- Department of Archaeology
Memorial University of Newfoundland
St. John's NL Canada A1C5S7
Lisa Rankin
Memorial University of Newfoundland, Archaeology, Faculty Member
Lisa K. Rankin, Marianne Stopp and Amanda Crompton (editors)
Paper presented at the 22nd Inuit Studies Conference, Winnipeg, June 2022. by Lisa Rankin and Belinda Webb
Paper presented at the 54th Annual Canadian Archaeological Association Conference 2022, Edmonton, April 2022. By Laura Kelvin and Lisa Rankin
Paper presented by Lisa Rankin and Amanda Crompton at the Canadian Coastal Histories Conference, (Digital) November 2021.
Paper presented by Lisa Rankin and Peter Ramsden at the 86th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, (digital) April 2021.
Presented to the Peterborough Chapter of the Ontario Archaeological Association.
Paper Presented by Lisa Rankin, Laura Kelvin, Marjorie Flowers and Charlotte Wolfrey at the 21st Inuit Studies Conference. Montreal, October 2019.
Paper presented at the Before Canada Conference, McGill University, Montreal, October 2019.
Paper presented at the 52nd Annual Canadian Archaeological Association Conference. Quebec City, May 2019.
Paper presented by Lisa Rankin and Barry Gaulton at the 84th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Albuquerque, April 2019.
Presented at the Populating Coastal Landscapes Conference, Alta, Norway.
Paper presented by Lisa Rankin and Jamie Brake at the 51st Annual Canadian Archaeological Association Conference. Winnipeg, May 2018.
Paper presented by Lisa Rankin and Peter Ramsden at the Council for Northeast Historical Archaeology Annual Meeting. Halifax, October 2018.
Paper presented at the ArcticNet 2018 Conference, Ottawa, December 2018.
School for the Study of Canada. Trent University, Peterborough
Presented to the Département des sciences historiques, Université Laval, QC.
Paper presented at the 50th Annual Canadian Archaeological Association Conference. Gatineau, May 2017.
Paper presented by Lisa Rankin and Vince Jankunis at the 50th Annual Canadian Archaeological Association Conference. Gatineau, May 2017.
Paper presented at the 20th Biennial Inuit Studies Conference. St. John’s, October, 2016.
Paper presented by Lisa Rankin and Barry Gaulton at the Association for Critical Heritage Studies. Montreal, June 2016.
Paper presented at the 49th Annual Canadian Archaeological Association Conference. Whitehorse, May 2016.
Paper presented at Aboriginal Citizenship in the 21st Century: A Time for Challenge and Change Conference. St. John’s
Paper presented at the 47th Annual Canadian Archaeological Association Conference. London, May 2014.
Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. Quebec City, January 2014.
Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. Quebec City, January 2014.
From the sixteenth through to the eighteenth century, the French were increasingly drawn to southern Labrador to extract marine resources. Through accidental, incidental, and purposeful encounters, French and Inuit became linked together... more
From the sixteenth through to the eighteenth century, the French were increasingly drawn to southern Labrador to extract marine resources. Through accidental, incidental, and purposeful encounters, French and Inuit became linked together in an increasingly dense set of connections. The French colonization of southern Labrador was not a steady process of the imposition of domination. Rather, this colonization should best be conceived of as an untidy process, dictated by individual desires and motivations. Nor was the process of colonization unidirectional- while the French certainly had an impact on the Inuit, the reverse is no less true. We will explore the ways in which the contact period in Labrador changed and altered French adaptations.
Research Interests:
Paper Presented at the 46th Annual Chacmool Archaeology Conference. Calgary, November 2013.
Paper presented by Lisa Rankin and Amanda Crompton at the Marine Ventures International Symposium. Trondheim Norway, September 2014.
Paper Presented at the 46th Annual Canadian Archaeological Association Conference. Whistler, May 2013.
