Nunavut Archaeology and Artifacts for Northern Students Acknowledgments
A Guide to Nunavut Archaeology and Artifacts for Northern Students Acknowledgments
Writing by: Brendan Griebel Design by: Brendan Griebel Project management by: Torsten Diesel, Inuit Heritage Trust
The Inuit Heritage Trust would like to extend its thanks to the following individuals and organizations for their contributions to the Nunavut Archaeology and Artifacts booklet series:
• Curriculum and School Services, Nunavut Department of Education • Government of Nunavut Department of Culture and Heritage • Tourism and Cultural Industries, Nunavut Department of Economic Development and Transportation. • Nunavut Tourism • Parks Canada, Nunavut Field Unit • Krista Zawadski • Luke Suluk • Kevin Kelly • Nick Amautinuar • Joanasie Qappiq • David Aglukkaq • William Beveridge • Ralph Kownak • Sharon Thomson • Ken Beardsale • Sue Ball • Sylvie LeBlanc • Max Friesen
© 2014 Inuit Heritage Trust A Guide to Nunavut Archaeology and Artifacts for Northern Students
Explaining this Guidebook 2-5 Inuit in the Canadian Arctic: An Overview 6-9 Archaeology: The Basics 10-13 Different Paths to the Past 14-17 The Role of History in Modern Day Nunavut 18-21 A History of Archaeology in Nunavut 22-25 Archaeology in Nunavut Today 26-29 Community-Based Archaeology in Nunavut 30-33 The Past as a Profession 34-37 A Year in the Life of a Research Archaeology Project 38-41 Best Practices in Nunavut Heritage: Artifacts 42-47 Photographing Archaeological Artifacts and Sites 48-49 Best Practices in Nunavut Heritage: Sites 50-53 Classroom Archaeology 54-57 Notes and Comments 58-59 References and Resources 60-61 Explaining this Guidebook
The past as ever-present While these fragments of history may have originated deep in There are many stories that the past, they are handed down describe the history of Inuit people through generations who continue in the Canadian Arctic. Many to breathe new life into them by of these stories view history as a using them in the context of their place that is disconnected from own lives. the modern world; something that happened in the past and On a daily basis, the decisions remains there. The profession Nunavummiut make are guided of archaeology seeks to uncover by the past: Before traveling on history by digging up material the land and sea ice, the wisdom remains that are hidden beneath of elders is recalled to check the the ground. By examining these weather and the colour of the ice remains, or ‘artifacts,’ for traces of to make decisions about safety. their previous lives, archaeologists Before making new policies for the try to create a picture of how territory, politicians will consider people lived many years ago. how traditional Inuit values and knowledge might make those This booklet will look at the policies better. history, archaeology and artifacts of Nunavut in a slightly different History also overlaps with modern way. It understands history as society in more material ways. being something that originated Rather than simply being objects in the past, but that remains frozen in time, archaeological very much alive today. The past artifacts and sites continue to continues to seep into modern impact and challenge the way people’s lives in the form of Nunavummiut live their lives. memories, oral history, traditional Old camp sites fall in the path skills, names and old objects. of modern roads and buildings, requiring decisions as to whether they should be removed or
2 Explaining this Guidebook preserved. The designs of ancient harpoons and tools are learned Intended booklet and adapted into new materials to audience successfully carry old traditions into a new age. This booklet was designed to facilitate the classroom This booklet was written to help instruction of students in grades young people consider the ways 10-12 of the Nunavut high school that history lives on in Nunavut. system. The booklet’s content is Young people will come to directed towards more advanced recognize the role they play in high school levels for the remembering, maintaining and following reasons: building more knowledge about • It provides a brief review of the past. Today’s young people themes explored in the Grade will soon become the generation 8 curriculum from the Arctic responsible for making important Peoples and Archaeology decisions and laws regarding the website/CD-ROM, and the lessons Nunavummiut learn from Grade 9 web curriculum from history, the respect Nunavummiut Taloyoak: Stories of Thunder give to history, and the role that and Stone, and extends these history continues to play in the themes into more advanced territory. For that very reason, discussions of heritage politics, young people should become identity and guidelines in aware of how history influences Nunavut. their own lives and the lives of • It discusses the personal those around them. and civic responsibilities of students to respect and preserve the heritage of Nunavut; • It discusses heritage sector work as a potential career opportunity for students.
3 Explaining this Guidebook
Booklet contents • When did archaeology begin in the Arctic and how has it This booklet will discuss three changed since then? important areas related to the • Who is responsible for manag- fields of heritage and history ing archaeology in Nunavut? in Nunavut: • What is community archaeol- ogy and how does it encourage 1. Archaeology in Nunavut Nunavummiut participation? • What rules are Nunavummiut Archaeology is used to research encouraged to follow around and manage old sites in Nunavut old sites and artifacts? in partnership with Nunavummiut communities. Despite this, many 2. History in Nunavut local people do not know what archaeology is, how it works, Different understandings of or what regulations guide its history impact the ways that work in the territory. As partners individuals, communities and and future archaeologists, cultures form their identities Nunavummiut need to know and politics. This booklet will what rights local people have in consider how Nunavut has been regard to preserving and managing shaped by history through the their own heritage, and how they following questions: can make sure that archaeology projects are relevant to local • Are the decisions and lifestyles people. This booklet will seek to of Inuit ancestors still evident answer the following questions: in modern Inuit culture? • Do Nunavummiut build • What is archaeology and how understandings of the past in can it help to understand the different ways than scientific Inuit past? archaeologists?
