Recent Indians

Cow Head complex
Following the disappearance of the Maritime Archaic Indian culture, approximately 3200 years ago, there is a 1200 year gap in the archaeological records in which no Indian assemblages are found on the island of Newfoundland. There is an Intermediate Indian period which occurs from about 3200 – 2000 B.P. in central to south Labrador, and some archaeologists would argue that these people are descended from the Maritime Archaic and ancestral to the Labrador Recent Indians. The debate continues, but what is known, thus far , the Intermediate Indians are not found on the island of Newfoundland.

At about 2000 B.P., Indian cultures start to appear again on the island of Newfoundland. The earliest group of the Recent Indian period is known as the Cow Head complex. Prior to discoveries at the Peat Garden site in Bird Cove, the accepted date of the Cow Head complex was 2000-1600 B.P. However, the Peat Garden dates extend from 1800 – 1100 B.P., which redefines the accepted longevity of this culture. Cow Head complex sites are very rare, and only the bird Cove museum is displaying identified Cow Head complex material.

Beaches complex
There is a Beaches complex component at the North Cove site in the community of Bird Cove. This culture is considered ancestral to the Little Passage complex, which is the name given to the Beothuk Indian prior to their contact with the Early Europeans and before they integrated iron technology into their way of life. The three Recent Indian groups; Beaches complex, Little Passage complex and Beothuk; are related to each other.

Dates for the Early Recent Indian period overlap with the Dorset Palaeoeskimo period and evidence suggests that the two groups may have had contact with each other at Port aux Choix. In the Bird Cove area, use of local, white and medium grained cherts by the Maritime Arcahic Indian and Cow Head complex Recent Indian versus fine-grained cherts used by the Dorset palaeoeskimo located hundreds of kilometres away, suggest avoidance for each other.

Daniel Rattle and Point Revenge complexes
In Labrador, the Recent Indian period is defined by the intense use of ramah chert and can be defined as Daniel Rattle complex (2000 – 1000 B.P.) and Point Revenge complex (1000 B.P. – historic period), when they are known historically as the Innu of southern Labrador. Sites of Labrador Recent Indian were never found in Newfoundland until a few years ago at the North Cove site in Bird Cove. This site is presently being analyzed as the only one of its kind on the island., and raises some interesting points about this cultures’ presence on the island and possible relation to other Recent Indian cultures.

Excavating the North Cove site.

Important note: The Innu of Labrador are not to be confused with the Inuit. The Inuit, known as the Thule before coming in contact with the Early Europeans, entered Labrador from the Canadian Arctic approximately 1400 A.D. The Thule were expert whale hunters who relied on massive bone tools for sea-mammal hunting expeditions. Today, Inuit are mostly found in central to northern Labrador and are not found on the island of Newfoundland.