The excavation of seven Labrador Inuit houses spanning the early 17th to late 18th century in Sandwich Bay is helping to shed new light on the development and consequences of Inuit-European trade relations. While early trade resulted... more
The excavation of seven Labrador Inuit houses spanning the early 17th to late 18th century in Sandwich Bay is helping to
shed new light on the development and consequences of Inuit-European trade relations. While early trade resulted from
both random encounters and Inuit scavenging at abandoned European settlements, over time the relationship became
more formalized. The Inuit appear to have responded to these new circumstances by creating a system of middlementraders
charged with moving both Inuit and European commodities along the length of the Labrador coast. This new system not
only enabled particular individuals to enhance their influence and status in Labrador Inuit society, but ultimately transformed
the socio-economic system of the greater region. Until now this system has only been interpreted using archaeological date
recovered from central and northern Labrador. As a result, the date have not been sufficient to address the manner in which
this system operated in southern Labrador, and thus the south has appeared peripheral to the core Labrador Inuit culture
area. Archaeological data from Sandwich Bay challenge this assumption by suggesting that many of the key elements of
Inuit contact period culture (such as communal houses) developed in this region. Furthermore, these date contribute to a
more comprehensive understanding of how the Inuit-European trade network was operationalized - suggesting that different
settlement systems were adopted in north, south, and central Labrador in order for the network to function.
shed new light on the development and consequences of Inuit-European trade relations. While early trade resulted from
both random encounters and Inuit scavenging at abandoned European settlements, over time the relationship became
more formalized. The Inuit appear to have responded to these new circumstances by creating a system of middlementraders
charged with moving both Inuit and European commodities along the length of the Labrador coast. This new system not
only enabled particular individuals to enhance their influence and status in Labrador Inuit society, but ultimately transformed
the socio-economic system of the greater region. Until now this system has only been interpreted using archaeological date
recovered from central and northern Labrador. As a result, the date have not been sufficient to address the manner in which
this system operated in southern Labrador, and thus the south has appeared peripheral to the core Labrador Inuit culture
area. Archaeological data from Sandwich Bay challenge this assumption by suggesting that many of the key elements of
Inuit contact period culture (such as communal houses) developed in this region. Furthermore, these date contribute to a
more comprehensive understanding of how the Inuit-European trade network was operationalized - suggesting that different
settlement systems were adopted in north, south, and central Labrador in order for the network to function.
Paper presented at the Council for Northeast Historical Archaeology Annual Meeting. St. John’s, October 2012.
________________________________________________________________ Memorial University, located in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, was created in 1925 to help build a better future for the people of Canada's easternmost province,... more
________________________________________________________________ Memorial University, located in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, was created in 1925 to help build a better future for the people of Canada's easternmost province, whose largely rural fishing communities were rapidly transforming through industrialization and urbanization. Mandated by a ''special obligation to the people of the province,'' university archaeologists embraced applied, community-based projects which encouraged local solutions to the social and economic issues arising from the transformation to modernity. Today, community archaeology remains integral to our research program and the majority of our research is undertaken in partnership with rural and Indigenous populations who continue to be marginalized both geographically and economically. Two case studies describe how archaeological resources are being used to promote economic and social justice, as well as reconciliation, and how archaeology has the potential to make valuable local contributions that change lives in the present.
Sled dogs were an integral part of Labrador Inuit life from the initial expansion and settlement of northeastern Canada to the present day. Tasked with pulling sleds and assisting people with other subsistence activities in the winter,... more
Sled dogs were an integral part of Labrador Inuit life from the initial expansion and settlement of northeastern Canada to the present day. Tasked with pulling sleds and assisting people with other subsistence activities in the winter, dogs required regular provisioning with protein and fat. In this paper, we conduct stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratio analysis of the skeletal remains of dogs (n = 35) and wild fauna (n = 68) from sites located on the north and south coasts of Labrador to characterize dog provisioning between the 15th to early 19th centuries. In addition, we analyse bone (n = 20) and dentine (n = 4) collagen from dogs from Double Mer Point, a communal house site in Hamilton Inlet to investigate how dog diets intersected with Inuit subsistence and trade activities at a local level. We find that dog diets were largely composed of marine mammal protein, but that dogs on the north coast consumed more caribou and fish relative to dogs from the central and south coast sites. The diets of dogs from Double Mer Point were the most heterogenous of any site, suggesting long-distance movement of people and/or animals along the coast.
