LABRADORS COMMUNAL HOUSE PHASE RECONSIDERED

Schledermann's ''Communal House Phase'' in Labrador Inuit culture has been of particular interest to archaeologists and ethnohistorians stud ying the dynamics of the early contact period. The phase is associated with a shift from single to multifamily winter dwellings, dramaticall y evident at occupation sites along the Atlantic coast dating from the 1600s and 1700s, and with corresponding organizational changes in dom estic groups. Recent explanations fall into two main camps; one sees t he development as a response to the rise of complex trade relations wi th Europeans and the emergence of socioeconomic differentiation based on restrictive property relations, the other sees it as a traditional adaptation (intensified communalism) to subsistence disruptions during an episode of environmental cooling. In examining strengths and weakn esses in each approach, this paper discusses points where alternative interpretations are possible. It then concludes by rejecting the centr al argument of property relations in formation of communal house group s, suggesting instead that this arrangement was a means to organize th e production, consumption, and exchange of scarce trade goods, a means consistent with customary patterns of intensified communalism under c onditions of (long- or short-term) scarcity.