Doug Kirk overseeing the work of Elizabeth Marsh (foreground) and Naomi Smethurst (behind him).

During the month of August 2003, archaeological excavations were once again carried out within Fort Simpson Heritage Park.   This work followed up on discoveries made during the 2002 field season by Jean-Luc Pilon of the Canadian Museum of Civilization and earlier in 2000 by Tom Andrews of the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre in Yellowknife.   In both of those field seasons, artefacts had been found which indicated a use of the area that could bear witness to some of the earliest Euro-Canadian presence on Simpson Island.

In 2002, a deep pit feature had been identified but its shape, function and age were uncertain.   This summer's work hoped to recover artefacts, which might be indicative of the time period, as well as the nature of this clearly man-made feature.

The 2002 work had shown that much of the area of the Heritage Park had, at one time, been subjected to extensive and deep ploughing.   In fact, the ploughing may have also been used as a way of filling in the long pit that lay deeply buried in the main excavation area because there were no visible signs of this 5-foot deep pit prior to excavation.

Excavation profile showing some very large stones near the bottom of the original pit feature.   Note a small cluster of artifacts just under a distinct bark layer between the large stones.

While laboratory work on the collections continues, some statements can be made concerning some of the events represented in the excavated area.   A first important point is that while the vast majority of the artefacts gathered are of Euro-Canadian or European manufacture, objects attesting to an earlier, pre-Contact Native occupation or occupations, are present.   Tom Andrews who had found small flakes left from the manufacture of chipped stone implements had first pointed out such a possibility.   This Native component was confirmed in 2003 with the recovery of additional flakes and even stone tools, one manufactured from a distinctive stone found only in the Norman Wells area.

As for the age of the earliest historic period occupation, the recovery of a percussion cap near the bottom layers of the long pit feature firmly place the principal occupation in the 1830-1860 time period when this invention became widely used.   It would thus appear that this pit feature somehow relates to the nearby Hudson's Bay Company (established on Simpson Island in 1822) activities and not the earlier Northwest Company establishment that was abandoned in 1811, well before the widespread use of percussion caps in general, let alone on a distant frontier.

What then was the purpose of this long, narrow pit measuring on the order of 5 feet in depth, 5 to 6 feet in width and more than 20 feet in length?   A key to this question's answer might be found within a single excavation unit.   Within it, a very high density of artefacts were recovered from all of the buried pit layers which are clearly separated from each other by at least 2 thick distinct layers of shredded bark.   Nails and "box" rivets were the most numerous object type found within the pit fill layers.   The high concentration of debris in this area suggests that there was some condition that, over the course of the feature's use, naturally tended to concentrate artefacts in that region.   One proposal is that the main point of access to this feature was in the area of this unit; perhaps a trap door, if this feature was found under a building, as a cellar would be.

Excavation profile showing a large stone in the bottom of the original pit feature and at least two distinct layers of shredded bark and wood above that.

The "box" rivets are intriguing in their own right because their function is not immediately obvious.   However, when shown to Dr. Robert Grenier of Parks Canada, who is an international expert in the excavation of marine heritage and early ship building techniques, he quickly identified these as items clearly involved in "clinker-built" boat construction.   Of course, York boats, those transportation workhorses of the HBC, fit this interpretation perfectly.

The next step in this research will take place hundreds of kilometres from Fort Simpson, in the Archives of the Hudson's Bay Company, currently housed in Winnipeg.   It is anticipated that somewhere within the journals and documents kept there, will be found some kind of reference to a boat house or a boat shed, where the heavy York boats were repaired and perhaps even built.   Hopefully, such a passage will provide enough information for us to determine its approximate location in relation to the HBC compound which is, by contrast, relatively well-documented on both maps and in vivid eye-witness accounts.

This summer's crew was comprised of Stephen Rowan, John Blyth, Naomi Smethurst, Elizabeth Marsh and Douglas Kirk.   Additional help was kindly offered by Tyrone Stipdonk, Scott Passmore and Sophie Borcoman.

An additional component of the work this summer was to assist Dr. Brian Moorman and his Ph.D. student Christopher Hugenholtz of the University of Calgary and their crew of Dana Lampi and Kathleen Groenewegen of the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre, who conducted a ground-penetrating radar study of the Heritage Park.

We are grateful to Mitch and Kathleen Gast, managers of the Albert Faillie Apartments as well as to Susan Colbert and Colin Munro of Great Slave Helicopters.   Finally, we would like to extend our thanks to the community of Fort Simpson who allowed us to once again dig into their past.