Tom Gordon, Dave Lough and Lisa K. Rankin authors.
Edited by Dave Lough, pp. 11-21. ISER Press, St. John’s.
Edited by Dave Lough, pp. 11-21. ISER Press, St. John’s.
Domestic dogs have been central to life in the North American Arctic for millennia. The ancestors of the Inuit were the first to introduce the widespread usage of dog sledge transportation technology to the Americas, but whether the Inuit... more
Domestic dogs have been central to life in the North American Arctic for millennia. The ancestors of the Inuit were the first to introduce the widespread usage of dog sledge transportation technology to the Americas, but whether the Inuit adopted local Paleo-Inuit dogs or introduced a new dog population to the region remains unknown. To test these hypotheses, we generated mitochondrial DNA and geometric morphometric data of skull and dental elements from a total of 922 North American Arctic dogs and wolves spanning over 4500 years. Our analyses revealed that dogs from Inuit sites dating from 2000 BP possess morphological and genetic signatures that distinguish them from earlier Paleo-Inuit dogs, and identified a novel mitochondrial clade in eastern Siberia and Alaska. The genetic legacy of these Inuit dogs survives today in modern Arctic sledge dogs despite phenotypic differences between archaeological and modern Arctic dogs. Together, our data reveal that Inuit dogs derive from a s...
Domestic dogs have been central to life in the North American Arctic for millennia. The ancestors of the Inuit were the first to introduce the widespread usage of dog sledge transportation technology to the Americas, but whether the Inuit... more
Domestic dogs have been central to life in the North American Arctic for millennia. The ancestors of the Inuit were the first to introduce the widespread usage of dog sledge transportation technology to the Americas, but whether the Inuit adopted local Paleo-Inuit dogs or introduced a new dog population to the region remains unknown. To test these hypotheses, we generated mitochondrial DNA and geometric morphometric data of skull and dental elements from a total of 922 North American Arctic dogs and wolves spanning over 4500 years. Our analyses revealed that dogs from Inuit sites dating from 2000 BP possess morphological and genetic signatures that distinguish them from earlier Paleo-Inuit dogs, and identified a novel mitochondrial clade in eastern Siberia and Alaska. The genetic legacy of these Inuit dogs survives today in modern Arctic sledge dogs despite phenotypic differences between archaeological and modern Arctic dogs. Together, our data reveal that Inuit dogs derive from a s...
Domestic dogs have been central to life in the North American Arctic for millennia. The ancestors of the Inuit were the first to introduce the widespread usage of dog sledge transportation technology to the Americas, but whether the Inuit... more
Domestic dogs have been central to life in the North American Arctic for millennia. The ancestors of the Inuit were the first to introduce the widespread usage of dog sledge transportation technology to the Americas, but whether the Inuit adopted local Paleo-Inuit dogs or introduced a new dog population to the region remains unknown. To test these hypotheses, we generated mitochondrial DNA and geometric morphometric data of skull and dental elements from a total of 922 North American Arctic dogs and wolves spanning over 4500 years. Our analyses revealed that dogs from Inuit sites dating from 2000 BP possess morphological and genetic signatures that distinguish them from earlier Paleo-Inuit dogs, and identified a novel mitochondrial clade in eastern Siberia and Alaska. The genetic legacy of these Inuit dogs survives today in modern Arctic sledge dogs despite phenotypic differences between archaeological and modern Arctic dogs. Together, our data reveal that Inuit dogs derive from a s...
