A New Approach to Archaeology

Stephen Loring, an anthropologist with the Museum's Arctic Studies Center, continues a long tradition--since 1882--of Smithsonian research with the peoples of the Eastern Canadian Arctic. "I'm fascinated by the connections that still exist between contemporary Native Americans and their prehistoric ancestors," Loring says. In an approach he calls "community archaeology", Loring asks people what aspects of their heritage should be studied and how they want to carry out the research.

Is the Past Important?
That question guided a job-training course Loring arranged for the Innu--the Indian people of Labrador, who were formerly nomadic caribou hunters. Eight young men and women from an Innu community studied archaeology and Labrador prehistory with Loring and, in the process, developed a list of questions about their past. They interviewed village elders and then traveled 110 km (70 mi) north in search of an ancient portage trail used by their ancestors to carry canoes overland between waterways. Though the path hadn't been used for over 50 years, it was still visible on the mossy forest floor.

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