 1915:30-31). In the mid 1700s many fences were more solidly constructed, probably as a result of using iron axes which facilitated the

cutting of larger trees. During their exploration of the Exploits River, in 1768, the brothers Cartwright mapped close to 100 Beothuk mamateeks

— the Beothuk term for houses — and described fence works. Parts of the fences were made of overlapping felled trees; small gaps were filled in with branches or tops of other trees, which were occasionally secured by stakes and bindings. They were raised to a height of 2 to 3 m, too high to be penetrated or leaped over by the largest animal. Where there were no

trees, stakes some 2 m long with bark tassels hanging from their tops were

stuck into the ground several meters apart (Howley 1915:30-31; Cartwright 1792:1:7-9).

O n the southern banks of the Exploits River, fences usually ran parallel to the river. O n the northern banks and at Red Indian Lake they often had leads that extended far into the forest, funneling the animals towards narrow exits by the water. The Beothuk, hiding behind small shelters, would shoot passing caribou with bows and arrows or else would pursue them in their canoes, using spears (Howley 1915:194-195, 212, 248, Sketch VIII).

Pounds or traps consisted of two high and strong fences, erected parallel to each other, forming a narrow lane of some length. From the farther end

EVIDENCE F O R T W O B E O T H U K SUBSISTENCE ECONOMIES 219

of each fence extended two very long wing-type fences the extremities of which were some 1.5 to 3 k m apart. W h e n the caribou met with these "hawk or wing-fences" they would travel along them until they were, to use

Cartwright's words "insensibly drawn into the pound as partridges are into a tunnel net" (Cartwright 1792(l):7-9).

In 1768 about 30 k m of fenceworks were recorded on the banks of the lower Exploits River (Marshall 1977:225). In 1811, Capt. David Buchan

and in 1827, the explorer William Epps Cormack, independently estimated caribou fences — now closer to Red Indian Lake — to have been up to

60 k m long. They were connected to fences on the northern end of Red Indian Lake and additional "apparatus for killing deer" was seen on the south-western end of this lake (Howley 1915:30-31, 38, 42, 43, 75, 124, 195; British Parliamentary Papers 1968:478). After the demise of the Beothuk, in the 1870s, the geologist T.G.B. Lloyd found remnants of two old Beothuk

caribou fences to the west of Red Indian Lake. One, consisting of short stakes topped with grass sods, was running across a wide marsh, starting about 5 k m north of the eastern arm of this lake. Originally this fence extended to the south-eastern end of Grand Lake, a distance of about 50 k m (Lloyd 1876:224). J.P. Howley who surveyed Lloyd's River in the 1880s

recorded two Beothuk fence traps, one oblong and fully enclosed, the other semi-circular and open at one end (Howley 1880 ms. map; see Fig. 1).

It has previously been assumed that intercepting migrating caribou herds was part of the back-up hunting scheme of the Beothuk who had a generalized marine and interior adaptation. However, this concept does not fit the evidence. The production and social centers of the caribou hunters were inland winter villages on the Exploits River and Red Indian

Lake, inhabited from September to May, while those of the Indians with a generalized marine and interior adaptation were their coastal base camps, occupied between March or April and November.

In fact there were few major migration routes which would have war­ranted the building of extensive fence works, the major one being the route from the Northern Peninsula across Sandy Lake, the Exploits River and

Red Indian Lake. Along this route huge herds travelled from north to south where they remained for the duration of winter. Although large herds of caribou also passed across the southern part of the island, others such as those on the Bonavista Peninsula, inland from St. George's Bay,

and on the Avalon Peninsula are much smaller and do not migrate long distances. In fact caribou on the Avalon Peninsula do not join other herds in southern Newfoundland by moving across the narrow neck of land as

has often been assumed, but remain on the peninsula, where they wan­

der about in small companies (Howley 1915:151; Bergerud 1958: map 2; 1971:14, 52; Cell 1982:86; E. Mercer, personal communication). The elab-

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E V I D E N C E F O R T W O B E O T H U K SUBSISTENCE E C O N O M I E S 221

developed by the Beothuk on the Exploits River would therefore rarely have been appropriate for hunting caribou in other areas of the island. Indeed,

no large winter villages and fence works have been associated with those bays which once supported Beothuk groups.