Domestic dogs have been central to life in the North American Arctic for millennia. The ancestors of the Inuit were the first to introduce the widespread usage of dog sledge transportation technology to the Americas, but whether the Inuit... more
Domestic dogs have been central to life in the North American Arctic for millennia. The ancestors of the Inuit were the first to introduce the widespread usage of dog sledge transportation technology to the Americas, but whether the Inuit adopted local Paleo-Inuit dogs or introduced a new dog population to the region remains unknown. To test these hypotheses, we generated mitochondrial DNA and geometric morphometric data of skull and dental elements from a total of 922 North American Arctic dogs and wolves spanning over 4500 years. Our analyses revealed that dogs from Inuit sites dating from 2000 BP possess morphological and genetic signatures that distinguish them from earlier Paleo-Inuit dogs, and identified a novel mitochondrial clade in eastern Siberia and Alaska. The genetic legacy of these Inuit dogs survives today in modern Arctic sledge dogs despite phenotypic differences between archaeological and modern Arctic dogs. Together, our data reveal that Inuit dogs derive from a s...
Domestic dogs have been central to life in the North American Arctic for millennia. The ancestors of the Inuit were the first to introduce the widespread usage of dog sledge transportation technology to the Americas, but whether the Inuit... more
Domestic dogs have been central to life in the North American Arctic for millennia. The ancestors of the Inuit were the first to introduce the widespread usage of dog sledge transportation technology to the Americas, but whether the Inuit adopted local Paleo-Inuit dogs or introduced a new dog population to the region remains unknown. To test these hypotheses, we generated mitochondrial DNA and geometric morphometric data of skull and dental elements from a total of 922 North American Arctic dogs and wolves spanning over 4500 years. Our analyses revealed that dogs from Inuit sites dating from 2000 BP possess morphological and genetic signatures that distinguish them from earlier Paleo-Inuit dogs, and identified a novel mitochondrial clade in eastern Siberia and Alaska. The genetic legacy of these Inuit dogs survives today in modern Arctic sledge dogs despite phenotypic differences between archaeological and modern Arctic dogs. Together, our data reveal that Inuit dogs derive from a s...
Domestic dogs have been central to life in the North American Arctic for millennia. The ancestors of the Inuit were the first to introduce the widespread usage of dog sledge transportation technology to the Americas, but whether the Inuit... more
Domestic dogs have been central to life in the North American Arctic for millennia. The ancestors of the Inuit were the first to introduce the widespread usage of dog sledge transportation technology to the Americas, but whether the Inuit adopted local Palaeo-Inuit dogs or introduced a new dog population to the region remains unknown. To test these hypotheses, we generated mitochondrial DNA and geometric morphometric data of skull and dental elements from a total of 922 North American Arctic dogs and wolves spanning over 4500 years. Our analyses revealed that dogs from Inuit sites dating from 2000 BP possess morphological and genetic signatures that distinguish them from earlier Palaeo-Inuit dogs, and identified a novel mitochondrial clade in eastern Siberia and Alaska. The genetic legacy of these Inuit dogs survives today in modern Arctic sledge dogs despite phenotypic differences between archaeological and modern Arctic dogs. Together, our data reveal that Inuit dogs derive from a secondary pre-contact migration of dogs distinct from Palaeo-Inuit dogs, and probably aided the Inuit expansion across the North American Arctic beginning around 1000 BP.
Research Interests:
Domestic dogs have been central to life in the North American Arctic for millennia. The ancestors of the Inuit were the first to introduce the widespread usage of dog sledge transportation technology to the Americas, but whether the Inuit... more
Domestic dogs have been central to life in the North American Arctic for millennia. The ancestors of the Inuit were the first to introduce the widespread usage of dog sledge transportation technology to the Americas, but whether the Inuit adopted local Paleo-Inuit dogs or introduced a new dog population to the region remains unknown. To test these hypotheses, we generated mitochondrial DNA and geometric morphometric data of skull and dental elements from a total of 922 North American Arctic dogs and wolves spanning over 4500 years. Our analyses revealed that dogs from Inuit sites dating from 2000 BP possess morphological and genetic signatures that distinguish them from earlier Paleo-Inuit dogs, and identified a novel mitochondrial clade in eastern Siberia and Alaska. The genetic legacy of these Inuit dogs survives today in modern Arctic sledge dogs despite phenotypic differences between archaeological and modern Arctic dogs. Together, our data reveal that Inuit dogs derive from a s...
