Feature 2 during excavation. From left to right, Charlton Wolki    (Tuktoyaktuk), Maggie Peebles (Toronto), and Lindsay Swinarton    (Toronto).

Ethnohistoric records suggest that a group of bowhead whalers, the Nuvorugmiut, inhabited the northern Tuktoyaktuk Peninsula during the early contact period. Unfortunately, our knowledge of this adaptation has been limited by both a sparse ethnohistoric record, and by severe coastal erosion, which has destroyed virtually all evidence of this socioeconomy. However, one site on the outer Tuktoyaktuk Peninsula, McKinley Bay (OaTi-1), discovered in 1985 by C. Arnold, has survived the erosion. Positioned directly adjacent to the former location of Nuvurak, one of the few bowhead whaling villages described during the contact period, the site presents a rare opportunity to understand coastal Nuvorugmiut lifeways.

The McKinley Bay Archaeology Project seeks to produce a socioeconomic reconstruction of these poorly understood bowhead whalers, and more broadly, to understand the relationship between economy and social systems in the Western Canadian Arctic. Brief test excavations were conducted at McKinley Bay in 1991, providing a reference point for continued work at the site. Between July 17th and August 7th, 2004, a crew of four returned to McKinley Bay to reassess the scope and integrity of the archaeological deposits, obtain a representative archaeological sample, and gauge the possibility of conducting larger scale excavations at the site in the future. 

McKinley Bay is a prehistoric village site, composed of at least 13 semi-subterranean sod and driftwood structures that are roughly arranged along two rows. The northerly row contains six houses, which were generally larger and more robust than other houses at the site. The southerly row contains seven much smaller features, which were partially obscured by sand dunes that have developed in this area of the site. It is possible more features are present in this southerly row, which have been buried by the advancing sand. A comparison of the 2004 site plans and photos with those produced by Arnold in 1991 quite clearly indicates that substantial erosion has compromised parts of the site over the last 13 years. The extensive sand dunes, which once buffered the western portion of the site against the Beaufort Sea, are now almost completely eroded, and this destruction has begun to impact archaeological deposits, particularly the middens to the southwest of the site.

Charlton Wolki (Tuktoyaktuk) displaying a slate lance head   excavated from the eastern bench.

Consistent with this erosion, artifacts and bowhead whalebone were strewn in regular quantities on the beaches to the south and west of the site. The amount of worked whalebone recovered from the beaches, at some distance from the house clusters, suggests that whales were flensed and processed on the beaches. Enduring evidence for intensive processing of whales may be indicated by a greasy, oil soaked palaeosol, which leaches into a small, and thoroughly polluted, tundra pond to the southeast of the site, near the tundra/beach margin.  

Subsurface investigations focused on a large semi-subterranean house structure, labelled Feature 2. Approximately 10 square metres of deposits were removed from the feature, in two transects. Although limited, the excavations reveal that Feature 2 was cruciform, with a carefully constructed floor of undressed driftwood logs laid side-by-side, and three low (ca. 20 cm in height) raised platforms, constructed from adzed planks and large logs. Over most of the floor, a thick (ca. 10cm), compacted layer of wood chips and shavings was discovered. This layer was likely part of the active floor, because abundant animal bones and artifacts, the result of domestic activities, were found throughout it.

Artifact styles suggest that the house was occupied sometime in the period circa 1400 AD to 1850 AD. The material culture recovered from the site is typical of the region, although it may include a number of specific attributes that are unique to the northern Tuktoyaktuk Peninsula. While the faunal analysis is still ongoing, some preliminary observations are possible. Surprisingly, the most abundant taxon in the assemblage was likely bowhead whale, represented by hundreds of small fragmented pieces of ribs and vertebra, and occasional phalanges. Other taxa, including ringed seal, duck, geese, and fish, occurred in more-or-less equal frequencies throughout the assemblage. Interestingly, much of the whalebone recovered appears to have been debris from the manufacture of tools and other artifacts, a situation congruent with the number of finished whalebone implements recovered.