If one considers the location of proposed base camps relative to the distribution of caribou herds, it becomes apparent that these camps tended to be close to the winter habitat of one or another herd. This circum­

stance allowed the Indians to hunt caribou (dispersed in small companies) throughout the winter season. In fact, in the Beothuk hunting camp at

Dildo Lake, Guy observed beaver meat and the hooves of three recently killed caribou (but no fence works); not much of a harvest if they had in­tercepted a migrating herd. In contrast to the caribou drive in the Exploits

River region, which provided massive amounts of caribou meat, creating a need for large scale preservation and storage, the hunting expeditions from base or exploitation camps would have produced smaller takes, scattered both in time and geographically. To ensure a steady supply of food this latter hunting style would have required the exploitation of a greater diver­sity of other species at the same time, consistent with a generalized marine and interior adaptation.

Another concept which has occasionally been proposed but can not be supported is that Beothuk from different coastal regions in Newfoundland converged on the Exploits River to participate in the caribou drive there. The arguments that have already been advanced clearly indicate that the Beothuk from coastal base camps would have found it more convenient to hunt caribou in their immediate environment. Also, the Indians were still in proximity of the coast in November, at which time the caribou drive on

the Exploits River would have been well underway. The existence of two different subsistence patterns within one ethnic

group was not unique to the Beothuk but was also recorded from the East Main Cree. Cree bands referred to as "coasters", exploited resources on the coast, while others, who considered themselves to be "inlanders", hunted

predominantly large game (Preston 1981:198). A n approximate time frame for the development of the specialized cari­

bou exploitation as an independent adaptation among the Beothuk has not

yet been determined. A modified though non-specialized interior adapta­

tion of the Little Passage Indians during Dorset occupation has already

been proposed by Schwarz (Schwarz 1984:67-68). Little Passage lithics on

four archaeological sites on the Exploits River and Red Indian Lake — Noel Paul Brook 3, Aspen Island, Indian Point and June's Cove — indi­

cate the inclusion of inland resources in the Indians' exploitation scheme

(Devereux 1970:56; C. Thomson 1982:167; Newfoundland Museum inven­tory) . Though the small number of prehistoric sites weakens an argument

222 I N G E B O R G M A R S H A L L

for a pre-contact specialized caribou economy, other sites may have existed, but may have been destroyed when the Exploits River changed its course,

or when the water level of Red Indian Lake rose by 6 m following dam

construction in the early 1900s. Archaeological evidence that historic Beothuk came to Red Indian Lake

in the 16th century is provided by a large, hexagonal earth lodge at Indian Point, associated with an occupation layer that was carbon dated 355 ±100

B.P. (A.D. 1595). Presumably the Beothuk occupied this lodge after hunt­ing migrating caribou herds and preserving surplus meat, to sustain them

for several months (Devereux 1970:21; Tuck 1982:109). At the present state of knowledge about early historic Beothuk subsis­

tence economies, neither the time frame of this specialized adaptation nor the circumstances of it inception can be established with any degree of cer­

tainty. The incentive could have been competition on the coast, or perhaps the recognition that the vast caribou herds which crossed the Exploits River

were underutilized. It is also possible that the caribou hunting techniques were acquired through contact with Indians from Labrador or further west or through migrants who provided the initiative to employ them. Since wing-type fences were used by the Montagnais and Naskapi, and by other Algonquians as well as Athapaskan groups of the Shield Subarctic, it is likely that fence-building techniques were transmitted to the Beothuk rather than

invented by them (Henriksen 1972:9; Rogers and Leacock 1981:175; Rogers and Smith 1981:131, 137). This hypothesis would account for Beothuk cul­

ture traits which appear to have counterparts among north-westerly people.

