 During the summer months, the people lived by the cove in wigwams built over shallow excavations in the ground.As well as more traditional activities, the group scavenged metal items left behind at French and English summer fishing camps, and refashioned these for their own use.Although these indigenous people didn't interact with European traders as much as most native peoples, some of the Beothuk were killed by encroaching settlers, and researchers have concluded that the group later died out partly because of exposure to disease and partly because of starvation, which in turn was caused both by the resulting poor health and by limited access to resources after European settlement.