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Kennady Lake (Callum Thomson, Permit #99-888)
Callum Thomson, archaeologist with Jacques Whitford Environment Limited, Calgary, Alberta conducted a heritage resources inventory for Monopros Limited, a Canadian diamond exploration firm with a regional office in Yellowknife. The project involved a 10-day boat and foot survey around Gahcho Kué (Kennady Lake), during which 44 new sites were found by Callum Thomson, Lorna Catholique and Lawrence Catholique, residents of Lutsel k'e. Most of the total of 44 new sites contained evidence of use before the presence of Europeans, such as quartz and quartzite tools and tool-making debris. Several sites were located where quartz veins or quartz and quartzite boulders were present with, in most cases, clear evidence of extraction and use of these materials. Three sites contained features showing traditional use during the last two centuries or so: axe-cut wood and trees, a camp site located in a small stand of spruce trees, and part of a fox trap. Apart from the traditional use sites, which were probably associated with winter trapping, most of the sites appeared to have been located for observation or interception of caribou, commonly on elevated knolls and terraces overlooking a lake or river where caribou would cross in spring or fall, and could be hunted in the water. This was found to correspond with migration routes traced during wildlife studies. Many of these pre-contact sites were found in clusters, with 5-8 located within a few hundred metres of each other, often around a lake narrows or in association with an esker. One site was situated where exploration drilling had taken place by the firm which had held the lease before Monopros, and several showed evidence of having had till samples extracted by exploration geologists. While displacement of archaeological materials at these sites seems to have been minimal, the finding of so many sites does support Monoprosµ commitment to conduct surveys of this type during the exploration stage to ensure that heritage resources are identified and safeguarded.