4 Explaining this Guidebook
• How has the past informed history and archaeology play the politics and identity of in their lives. This is more Nunavut? effectively done by exploring the booklet’s content through in-class 3. History as a Profession discussions and debates. Much of the material can be used to The territory of Nunavut has challenge students to think in new numerous heritage opportunities and different ways. Discussion available for young people to start and debate topics have been building careers in archaeology listed alongside each course and museum studies. This booklet module, and classroom activities will focus on archaeology as a relating to learning material can potential job, providing answers to be found at the back of the book. such questions as: It is recommended that this booklet be used alongside the two • Why choose archaeology as other booklets in the Nunavut a job? Archaeology and Artifacts series, • What does the work year of an to gain more in-depth knowledge Arctic archaeologist look like? of how archaeology and artifacts • What responsibilities does an are regulated and managed in the archaeologist have? territory. A section titled ‘Notes and Comments’ has been included at the back of this booklet for Using this booklet educators to write in additional discussion topics, activities and This booklet is designed as a resources for the benefit of future resource for classroom instructors educators using the booklet. to follow up on previous archaeology and oral history curricula written for Nunavut. It encourages students to think more critically about the roles that
5 Inuit in the Canadian Arctic: An Overview
Inuit migrate to the “In the very first times Canadian Arctic there was no light on earth. Everything was in darkness, the lands could not be seen, The origins of the Inuit people, as told through their legends, belong the animals could not be to a time long ago when animals, seen. And still, both people people and the Arctic landscape and animals lived on earth, were one. The first material but there was no difference evidence for Inuit living in the between them...They may Canadian Arctic has been dated have had different habits, by archaeologists to around 1250 but all spoke the same AD. These early ancestors of the tongue, lived in the same Inuit are known as ‘Sivulliit,’ or kind of house, and spoke ‘the first ones.’ Archaeologists have and hunted in the same named this group the ‘Thule,’ or way. That is the way they ‘Neo-Eskimo,’ people. Before the lived here on earth in the arrival of the Thule, the Canadian Arctic was inhabited by various very earliest times, times different cultural groups who that no one can understand came and went from the region now.” starting around 3000 B.C. While archaeologists call these early -From a story told to Knud populations ‘Paleo-Eskimo’ people, Rasmussen in 1931 by they also name and group them Naalungiaq, a Netsilingmiut according to the different ways in man. which they lived and the types of tools that they used.
6 Inuit in the Canadian Arctic: An Overview
When Inuit entered the Canadian • The Thule were escaping from Arctic, they likely overlapped negative social conditions with another cultural group in Alaska, which included known to Inuit as the ‘Tuniit’ and overpopulation and warfare; to archaeologists as the ‘Dorset’ • The Thule were following people. Inuit stories describe them bowhead whale migrations that as a race of very strong, yet shy, moved increasingly eastward people who hunted with massive as the climate became warmer. strength and simple tools, and made their buildings with large Regardless of their reasons for boulders. What happened to moving, Thule people soon found the Tuniit when the first Inuit themselves in a land very different arrived is still not fully known. from the driftwood and whale-rich Inuit have many stories about how coasts of Alaska. the two groups interacted, but archaeologists have never found Adjusting to a new any material evidence of the two groups meeting or living together. environment It is still not known why the Thule people migrated into the Canadian When the first Thule pioneers Arctic from their previous home in arrived in the Canadian Arctic, northern Alaska. Various theories they tried living in a similar way have been suggested as to why the to their Alaskan ancestors. They Thule would leave a familiar place built large and elaborate winter for a new and relatively unknown houses, the earliest of which had land. These theories include: kitchens as separate rooms so that food could be cooked over an open • The Thule were searching for fire. As in Alaska, their main food new sources of metal, which source continued to be bowhead was one of the most valuable whales, which they hunted in resources at that time; teams from a type of large boat known as the ‘umiak.’ The skill,
7 Inuit in the Canadian Arctic: An Overview danger and large rewards in Regional Traditions hunting these animals gave them great symbolism in Thule society By the late 1600s, Inuit had and rituals. abandoned many of their early Thule ancestors’ ways of life. Around 1400 A.D., the climate The practice of bowhead whale began to cool again and the sea and large sea mammal hunting ice increased, resulting in fewer decreased in most areas. Kayaks whales and more dangerous and umiaks became used more for whale hunting conditions. The travel, fishing and hunting caribou Thule people began adjusting in rivers. Technology also changed their lifestyle. The High Arctic during this period. Early Thule was abandoned, with populations people had created ornate tools moving to less ice-locked that were very task specific. Over locations. During winters, groups time, these toolkits became less began to construct and live in decorated, and contained more snow houses on the sea ice, which broadly usable tools. allowed them to focus their diet around seal hunting. In the As groups of Inuit adapted to summers, inland caribou hunting different areas and environments became more popular. Settlement across the Arctic, they became sizes became smaller and less more diverse. Regional variations permanent than before so groups began appearing in tools, housing, could re-locate more often to language and clothing. These harvest a wider variety of animals. variations have been passed along Life began to change even more through generations, and can dramatically after 1500 A.D., and still be seen among regional Inuit especially after 1800 A.D., when groups such as the Netsilingmiut, explorers and whalers from Europe the Umingmaktuurmiut, and the began arriving in great numbers. Utkuhiksalingmiut.
8 Inuit in the Canadian Arctic: An Overview
Learn more about Topics for classroom past cultures in the discussion Arctic! • As a classroom review the oral history of Inuit Click on this icon at the and Tuniit encounters. Arctic Peoples and What do these stories say about the meeting Archaeology website. of these groups? What Connect to the site at material evidence could www.ihti.ca archaeologists look for to support these stories? • How do Thule adaptations to specific environments hundreds of years ago continue to influence modern Inuit culture? Discuss cultural differences in modern Nunavut’s communities, and how these differences might have come about. • Discuss the role that climate played on early Inuit lifestyles. Is this comparable to climate change as it is occurring today? This discussion can be further directed towards the relationship between culture and its physical environment.
