A view of the Boot Inlet Area looking east from project base camp    area at Umingmakyut.

Archaeological investigations (in conjunction with sociocultural investigations, Hamlet of Holman, Victoria Island, Northwest Territories) were conducted between July 26th and August 15th, 2004 in the Boot Inlet Area, and the Fish Bay Area of Minto Inlet, Victoria Island, Northwest Territories. The archaeological investigations represent the second field season in a two-year project, and focus on an assessment of mid-19th century direct and indirect contact and intersocietal interaction between historic northern Copper Inuit groups and the Royal Navy vessels H.M.S. Enterprise and H.M.S. Investigator in northwestern Victoria Island. Specifically, the project is one of the first to systematically examine possible changes in northern Copper Inuit material culture, intra- and intergroup material trade systems and social relations resulting from direct and indirect contact with elements of the Royal Navy on Victoria Island. Additionally, these investigations also examined sites directly associated with the 1851-52 "wintering" of H.M.S. Enterprise at Winter Cove, Walker Bay and environs.

Field surveys were conducted in the immediate Boot Inlet area - including the Isthmus (itanyak) connecting Winter Cove, Walker Bay, and the northern extremity of Boot Inlet - and much of the Fish Bay area of northwest Minto Inlet.  A total of approximately twenty-four sites, comprising historic Copper Inuit tent rings and caches, Royal Navy habitation, cache and survey features and one site preliminarily identified as Neoeskimo, were recorded.

Project Field Assistant Jack Kataoyak of Holman (foreground). The island of Napigakvik, site of an estimated 120 Historic Copper Inuit caches, can be seen in background.

The nature and amount of data collected varied according to project research plans, though random sampling was conducted at each site, and all features were recorded in detail. The items recovered from sites also varied, although 19th century manufactured metals, glass, and wood predominated.  In some cases, evidence of modification of manufactured materials into projectile points was present. All recovered items are now undergoing conservation procedures.

As was the case with the survey conducted in 2003, preliminary results of the 2004 field survey continue to suggest that Northern Copper Inuit groups interacting with the officers and crew of H.M.S. Enterprise in the Winter Cove, Walker Bay, and Boot Inlet areas ca. 1851-52, acquired numerous manufactured items of European origin. Some of these items were modified into tools and introduced into the material culture of these groups.  Similarly, it can also be suggested that these items were "filtered" into intra- and intergroup trade systems of the Walker Bay, Boot Inlet and Minto Inlet areas thereby contributing to changes in traditional social interaction.

The project has received the strong support of the Holman Community Corporation, and the Olokhaktomiut Hunters and Trappers Committee, Holman, Victoria Island, Northwest Territories. Aaron Kimiksana and Jack Kataoyak of Holman served as Research Assistants. Other invaluable support in the field and in Holman was provided by Joseph Haluksit, Donald Inuktalik, Aaron and Susie Kimiksana, and the 1st Canadian Ranger Patrol Group, Holman, Northwest Territories. The following institutions and individuals have contributed support, expertise and guidance: Inuvialuit Land Administration; Aurora Research Institute; Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre; Joint-Faculty Research Ethics Board, University of Manitoba, Dr. Jill Oakes, Department of Environment and Geography, University of Manitoba; Dr. Rick Riewe, Department of Zoology, University of Manitoba; Dr. William "Skip" Koolage, Department of Anthropology, University of Manitoba; Dr. James Savelle, Department of Anthropology, McGill University, Vermilion Community College, Ely, Minnesota, Will Steger, Ely, Minnesota, Margaret O'Leary, Salamander Bay, Australia and Dylan Morgan, Ottawa, Canada.