Elfshot: Beothuk Artifacts in the Mary March Museum

Beothuk Necklace

Throughout the school year a lot of students and teachers wind up on this blog looking for information about the Beothuk. Here are a few photos of Beothuk artifacts that I took through the glass at the Mary March Museum in Grand Falls-Windsor. The Beothuk were the aboriginal inhabitants of Newfoundland when the Europeans arrived and began settling the Island.

Little Passage/Beothuk Arrowheads

Most of the artifacts in these photos would date to the time period after the Europeans arrived. Archaeologists call the pre-contact cultural remains of the Beothuk the Little Passage complex. They're the same people, its just that Little Passage sites are earlier and don't have any European trade items and Beothuk sites are more recent and often contain trade goods. For a better understanding of how the Beothuk fit into the pre-contact history of Newfoundland, you can check out this recent post on Inside Newfoundland and Labrador Archaeology called: The Dating Game Part 2: Newfoundland.

The Beothuk used a lot of iron brought to the Province by French and English fisherman, and although some items were specifically brought over to trade with the Beothuk, there was never a successful, formal trade relationship in place between the groups. On occasion, the Europeans weren't done using the items when the Beothuk picked them up and they didn't necessarily leave anything in exchange. Awkward.