Archaeological Investigations of the Hamilton Inlet Labrador Eskimo: Social and Economic Responses to European Contact

Intensive archaeological investigations of the Hamilton Inlet Labrador Eskimo reveal a period of occupation between A.D. 1600 and the present. This sequence has been divided into four phases which reflect different social and economic responses to European contact. The 18th century seems to be a particularly important period of socio-economic change as whale hunting, and European and intra-Eskimo trading emerge as an interrelated network of activities along the entire Labrador coast. The establishment of communal houses is viewed as a direct result of these economic activities as relatives and non-relatives coalesced around important hunter-traders in order to facilitiate access to new items of European material culture and to associate themselves directly with these high-status individuals.