The skulls of Chief Nonosabasut and his wife Demasduit – Beothuk of Newfoundland

Black, Sue; Marshall, Ingeborg; Kitchener, Andrew C.

doi:10.1002/oa.1004

Cited by 6 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…William Cormack discovered the burial site in 1827, removed the skulls of Demasduit and Nonosabasut, and sent them to Scotland where they are now curated by the Royal Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh [13]. The skulls have previously been the focus of two bioarchaeological studies [11,79]. Re-analysis of the previously obtained aDNA extracts (Table S3) were analyzed in this study to confirm and give a more specific mtDNA halplotype than was possible in the study by Kuch et al [11].…”

Section: Btk1 From Long Island -Dias-6mentioning

confidence: 99%

Genetic Discontinuity between the Maritime Archaic and Beothuk Populations in Newfoundland, Canada

et al. 2017

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Situated at the furthest northeastern edge of Canada, the island of Newfoundland (approximately 110,000 km) and Labrador (approximately 295,000 km) today constitute a province characterized by abundant natural resources but low population density. Both landmasses were covered by the Laurentide ice sheet during the Last Glacial Maximum (18,000 years before present [YBP]); after the glacier retreated, ice patches remained on the island until ca. 9,000 calibrated (cal) YBP [1]. Nevertheless, indigenous peoples, whose ancestors had trekked some 5,000 km from the west coast, arrived approximately 10,000 cal YBP in Labrador and ca. 6,000 cal YBP in Newfoundland [2, 3]. Differential features in material culture indicate at least three settlement episodes by distinct cultural groups, including the Maritime Archaic, Palaeoeskimo, and Beothuk. Newfoundland has remained home to indigenous peoples until present day with only one apparent hiatus (3,400-2,800 YBP). This record suggests abandonment, severe constriction, or local extinction followed by subsequent immigrations from single or multiple source populations, but the specific dynamics and the cultural and biological relationships, if any, among these successive peoples remain enigmatic [4]. By examining the mitochondrial genome diversity and isotopic ratios of 74 ancient remains in conjunction with the archaeological record, we have provided definitive evidence for the genetic discontinuity between the maternal lineages of these populations. This northeastern margin of North America appears to have been populated multiple times by distinct groups that did not share a recent common ancestry, but rather one much deeper in time at the entry point into the continent.

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Section: Btk1 From Long Island -Dias-6mentioning

confidence: 99%

Genetic Discontinuity between the Maritime Archaic and Beothuk Populations in Newfoundland, Canada

et al. 2017

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“…Djurić et al (2006), in their analysis of the skeletal remains of 861 adult individuals from six cemeteries dating to the late mediaeval period in Serbia, showed an oblique fracture of the mandible caused by direct blunt force. Black et al (2009) described the historical case of chief Nonosabasut and his wife Demasduit. In March 1819, a young woman was abducted by white settlers and her husband was killed in the island of Newfoundland (Canada).…”

Section: Paleopathological Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Black et al . () described the historical case of chief Nonosabasut and his wife Demasduit. In March 1819, a young woman was abducted by white settlers and her husband was killed in the island of Newfoundland (Canada).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mandibular Fracture and Dislocation in a Case Study from the Jewish Cemetery of Lucena (CÓRDOBA), in South Iberian Peninsula (8th–12th ad)

Luca

Viciano

Irurita

et al. 2011

Intl J of Osteoarchaeology

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The skeletal remains of an adult female have been exhumed in an 11th century tomb in the mediaeval Jewish cemetery of Ronda Sur, in the city of Lucena (Córdoba, Spain). Examination of the skull and mandible revealed evidences of bilateral condylar fracture and dislocation. Lesions were observed macroscopically and radiology was used as a complementary method of scrutiny, especially in cases of unclear observation. Irregular morphology of the condyles and coronoid processes, shallow glenoid fossa, altered and abnormal joint surfaces anterior to the glenoid fossa, and reduced height of both ascending rami were observed. Antemortem tooth loss, slight wear of occlusal surface and asymmetrical occlusal deposit of dental calculus were found. Radiologically, degenerative changes in the condyles and reparative bone in both coronoid processes have been identified. Dislocation of the condyles and lack of adequate treatment probably led to disruption of masticatory patterns and related structures, such as muscle attachments, articular disc and ligaments. Bilateral remodelled fracture and the altered appearance of the joint structures could probably mean that the individual survived the injury by several years. This type of fracture could be the consequence of direct blow to the mental or submental region that was transmitted in a direction that raised the mandible, causing the condylar head to collide directly with the mandibular fossa. Very few mandibular fractures in ancient skulls have been described in Spain, and this case is the first example found in a Spanish archaeological skeletal assemblage.

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“…A return to Red Indian Lake (or Oxen Pond) The fact of the matter is, however, that it is not only in fictional dreams that the skulls of Nonosabasut and Demasduit animate and so come to haunt the present. Recently, there have been various attempts to discover in the form and substance of the skulls the traces of the living person and from these traces build upon and outward from the skulls to restore a visible quality of presence, in the form of a living, or as-if-living, human face (Black et al, 2009;Kuch et al, 2007) Specifically, there has been a documentary film made and completed during the time of my fieldwork in Newfoundland. Entitled Stealing Mary (Wolochatiuk, 2006), it is styled as a forensic investigation into the deaths of Demasduit and Nonosabasut out on the ice of Red Indian Lake.…”

Section: The Presence Of Absence and Haunted Histories Postcolonial Hmentioning

confidence: 99%

Of bleeding skulls and the postcolonial uncanny: bones and the presence of Nonosabasut and Demasduit

Harries

2010

Journal of Material Culture

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Based on three years of fieldwork in Newfoundland and the UK, this article considers the various materializations of a Beothuk man and woman, all of which have, at their heart, the skull as an ambivalent thing, at once a trace of their presence and a confirmation of their absence. These various processes of materialization, the author argues, are attempts to arrest the ambivalent movement between presence and absence, yet are themselves haunted by the thing itself, which is both insufficient to, yet in excess of, these materializations. In so doing, it engages with broader questions of the nature of the affective presence of human remains, particularly in the context of the postcolonial politic of belonging in settler societies.

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The skulls of Chief Nonosabasut and his wife Demasduit – Beothuk of Newfoundland

Cited by 6 publications

References 23 publications

Genetic Discontinuity between the Maritime Archaic and Beothuk Populations in Newfoundland, Canada

Genetic Discontinuity between the Maritime Archaic and Beothuk Populations in Newfoundland, Canada

Mandibular Fracture and Dislocation in a Case Study from the Jewish Cemetery of Lucena (CÓRDOBA), in South Iberian Peninsula (8th–12th ad)

Of bleeding skulls and the postcolonial uncanny: bones and the presence of Nonosabasut and Demasduit

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