Matthew W Betts
Biographic Data
| ID | 3608152 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Matthew W Betts |
| GIVEN NAMES | Matthew W |
| FAMILY NAME | Betts |
| SIGNATURE | BETTS M W |
| AFFILIATIONS | Canadian Museum of History, 100, rue Laurier Street, Gatineau, QC K1A 0M8, Canada |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 17 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 72 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 17 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2004 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Archaeology is culture history, or it is nothing: Reframing culture history as an essential epi-paradigm for archaeological practice
For nearly seventy years, archaeologists have argued that culture history is a paradigm which does not have a place in contemporary archaeology. Critiques initiated by processualists and expanded by promoters of post-processual, behavioral, historical-processual, and relational paradigms have been reinvigorated by advocates of large-scale radiometric dating and Bayesian modeling. These new criticisms, however, have scarcely evolved, focusing on f…
Radiocarbon chronologies, coastal erosion, and archaeological visibility in the Quoddy Region, far northeastern North America
Around the world, coastal erosion is one of the greatest threats to the archaeological record. Understanding the patterns of erosion’s effects on the archaeological record is therefore crucial to interpreting apparent gaps in the archaeological record. One way to understand how erosion has affected particular eras may be to consider radiocarbon datasets to explore what periods are lost from the record and if that destruction occurred before the p…
Late Maritime Woodland period hunter-fisher-gatherer complexity in the Far Northeast: Toward an historical and contingent approach
Introduction: North American East Coast Shell Middens
Archaeological shell bearing deposits, or shell middens, are ubiquitous along the Atlantic Seaboard, and have been the focus of archaeological interest for more than a century. This volume presents recent research on shell-bearing deposits from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to Chesapeake Bay. The papers cover topics ranging from fundamental subsistence changes as reflected in archaeofaunas, to the role of select species in hunting practices and diets,…
An Economic History of the Maritime Woodland Period in Port Joli Harbour, Nova Scotia
Five seasons of survey and excavation in Port Joli Harbour, NS, Canada, have resulted in a high-resolution archaeofaunal sample from 2 contrasting shell-bearing sites: AlDf-24, and AlDf-30 (Jack's Brook). In this paper, we discuss the evidence for differences in mollusk-, fish-, and mammal-harvesting strategies between contemporaneously occupied sites. Furthermore, we highlight shifts in Mi'kmaw exploitation of coastal resources around the Middle…
Dedication and General Acknowledgments
A Relational Approach to Hunter-Gatherer Architecture and Gendered Use of Space at Port Joli Harbour, Nova Scotia
Dwellings are unique arenas in which hunter-gatherers meet socially on a daily basis. Increasingly, archaeologists recognize that the relationships between people, entities, places, and objects form the basis of hunter-gatherer ontology. The spatial patterning of dwellings and the activities within them are among the ways that relational ontologies are expressed and maintained. We consider the gendered patterning of Maritime Woodland period archi…
How Animals Create Human History: Relational Ecology and the Dorset-Polar Bear Connection
Carvings that represent polar bears (Ursus maritimus) are commonly found in Dorset Paleo-Eskimo archaeological sites across the eastern Arctic. Relational ecology, combined with Amerindian perspectivism, provides an integrated framework within which to comprehensively assess the connections between Dorset and polar bears. By considering the representational aspects of the objects, we reveal an ethology of polar bears encoded within the carvings' …
Identifying ritual structures in the archaeological record: A Maritime Woodland period sweathouse from Nova Scotia, Canada
Identification of a Pre-Contact Polar Bear Victim at Native Point, Southampton Island, Nunavut, Using 3D Technology and a Virtual Zooarchaeology Collection
The skeletal remains of an adult Sadlermiut woman with obvious trauma to her cranial and post-cranial skeleton were excavated from Native Point (KkHh-1), Southampton Island, Nunavut, in 1954. In order to determine the possible cause of this damage, we first documented the skeletal injuries using traditional bioarchaeological techniques. We then created a three-dimensional model of the cranium and mandible to permit better visualization and analys…
Zooarchaeology of the Historic Cod Fishery in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
Allometry and growth-increment aging of archaeological fish remains has the potential to reveal much about past fishing strategies, fish processing and trade, and fish populations. This paper documents the age and size characteristics of four samples of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) bones from early European contexts at Red Bay, Ferryland, Bay Bulls, and Crouse, which collectively span the middle 16th to early 19th centuries AD. The samples, which …
Archaeofaunal signatures of specialized bowhead whaling in the Western Canadian Arctic: A Regional Study
Betts, Matthew W., Friesen, Max (2013): Archaeofaunal signatures of specialized bowhead whaling in the Western Canadian Arctic: a regional study. Anthropozoologica 48 (1): 53-73, DOI: 10.5252/az2013n1a3, URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.5252/az2013n1a3
Perspectivism, Mortuary Symbolism, and Human-Shark Relationships on the Maritime Peninsula