For instance, in form and construction Beothuk canoes from the Exploits

River region are similar to canoes used by Athapaskan groups on inland waterways and are different from the ocean-going canoes of other maritime Indians (Marshall 1985). Ochered Beothuk bone pendants with geomet­ric patterns are almost indistinguishable from the carvings on Athapaskan

neckrings (Fitzhugh and Crowell 1988:273, fig. 373; J. Thompson 1987:142, fig. 122; see also LeBlanc 1984:35, bone pendants from the Rat Indian Creek

Site); similarly waist-high pants, found in a Beothuk burial, are otherwise

only recorded from Woods Cree and people to the west (Whitehead 1987:27; Skinner 1911:15; Hatt 1969:79).

A change from a generalized marine and inland adaptation to an "inte­rior-focused economy in which caribou were the significant prey species" has

been proposed by Loring (1988:163) for the Labrador Naskapi. This change may have occurred in the early 19th century due to expanding European and Neo-eskimo populations whose presence restricted the Naskapi's access

to resources on the coast. A m o n g the Beothuk, the specialized caribou economy of some groups evidently developed much earlier and at a time when other bands maintained their generalized adaptation. The faunal an-

E V I D E N C E F O R T W O B E O T H U K SUBSISTENCE E C O N O M I E S 223

alyst who examined remains from Boyd's Cove — occupied approximately between 1650 and 1730 — thought that the variety of food species repre­sented in the sample revealed a picture of people who were "at ease in their environment" (Cumbaa 1984:18). At that time in history the same could

probably be said of the Beothuk on the Exploits River whose specialized adaptation of intercepting caribou herds provided them with an abundance of meat for the winter. According to the Beothuk June, captured in 1758, a major winter camp of his people — who would have been caribou hunters — was located at Red Indian Lake. Indeed, some 10 years later more than 90 Beothuk mamateeks were recorded close to extensive fence works on the

Exploits River, indicating a floresence of this adaptation before the mid-1700s (Howley 1915:43). Over the years the ranks of the caribou hunters may well have been swelled by Beothuk from coastal base camps, after

they had been pressured away from their traditional range. However, it is unlikely that the inception and development of this economy came about

when disillusioned Beothuk from coastal base camps were seeking refuge in­

land. By the time they were looking for an alternate subsistence economy because access to coastal resources had become difficult, the technology of

building fences and traps to intercept caribou herds seems to have been well established.

In the second half of the 18th century, when fishing and trapping ac­

tivities by settlers increased, more Beothuk deserted their coastal camps. By the early 1800s the majority had moved into the watershed area of the

Exploits River; hunting operations were shifted upriver, and fences were extended to at least twice the lengths recorded in 1768. Though these

measures may have assured an adequate harvest of caribou, it seems that

factors including lack of access to supplementary marine foods in spring and summer, disease, disruption of group composition and probably oth­ers prevented them from procuring sufficient subsistence for their survival

(Marshall 1977:225; 1981; Howley 1915:194-195). To summarize, the ancestors of the Beothuk (Little Passage complex)

and many historic Beothuk groups who succeeded them had a generalized marine and interior adaptation which centered around coastal base camps. Either prehistorically or in the post-contact period, Beothuk who hunted

in the watershed of the Exploits River developed a specialized subsistence economy based on the bi-annual harvest of migrating caribou herds with

the aid offences and traps. During the summer they would disperse to the

coast. This alternative subsistence economy may originally have evolved in response to environmental pressures, to perceived opportunities or to the acquisition of fence building techniques through contacts with northerly In­dians or from migrants. It floresced before the mid-1700s and had replaced

the generalized adaptation by the early 1800s.

224 I N G E B O R G M A R S H A L L

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