CI[)l1:721 - Memorial University of Newfoundland DAI

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8). The reasons behind such differentiation within and between sites may be
due to temporal separation or differentiation in Individual status (e.g. Tainter
1978; O'Shea 1984).
Radiocarbon dates exist for several Middlesex burial siles in the region.
Dates 01 2410±60 and 1960±70 have been obtained from the Mason site in
Maine (Klein 1983: 633). Augustine has been dated at mO±tl0 B.P. (Turnbull
1976: 55), while the Minister's Island burial was dated at 1930±110 (Unda
Jefferson 1988: personal communication).
There are differing opinions on why this intrusive burial tradition is found in
the region. Turnbull (1976: 61) outlines three possibilities for this. These are
the migration 01 people from the Ohio Valley into the surrounding regions, the
presence of a widespread trade network diffusing goods and ideas into the
area, and that people from the Maritimes may have travelled south, acquiring
the exotic goods and ideas from the source area. Of these, he places the
greatest likelihood on the second possibility.
At this stage of my thinking about the site (Augustine], the exchange
network hypothesis seems to be a much more profitable avenue of
exploration, although no possibility can be discarded without
examination. The presence of quantities of the dominant local material
in the site certainly points to a local orientation. In the Northeast, the
spread of the material over 2 million square miles, the temporal range,
and the lack of habitation sites speaks not of a single movement of one
people, but of an extensive interconnection of local peoples through
specialized trade rrurnbull 1976: 61).
Allen (1981: 143) holds the opinion that an amended migration theory is
more applicable for explaining the presence of Middlesex sites. Her proposal
is based upon the similarity among early pottery excavated at Oxbow and