Editing Newfoundland and Labrador (section)

==== Dorset culture ====
Human habitation in Newfoundland and Labrador can be traced back about 9,000 years.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.therooms.ca/museum/mnotes12.asp|title=Museum Notes – The Maritime Archaic Tradition|last=Tuck|first=James A.|publisher="The Rooms" Provincial museum|access-date=June 17, 2008|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060510135435/http://www.therooms.ca/museum/mnotes12.asp|archive-date=May 10, 2006}}</ref> The [[Maritime Archaic]] peoples were [[marine mammal|sea-mammal]] hunters in the [[subarctic]].<ref name=Bogucki/> They prospered along the [[Arctic Ocean|Atlantic Coast]] of [[North America]] from about 7000&nbsp;BC to 1500&nbsp;BC.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.therooms.ca/museum/mnotes12.asp|title=Museum Notes-The Maritime Archaic Tradition|work=By James A. Tuck-The Rooms Provincial Art Gallery|access-date=October 5, 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060510135435/http://www.therooms.ca/museum/mnotes12.asp|archive-date=May 10, 2006}}</ref> Their settlements included [[longhouses]] and boat-topped temporary or seasonal houses.<ref name=Bogucki/> They engaged in long-distance trade, using as currency white [[chert]], a rock quarried from northern Labrador to [[Maine]].<ref>{{cite book
|last=Tuck
|first=J. A.
|title=The excavation of an Archaic Indian Cemetery in Newfoundland. Newfoundland Social and Economic Studies 17
|year=1976
|publisher=Institute of Social and Economic Research
|location=St. John's
|chapter=Ancient peoples of Port au Choix
|isbn=978-0-919666-12-2
}}
</ref> The southern branch of these people was established on the north peninsula of Newfoundland by 5,000 years ago.<ref name="pastore"/> The Maritime Archaic period is best known from a [[mortuary]] site in Newfoundland at [[Port au Choix]].<ref name=Bogucki>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E_2ZHVg5-3QC&pg=PA139|page=139|title=The Origins of Human Society|first=Peter I|last=Bogucki|publisher=Blackwell|year=1999|isbn=978-1-55786-349-2|access-date=May 2, 2011|archive-date=May 23, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220523120627/https://books.google.com/books?id=E_2ZHVg5-3QC&pg=PA139|url-status=live}}</ref>

The Maritime Archaic peoples were gradually displaced by people of the [[Dorset culture]] (Late [[Paleo-Eskimo]]) who also occupied Port au Choix. The number of their sites discovered on Newfoundland indicates they may have been the most numerous Aboriginal people to live there. They thrived from about 2000 BC to 800 AD. Many of their sites were on exposed [[headland]]s and outer islands. They were more oriented to the sea than earlier peoples, and had developed sleds and boats similar to [[kayak]]s. They burned seal [[blubber]] in soapstone lamps.<ref name="pastore">[http://www.heritage.nf.ca/aboriginal/palaeo.html Ralph T. Pastore, "Aboriginal Peoples: Palaeo-Eskimo Peoples"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130923033457/http://www.heritage.nf.ca/aboriginal/palaeo.html |date=September 23, 2013 }}, Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage: Newfoundland and Labrador Studies Site 2205, 1998, Memorial University of Newfoundland</ref>

<blockquote>Many of these sites, such as [[Port au Choix]], recently excavated by Memorial archaeologist, Priscilla Renouf, are quite large and show evidence of a long-term commitment to place. Renouf has excavated huge amounts of [[harp seal]] bones at Port au Choix, indicating that this place was a prime location for the hunting of these animals.<ref name="pastore"/></blockquote>

The people of the Dorset culture (800 BC – 1500 AD) were highly adapted to a cold climate, and much of their food came from hunting sea mammals through holes in the ice.<ref name="Wonders">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PHsyINzEEgEC&pg=PA88|pages=88–89|title=Canada's Changing North|first=William C|last=Wonders|publisher=McGill-Queen's University Press|year=2003|isbn=978-0-7735-2590-0|access-date=May 23, 2022|archive-date=May 23, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220523120626/https://books.google.com/books?id=PHsyINzEEgEC&pg=PA88|url-status=live}}</ref> The massive decline in sea ice during the [[Medieval Warm Period]] would have had a devastating effect upon their way of life.<ref name="Wonders"/>