The last of Newfoundlands
Beothuk was thought to have died in 1829 but new research indicates
the bloodline did not die out as Mikmaq tradition has
always maintained
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Drawing of a Beothuk
camp by Major John Cartwright. Photograph: The Picture Art
Collection/Alamy Stock Photo
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When a woman named Shanawdithit died from tuberculosis in Newfoundland
nearly 200 years ago, it was widely believed that her death marked
a tragic end to her peoples existence.
For centuries, the Beothuk had thrived along the rocky shores of
the island, taking on a near-mythical status as descendants of the
first people encountered by Norse explorers in what is now Canada.
But their population was devastated by decades of starvation and
diseases, and when she died in 1829, Shanawdithit was believed to
be the last of her line.
New
research from Memorial University, however, has found Beothuk
DNA probably still exists in people alive today a discovery
that would rewrite the history of the Newfoundlands early
inhabitants, even as it confirms the accuracy of local First Nations
oral tradition.
Weve got good evidence that we have genetic continuity
from the Beothic into modern persons, said biologist Dr Steve
Carr.
But while the finding would trigger a rethink for historians, the
notion is not surprising to local Indigenous groups.
Mikmaq oral history has long asserted a shared ancestry with
the original inhabitants of Newfoundland, and local First Nations
have worked closely with Carr to help lend genetic evidence to their
own traditions.
There were always connections or friendly relations going
back more than 200 years ago and when you mingle that way, periodically,
things would happen, said Chief Misel Joe of the Miawpukek
Mikamawey Mawiomi, a Mikmaq First Nation in Newfoundland.
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A miniature portrait
titled A female Red Indian of Newfoundland which
is believed to be a portrait of Shanawdithit, though may possibly
be a copy of a portrait of Demasduit. Photograph: The Picture
Art Collection/Alamy Stock Photo
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Historians believe the Beothuk are descended from a group that
braved the ocean to cross from Labrador to Newfoundland thousands
of years ago and whose distinct culture emerged around 1500 CE.
At one point, as many as 2,000 Beothuk lived in communities scattered
around Newfoundland.
For generations, they largely resisted and avoided relations with
European settlers; the few interactions between the two were defined
by violent encounters.
Early European settlements on the coast cut off Beothuk access
to critical salmon and seals forcing them to move further
inland where they sustained themselves on caribou before finally
succumbing to starvation and disease.
But Carrs research suggests it was only a cultural
extinction; their genetic legacy lives on.
In his study, Carr used DNA samples from Shanawdithits aunt
and uncle Demasduit and Nonosbawsut whose skulls were
taken to the Royal Museum in Scotland in 1828. After a long campaign
by Chief Joes community, the
remains were repatriated to Newfoundland in March.
After running samples through a genetics database, Carr was able
to find his smoking gun a man in Tennessee who
was genetically similar to Nonosbawsut, but had no known Indigenous
ancestry.
With only a small amount of data to work with, Carr hopes more
samples will further demonstrate a connection.
Its easy to obtain the DNA sequence from somebody and
you can count the number of similarities. Thats a very easy
thing to do. But to reconstruct the patterns of a relationship is
a very challenging problem, said Carr, adding that further
research into the known movement and connections between the Beothuk
and Mimaq was still required.
The findings also illustrate the way in which genetic uniqueness
in this case the distinct sequence of Beothuk mitochondrial
genomes can persist intact for generations. While humans
share an immense amount of DNA that traces back millennia, said
Carr, the intent of his research lay in teasing out the subtle and
distinguishing differences between known groups.
For years, academia has ignored the oral histories of Indigenous
peoples, said Chief Joe.
Academics are hard people to convince. They often have this
mindset that this the way it was no matter what
information we give them to the contrary, he said.
He described a frustrating experience in a land claims court, where
the adjudicator suggested the Mikmaq first arrived in Newfoundland
in the 1700s.
But we have an oral history of British sailors meeting our
people and asking for directions. We drew them a map on birch bark.
If this is the first time we had ever been on the land, how could
we draw a map? said Joe.
Its convenient for government, for everyone, to ignore
people who had no written history
The community is excited to keep working with Carr on further testing,
said Joe, to further strengthen the evidence of shared ancestry.
This is a big thing for us, he said. But it all
comes from something we already knew.
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