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Grizzly Bear Mountain and Scented Grass Hills

A survey was conducted along the shores of Great Bear Lake from Keith Arm to McVicar Arm of Grizzly Bear Mountain, and from Deerpass Bay to Douglas Bay along the shores of the Scented Grass Hills. This was the second year of a two-year project initiated in 1995. The survey consisted of the mapping and recording of 51 previously unrecorded sites and revisiting 3 known sites. It was intended to supplement the survey done by Chris Hanks and people from the Deline Dene Band during the previous summer. Elders from Deline were interviewed and recorded to gather Dene place names, legends, stories and significance of numerous locations. Assistance for the survey was provided by Leroy Andre, Paul Baton, Alfred Taniton, Jacqueline Kenny, David Tetso, and Jason Baton from the community of Deline, and directed by Rod Pickard with assistance by Stephen Toews (both of Parks Canada, Yellowknife).

The survey is one of the final stages of a research project sponsored by the Deline Band and Parks Canada in preparation for the potential designation of Grizzly Bear Mountain and the Scented Grass Hills as a National Historic Site. Collaboration between the community of Deline and Parks Canada started in 1990, when preliminary oral history studies were undertaken. The project continued in 1991 with a study on the traditional geography of Keith and McVicar Arms of Great Bear Lake. That work provided the basis for the archaeological survey that was conducted in 1995 and 1996.

Planning for the designation of Grizzly Bear Mountain and the Scented Grass Hills has proceeded at a pace set by the community of Deline. Plans for historic site commemoration and interpretation have been done in conjunction with the provisions of the Sahtu Dene and Metis Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement. With the claim in place and the necessary background information collected, the community has sent a proposal forward to the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada for consideration at its meeting in November 1996 in Ottawa.

Deline

At the request of the Chief and Council of the Deline Dene Band, Tom Andrews, Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre, undertook a week-long heritage resource impact assessment of the proposed site of a new hotel in the community of Deline. The proposed development, located across the road from the site of Sir John Franklin's 1825-26 Winter Quarters, was considered at risk because of its proximity to the Franklin site. With assistance from Kirk Dolphus and Francis Yukon of the community, a series of shovel test pits were excavated in the development area. The test excavations revealed no significant heritage resources.

Once the assessment was complete the team inspected the archaeological site (LhRk-5) located on the opposite side of the community. Here, housing development has threatened, and partially destroyed six house foundations, which according to community elders date from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The remains of an additional five house structures were located bringing the total to eleven. This site, tentatively called 'Old Deline', may provide important clues to the early history of the community, and it was recommended that further development be halted. Later we visited the abandoned cemetery. The crew recorded the site of the abandoned cemetery, located about 1.5 km northeast of the community on maps to ensure that it too, will be protected from future development.

Tsiigehnjik Ethnoarchaeology Project

The Gwich'in Social and Cultural Institute conducted a second season of excavations at MeTp-4, a traditional Gwich'in campsite located at Martin Zheh (Martin House) on Tsiigehnjik , the Arctic Red River, a major tributary of the Mackenzie River. Situated at the mouth of an unnamed creek, the site contains over two metres of silt deposits, visible as light and dark bands in the river bank. Gwich'in tradition tells us that this site was used seasonally during spring and fall journeys between the Mackenzie River and the mountains to the south. The site is important because it documents these seasonal camps and provides some evidence of how Euro-Canadian technologies were integrated into traditional Gwich'in life ways over the last 200 years.

A Gwich'in crew, under the direction of Eric Damkjar (ERD Heritage Consulting, Edmonton) completed excavation of a 3 by 7 metre block to a depth of one metre. Five cultural layers were investigated, ranging in age from approximately the late 1700s to the early 1900s. Each contains animal bones and a variety of artifacts concentrated around fire places which show up as patches of white ash and charcoal. The earliest layers contain traditional Gwich'in tools, such as bone arrow heads, an antler fish hook, bone and antler fleshers for scraping hides, and many flakes from stone tool manufacture. Along with these, we have found an iron knife blade, pieces of sheet copper, probably from a kettle, a copper snowshoe needle, and a variety of glass beads. Above this, in the more recent layers, we recovered different styles of glass beads, buttons, cloth, square iron nails, sheet copper rolled into a tube, part of a glass medicine bottle, lead shot and percussion caps from muzzle-loading guns, and a rabbit snare made from thin copper wire. Although bone and stone tool manufacture continued, it appears to have been less significant than in earlier years. Large amounts of birch bark, on the other hand, show the lasting importance of this material.

The thousands of animal bones found with these artifacts include muskrat, beaver, hare, caribou, ducks, geese, and fish, chiefly jackfish (pike) and loche (burbot). We expect analysis of these remains to tell us at what time of year people camped here and to show whether the fur trade and changing technology had an effect on people's hunting and fishing activities at Martin House.

Although this was not a formal field school, an important goal was to provide Gwich'in individuals with training and hands-on experience in archaeology. The enthusiasm this project generated among its ten crew members builds on the continuing work of the Gwich'in Social and Cultural Institute.