Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre, Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada

WESTERN ARCTIC

South Amundsen Gulf

Archaeological excavation was undertaken at the Tiktalik site (NkRi-3), located near Pearce Point on the southern coast of Amundsen Gulf by David Morrison (Canadian Museum of Civilization) and crew (Claire Alix, Rita Carpenter, Bennett Felix, and Ken Swayze). Tiktalik is a five-house Thule Inuit village, first reported in 1989 by William E. Taylor. Previous fieldwork in 1998 resulted in the nearly complete excavation of one house. It proved to be a small, rectangular structure with a planked wooden floor set about 70 cm below present ground level. Walls were made of adzed wooden planks, with a roof supported by interior posts. The house had a long entrance tunnel and, perhaps most strikingly, a separate kitchen where cooking took place over an open fire. This kitchen appears to have been a conical shape, with pole walls and a floor paved with boards and flagstones. The site is named for a Sachs Harbour elder, Susie Tiktalik, now deceased. Artifacts recovered from Tiktalik suggest an early occupation date, perhaps in or near the 12th century A.D. Many of the artifacts suggest that the site's inhabitants were relatively recent immigrants from northwestern Alaska. Radiocarbon dating and detailed artifact comparisons with other sites in the Amundsen Gulf area (such as Nelson River) and further afield (the Ruin Island sites on eastern Ellesmere Island) should help archaeologists better understand how, when, and why early Inuit first came to the Canadian Arctic.

Excavations at the Tiktalik site, south coast of Amundsen Gulf.

East Channel of the Mackenzie River

The lnuvialuit Social Development Program (ISDP) conducted an oral history and archaeology project at a former Royal Canadian Air Force and United States Air Force Loran navigation station. The station, code named Yellow Beetle, was also referred to as Kittigazuit. It was located on the east channel of the Mackenzie River about 12 km west along the coast from the old village of Kitigaaryuit (listed on topographic maps as Kittigazuit). Construction started in 1947 and the Loran system operated from 1948 to 1950. Funding from the Department of National Defence (DND) was provided to ISDP to document the experiences of the lnuvialuit who worked at the station and to obtain a collection of artifacts that could be used in an exhibit on its history. Cathy Cockney (Inuvik, NWT) of ISDP conducted interviews with a number of elders and it was interesting to hear them recount the time they lived and worked there. Archaeologist, Elisa Hart (Cochrane, Alberta) collected a number of artifacts and documented some of the ruins. ISDP had conducted archival research on the station before obtaining funding from DND. Information from the elders, from a former meteorological technician who worked there, and the archival documents will be used to write a report on the history of the station.

Cache Point, Mackenzie Delta

The Cache Point site, located on the East Channel of the Mackenzie River, is the earliest lnuvialuit beluga whale-hunting site known from the region. It is a large site, containing a minimum of 22 driftwood-and-sod houses, as well as many artifacts and beluga whalebones eroding from the bluff edge. Max Friesen, University of Toronto, and a crew of six students from Tuktoyaktuk and Toronto excavated two houses at the site as part of the Qilalugaq Archaeology project. Excavation of the best-preserved house revealed a deep and long entrance tunnel, a single main room with a sleeping bench located along its side, and a separate kitchen area in front of the house. Many artifacts were recovered, including harpoon heads, ulus, and fishing equipment. In addition, a number of tools made of soapstone and copper were found, which must have been traded from the Coppermine River area to the east. Many animal bones were also recovered, mostly from beluga whales confirming that the ancient hunters of the Cache point site relied on beluga for most of their food. An unexpected surprise was the presence of several earlier Palaeo-Eskimo stone tools, which closely match similar Alaskan tools perhaps as much as 4000 years old. The information obtained from this project will help us to understand how the earliest lnuvialuit in the Mackenzie Delta lived, and what methods they used to hunt beluga whales in the distant past.