A pesquisa arqueológica na província mais oriental do Canadá se beneficiou de uma longa e expansível história de parcerias com as comunidades. Tal deve-se, em parte, ao mandato excepcional da Memorial University, assim como ao engajamento... more
A pesquisa arqueológica na província mais oriental do Canadá se beneficiou de uma longa e expansível história de parcerias com as comunidades. Tal deve-se, em parte, ao mandato excepcional da Memorial University, assim como ao engajamento forte do departamento de arqueologia em trabalhar com indivíduos e organizações locais durante escavações. A partir de três casos de estudos da província de Terra Nova e Labrador, este artigo revela as motivações, as experiências, os desafios, como os resultados que podem surgir das parcerias comunidade-universidade, e atesta do potencial da arqueologia em contribuir localmente de forma vantajosamente.
The archaeological history of the Beothuk has until recently been mired in essentialist assumptions concerning their rapid decline and ruin following contact with settler society. This negative narrative finds its roots in the... more
The archaeological history of the Beothuk has until recently been mired in essentialist assumptions concerning their rapid decline and ruin following contact with settler society. This negative narrative finds its roots in the a-historical reading of non-indigenous, colonial era documents which have guided the archaeological interpretations of the fragmentary material record of Beothuk society. By embracing a reflexive approach to their role in shaping and relating indigenous histories, and by emphasizing the significance of long-term cultural structures, archaeologists are beginning to understand how indigenous peoples dealt with the colonial process. The new Beothuk archaeology tells a much different story – one about a sophisticated people with dynamic social and economic systems developed over a lengthy history. The Beothuk experienced the contact-event on their own terms, making choices which were guided by their own traditions and worldview.
Documentary evidence suggests that Inuit were present in the Strait of Belle Isle by the late 16th century, yet the archaeological evidence for Inuit settlement in southern Labrador is sparse. Inuit sites are difficult to recognize south... more
Documentary evidence suggests that Inuit were present in the Strait of Belle Isle by the late 16th century, yet the archaeological evidence for Inuit settlement in southern Labrador is sparse. Inuit sites are difficult to recognize south of Nunatsiavut, where 19th-century Inuit-Métis families and seasonal Newfoundland fishers occupied settlements that leave similar archaeological surface-traces. In 2009 a SSHRC-funded Community-University Research Alliance was initiated to examine Inuit history in southern Labrador. One of the primary goals of the research was to develop archaeological criteria to distinguish between these ethnically distinct settlements. This paper presents the results from several seasons of research in Sandwich Bay, Labrador. It uses data from community interviews, archaeological surveys, and excavations at four Inuit settlements, one Inuit-Métis house, and one Newfoundland fishery camp to help resolve the issue of site ethnicity for the area immediately south of...
Research Interests:
Lisa K. Rankin and Amanda Crompton authors
International Journal of Heritage and Sustainable Development 3(1):71-79
International Journal of Heritage and Sustainable Development 3(1):71-79
This was a very brief research-in-progress report on methods of acquiring thin-section data from samples of deer and seal teeth to estimate season of death.
Research Interests:
This film examines the significance of the work undertaken by Memorial University’s Extension Services in partnership with the National Film Board on Fogo Island in 1967 and the success of film as a platform for participatory democracy.
This film was produced as a general history of the Southern Inuit and is one of several community requested outcomes of my SSHRC CURA grant. It combines results from the archaeological and historical research.
This film covers the process of delivering research results from my SSHRC-CURA grant to the many remote Southern Inuit communities on the southern shores of Labrador.