38 
when he gave it the tentative name Dorset culture. Some of its pecu- 
liarities as there listed were: 
(1) Harpoon heads with rectilinear sockets; 
(2) Triangular arrow points of flint, quartz, or basalt (this is a 
common Indian type, whereas the typical Eskimo stone 
arrow point is tanged) ; 
(3) Knives (or arrow points?) notched on each side of the base 
for hafting; 
(4) Curved-edge knives of flint and quartz; 
(5) A curious style of engraving on bone, antler, and ivory. 
Now the first four of these features reappear in Beothuk specimens, 
although the harpoon heads with rectilinear sockets were not known in 
any other part of America, and curved-edge knives seem exceedingly rare. 1 
Furthermore, the style of engraving on some of the Eskimo specimens 
distinctly resembles the engraving on some of the Beothuk bone ornaments. 
It seems fairly clear, therefore, that the Beothuk and Eskimo were in con- 
tact at some early date, and borrowed a few elements of each other’s 
culture. The Beothuk were established in Newfoundland in the fifteenth 
century and apparently seldom came into contact with the Eskimo after 
that date. The Labrador Eskimo of the sixteenth century, and almost 
certainly the fifteenth century also, were not using a harpoon head with 
a rectilinear socket, but the modern type with round socket; nor is there 
any evidence at the present time to indicate that the older Eskimo who 
used the former type of harpoon head ever reached as far south as the 
strait of Belle Isle. On the other hand, Beothuk remains were discovered 
by Lloyd some fifty years ago in Labrador, on the north shore of the gulf 
of Belle Isle. It appears fairly probable, therefore, that several centuries 
ago (prior to 1500) the Beothuk were living in Labrador peninsula in con- 
tact with Eskimo tribes now extinct or absorbed by later comers, and that 
for some reason yet unknown (perhaps pressure from Montagnais and 
Naskapi tribes advancing from the west, perhaps even from Eskimo 
hostility) they crossed over into Newfoundland, If this theory is correct 
it should be possible to discover Beothuk remains somewhere along the 
north shore of the gulf of St. Lawrence, or else on the southeast shore of 
Labrador beyond the strait of Belle Isle. It explains, at all events: (1) 
some Eskimo features in Beothuk culture; (2) the apparent absence of 
very ancient Beothuk remains in Newfoundland; and (3) some of the 
peculiarities of the Dorset-Eskimo culture. 
! The Museum possesses a soapstone plummet, identical with the Beothuk plummets, that was obtained from 
Eskimos Bomewhere on the east coast of Labrador. There is no proof, however, that it was associated wiih 
Dorset culture remains. 
