Donald H Holly
Eastern Illinois University, Sociology/Anthropology, Faculty Member
- Archaeology, Anthropology, Hunters, Fishers and Gatherers' Archaeology, Hunter-Gatherers (Anthropology), Boreal forest Archaeology, Beothuk culture, and 21 moreNewfoundland Archaeology, Hunter-Gatherer Archaeology, Arctic Archaeology, Arctic Anthropology, Northeastern North America (Archaeology), Archaeology in Labrador/Northern Quebec, Fur Trade Studies, Patagonia, Archaeology of, Historical Processualism, Archaeology of Ritual and Magic, Coastal and Island Archaeology, Material culture of religion, North American archaeology, First Nations of Canada, First Nations History, Newfoundland and Labrador, Intensification (Archaeology), Beothuk Inventions, Archaeology of Tierra del Fuego, Coastal Hunter-Gatherers, and Subarctic Archaeologyedit
The Eastern Subarctic has long been portrayed as a place without history. Challenging this perspective, History in the Making: The Archaeology of the Eastern Subarctic charts the complex and dynamic history of this little known... more
The Eastern Subarctic has long been portrayed as a place without history. Challenging this perspective, History in the Making: The Archaeology of the Eastern Subarctic charts the complex and dynamic history of this little known archaeological region of North America. Along the way, the book explores the social processes through which native peoples “made” history in the past and archaeologists and anthropologists later wrote about it. As such, the book offers both a critical history and historiography of the Eastern Subarctic.
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The transition between the end of the Maritime Archaic and the so-called Intermediate Indian period on the island of Newfoundland and Labrador was marked by significant changes in just about all dimensions of life for First Nations... more
The transition between the end of the Maritime Archaic and the so-called Intermediate Indian period on the island of Newfoundland and Labrador was marked by significant changes in just about all dimensions of life for First Nations peoples living in the region at the time: cemeteries stop being used, longhouses are no longer erected, an exquisite ground-stone-tool technological tradition comes to an end, long-distance exchange networks contract, and vast areas of the region are abandoned. These changes, which coincide with a relative reduction in the number of archaeological site components, a contraction in land-use area, a detrimental shift in settlement strategy, and a steep decline in radiocarbon dates suggest that a demographic collapse put an end to the Archaic period on the island of Newfoundland and Labrador.
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The archaeology of hunters and gatherers has long focused on the economic and technological dimensions of food use and procurement. In marginal environments especially, hunter-gatherer food use has often been situated within an... more
The archaeology of hunters and gatherers has long focused on the economic and technological dimensions of food use and procurement. In marginal environments especially, hunter-gatherer food use has often been situated within an adaptationist calculus of survival and environmental accommodation. The ethnographic record of hunter-gatherers that inhabited such environments, however, indicate that social and cultural considerations also critically informed indigenous peoples’ procurement, consumption, and discard practices. Drawing on the later prehistoric and early historic archaeological record of the island of Newfoundland, in northeastern Canada, this paper explores how the procurement, consumption, and handling of subarctic foods conveyed identity, reflected historical conditions and social relations, factored into ritual and ceremonial practice, and embodied worldviews.
Research Interests: Zooarchaeology, Social zooarchaeology, Hunting (Human Animal Relations), Hunter-Gatherers (Anthropology), Hunter-Gatherer Archaeology, and 7 moreArchaeology of food, Newfoundland Archaeology, Archaeology in Labrador/Northern Quebec, Food Taboos, Arctic and Subarctic hunter-gatherers, Beothuk culture, and Hunter gatherer Subsistence
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For most people, travel writing is ethnography. Whereas few will ever read anything written by a professional anthropologist, travel literature is widely read and popular. Consequently, the public has come to trust journalists, travelers,... more
For most people, travel writing is ethnography. Whereas few will ever read anything written by a professional anthropologist, travel literature is widely read and popular. Consequently, the public has come to trust journalists, travelers, and other writers for accurate information about indigenous peoples, Culture, and other subjects that have long been the purview of anthropologists. In this context, travel writing plays a critical role in how the public imagines and understands the Other. This article surveys common themes and popular representations of that ultimate Other—hunters and gatherers—as penned in twentieth and early twenty-first century travel literature. In particular, the article focuses on the trope of self-discovery, a literary device in which the author's encounters with foraging peoples—often portrayed as remnants of the original human society—serve as a mirror in which the author reflects on their self, and writ large, modernity. Anthropology has had a long and uneasy relationship with the travel writing genre. In the earliest days of the discipline anthropology was a kind of travel writing, and then later, travel accounts formed the basis of much of the ethnographic record that armchair anthropologists relied on for their
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Introduction to a special book review section on pseudo-archaeology for the journal American Antiquity. See American Antiquity 80(3):615-629 (2015) for full set of reviews.
