ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the nature of archaeological knowledge, its creation and application, by examining the question of what constitutes "evidence" in the context of traditional use studies (TUS), ethnographic research, and oral histories. Intersecting past, present, and future, Indigenous or traditional knowledge (IK, TK) are conveyed formally and informally among kin groups and communities. The historical record helps to explain North American social settings as the product of traceable processes rather than as an expression of a timelessly rigid "ethnographic present". The travels of Glooscap, a major figure in Abenaki oral history and worldview, are inscribed throughout the Mi'kmaw homeland of the maritime provinces of eastern Canada. In Canada, TUS and traditional land use studies (TLU) are community-based research projects designed to record the long-term Indigenous land and resource use and ecological knowledge of an area.
