Dept. of Archaeology

James Williamson will be defending his PhD proposal, 'Discovering Beothuk House-pits in the Exploits River Valley', on Friday, December 6th at 1.00pm in QC-2013.

Jamesd explains the relevance and significance of his research: "The archaeology of interior Newfoundland is poorly understood, and yet, there are more than 150 Beothuk house-pit in the Exploits River Valley (ERV). To help address this problem, I plan to investigate Beothuk house-pits in the ERV, their morphology, and where they are situated on the riverbank using satellite imagery, statistical modelling techniques, and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle surveys in order to provide baseline data prior to further damage and to examine population changes, settlement location decisions, and architectural features.

These data will be used: 1) to enhance our understanding of the Beothuk by examining their house-pits in greater detail and interpret their relationship to Beothuk settlement patterns over time, 2) to understand how the Exploits river has influenced settlement patterns and continues to impact their archaeological remnants, and 3) to understand better the Beothuk/caribou relationship with regards to recent advances in ecological studies on caribou. The research will employ a framework based in ecological approaches, with a focus on networks and systems theory."