Labrador Archaeology and Digital Laboratories

The Labrador Archaeology Laboratory is dedicated to the ongoing research of Dr. Lisa Rankin, Dr. Peter Whitridge and their students. The majority of research undertaken in the facility is associated with the Indigenous communities of Labrador, but some students work in other regions of the Northeast. The laboratory includes layout space and resources for the analysis of archaeological collections. Those working in the laboratory address a wide range of topics using material culture and faunal remains to address hunter-gatherer settlement pattern, archaeological landscapes, colonial encounters, social relationships, and foodways.

The Labrador Digital Data Lab, also associated with the work of Drs. Rankin and Whitridge, is fully-equipped for computer processing, analysis and printing of GIS (Geographic Information System) data.

Contacts
  • Dr. Lisa Rankin: Post-medieval cultural encounters in the archaeological record between Labrador Inuit and Europeans, and interactions between Northeastern Indigenous populations over the past several Millennia; hunter-gatherers; ethnicity and identity; landscapes; settlement patterns; eastern Sub-Arctic.
    Email: lrankin [@] mun.ca

  • Dr. Peter Whitridge: Hunter-fisher-gatherer archaeology, social relations, landscape, life course, embodiment, theory; Labrador, Arctic.
    Email: peter.whitridge[@]mun.ca
Current Projects
Dr. Lisa Rankin
  • Double Mer Point Archaeological Project (Funded by SSHRC, ISER, JR Smallwood Foundation, NSTP, Department of Tourism Culture and Recreation, Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, and The Rigolet Inuit Community Government)

  • Snooks Cove Archaeological Project (Funded by SSHRC, ISER, JR Smallwood Foundation, NSTP, Department of Tourism Culture and Recreation, Province of Newfoundland and Labrador)
     
  • Sandwich Bay Archaeology (Funded by SSHRC, ISER, JR Smallwood Foundation, NSTP, Department of Tourism Culture and Recreation, Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, NunatuKavut Community Council)
Dr. Peter Whitridge
  • Johannes Point Archaeological Project (SSHRC, NSTP)

  • North Arm Archaeological Project (ISER, SSHRC/VP)
Equipment and Facilities
  • 65 square metres of table and layout space with individual movable storage modules for 10 researchers
  • 181 square metres of artifact storage space
  • 6 lane cases for ongoing projects
  • 2 Custom drying racks
  • Double stainless steel sink
  • Freezer
  • Zooarchaeological reference collection
  • Nikon SMZ800 Stereomicroscope with a Digital (DS-Fi2) Camera Head
  • 3 Leica 3xEZ4 Microscopes
  • 2 portable photography stations including tripods, light boxes, lights, digital cameras and lenses
  • Digital Video cameras
  • Map cabinet
  • 4 dedicated computer stations (3 PC and 1 Mac) with Office, SPSS, Adobe Creative Suite, video editing software, Autocad , ArcGIS and colour printers
  • Digitizing tablets and software
  • 3 Total stations
  • 2 Phantom Drones with cameras

Robyn Fleming M.A., Laboratory Supervisor

Chelsee Arbour, Ph.D student
Jamie Brake, Ph.D student
Katy D'Agostino, Ph.D Student
Michelle Davies, Ph.D Student
Caylee Dzurka, Ph.D student
Deirdre Elliott, Ph.D student
David Finch, Ph.D student
Kirstine Eiby Møller, Ph.D Student
Rita Ujunwa Onah, Ph.D student
James Williamson, Ph.D Student

François P. Levasseur, M.A. student
Sarah Robinson, M.A. student
Kayley Sherret, M.A. student
Jacinda Sinclair, M.A. student

Doctoral Graduates

  • Fay, Amelia (2016). Understanding Inuit-European Contact along the Labrador Coast: A Case for Continuity.
  • Neilsen, Scott (2015). Archaeology Beyond the Horizon: Pre-Contact Land Tenure in Labrador West.
  • Mounier, R. Alan (2008). The Aboriginal Exploitation of Cuesta Quartzite in Southern New Jersey.

