Mu Awsami Keji'kewe'k L'nuk Mi'kmak'i: New Perspectives on the Transitional Archaic Period in Southwestern Nova Scotia

Archaeological investigations at the Boswell site (BfDf-08), in southwestern Nova Scotia, has provided new evidence for Transitional Archaic period (4,100-2,700 BP) occupation along the Annapolis River. Using the Boswell site as a case study, this thesis re-examines the Transitional Archaic presence in Nova Scotia and how this reflects on our understanding of the regional context. Transitional Archaic artifact collections from Maine and New Brunswick were examined, alongside the less complete Nova Scotia collections, for a regional comparative analysis. A landscape ethnoecology approach is used to provide ontological perspectives of place and reveals a regional pattern of ecotopes and portage routes used during this period on the Maritime Peninsula. Selected lithic artifacts discovered from the Transitional Archaic component of the Boswell site were analyzed by a portable x-ray fluorescence spectrometer to assess source to site distances to evaluate possible mobility, trade, and kinship networks during this time. Based on this study, previously held notions of Transitional Archaic migration in the Maritime Peninsula are revisited, and a new northern boundary is suggested