Cemetery at Hearne Channel.

The Great Slave Lake investigations comprised four parts.  In early July, Callum Thomson and Mike Beauregard, Project Geologist for Snowfield Development Corp., conducted boat-assisted surveys on the coastline and several kilometres into the interior between Drybones Bay and Matonabbee Bay. Alfred Baillargeon, Modeste Sangris, Morris Martin and Paul Mackenzie from the Yellowknives Dene First Nation (YKDFN) joined them for the last two days.  The objective was to locate sites that may be affected during Snowfield’s mineral exploration activities, expand the site inventory developed during a preliminary survey in the area by the YKDFN, Randy Freeman, and Callum Thomson in 2003 (NWT Permit 2003-927), and assess the need for any mitigation measures to protect sites during exploration. 

Forty new precontact and early historic sites and three recent sites were found during our five days of survey on more than 30 km of access trails, cut lines, exploration grids and lake shoreline.  Sites were found primarily on exposed bedrock outcrops close to lakes and ponds.  Some contained worked quartz veins and stone tools, indicating precontact occupation of the area.  No sites had been affected by previous exploration activities and, in general, there seemed to be little potential for conflict between planned exploration activities and heritage resources in this area.  In August, a follow-up survey was conducted by helicopter of several additional claim blocks east of Drybones Bay.  Rachel Crapeau of the YKDFN Land and Environment Committee accompanied Mike Beauregard and Callum Thomson.  No sites were found.  Although archaeological potential was judged to be high in some parts of the Snowfield claim blocks, the planned winter exploration programme, which mostly involves lake-ice drilling and use of existing winter trails, was considered unlikely to negatively affect any heritage resources. 

Fish camp at Devil’s Channel.

The second part of the survey involved more intensive work between Francois Bay and Gros Cap, then focused on the east shore of the North Arm, northwest of Yellowknife Bay, and the west shore of North Arm between Whitebeach Point and Alexander Point.   Forty-two more new sites were found, including fish camps, old cabin sites, cemeteries, and a large number of precontact sites on sandy terraces on the west side of the North Arm, several of which had been disturbed by sand and gravel quarrying operations. 

The third and fourth parts of the project involved two phases of boat-assisted survey in July and August of parts of the north shore of the East Arm and the North Arm of Great Slave Lake with representatives of the YKDFN Alfred Baillargeon, Peter Sangris, Modeste Sangris, Paul Mackenzie and Mike Francis.  The first part of the survey area extended from Taltheilei Narrows on East Arm to Gros Cap, south of Matonabbee Bay.   Thirty-three new sites were found, including at least three precontact sites containing quartz veins and tools, two cemeteries, a trading post site, six old cabin sites and more than 30 boulder features such as tent rings and hide-drying rings. 

Overall, the finding and interpretation of 115 new archaeological sites in two weeks of surveys, added to the 61 new sites found in the vicinity of Drybones Bay in 2003, has contributed greatly to the picture of land use around Great Slave Lake by the Yellowknives Dene and other contemporary, historic and precontact groups over several millennia.  These results suggest that a need exists for intensive surveys wherever major exploration and development projects are planned around Great Slave Lake, and indicates that collaborative research and field survey projects by archaeologists and Aboriginal people are beneficial.