Abstract

While the Palaeo-Indian period of Nova Scotia is well established in the archaeological literature, surprisingly little has been written concerning the Archaic period. No Archaic sites have been excavated by professional archaeologists, and the few references that are made to this period focus on the lack of Early and Middle Archaic sites in the entire Maine/Maritimes region. The latter is usually attributed to the drowning of coastal sites due to rising sea-levels and/or environmental constraints on human occupation. Most other references consist of vague statements confirming the discovery of Laurentian or Maritime Archaic artifacts in Nova Scotia, which merely obscure the fact that there is a wealth of undocumented Archaic materials in public and private collections that are from known sites. The authors are currently compiling a comprehensive inventory of these materials for future study. Although this work is still in progress, some initial observations are presented in this paper in the form of a re-assessment of the distribution of Archaic sites and cultural affiliations of Nova Scotia's Archaic peoples.