Up on Th'hill Down by the River by the Ocean Across the Field by the Word
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Up on th’hill Down by the river By the ocean Across the field By the word of the Boognish Lordy lordy lord, I’m coming home -Gene & Dean Ween The Bristol-Shiktehawk bifaces and Early Woodland ceremonialism in the Middle St. John Valley, New Brunswick by Alexandre Pelletier-Michaud B.A., Université Laval, 2007 A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in the Graduate Academic Unit of Anthropology Supervisor: Susan E. Blair, Ph.D., Anthropology Examining Board: M. Gabriel Hrynick, Ph.D., Anthropology Gary K. Waite, Ph.D., History This thesis is accepted by the Dean of Graduate Studies THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW BRUNSWICK November, 2017 ©Alexandre Pelletier-Michaud, 2018 ABSTRACT In the Maritime Peninsula, the visibility of Early Woodland ceremonialism is limited to a few sites that have been associated with burial complexes defined elsewhere in the Northeast. The biface assemblage excavated in the 1930s from the Bristol- Shiktehawk site, in the middle St. John River Valley, has been assumed to be ceremonial but has never been the subject of a thorough professional analysis. I conduct such an analysis based on a technological approach. My results support the view that the assemblage likely dates to the Early Woodland period, by establishing connections which are rooted temporally in the region but extend geographically towards the Midwest. I question the compartmentalizing nomenclature which structures our understanding of regional variations in manifestations of ceremonialism, suggesting a more complex but fluid cultural landscape for the period around 3500 to 2000 B.P., and explore the limitations posed by the theoretical framework often applied to questions of ritual in archaeology. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis would not have been possible without all the great people, inspiring colleagues and dear friends (all at once) that I have met in New Brunswick. I would like to thank first and foremost my committee, starting with my supervisor Dr. Sue Blair for her encouragements, inspiring creative thinking, and for never doubting in my ability to complete this; Dr. Gabe Hrynick for his insightful comments and amazing focus, and Dr. Gary Waite, for accepting to devote some of his time to be my external reviewer. Dr. Dave Black has been a constant presence through the whole process; I am in debt for his contagious enthusiasm and deep love of Maritimes archaeology. I thank my lab colleagues Jesse Webb and Chris Shaw, who suffered through my rants on Tappan Adney and asymmetry, and did not complain of my several tables of constantly rearranged bifaces. I also thank everybody else in the UNB Anthropology department, with a special mention to Judy Babin for her unwavering helpfulness and unmatched administrative expertise. I want to acknowledge that I would not have been able to complete this research without the generous funding received from the UNB Faculty of Arts, and the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation. Many thanks to all the friends and colleagues who have graciously contributed to my gathering of information and brought new ideas to my reflections, including: Austin and Kaley Paul, who showed me around the province and played a huge part in stoking my interest in New Brunswick archaeology; My colleagues on the board of the APANB, Ramona Nicholas, Ken Holyoke, Michael Rooney and Darcy Dignam; Mary Bernard and iii Darryl Hunter, who have helped me uncover clues in the curious affair of GFC and ETA; Dr. Matt Betts, the staff at the Canadian Museum of History, the staff of ASUNB and the Museum of New Brunswick, for granting me access to artifacts and documents in their collections; for conversations and various contributions, thanks to Dick Doyle, Kat Ritchie, John Campbell, and professional Archaeologists outside of the province who have found the time and interest to reply to my inquiries, including Dr. Arthur Spiess in Maine and Dr. Jess Robinson in Vermont. To all the others whom I have failed to name here, woliwon, merci, thank you! Finally, my closest supporters, Charlotte, who was always present and believed in me throughout the tough and the fun parts, and my parents and siblings for their steady support and encouragements, I could not have done it without you, mille fois merci, je vous aime! iv Table of Contents ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................ ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................... iii Table of Contents ................................................................................................................ v List of Tables ................................................................................................................... viii List of Figures .................................................................................................................... ix List of Symbols, Nomenclature or Abbreviations ........................................................... xiii Chapter 1 – Introduction ..................................................................................................... 1 Objectives ....................................................................................................................... 3 Terminology .................................................................................................................... 6 Lithic technology ........................................................................................................ 6 Unit terminology ......................................................................................................... 9 Geographic and cultural context ................................................................................... 11 Prehistory in the Northeast........................................................................................ 13 George Frederick Clarke ............................................................................................... 14 The Bristol-Shiktehawk Site ......................................................................................... 15 Site Discovery ........................................................................................................... 15 History of research ........................................................................................................ 17 Thesis outline ................................................................................................................ 20 Chapter 2 - Background .................................................................................................... 29 Mortuary ceremonialism and ceremonial “caches” in the Northeast and beyond ........ 29 Late Archaic to Early Woodland mortuary ceremonialism in the Northeast ............ 31 Bipointed and contracting-stemmed bifaces in the Northeast ...................................... 37 Methodology ................................................................................................................. 39 Analytical framework ............................................................................................... 39 v Identification, description and preparation of the collection .................................... 40 Lithic Material .......................................................................................................... 43 Manufacture .............................................................................................................. 44 Morphology............................................................................................................... 44 Use-Wear .................................................................................................................. 46 Discard ...................................................................................................................... 49 Chapter 3 – Results ........................................................................................................... 52 Identification of the Collection ..................................................................................... 52 CcDv-3 – Evidence from outside of the study collection ............................................. 57 Intra-site context of the study collection ................................................................... 60 Lithic Material .............................................................................................................. 64 Manufacture .................................................................................................................. 73 Morphology................................................................................................................... 77 General outline .......................................................................................................... 77 Haft elements ............................................................................................................ 79 Metric analysis .......................................................................................................... 81 Asymmetry summary ................................................................................................ 82 Wear Analysis ............................................................................................................... 83 Discard .........................................................................................................................