Canadian Zooarchaeology, No. 26 (2009)
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Item Historical data on the impact of 16th-century Basque whaling on right and bowhead whales in the western North Atlantic(Canadian Zooarchaeology / Zooarchéologie canadienne, 2009) Loewen, BradThe Basques pioneered whaling in Newfoundland waters around 1530 and remained the only group to exploit western Atlantic whale populations until 1600, hunting from coastal stations in southern Labrador and eastern Québec. In light of recent research on archaeological whale remains from Red Bay in Labrador, this paper presents historical data relevant to the numbers of whales that were hunted by 16th-century Basques. These data led to an estimate of 13,000 whales killed, a count lower than those provided by other analyses. Whaling peaked in the 1570s, then declined sharply around 1579 to low levels for the remainder of the century. The Basques primarily targeted the bowhead whale (Balaena mysticetus). As whaling intensified in the 1560s, the Basques noticed a second bowhead migration in mid-November and extended their hunting season until freeze-up. During this time, the port of Red Bay increased in importance until about half of all Basque whaling ships were based there in the 1570s. Basque whalers preferred stations in the Strait of Belle Isle for economic and security reasons but also because of the late fall bowhead whale hunt.Item Canadian Zooarchaeology / Zooarchéologie canadienne, no. 26 (2009)(Canadian Zooarchaeology / Zooarchéologie canadienne, 2009) Loewen, Brad; Badenhorst, ShawThis issue contains: Historical Data on the Impact of 16th-Century Basque Whaling on Right and Bowhead Whales in the Western North Atlantic by Brad Loewen (p. 3-24) Artiodactyl Skeletal Part Representation at Middle Period and Early Plateau Pithouse Tradition Sites on the Interior Plateau, British Columbia: a View from EdRh-31 by Shaw Badenhorst (p. 25-41)Item Artiodactyl skeletal part representation at middle period and Early Plateau Pithouse tradition sites on the Interior Plateau, British Columbia: a view from EdRh-31(Canadian Zooarchaeology / Zooarchéologie canadienne, 2009) Badenhorst, ShawThe earliest occupation of the site of EdRh-31 on the Interior Plateau of British Columbia dates to the Lochnore Phase of the early Plateau Pithouse Tradition. The faunal remains indicate that the people who occupied the site hunted artiodactyls, hunted or snared small animals such as hares, collected freshwater mussels and occasionally fished. Previous research on three sites roughly contemporaneous with EdRh-31 found that artiodactyl metapodials dominate the associated faunal assemblages, leading to the interpretation of these sites to be animal butchering camps. Analysis of the heavily fragmented EdRh-31 bone assemblage, however, suggests that the dominance of artiodactyl metapodials is not necessarily the result of cultural activity but may also reflect a suite of taphonomic processes. While not discounting the possibility that some of these sites functioned as butchering camps, this article draws attention to possible ambiguities in the interpretations of faunal assemblages. French version: L’occupation la plus ancienne du site EdRh-31, situé sur le plateau intérieur de la Colombie-Britannique, remonte à la phase Lochnore de la tradition Plateau Pithouse. Les restes fauniques indiquent que les occupants chassaient les artiodactyles, chassaient ou colletaient le petit gibier dont le lièvre, ramassaient des moules d’eau douce et pêchaient à l’occasion. Les recherches antérieures sur trois sites d’ancienneté similaire au EdRh-31 montrent que les métapodes d’artiodactyles dominent les collections fauniques, menant à l’interprétation de ces sites comme des camps de boucherie. Toutefois, l’analyse des ossements très fragmentés du site EdRh-31 ne conduit pas nécessairement à une explication culturelle pour la dominance des métapodes, qui peut aussi résulter de processus taphonomiques. Sans exclure la possibilité que certains de ces sites aient accueilli des activités de boucherie, cet article attire l’attention au potentiel d’ambiguïtés qui guette l’interprétation des collections fauniques.