A Set of Beothuk Reproductions for Boyd's Cove, Newfoundland and Labrador

All laid out (click to enlarge)

Here's one last look at the complete set of  Beothuk reproductions and raw materials that I put together for the Boyd's Cove Beothuk Interpretation Centre.  This materials will help the interpreters there illustrate the story of the Beothuk people for visitors.  As I mentioned in the previous post, I think my favourite thing about this set is how it integrates the local materials with the new materials that became available to the Beothuk after European contact.  In fact, for archaeologists working in Newfoundland, the presence of European materials in a Recent Indian artifact assemblage is the biggest defining factor for distinguishing "Beothuk" material culture from the preceding "Little Passage" complex.

Here is a list of previous blog posts that explain some of the pieces in more detail:

• Beothuk Iron Arrowheads
• Marking Beothuk Reproductions
• Staining Beothuk Reproductions
• Beothuk Bead Necklaces
• Beothuk Reproductions

A: Caribou jaw bones (left and right halves), B: Gut string, C: Leg and back sinew, D: Rawhide lacing

E: Chert projectile points, F: Iron projectile points (made from nails), G: Ochre stained pendants made from caribou jaw bones, H: Iron square cut nails, I: Modified nail fragment

I: Modified nail fragment, J: Ochre stained gaming pieces, K: Red Ochre (3lbs+)

L: Copper pot fragments, M: Flintknapping kits, N: Hammerstones

N: Hammerstones, O: Flint samples (2lbs+), P: Caribou antler billets (soft hammers for flintknapping), Q: Moose antler billets

R: Assorted chert flakes

S: String of ochre stained pipestem beads with a shell disc on each end. T: Glass seed beads  

Photo Credits: Tim Rast

Boyd's Cove Beothuk Artifacts

A few years ago I was commissioned to make a reproduction of this pendant for the Province.  The original artifact was found at Beothuk site at Boyd's Cove, which was excavated in the 1980s by Dr. Ralph Pastore.

There are many artifacts from the site on display at the Beothuk Interpretation Centre in Boyd's cove, but this piece was amongst the thousands of artifacts housed in the Archaeology Collection in the Basement of The Rooms.

There are trays and trays of neatly packed and labelled boxes from Boyd's Cove and hundreds of other sites in the vaults.

They're available to researchers and are always being selected for display in new and changing exhibits.

This is a hammerstone - notice the damage done of the right end.

This is an iron pyrite nodule that would have been used by the Beothuk for fire starting.  I was looking for this picture a couple months ago when I was writing about Why Pyrite Makes a Spark when you strike it.   Better late than never.

The collection is primarily made up of stone tools and flakes, like this little box of assort lithics.

These tiny stemmed and corner-notched points are typical of the stone arrowheads made and used by the Beothuk.

Another bone pendant with ochre staining.

More little arrowheads.  Some are so tiny that they may have been used on children's arrows.

Photo Credits: Tim Rast

Nose to the Ground

I want to grab a link to this article from The Pilot. Its about some work that I did last spring. The Beothuk Interpretation Centre in Boyd's Cove started a new sandbox dig for kids and I supplied the artifact reproductions. Lori and I went out to help with the set up and to train the staff in basic archaeology field techniques. This is the sort of venue where reproductions are ideal. Using the real materials creates a much more authentic experience when compared to resin or plastic casts. The stone and bone is more durable and the waste flakes and even broken or incomplete pieces all add to the reality.

Real archaeology sites are not filled with perfect museum quality display pieces -- what we usually find are the broken or discarded debris that is left behind. Hmm... and they're often muddy.

On the way back home we took a detour through Brookfield. It was the weekend of the Craft Council's AGM and to celebrate the inaugaration of Janet II as the new Chair of the Executive we held the meetings in her homeland. One of the weekend's events was a linocut workshop in her Norton's Cove Studio. I printed a design that I'd cut during a New Year's cabin retreat. I honestly hadn't intended the print to mean anything, but now a big dirty animal snuffling at a ceramic jug in the mud seems like almost too obvious of a subject for a print by an archaeologist.

Photo Credits: Tim Rast
Photo Captions:
Top, Pig and a Jug, Linocut 2008 Tim Rast
Bottom, Sharon and Lori inspecting a print at Norton's Cove Studio