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Ramona Sanderson, Lutsel k'e, records a precontact site containing quartzite artifacts. The site overlooks a caribou crossing near Kennady Lake, 120 kilometres northeast of Lutsel k'e. |
KEEWATIN/BARRENLANDS |
At the request of Monopros Limited, a diamond exploration firm associated with De Beers and based in Yellowknife, a preliminary survey and assessment were conducted at Kennady Lake, 120 km northeast of Lutselk'e. The locations investigated included areas proposed for ground disturbance during the winter of 1998-99, involving excavation of construction materials from an esker, and use of winter roads to haul material from the esker to a tailings pond construction site. The main objective of the project was to identity sites and advise Monopros on how best to avoid them. The investigation was done by Callum Thomson, Jacques Whitford Environment Limited, and Ramona Sanderson, a field assistant from Lutselk'e. Six new precontact sites were found. One is located on the esker, three are near the esker and the winter road on sandy terraces, and two are on old beach terraces beside Kennady Lake. It was concluded that precontact sites in the vicinity of Kennady Lake will most often be found associated with a lake and an esker or other feature such as an old beach terrace where game can be observed; well-drained, level ground is available for camping; water is in close proximity for travel and consumption; and resources such as caribou, fish and ducks can be obtained. Eight precontact sites are now known from this area. Each of the new sites was marked for clear identification and avoidance by construction crews, and these and additional areas of archaeological potential were identified on maps. Artifacts such as stone spear points, knives, and hide scrapers were photographed and left in place. It was also recommended that additional investigations be conducted at the six sites found in 1998, and that a broader survey be conducted to identity any other sites in the region. This will allow more accurate prediction of site types and locations. Any further work would benefit from more intensive participation by representatives of local communities who use the land, have knowledge of the resources and seasons of availability, and who can interpret site use and advise on how future investigations should be conducted. The conclusion of this survey and assessment of activities proposed by Monopros for the winter of 1998-99 are that the known sites are unlikely to be disturbed by the planned development.
The Nunavut Planning Commission (NPC) was established under the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement. It works with governments to establish broad planning policies, objectives and goals for land use in the Nunavut Settlement Area. The NPC is responsible for developing land use plans that guide resource use and development in Nunavut. Regional Mapping Coordinators are presently working to collect information on general land use activities, cleanup sites, archaeological sites, development activities, and wildlife habitat and harvest. As part of this work, the NPC is mapping archaeological sites, to study how they relate to human occupation and the pursuit of wildlife in the past, and to compare them to today's situation. Valuable information can be obtained from studying archaeological sites, by determining the time when the features were made and the conditions that existed then. Luke Suluk, the Keewatin Mapping Coordinator, spent the summer months mapping archaeological sites, cleanup sites, cabins and making observations along the west coast of Hudson Bay. One area covered was from the Manitoba/Northwest Territories border to the Sandy Point area north of Arviat. Another area covered was Arviat to Maguse Lake along the main esker. Here a gravel road is being built through many archaeological sites following the traditional foot trail that is now an ATV trail to the lake. About 300 sites were recorded. An elder guided and helped to distinguish old sites on some of these trips. Video recordings were made at some sites to explain the history and the use of certain features. lnuit in the Keewatin communities continue to use the west coast of Hudson Bay to hunt and for trade with Churchill, Manitoba. Today faster boats and snowmobiles have replaced the dog teams and qayaq.
Family camping at the Maguse River, north of Arviat.
Jean Bussey, Points West Heritage Consulting Limited of Langley, BC, directed archaeological investigations for BHP Diamonds Inc. in its claim block north of Lac de Gras. Tours of a representative sample of the previously recorded sites were first conducted. During the first tour with Dogrib elder, Edward Camille, and his interpreter, Francis Blackduck, two traditional use sites were identified, one on the north shore of Lac de Gras and a second site located one day's travel to the north. Two new sites were also recorded during this tour. The second tour involved a Yellowknife elder, Jonas Fishbone, and his interpreter, Alfred Baillargeon. The third tour was to familiarize Margaret Bertulli of the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre with the work that had been conducted during the five years of this project. During this tour, another new archaeological site was recorded. Assisted by Gabriella Prager of Points West, additional survey was also undertaken within the BHP claim block. In addition to survey in the vicinity of the development and exploration areas, shorelines of several lakes including a portion of Lac de Gras, were traversed. Fred Marlowe representing the Dogrib Treaty 11 Council and Kevin Rabesca of the Yellowknives Dene First Nation were involved in this work. One traditional use site reported to BHP by the Yellowknives Dene Land and Environment Committee was relocated and several additional sites were discovered. This brings the total of recorded sites within the BHP claim block to 128. Three of the four traditional use sites are associated with Lac de Gras; the fourth is on a large unnamed lake southwest of Exeter Lake. The ten sites found in 1998 consist of small to large lithic scatters, some of which contained tools. All are located on elevated, well-drained landforms and most are associated with well defined eskers. In addition, two previously recorded sites, LeNt-14 and LeNt-17, were tested to determine the extent of cultural deposits. Excavations initiated at LdNs-18 in 1997 were completed this season. Selected surface artifacts from a fourth site were collected because they are representative of the Arctic Small Tool Tradition and were threatened by erosion. Analysis of all collected artifacts will be undertaken during the winter.