9 Archaeology: the Basics
What is archaeology? Why is context important?
Archaeology is the study of the Context is one of the most human past. Archaeology often important ideas to the practice involves the collection and analysis of archaeology. Context refers of material objects, known as to the relationship that artifacts ‘artifacts,’ that people throughout have to each other and to the history have left behind. Artifacts environment in which they are can be as small as a single tool or found. When doing an excavation, as big as an entire house. Artifacts archaeologists carefully record the can also be materials such as exact place where every artifact is animal bones or landscapes that found.This helps them understand have become altered by humans. what was being done with an Sometimes these artifacts are artifact before it fell to the ground. found on top of the ground, and Finding a specific tool in a pile other times archaeologists have to of butchered bones, for example, dig into, or ‘excavate,’ the ground allows archaeologists to see that to locate them. the tool might have been used as part of the butchering process. A good way to understand Context allows archaeologists archaeology is through a to understand the relationships comparison to puzzle solving. between artifacts on the same Archaeologists see the human site, as well as how different past as a big unfinished jigsaw archaeological sites are related to puzzle. Each artifact an each other. When people remove archaeologist finds helps them artifacts from the land without to fill in another piece of the recording their precise locations, puzzle. As the puzzle fills in, artifacts lose all of their contextual archaeologists are able to better information and have less value for picture the lives of past people reconstructing what happened in and cultures. the past.
10 Archaeology: the Basics
How do archaeologists Topics for classroom research the past? discussion
Archaeological projects can • How does the context of an draw on many different kinds of artifact affect the story the artifact is able to tell about knowledge. Some archaeologists the past? Does removing specialize in animal bones or or changing the position old tools, while others examine of artifacts on the land DNA evidence, or compare old influence how they are sites with written documents. understood by everybody, or Some archaeologists only work only by archaeologists? under water. Regardless of what type of artifact, time period, or • Is it possible for culture archaeology focuses on, archaeologists to ever fill in it usually employs a very similar the whole puzzle of history? research process: Can what happened in history ever be known for sure, or will there always be missing pieces and conflicting stories?
11 Archaeology: the Basics
Step 1: Forming Step 2 cont. Questions In Nunavut, old sites like houses The first step in archaeology is are often very visible on top of the to think up specific questions ground. Other types of sites remain about the past that can possibly buried, and must be searched for be answered by researching more carefully. archaeological sites. Examples might include: • How did people hunt caribou 600 years ago? Step 3: Excavation • How have people’s diets Excavation is the act of digging changed over the last one up old sites to collect information. thousand years? This is done by carefully removing • Why did people stop living the dirt that covers the site and in a certain area? recording all of the artifacts, Archaeological sites are rare building materials and leftovers and valuable resources that are from past uses of that area. often only investigated once. It The position of each artifact is is therefore important to have carefully mapped to create context. a strong research question to Sometimes, different activities make sure that they are dug up occurred at the same place over for a good reason. time and have left numerous layers of remains. These layers, called ‘strata,’ often vary in their color Step 2: Site Survey and content, and also have to be recorded in maps. The position of When archaeologists have decided layers and artifacts is often related why they are going to dig, they to age: a tool found in a layer have to conduct a site survey to located deeper in the ground is decide where they will be digging. likely older than a tool found on A survey is usually done by the surface. walking or flying over a landscape to look for sites of a particular place, time period or culture relating to the research question.
12 Archaeology: the Basics
Step 4: Data Collection Step 6: The word ‘data’ refers to Interpretation information about any detail When all the evidence from a of an archaeological site that site is collected, organized and helps archaeologists to better catalogued, an archaeologist will understand the past. Archaeologists begin to develop a story about must collect as much of this the past using these remains. information as possible during As some data will always be their excavations to make sure missing, it is impossible to know their interpretation of the site is if that story actually represents as well-informed as possible. The what really happened. The more collection of archaeological data information and sources (such as takes place through photographs, oral history, written documents, measurements, hand drawing maps, and artifacts from neighboring and the analysis of artifacts, animal sites) an archaeologist uses to bones, soil samples, and any other develop the story, the more materials found at the site. detailed and complete that story will be.
