Using artifacts and settlement pattern data leading to seasonality reconstructions, I previously hypothesized two populations for pre-European Maine coastal and interior. Examination of differential bone disposal patterns between coastal and interior sites suggests different attitudes towards animal prey. Given the strong ethnographic evidence for the inseparable link between humans and animals, it suggests that the differential pattern of bone disposal seen in the archaeological record may reflect two different philosophies towards correct ceremonial behavior. The range of technological variation of the spurred end scrapers between the two culture periods was determined. An analysis of the spurred scrapers from the four sites indicates similarities between culture periods in the type of lithic materials employed in tool production, as well as the initial stages of core technology.
Variability occurs in the later development of the spur.
The similarity and variability identified between culture periods was then applied to two multi-component sites in New Brunswick. Both sites have spurred end scrapers that morphologically resemble those from the two Paleoindian sites analyzed. However, no other evidence of a Paleoindian component has been identified at the sites. An analysis of the spurred end scrapers from the New Brunswick sites has not determined that a Paleoindian component does exist, but suggests further investigation is warranted. B.P. there is evidence that Northeastern cultures buried some of their dead in large, semi-subterranean pits or chambers that held relatively few individuals.