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Chapter one of my book, "History in the Making: the Archaeology of the Eastern Subarctic"
Research Interests: History of Anthropology, Northeastern North America (Archaeology), Hunters, Fishers and Gatherers' Archaeology, Arctic Archaeology, First Nations of Canada, and 8 moreHunter-Gatherer Archaeology, Newfoundland and Labrador, Boreal forest Archaeology, Newfoundland Archaeology, Archaeology in Labrador/Northern Quebec, Arctic and Subarctic hunter-gatherers, Canadian Archaeology, and Subarctic Archaeology
The Indigenous Beothuk of Newfoundland disappeared as a cultural entity in the early nineteenth century. Prior to this, the Beothuk had few direct interactions with Europeans, and those that occurred were generally of a hostile nature. As... more
The Indigenous Beothuk of Newfoundland disappeared as a cultural entity in the early nineteenth century. Prior to this, the Beothuk had few direct interactions with Europeans, and those that occurred were generally of a hostile nature. As a result, very little is known about Beothuk religious life. Drawing on available ethnohistoric records, an analysis of burial site locations and funerary objects, we offer an interpretation of Beothuk sacred cosmology that places birds at the centre of their belief system.
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The Beothuk Indians of Newfoundland faced increasing European hostilities, expansion and the loss of access to resources during the historic period. Ultimately these conditions would compel the Beothuk to retreat into the interior of the... more
The Beothuk Indians of Newfoundland faced increasing European hostilities, expansion and the loss of access to resources during the historic period. Ultimately these conditions would compel the Beothuk to retreat into the interior of the island where they dwindled into extinction in 1829. The fact of the Beothuk's extinction, combined with the existence of a rich and colorful historical narrative has created a tendency to portray the Beothuk as a doomed people, without agency or adaptation en route to extinction. This paper conceptualizes the Beothuk as active players pursuing social objectives within this malevolent historical context. The Beothuk employed strategies such as settlement and subsistence reorganization, the avoidance of Europeans, an emphasis on ideology and identity, and the harassment of settlers as a means of coping with the cultural and social turmoil of the historic period.
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Anthropological theories regarding the use of storage facilities or the conditions in which such facilities should be used, have generally embraced one of two positions. One position is concerned primarily with the use of storage, or... more
Anthropological theories regarding the use of storage facilities or the conditions in which such facilities should be used, have generally embraced one of two positions. One position is concerned primarily with the use of storage, or surplus, in the pursuit of social objectives, often leading to social complexity. The other, immersed in an adaptive framework, views storage as a mechanism for reducing risk associated with subsistence stress (Rowley-Conwy and Zvelebil 1989: 40). This paper is an attempt to explore Beothuk investment in storage and other labor intensive activities during the 18th century within the context of historical and environmental conditions and social motivation or agency.
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An archaeological survey of Fogo Island, Newfoundland, has revealed evidence for Maritime Archaic, Paleoeskimo, and early European settlement in outer northeastern Notre Dame Bay. Despite numerous documents and oral narratives attesting... more
An archaeological survey of Fogo Island, Newfoundland, has revealed evidence for Maritime Archaic, Paleoeskimo, and early European settlement in outer northeastern Notre Dame Bay. Despite numerous documents and oral narratives attesting to the Beothuk Indians on and around Fogo Island, survey investigations failed to uncover definitive physical evidence for their presence on the island. Survey operations suggest that use of the island by aboriginal populations was generally sporadic, non-intensive, and involved use strategies which have low archaeological visibility.