Editing Beothuk (section)

== Description ==
The Beothuk lived throughout the island of Newfoundland, mostly in the [[Notre Dame Bay|Notre Dame]] and [[Bonavista Bay]] areas. Estimates of the Beothuk population at the time of contact with Europeans vary. Historian of the Beothuk Ingeborg Marshall argued that European historical records of Beothuk history are clouded by [[ethnocentrism]] and unreliable.{{sfn|Marshall|1996|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=ckOav3Szu7oC&pg=PA7 7]}} Scholars from the 19th and early 20th century estimated about 2,000 Beothuk individuals lived at the time of European contact in the 15th century;{{citation needed|date=January 2019}} however, there may have been no more than 500 to 700 people.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/aboriginal/beothuk-distribution.php |title=Distribution and Size of the Beothuk Population, Leadership, and Communal Activities: A History and Ethnography of the Beothuk |access-date=November 11, 2017 |archive-date=December 22, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211222123912/https://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/aboriginal/beothuk-distribution.php |url-status=dead}}</ref> Based on the carrying capacity of the ecosystem at the time of contact the population is estimated to have been between 1,000 and 1,500.{{sfn|Adhikari|2023|p=117}} They lived in independent, self-sufficient, extended family groups of 30 to 55 people.{{sfn|Marshall|1996|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=ckOav3Szu7oC&pg=PA12 12]}}{{sfn|Adhikari|2023|p=117}}

Like many other [[hunter-gatherer]]s, they appear to have had band leaders but probably not more formal chiefs, in the anthropological definition of the word. They lived in conical dwellings known as ''mamateeks'', which were fortified for the winter season.{{sfn|Adhikari|2023|p=117}} These were constructed by arranging poles in a circle, tying them at the top, and covering them with birch bark. The floors were dug with hollows used for sleeping. A fireplace was made at the centre.

During spring, the Beothuk used [[red ochre]] to paint not only their bodies but also their houses, [[canoe]]s, weapons, household appliances, and musical instruments. This practice led Europeans to refer to them as "Red Indians".<ref name="Are You Ready For Some Controversy? The History Of 'Redskin'">{{cite news |title=Are You Ready For Some Controversy? The History Of 'Redskin' |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2013/09/09/220654611/are-you-ready-for-some-controversy-the-history-of-redskin |work=[[NPRadio]] |date=September 9, 2013 |last1=Gandhi |first1=Lakshmi}}</ref>{{sfn|Adhikari|2023|p=117}} The use of ochre had great cultural significance. The decorating was done during an annual multi-day spring celebration. It designated tribal identity; for example, decorating newborn children was a way to welcome them into the tribe. Forbidding a person to wear ochre was a form of punishment.

Their main food were [[caribou]], [[salmon]], and [[Pinniped|seals]], augmented by harvesting other animal and plant species. The Beothuk followed the seasonal migratory habits of their principal quarry. In the fall, they set up deer fences, sometimes {{cvt|30|–|40|mi|order=flip}} long, used to drive migrating caribou toward waiting hunters armed with bows and arrows.<ref name="newfoundland1969">{{cite journal |author=Anonymous (James McGregor) |year=1836 |title=Shaa-naan-dithit, or The Last of The Boëothics |url=https://www.mun.ca/rels/native/beothuk/mcgregor.html |url-status=dead |journal=Fraser's Magazine for Town and Country |volume=XIII |issue=LXXV |pages=316–323 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160808194132/http://www.mun.ca/rels/native/beothuk/mcgregor.html |archive-date=August 8, 2016}} (Reprint, Toronto: Canadiana House, 1969)</ref>

The Beothuk are also known to have [[Sap#Human uses|made a pudding out of tree sap]]{{citation needed|date=October 2017|reason=Known by whom? Sap is not in the Cokinos2009 source.}} and the dried yolk of the eggs of the [[great auk]].<ref name="Cokinos2009">{{cite book |last=Cokinos |first=Christopher |title=Hope Is the Thing with Feathers: A Personal Chronicle of Vanished Birds |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GTxop5mgKKsC |year=2009 |publisher=Penguin Group USA |isbn=978-1-58542-722-2 |page=313}}</ref> They [[food preservation|preserved]] surplus food for use during winter, trapped various fur-bearing animals, and worked their skins for warm clothing. The fur side was worn next to the skin, to trap air against a person's body.

Beothuk canoes were made of caribou or seal skin, and the bows of canoes were stiffened with spruce bark. Canoes resembled [[kayak]]s and were said to be {{cvt|15|ft|order=flip}} in length and {{cvt|2+1/2|ft|order=flip}} in width with enough room to carry children, dogs, and property.<ref name="Newfoundland and Labrador Studies">{{cite journal |url=https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/nflds/article/view/10104/10365 |first=John |last=Hewson |title=Santu's Song |journal=Memorial University |volume=22 |issue=1 |year=2007}}</ref>

The Beothuk followed elaborate burial practices. After wrapping the bodies in birch bark, they buried the dead in isolated locations. In one form, a shallow grave was covered with a rock pile. At other times they laid the body on a [[burial tree|scaffold]], or placed it in a burial box, with the knees folded. The survivors placed offerings at burial sites to accompany the dead, such as figurines, pendants, and replicas of tools.<ref name="newfoundland1969" />