Step 5: Analysis and Step 7: Conservation Publication When an excavation is finished, The final step of an archaeology all the collected artifacts and data project is to publish research are returned to the workplace of results in a book, journal or the archaeologist to be cleaned, plain-language document studied and pieced back together. for communities. This helps Many old artifacts are broken or other people learn about the fall apart easily because of their archaeology that took place and age. Conservation is the process the artifacts that were found. It of repairing and stabilizing these also gives other people a chance to artifacts. add to, or disagree with, the story that the archaeologist is putting forward about the past. Different Paths to the Past
Do Inuit and non-Inuit • Inuit respect old remains as former belongings of their think differently about ancestors, while non-Inuit the past? archaeologists respect them for the knowledge they contain; Before the arrival of archaeology • Inuit use old tools and skills to the Arctic, Inuit still possessed to teach young generations a rich cultural knowledge about how to live in the present their past. This knowledge was and future, while non-Inuit developed through centuries of archaeologists use artifacts to living on the land and observing create knowledge about how the environment and old the past used to look; artifacts left by past ancestors. • Inuit see the past as a place This is often referred to as always connected to the ‘traditional knowledge,’ or ‘Inuit present, while non-Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit.’ This form of archaeologists see the past as knowledge is often understood as detached and separate from the being different from the scientific modern day world. knowledge created and applied by non-Inuit researchers. Bridging scientific and Inuit perspectives about the past While differences between remains one of the best ways to traditional knowledge and science create a more relevant form of are often debated in situations archaeology in Nunavut. Attempts of environmental management to bridge traditional and scientific and land use, the question is also perspectives in archaeology creates relevant to the ways in which a whole new set of questions about the past is understood. Some the differences and similarities that stereotypes that extist about the exist between these two ways of different ways that Inuit and seeing the world: scientific archaeologists consider history include:
14 Different Paths to the Past
• Are Inuit interpretations 1. Oral history of old artifacts and sites in Nunavut closer to the truth Oral history refers to the verbal than non-Inuit archaeologists’ telling of stories from both a interpretations ? person’s lifetime and from older • If Inuit and non-Inuit generations. Unlike written understandings of history histories, the form of knowledge differ, which version should be contained in oral accounts is stored taught in Nunavut schools? in people’s memories and carried • In what ways can traditional on from generation to generation and archaeological stories by word of mouth. When passed about the past be used together down through a culture or society, to build a more complete an oral history becomes known as version of history? What an ‘oral tradition.’ The recording benefits do each bring? or study of oral histories can be a huge benefit to both contemporary communities and archaeological Strengthening research projects. The recording archaeology through of stories about the past alongside local traditions and archaeological surveys and excavations allows: knowledge • Knowledge about old While archaeology is a strong artifacts to be built through tool for understanding history, local people’s memories and there are other sources that firsthand experience with many Nunavummiut rely upon similar items; for building knowledge about • Communities to come together the past. These can be used in an intergenerational alongside archaeology to help discussion to exchange ideas, build a stronger picture of the goals and beliefs about what past, and include: the past was like and how the future should be;
15 Different Paths to the Past
• Both scientific researchers and Nunavummiut to How can archaeology communicate with one another help Nunavummiut as professionals with their own better understand specialized ways of revealing the past; history and culture? • Events that have left no Why should Nunavummiut listen physical traces to be to the stories that archaeology tells remembered and compared when they already have a sense of against the material record. their history and past? The field of archaeology is beneficial because 2. Experiential history it offers a unique perspective on human history and culture. By Another way that Nunavummiut examining the minute details of build knowledge about history is the material world, archaeology by participating in traditional skills is able to describe patterns of and ways of life. Like archaeology, human change over long periods these actions bring people into of time. Unlike oral and written contact with traditional tools and forms of history, it is also able to help them to understand what recover information about the past the past might have looked like. lives of individuals, families and Unlike archaeology, however, communities that have not been directly participating in traditional recorded or whose stories have activities gives people been forgotten. a strong, emotional sense of actually following in their ancestors’ footsteps and keeping Inuit culture alive.
16 Different Paths to the Past
When archaeologists work Topics for classroom together with Nunavummiut, they can help revive local information discussion that is only partially remembered or has been lost to time. Examples • How do stories and personal experience of this include: change the ways that we understand objects? With • Archaeologists finding old this in mind, how might styles of tools, and working an archaeologist build with communities to re-build a different story about them and figure out how they an object from a non- were used; archaeologist in Nunavut? • Archaeologists finding artifacts that shed new light on local • What are some perceived oral history about a specific differences between place or event; traditional knowledge and science? • Archaeologists are able to add a layer of scientific • What are some ways that details to artifacts, like dates oral history, tool making and details of their use, and archaeology can be that can be combined with combined? Would this give traditional narratives and a fuller picture as to what experience to build a clearer happened in the past? picture of the past.
17 The Role of History in Modern Day Nunavut
Nunavut: a home for these smaller groups, which were usually named and organized the past according to a particular feature of the environment in which they Despite being a modern political lived. A group could identify territory, Nunavut relies on the themselves as the people of the tradition and history of Inuit waterfall (Kugluktuurmiut), or people to shape its identity. people of the fishing grounds Nunavut’s geographical boundaries (Iqaluktuurmiut). In the mid-19th were drawn according to historical century, it is estimated that about Inuit land use and cultural 50 of these groups were spread practices. Nunavut’s government throughout the area currently tries to incorporate Inuit known as Nunavut. Qauijimajatuqangit or ‘traditional Inuit knowledge’ into its policies During the 1960s, Inuit began and operations. Heritage-inspired to rely on the common history symbols such as the inukshuk of Inuit people as a way to bring on the territorial flag have been the culturally diverse groups selected to visually represent its from across the Arctic together population’s deep connection to to form a stronger political voice. the past. This voice was needed to define themselves against the numerous History and politics in southerners, or ‘Qallunnaat,’ Nunavut coming into the Arctic, and to challenge the oil and gas Until the 1950’s, many Inuit development that was taking place without consultation with local definedthemselves in relation to people. This united Inuit voice was the small-scale regional groups strong enough to lay the political they lived and traveled with. groundwork to create a land claim People’s identities and sense of settlement for an Inuit homeland. history were often linked to
18 The Role of History in Modern Day Nunavut
The process of negotiating a land term Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit claim settlement relied on being (IQ) was created to replace the able to prove that Inuit people had term ‘traditional knowledge’ in a long history of using and living the Nunavut Government. As a in the settlement area. From 1973- concept, IQ seeks to: 75, a large-scale research project known as the Inuit Land Use and • Link the knowledge and values Occupancy Project (ILUOP) was that have allowed Inuit people initiated to determine where the to survive for centuries in the boundaries of land settlement Canadian Arctic, right up to should be drawn. Unlike previous present Inuit society; research projects in the Arctic, • Function as a ‘living the ILUOP was organized and technology,’ or a tool that can managed exclusively by Inuit be used by Inuit people to people, who hired professional adapt to a rapidly globalizing anthropologists and researchers world while still maintaining to interview almost every Inuk a foundation of traditional hunter in the Canadian Arctic and culture and values. map their knowledge of where • Make sure that the travel, hunting and land activities government and political took place in both the past and in operations of Nunavut their own lifetimes. represent Inuit interests.
Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit The goal of IQ, as stated by Mary Wilman, “is to understand With the settlement of the the unique heritage that has Nunavut Land Claims Agreement, made us the Inuit of today. This the question of how to represent defines the importance of Inuit Inuit history in a modern Qaujimajatuqangit. It is the political environment became a priceless asset and tool that we can controversial topic. In 1998, the use to adapt to the world around us On Our Own Terms.”
19 The Role of History in Modern Day Nunavut
Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit History and modern
The word Inuit identity Qaujimajatuqangit translates In a rapidly changing world, as “that which has long been history remains an important way known to the Inuit people,” for people to define both their and has been broken down personal and group identities. in the following way by Janet Young people are increasingly McGrath. finding themselves in a position where their identity as Inuk or qauq is the noun meaning Nunavummiuq has become “forehead”; it is at the root disconnected from knowledge of the following two verbs: about the group’s history, culture, qauji- is the verb stem for values and language. Participating “become aware”; in archaeology, speaking to elders, qaujima- is the verb stem “to engaging in traditional activities know”; and living on the land are all ways qaujimaniq is the noun for that young people can begin to “knowledge” or “way of educate themselves in the practices knowing”; of their ancestors and those who qaujimajaq is the noun for occupied the land before them “what is known” or . “inherent/intuitive knowl- edge”. -tuqaq is a noun ending meaning “for a long time” or “ancient”. -ngit indicates the posses- sive: in other words, the qaujimajatuqaq of Inuit.
20 The Role of History in Modern Day Nunavut
“Youth are looking to find out Topics for classroom where they fit in. The obvious thing is that you look at your discussion history and that helps to develop your identity. If you • As a class, brainstorm a are just thrown into a society, list of symbols used by Nunavut on flags, logos, you say “who am I,” especially etc., that reference a if you are thrown into a society traditional skill or tool. down south in a city, you say What ideas about Nunavut “wait, I am different from are these symbols everyone else here.” So then communicating? you look into history to find out who you are so that you • Is there a ‘true’ Inuit could better represent yourself. identity? Discuss regional That’s the way I see it...We variation in Inuit culture are obviously not living a very and how these differences traditional lifestyle anymore. still fall into a category of being Inuit. What are So then, its kind of like who are some similarities that we now?” define all Inuit identities? Is history one of these -Krista Zawadski, Nunavut similarities? archaeology student
21 A History of Archaeology in Nunavut
How did Inuit interact put there for a specific reason, and were not touched out of with artifacts before respect for the ancestors who left archaeology? them behind.
Before the arrival of Europeans Did archaeology change to the Canadian Arctic, Inuit had their own cultural traditions for Inuit attitudes to using and thinking about artifacts. artifacts? Old artifacts found on the land were often used as educational Local attitudes toward old tools to help tell stories and artifacts began to change with the teach younger generations about arrival of non-Inuit explorers and different hunting methods or whaling ships. These newcomers the history of their people. Raw showed a strong interest in the materials from archaeological region’s material remains, and sites were sometimes recycled, Inuit found they could make with old tools being re-shaped or good money by digging up and sharpened for re-use. In some selling collections of old tools. cases, whalebone, stones and sod Inuit also began earning money from old sites were used to build as assistants on archaeological new homes. Many Inuit possessed excavations. The first excavation old or broken artifacts that were in the Canadian Arctic happened sewn onto clothing as amulets to in 1922, and since then Inuit have bring good luck and transfer the played a strong role in helping hunting talents of their former archaeologists locate, dig, and owners onto the new wearer. interpret old artifacts and sites. While old artifacts were sometimes altered, they were always handled During the beginnings of with the utmost care and respect. archaeology in the Arctic, Artifacts found out on the land archaeologists would spend long were considered to have been periods of time living with Inuit
22 A History of Archaeology in Nunavut and learning their language and Inuit land claim settlement. As ways of life. Following the Second Inuit from across the Northwest World War, relationships between Territories got together to find a archaeologists and Inuit began to political voice, strong questions dissolve. With the building of the were asked about both the future DEW-Line (Distant Early Warning and past of the Inuit people. Inuit radar), archaeologists gained began to ask more questions increased access to airplane travel about archaeology, including and non-Inuit settlements, so they where the artifacts being dug up no longer had to live with or rely were being sent, and why Inuit on Inuit to conduct their research. did not have a say in that process. Southern researchers could fly up In 1976, the Inuit Cultural to archaeological sites for summer Institute and Inuit Tapirisat of work, and return to the south Canada presented a report to without even interacting with or archaeologists that was critical of visiting Inuit communities. While their work in the Arctic. Several travel by airplane increased the main arguments were made: amount of archaeological research being done in the Arctic, it meant • Archaeology was not that Inuit were less involved, and being made relevant for had less control over, the research Inuit people, and was being done on their own history. not seeking to meet Inuit objectives; Inuit find their voice • Archaeologists were not interacting enough with for the past local people; • Archaeological work was Archaeology in the Canadian more often being guided Arctic began to change again in by the ‘expert’ opinions of the 1970s with the formation of visiting researchers than the Inuit Tapirisat of Canada and by Inuit ways of thinking. discussions around creating an
23 A History of Archaeology in Nunavut
Inuit began to recommend that These rules make it necessary for more committed partnerships be archaeologists to: developed between researchers • have their research proposals and Inuit to exchange knowledge reviewed and approved by and manage historical resources in Inuit communities closest to the Arctic. where the project will take place; Building guidelines • hire local people as field for a more inclusive workers or other staff; • report their project findings archaeology back to communities and the government; In February of 1994, Inuit from • report their project findings in across the Canadian Arctic joined plain language documents. together in a conference to discuss ways of making archaeology Archaeologist-Nunavummiut more acceptable and useful to relations have varied throughout Inuit. In naming the conference time. Relationships tend to Ittarniasalirijiit Katimajiit, “those improve when these two groups who deal with the distant past,” work closely together and its organizers tried to point out communicate. During periods both the deep history of Inuit when the groups do not share culture and the obligation of Inuit ideas or understand each other’s people to protect that history. concerns, relationships tend This meeting produced a series to get worse. For this reason, of new guidelines indicating how the Government of Nunavut’s Inuit wanted to see archaeology new rules for archaeology try to take place. The spirit of these make sure that archaeologists guidelines was incorporated and Nunavummiut are in into a new set of archaeological communication and agreement regulations for Nunavut in 2001. about the archaeological projects that take place.
