Quebec archaeology has mostly been written in French and is easily available in local publications. Unfortunately very few English-speaking archaeologists have ever had access to this literature.

As early as 1943, Ringuet called for a Quebec commitment to archaeology in his book Un Monde etait leur empire. There is not much that remains relevant in this book today, except as ideological evidence. Anything that happened in the long history of humankind is important and relevant to archaeologists because it is a way to share in the inquiry about the development of this world. Quebec is part of and a contributor to this world history of mankind. Quebec archaeologists work abroad in mexico, ecuador, France, the Near East, the West Indies, and Carthage as part of important archaeological research programs.

Now a whole new generation of Quebec archaeologists are discovering information about the different groups who came to and shared this country over the last 10,000 years. Their contributions are already promising, refreshing, and welcome. Until the 1960s, English-speaking archaeologists had been the most active scholars in Quebec, but since then French speaking archaeologists have become the most numerous. It is hoped that Amerindians will be part of the next generation.

Norman Clermont

References

Archeologia, ed. 1978. Le Canada depuis l’origine. Paris: Dossier de l’Archéologie 27.

Clermont, N. 1982. “Quebec Prehistory Goes Marching In.” Journal Canadien d’Archéologie 6: 195–200.

Clermont, N. 1987. “La préhistoire du Quebec.” L’Anthropologie 91, 4: 847–858.

Chapdelaine, C., ed. 1978. Images de la prehistoire du Québec. Montreal: Recherches Amerindiennes au Québec, vol. 15: 1–2.

Cinq-Mars, J., and C. Martin. 1981. “History of Archaeological Research in the Subarctic Shield and MacKenzie Valley.” In Handbook of North America Indians, volume 6, Subarctic: 30–34. Ed. J. Helm. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution.

Gagnon, S. 1978. Le Québec et ses historiens de 1840 à 1920. Quebec: Presses de l’Université Laval.

Martijn, C. 1974. “Etat de la recherche en préhistoire du Quebec.” Revue de géographie de Montréal 28, 4: 428–441.

Martijn, C. 1978. “Historique de la recherche archéologique au Quebec.” In “Images de la préhistoire du Québec,” 11–18. Recherches Amerindiennes du Quebec 15, 1–2. Ed. C. Chapdelaine. Montreal.

Martijn, C., and Cinq-Mars. 1970. “Aperçu sur la recherche préhistorique au Québec.” Revue de géographie de Montréal 24, 2: 175–188.

Wright, J.V. 1979. Quebec Prehistory. Toronto: Van Nostrand Reinhold.