The Social Dynamics of Early Beothuk-European Relations in Trinity Bay, Newfoundland

1612年秋，新任命的纽芬兰第一个官方殖民地（库珀湾）总督约翰·盖伊（John Guy）与其他殖民者一起启航进入Trinity湾。盖伊希望与岛上的土著居民，贝奥图克印第安人接触，以便与他们建立贸易关系。经过几天的探索和参观无人居住的营地，盖伊的探险队终于在11月6日遇到了一小群贝奥图克人。虽然一开始很谨慎，但贝奥图克人还是邀请殖民者与他们共进晚餐，并交换了礼物。然后，两人分道扬镳。殖民者一定对这次会面感到高兴，并对他们与当地人建立长期和有利可图的贸易关系的机会持乐观态度，但这种关系从未发展起来。不到10年，贝奥图克人就撤退到了Trinity湾的北部和西部沿海地区;世纪后，由于欧洲人的捕鱼活动、定居和敌对行动，他们被迫离开海岸，生活在岛上的内陆;到下一个世纪中期，他们就消失了--1829年，“最后的贝奥图克人”在圣约翰城死于肺结核。盖伊与贝奥图克人的会面标志着岛上原住民与欧洲人关系中一个关键但鲜为人知的时期的结束。该项目希望通过在Trinity湾新发现的Beothuk遗址进行探索性考古发掘，揭示这一时期的新数据。这个遗址是在2009年夏天被发现的，在盖伊与贝奥图克人会面的前几天，人们认为他在这个地方观察到了“九个野蛮人的房子”。2009年在这个地点进行的测试挖掘发现了贝奥图克投射点，与改良的铁钉、工作过的压舱燧石、瓶玻璃和陶瓷有关，这些可能可以追溯到十六世纪后期。在国家科学基金会的支持下，2010年的考古实地工作将评估遗址的空间范围和丰富程度，并确定贝奥图克占领的时间参数。总体目标是评估该地点是否值得进一步调查。如果这个遗址被证明是丰富的，并且确实可以追溯到盖伊的航行时间，那么它将对我们了解岛上早期的土著-欧洲人关系做出重大贡献，也许还能提供线索，解释为什么这种关系在世纪中期恶化。在更广泛的层面上，这项工作将提供一个考古学的角度对欧洲美洲原住民历史的最早的章节在新的世界，并了解欧洲殖民努力的社会层面的案例研究。该项目将包括一个由来自美国和加拿大的科学家和本科生组成的小组。学生将受益于参与合作研究和作为国际团队的一部分工作的机会。研究期间获得的数据将分发给该领域的其他学者。这项研究还将接触到更广泛的受众，因为贝奥图克印第安人的故事在纽芬兰和拉布拉多省和加拿大的历史上占有突出地位。如果需要进行更多的工作，这项研究可以促进该地区历史旅游的进一步发展。

In the autumn of 1612, John Guy - the newly appointed Governor of Newfoundland's first official colony (Cuper's Cove) - set sail with fellow colonists into Trinity Bay. Guy hoped to make contact with the native inhabitants of the island, the Beothuk Indians, so as to establish a trading relationship with them. After several days of exploring and visiting unoccupied campsites, Guy's expedition finally encountered a small group of Beothuk on November 6th. Although cautious at first, the Beothuk invited the colonists to share a meal with them and gifts were exchanged. Then the two groups parted ways. The colonists must have been pleased with the meeting and optimistic about their chances for establishing a long term and lucrative trading relationship with the natives, but such relations never developed. Within a decade, the Beothuk had retreated to coastal areas north and west of Trinity Bay; a century later they were living in the interior of the island, having been forced from the coast by European fishing activity, settlement and hostilities; and by the middle of the following century they were gone-the "last of the Beothuk" succumbing to tuberculosis in the city of St. John's in 1829. Guy's meeting with the Beothuk marks the end of a critical, but poorly understood period in Native-European relations on the island. This project hopes to uncover new data that will shed light this period through exploratory archaeological excavations at a newly discovered Beothuk site in Trinity Bay. This site was discovered in the summer of 2009, in a location where Guy is thought to have observed "nine savage houses" just days before his famous meeting with the Beothuk. Test excavations in 2009 at this location yielded Beothuk projectile points in association with modified iron nails, worked ballast flint, bottle glass and ceramics that may date to the late sixteenth century. With support from the National Science Foundation, archaeological field work in 2010 will assess the spatial extent and richness of the site, and establish temporal parameters for the Beothuk occupation. The overall aim is to assess whether the site warrants further investigation. If the site proves to be rich, and indeed dates to the time of Guy's voyage, it stands to make a significant contribution to our understanding of early Native-European relations on the island, and perhaps, offer clues as to why such relations deteriorated in the mid-seventeenth century. On a broader level, this work will offer an archaeological perspective on the earliest chapters of European-Native American history in the New World, and a case study for understanding social dimensions of the European colonization effort. The project will include a small team of scientists and undergraduate students from the United States and Canada. Students will benefit from the opportunity to engage in collaborative research and work as part of an international team. Data obtained during this research will be disseminated to other scholars in the field. This research will also reach a broader audience, as the story of the Beothuk Indians figures prominently in the history of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, and Canada. In the event that additional work is warranted, this research could contribute to the further development of historical tourism in the area.