View northwest of the point of land containing new archaeological site KjNu-25 on the south shore of the west arm of Snap Lake.

Jean Bussey of Points West Heritage Consulting Ltd. directed archaeological investigations for De Beers Canada Mining Inc. at Snap Lake, approximately 200 km northeast of Yellowknife. Bonnie Campbell, of Points West and Frank Basil, from the community of Lutsel K’e, assisted with the field investigations. The majority of the fieldwork was completed in early July, but additional archaeological investigations were undertaken in mid-August. This work was conducted under Northwest Territories Archaeologists permit 2001-907. Bussey had previously conducted studies at Snap Lake in 1998 and 1999; eleven archaeological sites were discovered during these investigations, most are associated with a large esker south of the Snap Lake property.

The work in 2001 was in response to new developments and the expansion of the mine footprint. In addition, a number of previously recorded sites located in the vicinity of the winter road that connects with the Lupin Road were revisited and assessed and the winter road to a gravel pit south of the Snap Lake property was examined. One new archaeological site was found on the south shore of the west arm of Snap Lake (Figure 1), within the area of the expanded mine footprint. It is a small lithic scatter located on a point of land that extends north into the lake; a small island is located to the northeast. No sites were found along the access road to the gravel pit and borrowing activities conducted in previous winters did not impact the sites near this reserve.

View northeast of archaeological investigations at KkNv-6 on the north side of a portage for the Snap Lake winter road connector

A number of sites were recorded in the vicinity of the Snap Lake winter road connector in 2000, but very few are near the actual road route. All nearby sites were revisited in 2001, as were a number that were further removed. Only one site is sufficiently near that impact is likely to occur. Since KkNv-6 was threatened by impact during future winter seasons, subsurface testing was conducted (Figure 2). The northeast corner of the site yielded a small quantity of buried cultural material in the form of quartz fragments. The surface of the site was intensively examined and all surface artifacts were collected. No further archaeological investigation is required at this site.