Shark teeth are commonly found in mortuary and ritual contexts throughout the Northeast. On the Maritime Peninsula, shark teeth have been identified in mortuary assemblages spanning the Late Archaic through to the Late Woodland periods (ca. 5000 B.P. to 950 B.P.). Beyond the Maritime Peninsula, shark teeth have been recovered from Woodland period contexts ranging from Chesapeake Bay to the Ohio River. Amerindian perspectivism, or cosmológical dei…
Virtual zooarchaeology: Building a web-based reference collection of northern vertebrates for archaeofaunal research and education
The Mackenzie Inuit Whale Bone Industry: Raw Material, Tool Manufacture, Scheduling, and Trade
The bones of bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus) were used by Mackenzie Inuit groups in producing a number of items essential to transportation and procurement. However, the whale bone industry, and its relationship to Mackenzie Inuit economic and social systems, is poorly understood. A recently excavated archaeological assemblage from McKinley Bay, Northwest Territories, provides a record of intensive Nuvugarmiut whale bone tool manufacture, whi…
Declining foraging returns from an inexhaustible resource? Abundance indices and beluga whaling in the western Canadian Arctic
Quantifying hunter–gatherer intensification: A zooarchaeological case study from Arctic Canada
Virtual zooarchaeology: Building a web-based reference collection of northern vertebrates for archaeofaunal research and education
Perspectivism, Mortuary Symbolism, and Human-Shark Relationships on the Maritime Peninsula
Shark teeth are commonly found in mortuary and ritual contexts throughout the Northeast. On the Maritime Peninsula, shark teeth have been identified in mortuary assemblages spanning the Late Archaic through to the Late Woodland periods (ca. 5000 B.P. to 950 B.P.). Beyond the Maritime Peninsula, shark teeth have been recovered from Woodland period contexts ranging from Chesapeake Bay to the Ohio River. Amerindian perspectivism, or cosmológical dei…
How Animals Create Human History: Relational Ecology and the Dorset-Polar Bear Connection
Carvings that represent polar bears (Ursus maritimus) are commonly found in Dorset Paleo-Eskimo archaeological sites across the eastern Arctic. Relational ecology, combined with Amerindian perspectivism, provides an integrated framework within which to comprehensively assess the connections between Dorset and polar bears. By considering the representational aspects of the objects, we reveal an ethology of polar bears encoded within the carvings' …
Declining foraging returns from an inexhaustible resource? Abundance indices and beluga whaling in the western Canadian Arctic
An Economic History of the Maritime Woodland Period in Port Joli Harbour, Nova Scotia
Five seasons of survey and excavation in Port Joli Harbour, NS, Canada, have resulted in a high-resolution archaeofaunal sample from 2 contrasting shell-bearing sites: AlDf-24, and AlDf-30 (Jack's Brook). In this paper, we discuss the evidence for differences in mollusk-, fish-, and mammal-harvesting strategies between contemporaneously occupied sites. Furthermore, we highlight shifts in Mi'kmaw exploitation of coastal resources around the Middle…
A Relational Approach to Hunter-Gatherer Architecture and Gendered Use of Space at Port Joli Harbour, Nova Scotia
Dwellings are unique arenas in which hunter-gatherers meet socially on a daily basis. Increasingly, archaeologists recognize that the relationships between people, entities, places, and objects form the basis of hunter-gatherer ontology. The spatial patterning of dwellings and the activities within them are among the ways that relational ontologies are expressed and maintained. We consider the gendered patterning of Maritime Woodland period archi…
Archaeofaunal signatures of specialized bowhead whaling in the Western Canadian Arctic: A Regional Study
Betts, Matthew W., Friesen, Max (2013): Archaeofaunal signatures of specialized bowhead whaling in the Western Canadian Arctic: a regional study. Anthropozoologica 48 (1): 53-73, DOI: 10.5252/az2013n1a3, URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.5252/az2013n1a3
Late Maritime Woodland period hunter-fisher-gatherer complexity in the Far Northeast: Toward an historical and contingent approach
Zooarchaeology of the Historic Cod Fishery in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
Allometry and growth-increment aging of archaeological fish remains has the potential to reveal much about past fishing strategies, fish processing and trade, and fish populations. This paper documents the age and size characteristics of four samples of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) bones from early European contexts at Red Bay, Ferryland, Bay Bulls, and Crouse, which collectively span the middle 16th to early 19th centuries AD. The samples, which …
Quantifying hunter–gatherer intensification: A zooarchaeological case study from Arctic Canada
Declining foraging returns from an inexhaustible resource? Abundance indices and beluga whaling in the western Canadian Arctic
The Mackenzie Inuit Whale Bone Industry: Raw Material, Tool Manufacture, Scheduling, and Trade
The bones of bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus) were used by Mackenzie Inuit groups in producing a number of items essential to transportation and procurement. However, the whale bone industry, and its relationship to Mackenzie Inuit economic and social systems, is poorly understood. A recently excavated archaeological assemblage from McKinley Bay, Northwest Territories, provides a record of intensive Nuvugarmiut whale bone tool manufacture, whi…
Virtual zooarchaeology: Building a web-based reference collection of northern vertebrates for archaeofaunal research and education
Perspectivism, Mortuary Symbolism, and Human-Shark Relationships on the Maritime Peninsula