Edward Camille at a traditionally used site on the north shore of Lac de Gras.
Chris Hanks of BHP Diamonds Inc., Yellowknife conducted a preliminary survey along the proposed route of the Pigeon haul road. The route extends northeast for approximately 2 kilometres from the Long Lake road to the Pigeon Kimberlite Pipe at Ekati Mine north of Lac de Gras. Moving from the Long Lake road, the Pigeon route skirts a low hill through a sporadic boulder field vegetated with shrubby birch tundra and then drops across a small headwater stream that flows under a dense unvegetated boulder field before arriving at the kimberlite pipe. Based on the proximity of the road to the traditional Lac de Gras / Long Lake / Exeter Lake canoe and sled route of the Dogrib and Inuit, it was believed that the hill at the Long Lake end of the road had potential as a game lookout. The hill was examined for the remains of hunting stands and rock meat caches but no remains were located. Subsurface testing was not undertaken as the dense rocky soil made it unlikely that there were any buried remains. Further, the road is constructed of a rock fill placed on the surface and any remains would have simply been buried more deeply and left undisturbed. The preliminary survey was followed up by Points West Heritage Consulting Ltd. which performed an assessment of the Pigeon Kimberlite Pipe for BHP Diamonds Inc.
Kevin Rabesca and Fred Marlowe testing an archaeological site, LeNt-17,
north of Lac de Gras.
WMC International Limited is proposing an advanced exploration program at the Meliadine West Gold Project, which is approximately 30 km northwest of Rankin Inlet. An archaeological survey and impact assessment was conducted by Elisa Hart of Cochrane, Alberta with the assistance of Andrew Alikashuak, Dustin Fredlund and Andy Tugak, all of Rankin Inlet. A number of features were found in the proposed development areas. A boulder cache, an overnight camping structure (siniktarvik), a lookout/windbreak and a recent tent ring were found on a ridge approximately 1.7 km inland from Meliadine Lake. A recent tent ring and possible qayaq stand were found on an esker slope near Meliadine Lake and a recent tent ring and hearth were found on an island in the lake. Impact management related to several of these features was also conducted. Before beginning fieldwork, the archaeology project was discussed at a meeting of the Elders Steering Committee which advises WMC International Limited on its traditional knowledge study. The Committee recommended the participation of elder, Moses Aliyak who provided much interesting and useful information about how people used this area and the function of many of the archaeological features. Theresie Tungilik was the interpreter.
Andrew Alikashuak stands beside a siniktarvik or overnight camping structure.
Wendy Unfreed and Michael Turney, Fedirchuk McCullough & Associates Ltd. of Calgary, assisted by Jonas Baillargeon of Dettah, Wally Desjarlais of Lutselk'e and Bobby Drybones of Rae, conducted investigations at a selection of sites located within the proposed Diavik Diamond Mine area, on a small island near the eastern shore of Lac de Gras. The study consisted of mapping and surface collection of 24 quarry sites and artifact scatters located throughout the island. The quarry sites, characterized by outcropped bedrock quartz veins, were found to cluster in areas of high relief, often near inland lake edges. Artifacts associated with the quarry sites were dominated by debitage scatters, much of which was quartz shatter. Artifact scatters were found in a greater variety of locales, but were also often associated with high bedrock outcrops, or on terraces near the shorelines of lakes or along eskers. Although debitage was also a dominant artifact type associated with these sites, cores and bifaces were also identified in the assemblages. In addition to the mapping and surface collection, excavation occurred at site LcNs-132, a Pre-Dorset campsite located in an eroded sand area in a protected bay on the eastern mainland shore of Lac de Gras. Surface collection and ten square metres of excavation within the site area revealed the presence of artifacts of basalt, quartz and chert. The assemblage was dominated by bifacial thinning flakes of both chert and basalt. Formed tools were primarily of chert, and included scrapers and scraper fragments, bifaces and one basally concave projectile point. From the distribution of the cultural materials and the occurrence of clusters of fire-broken rock, it is thought that this site represents a single occupation with a very tight activity cluster. Visits to a number of the key sites, including stone feature LcNs-25 (a possible burial), campsite LcNs-132, and quarry LcNs-23 and artifact scatter LcNs-24 were made by members of the Yellowknivese Dene First Nation Land and Environment Committee. This provided an opportunity for discussions about early lifestyles and protocols involved in the investigation of these sites.