M.A. Graduates

  • Jankunis, Vince (2019). Divided but Together: Variation in 18th – Century Labrador Inuit Housing as Seen in House 3 at Double Mer Point (GbBo-2).
  • Elliott, Deirdre (2017). Investigating the Effect of European Contact on Inuit-Animal Interactions in Labrador.
  • Bohms, Jeralyn (2015). Illuminating Inuit Life at Double Mer Point: The Excavation of an 18th-century Communal Winter House.
  • Hamilton, Tyrone (2015). An Experimental Geochemical Characterization Analysis of Archaeological Iron from the Central Contact Period of Newfoundland and Labrador.
  • White, Lori (2015). The Saddle Island Cemetery: Human Remains at a Sixteenth-Century Basque Whaling Station.
  • Dobrota, Paulina (2014). Integrated Soil Analysis at an 18th-Century Inuit Summer Camp: Huntingdon Is 5 (FkBg-3), Sandwich Bay, South Labrador.
  • Davies, Michelle (2014). Changing Relations: Gender, Work and Value among the Inuit in 18th Century Labrador.
  • Brandy, Eliza (2013). Inuit Animal Use and Shifting Identities in 19th Century Labrador: The Zooarchaeology of Snooks Cove.
  • Keddy, Joshua (2013). An Analysis of Artifact Morphology and Material Frequency in Eight Early to Middle Labrador Archaic Lithic Assemblages from Northern Labrador.
  • Hutchings, Corey (2011). Complexity and Continuity: Labrador Archaic Occupations at Nulliak Cove.
  • Kelvin, Laura (2011). The Inuit-Metis of Sandwich Bay: Oral Histories and Archaeology.
  • Murphy, Phoebe (2011). The Southern Labrador Component of the Labrador Inuit Communal House Phase: An Analysis of an 18th-century Inuit House at Huntingdon Island 5, Sandwich Bay, Labrador.
  • Negrijn, Megan (2011). Consumer Choice in Komaktorvik, Seven Islands Bay and Kongu, Nachvak Fjord.
  • Cloutier-Gelinas, Maryse (2010). Through Space, Time and Otherness: A Spatial Analysis of Fifteenth to Twentieth Century Labrador Inuit Settlement Patterns.
  • Fleming, Robyn (2009). Robert's Cove (DjAv-05): A Transitional Recent Indian Site on the Northeast Coast.
  • Hardenberg, Marianne (2009). In Search of Thule Children: Miniature Playthings as a Means of Socializing Children.
  • Barnable, Stuart (2008). Rattling Brook 1 (DgAt-1): An Examination of Middle Dorest Inner Bay Settlements.
  • Beaudoin, Matthew (2008). An Archaeological Examination of a Multi-Ethnic Sod House in Labrador (FkBg-24).
  • Butler, Don H. (2008). Geochemical Exploration of Inuit Soilscapes in Northern Labrador.
  • Fay, Amelia E.M. (2008). Creating a Community Archaeology in Nain, Labrador.
  • Higdon, John (2008). An Experimental Approach to Inuit Ground Stone Technology at Nachvak Fiord, Labrador.
  • Pace, Jessica (2008). This is Where I Live, but it's not my Home: Archaeology and Identity in Sandwich Bay, Labrador.
  • Swinarton, Lindsay (2008). Animals and the Precontact Inuit of Labrador: An Examination Using Faunal Remains, Space and Myth.
  • Brake, Jamie (2007). Ashuanipi Kupitan: Excavation at the Ferguson Bay 1 Site in Western Labrador.
  • Jurakic, Irena (2007). Up North: European Ceramics and Tobacco Pipes at the Nineteenth-Century Contact Period Inuit Winter Village Site of Kongu (IgCv-7), Nachvak Fiord, Northern Labrador.
  • Neilsen, Scott (2006). Intermediate Indians: The View from Ushpitun 2 and Pmiusiku 1.
  • Penney, Mark (2006). Pre-Contact Period Technological Organization at Nachvak Fjord, Northern Labrador.
  • Brewster, Natalie (2005). The Inuit in Southern Labrador: A View from Snack Cove.
  • Campbell, Jennifer (2004). The Huron of the Kawartha Lakes: Faunal Exploitation Strategies as Indicators of Change During the Pre, Proto and Historic Periods.
  • Wolff, Christopher (2003). Middle Dorset in Southern Labrador: An Examination of Three Small Sites from the Porcupine Strand.

Undergraduate Honours Essays

  • Fells-Kora, Anita S. (2014). Marking the Landscape: A Case Study of the Inuksuit of North Arm, Saglek Fiord.
  • Farrell, Tom (2012). A Chemical Analysis of Crusts Associated with Soapstone Artifacts Recovered from the Dorset Palaeoeskimo Site of Phillip's Garden, Newfoundland.
  • McGowan, Rowena (2012). The Differentiation of Toys and Functional Ulus in Labrador Inuit Assemblages on the Basis of Use Wear.
  • LeBlanc, Kathleen (2009). Shared or Contested Space? Gendered Patterning of a Pre-Contact Inuit House in Labrador.
  • Beaudoin, Matthew (2006). An Attempt to use Physical Measurements to Determine the Functional Class of the Ground Slate Blades recovered from Pre-Contact Inuit Sites in Labrador.
  • Hutchings, Corey (2006). Complexes and Chronology at Nulliak Cove.
  • Negrijn, Meghan (2006). Atlantic Cod Otoliths and Snack Cove Three.
  • Fleming, Robyn (2005). A Study in Lithic Debitage from Central Labrador.
  • Higdon, John (2005). Dating Late Thule/Historical Inuit Metal Use in Northern Labrador.
  • Glavine, Erin (2005). An Analysis of a Soapstone Collection from IgCx-3 and IgCv-7, Nachvak Fjord, Labrador.
  • Miles, Peter (2004). Amerindian Lithic Assemblages from the Porcupine Strand.
Prtner organizations

Arctic Studies Center, Smithsonian Institution
Labrador Institute
Nunatsiavut Government
NunatuKavut Community Council
Rigolet Inuit Community Government
Tshikapisk Foundation
Tradition and Transition Partnership
Université Laval

Individual Partners

Dr. Richard Josephs (Geoarchaeology)