Shark teeth are commonly found in mortuary and ritual contexts throughout the Northeast. On the Maritime Peninsula, shark teeth have been identified in mortuary assemblages spanning the Late Archaic through to the Late Woodland periods (ca. 5000 B.P. to 950 B.P.). Beyond the Maritime Peninsula, shark teeth have been recovered from Woodland period contexts ranging from Chesapeake Bay to the Ohio River. Amerindian perspectivism, or cosmológical dei…
Archaeofaunal signatures of specialized bowhead whaling in the Western Canadian Arctic: A Regional Study
Betts, Matthew W., Friesen, Max (2013): Archaeofaunal signatures of specialized bowhead whaling in the Western Canadian Arctic: a regional study. Anthropozoologica 48 (1): 53-73, DOI: 10.5252/az2013n1a3, URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.5252/az2013n1a3
Identifying ritual structures in the archaeological record: A Maritime Woodland period sweathouse from Nova Scotia, Canada
Identification of a Pre-Contact Polar Bear Victim at Native Point, Southampton Island, Nunavut, Using 3D Technology and a Virtual Zooarchaeology Collection
The skeletal remains of an adult Sadlermiut woman with obvious trauma to her cranial and post-cranial skeleton were excavated from Native Point (KkHh-1), Southampton Island, Nunavut, in 1954. In order to determine the possible cause of this damage, we first documented the skeletal injuries using traditional bioarchaeological techniques. We then created a three-dimensional model of the cranium and mandible to permit better visualization and analys…
Zooarchaeology of the Historic Cod Fishery in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
Allometry and growth-increment aging of archaeological fish remains has the potential to reveal much about past fishing strategies, fish processing and trade, and fish populations. This paper documents the age and size characteristics of four samples of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) bones from early European contexts at Red Bay, Ferryland, Bay Bulls, and Crouse, which collectively span the middle 16th to early 19th centuries AD. The samples, which …
How Animals Create Human History: Relational Ecology and the Dorset-Polar Bear Connection
Carvings that represent polar bears (Ursus maritimus) are commonly found in Dorset Paleo-Eskimo archaeological sites across the eastern Arctic. Relational ecology, combined with Amerindian perspectivism, provides an integrated framework within which to comprehensively assess the connections between Dorset and polar bears. By considering the representational aspects of the objects, we reveal an ethology of polar bears encoded within the carvings' …
Introduction: North American East Coast Shell Middens
Archaeological shell bearing deposits, or shell middens, are ubiquitous along the Atlantic Seaboard, and have been the focus of archaeological interest for more than a century. This volume presents recent research on shell-bearing deposits from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to Chesapeake Bay. The papers cover topics ranging from fundamental subsistence changes as reflected in archaeofaunas, to the role of select species in hunting practices and diets,…
An Economic History of the Maritime Woodland Period in Port Joli Harbour, Nova Scotia
Five seasons of survey and excavation in Port Joli Harbour, NS, Canada, have resulted in a high-resolution archaeofaunal sample from 2 contrasting shell-bearing sites: AlDf-24, and AlDf-30 (Jack's Brook). In this paper, we discuss the evidence for differences in mollusk-, fish-, and mammal-harvesting strategies between contemporaneously occupied sites. Furthermore, we highlight shifts in Mi'kmaw exploitation of coastal resources around the Middle…
Dedication and General Acknowledgments
A Relational Approach to Hunter-Gatherer Architecture and Gendered Use of Space at Port Joli Harbour, Nova Scotia
Dwellings are unique arenas in which hunter-gatherers meet socially on a daily basis. Increasingly, archaeologists recognize that the relationships between people, entities, places, and objects form the basis of hunter-gatherer ontology. The spatial patterning of dwellings and the activities within them are among the ways that relational ontologies are expressed and maintained. We consider the gendered patterning of Maritime Woodland period archi…
Late Maritime Woodland period hunter-fisher-gatherer complexity in the Far Northeast: Toward an historical and contingent approach
Archaeology is culture history, or it is nothing: Reframing culture history as an essential epi-paradigm for archaeological practice
For nearly seventy years, archaeologists have argued that culture history is a paradigm which does not have a place in contemporary archaeology. Critiques initiated by processualists and expanded by promoters of post-processual, behavioral, historical-processual, and relational paradigms have been reinvigorated by advocates of large-scale radiometric dating and Bayesian modeling. These new criticisms, however, have scarcely evolved, focusing on f…
Radiocarbon chronologies, coastal erosion, and archaeological visibility in the Quoddy Region, far northeastern North America
Around the world, coastal erosion is one of the greatest threats to the archaeological record. Understanding the patterns of erosion’s effects on the archaeological record is therefore crucial to interpreting apparent gaps in the archaeological record. One way to understand how erosion has affected particular eras may be to consider radiocarbon datasets to explore what periods are lost from the record and if that destruction occurred before the p…
Archaeology (13 works) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (13 works) · Geography (13 works) · Ecology (11 works) · Biology (10 works) · Indigenous Studies and Ecology (10 works) · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology (8 works) · Fishery (5 works) · Zooarchaeology (5 works) · Arctic (4 works)