Representatives of the Yellowknives Dene First Nation Land and Environment Committee, Diavik Diamond Mines Inc. and archaeologists visit an artifact scatter at site LcNs-24.
A two-week helicopter survey was undertaken on the tundra in the Slave Geological Province, a large area north of the East Arm of Great Slave Lake and east of Great Bear Lake. Forty-seven sites were visited in an area bounded by Contwoyto Lake to the Arctic Ocean and from Bathurst Inlet to the Tree River. These included eleven previously unrecorded sites in the northern area of study. All of the sites proved to be former habitations. They were photographed, recorded and digitally mapped. The purpose of this study was to determine if there is a relationship between archaeological sites and physical features, namely eskers on the inland tundra. The site information had been previously gathered through an ongoing Traditional Knowledge Study by the Nunavut Planning Commission and from the Archaeological Survey of Canada. The project was carried out by Patricia Fitzpatrick, in conjunction with the Esker Habitat Project funded by the West Kitikmeot Slave Study Society, with additional support from the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development.
A rectangular stone feature located on an esker 500 metres from the James River in the Slave Geological Province.
This project was an attempt to make a more complete inventory of the cultural sites along the Back River from Aylmer Lake to Chantrey Inlet. During a 54-day canoe trip, a research team of six people from Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, Ontario investigated known sites, surveyed for undocumented ones, and recorded the features and conditions of each site along the way. It has been decades since some of the major sites had been initially recorded. Using the information of previous research projects (most were in the early 1970s), the crew documented the addition of tent rings and other features in order to update the cultural picture of each site. In most of the well-known sites, evidence of use after the 1970s was noted. It is interesting that the newer features did not differ significantly in the way they were constructed from the older ones, meaning that these camps were possibly occupied after the 1970s. Information about a number of previously undocumented sites along the river corridor will be submitted to the Canadian Museum of Civilization and sent to the communities of Baker Lake and Gjoa Haven. Much of the river corridor could not be investigated due to limitations of time, and in some cases, weather. The inventory can grow and take on an historical perspective of how land is used by people of the region.
A cache near the junction of the Back and McKinley Rivers.
Virginia Petch (Northern Lights Heritage Services, Winnipeg, Manitoba) and her crew consisting of Ernie Bussidor (Tadoule Lake), Joe Thorassie (Tadoule Lake), Alphonse Denechese (Lac Brocher) and Joe Arloo (Arviat) conducted a seven-day survey for evidence of Dene occupations in the Southern Keewatin. The first stop was at Longpre Lake where, according to Dene legend, the last battle between the Cree and Dene took place. The crew did not find the battleground but did find an old grave, a campfire with many quartz flakes and two tent pole sites. No collections were made. On Mountain Lake they found three new sites and visited many of those found by another archaeologist named Ronald Nash thirty years ago. They found a campsite of six tents, an isolated artifact and the remains of a birch bark canoe. The canoe was buried in the moss. Apparently, when birch bark canoes were not in use they were packed in moss so that they would not dry out and split. The crew was not able to get to Hawk Hill Lake because the wind was too strong so they headed for Windy Lake for the rest of the expedition. At Windy Lake six new sites were identified. Five are precontact sites. The most significant was a large Dene settlement on a peninsula. Here 18 features were recorded including six graves, eight tents, a birch bark canoe buried in the moss similar to that at Mountain Lake, drying racks, a flint knapping station, a dog tether pole and the remains of an 1893 harmonica. A small site was found at Nueltin Lake just north of Treeline Lodge's outpost where one of the Dene Elders remembered his grandfather hunting. Charlie Schweder had trapped in this area during the 1940s. He saved two Inuit children from starvation in 1946.