24 A History of Archaeology in Nunavut
“Inuit communities are becoming Topics for classroom more involved and more outspoken, Inuit are asking more discussion questions about archaeological work being conducted in their area and are wondering what • There is a famous happens to the artifacts that saying that “ He who leave with the archaeologists controls the past after the field season. People controls the future. tend to answer these questions He who controls the themselves, and since they do not present controls the have all the information at hand past.” Discuss the they may come up with wrong relationship between answers.” archaeologists, Inuit - Part of a speech given by George and Nunavut politics Qulaut, Deborah Webster and Gary in context of this Baikie at an archaeology conference saying. in 1992. • Do traditional Inuit ways of interacting with artifacts still apply in modern Nunavut?
25 Archaeology in Nunavut Today
Archaeology and the expressed in terms of special rights and responsibilities. Nunavut Land Claims Agreement In considering how archaeology within the region is carried The passing of the Nunavut Land out, Article 33 includes specific Claims Agreement (NLCA) in guidelines for the following areas: 1993 gave rise to a new era of archaeology in the Canadian • Setting up the Inuit Heritage Arctic. The NLCA set out broad Trust as an organization to guidelines for how archaeology encourage and represent Inuit should be practiced in the participation in Nunavut territory. These guidelines are archaeology; listed in Article 33, which has • Creating a new permit been written specifically for system to monitor how archaeology. As stated at the start archaeological surveys of Article 33: and excavations happen in Nunavut, and to ensure that The archaeological record all the artifacts recovered of the Inuit of the Nunavut from those excavations are Settlement Area is a record of dealt with properly; Inuit use and occupancy of • Ensuring that Inuit who have lands and resources through appropriate skills or training time. The evidence associated are given priority in situations with their use and occupancy of archaeological employment; represents a cultural, • Clarifying who owns historical and ethnographic archaeological artifacts from heritage of Inuit society both the whole Nunavut and, as such, Government territory and Inuit-owned recognizes that Inuit have a lands within that territory. special relationship with such evidence which shall be
26 Archaeology in Nunavut Today
When Nunavut officially became 1. Responsibilities of a territory in 1999, it required Nunavummiut that a more specific set of regulations be drawn up to guide The NLCA states that the archaeological practice and archaeological artifacts and sites permitting in the territory. In of Nunavut are considered to be 2001, the Department of Culture, of spiritual, cultural, religious and Language, Elders and Youth (now educational importance to Inuit. known as the Department of Because of this importance, Inuit Culture and Heritage) published are responsible for being involved a lengthy set of rules for how in their identification, protection archaeological permits are applied and conservation. Inuit have for and processed. a special obligation not only to protect and preserve the materials Who is responsible for their ancestors have left behind, protecting and managing but also to participate in and help guide archaeological work so old sites and artifacts in that it is done in a respectful and Nunavut? relevant way. Nunavummiut in general have a responsibility to While both the NLCA and respect the material heritage of Archaeological Permit Guidelines the territory. This can be done by are available to the public, following the regulations that have many people find it difficult to been set out to manage and protect understand the technical language artifacts and sites. used in these documents. The following section will discuss what 2. Responsibilities of the these documents mean in terms of Government of Nunavut specific responsibilities for three different groups in Nunavut: The Government of Nunavut is responsible for protecting
27 Archaeology in Nunavut Today old sites and artifacts on behalf The IHT has a special position of of all Nunavummiut. The Heritage Manager that is dedicated Department of Culture and to facilitating community Heritage is the group designated involvement in the archaeological to oversee archaeological work permit process. in the territory and to manage the permit application system. Protected heritage areas managed The Department has a Chief by Parks Canada (for example, Archaeologist, who is specifically national parks) are under federal trained in archaeology and can jurisdiction, so the territory help oversee more technical of Nunavut is not responsible archaeological work and permit for archaeology on these lands. proposals. The Department shares Parks Canada has professional archaeological information and archaeologists who do much permit responsibilities with the of the archaeology in Parks Inuit Heritage Trust. Canada protected areas. Other archaeologists can also work in 3. Responsibilities of the these areas, if they get a Parks Inuit Heritage Trust Canada research permit.
The Inuit Heritage Trust (IHT) Permits for was set up as part of the NLCA to archaeological work support, encourage, and facilitate Inuit participation in Nunavut In 2001, Nunavut created a new archaeology. Its responsibilities process for archaeologists to include creating programs to get permission to work in the help educate and train Inuit in territory. This permit process archaeology. The IHT is also requires that archaeologists consult responsible for helping Inuit with all three groups responsible review permits for archaeological for heritage in Nunavut: projects near their communities. Nunavummiut, the Department
28 Archaeology in Nunavut Today of Culture and Heritage, and the it requires archaeologists to Inuit Heritage Trust. There are prove that they are qualified for two different types of permits the research, and that they have that archaeologists can apply for specific plans to take care of and depending on the type of work store removed artifacts while they they want to do: are being researched.
Class 1 Permits Parks Canada permits do not A Class 1 permit allows an distinguish between different archaeologist to document an classes of archaeological work, archaeological site through but allow for the same kinds of mapping it, recording its research activities as permits geographic location, or writing from Nunavut. down the number and type of different features present at the site. An archaeologist with a Topics for classroom Class 1 permit is not allowed discussion to collect artifacts or other materials from a site. They are • Should Inuit and non-Inuit also not allowed to dig, alter or residents of Nunavut disturb a site in any way. have the same obligations toward respecting and Class 2 Permits maintaining the material A Class 2 permit allows heritage of Nunavut? archaeologists to document • Should Nunavummiut artifacts and archaeological sites, have the right to deny as well as excavate and remove archaeological research artifacts and other materials from projects that will increase them. Because this type of permit scientific knowledge but allows archaeological sites to be do not benefit Nunavut dug up and sometimes destroyed, communities?
29 Community-Based Archaeology in Nunavut
Community archaeology • Employing and training community members with Community archaeology has the goal of developing local been referred to as ‘archaeology heritage workers; by the people for the people.’ It • Making research findings is an approach that recognizes public and available to the past as belonging equally communities through to archaeologists and non- presentations and easy to archaeologists. Recognizing that read papers; the past may be understood in • Developing educational different ways by different people, resources, especially for community archaeology tries to young people; make sure that non-archaeologists • Giving communities have equal control over how control of the ways that artifacts and sites are managed heritage is marketed and and understood. This is often promoted locally. accomplished by involving local communities in planning and One of the main ideas that carrying out research projects. underlies community archaeology Popular ways of doing this include: is that the more stories people tell about the past, the more the past • Collaborating with (and its meaning to present-day local organizations and society) will be understood.
people through open communication, meetings and Nunavummiut plain language reports; involvement in • Interviewing elders to recover local oral history; archaeology Whether a project specifically calls itself community archaeology or not, there are many ways
30 Community-Based Archaeology in Nunavut that Nunavummiut can become • Asking archaeologists to supply involved in how it takes place and photos or knowledge about how it impacts their community. old artifacts for tool-building One way to do this is to participate workshops and technology directly in archaeological revitalization programs; excavations. This can include: • Asking archaeologists to pay visits to local schools to talk • Visiting archaeological about the area’s history or help excavations where with class projects; archaeologists are working • Asking archaeologists to lend to ask questions and offer their knowledge of the area’s knowledge about the site history to help build museum and artifacts; exhibits or write plain language • Asking archaeologists to books that will stay in the present their work and the community. Casts can also be findings of their excavations to made of excavated artifacts and the community; left in the community to use • Applying for job positions for educational purposes. to train and work on archaeological sites. The final way that Nunavummiut can participate in archaeology is Nunavummiut can also ask by helping to manage and preserve archaeologists to take part in the past. This includes: cultural programs that do not necessarily involve excavation of • Leaving artifacts and sites archaeological sites. Some ways of found on the land undisturbed; doing this might include: • Reporting artifacts and sites that you think might be important; • Sharing stories about the land.
31 Community-Based Archaeology in Nunavut
Employment of Nunavummiut in archaeology projects
Under the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement, archaeologists have to employ Inuit if they are qualified for a job. As there are currently few trained Nunavummiut archaeologists, many archaeologists concentrate on hiring and training youth as fieldworkers on archaeological excavations. This gives young people valuable experience in scientific research. The Inuit Heritage Trust is allowed to stop an archaeologist from receiving a permit to excavate in Nunavut if they do not intend to employ local Inuit.
32 Community-Based Archaeology in Nunavut
“You can integrate Topics for classroom archaeology into a broader discussion project, like cultural camps, or tool use and reproduction... • What is the benefit of I know a lot of people are having many different becoming more interested in versions and voices about hunting with bow and arrows. the past? What can these But it is hard, because nobody different perspectives tell us that a story knows how to do it. It is hard created by a professional when you don’t know how archaeologist can not? to make a traditional tool… It is part of archaeology. You • Should archaeologists need objects to reproduce new have to work with ones. To create. I know people communities? Community archaeology work is often make harpoon heads now, more about relationships but they are not made out of with modern communities stone or bone. If you are doing than building knowledge more traditional tool making, about the past. Should or if you are actually doing this be part of an archaeologist’s job? archaeology with students, that would be part of learning • Can archaeology be how to create these tools.” useful beyond creating knowledge about the -Krista Zawadski, Nunavut past? What are some ways archaeology student that archaeology might be used to benefit modern communities?
33 The Past as a Profession
Heritage employment • It allows you to work out on the land; in Nunavut • It allows you to travel; • It allows you to research your The heritage sector is an own ancestral past, or the important and growing source of past of other cultures and employment for Nunavummiut. geographic areas you are This sector includes jobs in interested in; archaeology, archives, museums, • It is always exciting, because tourism and cultural centers. you never know what you will Nunavummiut are encouraged to find during an excavation; become employed in this field so • It allows you to become a that the territory’s heritage can detective, using artifacts as be managed by local people. An clues to solve what happened organization called the Nunavut in history. Heritage Network exists in Nunavut specifically to build skills and train Nunavummiut in Are there different types heritage work. of archaeological work?
Why become an Archaeology is incredibly diverse because it blends together sciences, archaeologist? cultural studies, history and geography in its goal to better Archaeology is an important part understand the human past. Some of the heritage sector. Working archaeologists study historic in archaeology can be especially cultures in very specific time exciting and rewarding for periods or countries, while others Nunavummiut who want to learn focus on studying subjects less more about their own culture and directly related to humans, such history. Some of the reasons that as what certain landscapes, animal people are attracted to jobs in populations or weather patterns archaeology are:
34 The Past as a Profession were like thousands of years ago. archaeologists will describe All of these studies help build a what type of sites they are, how better picture of the human past. important they are, and make recommendations as to how the One of the biggest differences in impact of development can be types of archaeological practice avoided or limited. If a site will be lies in the reason behind the work. greatly impacted, archaeologists Much of the archaeology done will excavate it to collect the today can be broadly divided artifacts and information before into two main areas: archaeology they can be destroyed. If sites which answers specific research are too important to disturb, the questions, and archaeology in development cannot take place at support of cultural resource that location. management (CRM). Research archaeology, which is usually based How much schooling in universities, involves studying old sites and artifacts specifically is required to become an to build more knowledge about archaeologist? the past. CRM is the business side of archaeology. CRM work is The amount of schooling required done by both private companies for archaeology depends on the and government, who must kind of archaeology job you want: investigate old sites and artifacts when they are in areas that are • If you want to work going to be developed. When a on excavations or do development project such as a archaeological lab work as part new road or mineral mine is being of a team, you usually need planned, the developers must hire your Bachelor of Arts degree, archaeologists to go into the area or B.A., in Archaeology, and find out whether there are any Anthropology or another old sites that will be disturbed by related field such as History or construction. If sites exist, the Environmental Sciences. A
35 The Past as a Profession
B.A. usually takes about 4 Inuit Heritage Trust and years of university education. archaeology • If you want to lead archaeological investigations at The Inuit Heritage Trust (IHT) different levels of government is a Nunavut organization that or at a cultural resource offers programs to build local skills management company, and employment in archaeology you will need a Master of and heritage-related professions. Arts degree, or M.A., in These programs range from Archaeology, Anthropology or archaeological field schools, to another related field. An M.A. heritage management institutes usually takes about 6 years of and scholarships for Inuit university education. beneficiaries interested in pursing heritage-related fields in university. • If you plan to be a research archaeologist, you usually To become involved in an IHT have to teach at a college or archaeology project or to find out university and will need a more about what we do, visit the Doctor of Philosophy degree, Inuit Heritage Trust’s website at: or PhD, in Archaeology, www.ihti.ca. Anthropology or a related science field. A PhD usually takes about 10 years of university education.
36 The Past as a Profession
“I never knew about Do you know archaeology or anthropology Nunavummiut youth before I went to college. I looking to work at had no idea that was what I an archaeological wanted to do, because I didn’t excavation or other know what it was called. Or heritage jobs in what it was about. I knew that Nunavut? I loved being outdoors. When I went out on the land, I loved The Inuit Heritage Trust has seeing the old sites. But I didn’t created a new website to realize that it is a profession link Nunavummiut youth where I could study my own with researchers who history. Something I think is want to employ people for archaeology and cultural important, is educating our projects in Nunavut. The students about Inuit history site will give you: and where our ancestors came from.” • Advice on preparing and submitting a c.v., or resume, to the website - P a m G r o s s , C a m b r i d g e B a y • Access to a list of heritage job positions being advertised for Nunavut; • A list of scholarships available to Nunavummiut youth looking to further their education in a heritage field.
37 A Year in the Life of a Research Archaeology Project
Project planning Permit applications
The first step to Before any beginning an archaeologist archaeological is allowed to research project in conduct research Nunavut is to make in Nunavut contact with Inuit they must organizations and communities get permission from Nunavut nearest to the location where authorities in the form of a permit. archaeological work will take This permit process was set up place. Communication with these in the Nunavut Land Claims groups helps make sure a project Agreement, and is overseen by will be built with local support the Nunavut Department of and knowledge from its very start. Culture and Heritage and the While archaeologists can suggest Inuit Heritage Trust. A permit research questions to be answered application must be sent in at least through excavation and fieldwork, 90 days before fieldwork starts, and they should be open to community by March 31st at the very latest. input on what local knowledge When an application is sent in, it exists about the questions, and goes through the following steps: how they can be made more relevant to community interests 1. The Territorial Archaeologist and needs. at the Department of Culture Heritage reviews the application, and sends it back if it is incomplete;
2. Complete applications are translated into Inuktitut and
38 A Year in the Life of a Research Archaeology Project sent to the Inuit Heritage Trust. • Refuse to issue a permit, The Inuit Heritage Trust and provide the reasons for reviews the applications the refusal to the applicant. and sends them out to communities close to where Archaeologists who want to do the project will take place; surveys, inventories or excavation in areas managed by Parks Can- 3.Community organizations ada must obtain a Parks Canada such as hamlet councils, permit, instead of a permit from regional Inuit organizations, the Government of Nunavut. The and local heritage societies application must be submitted review the applications again; through the Parks Canada on-line Research and Collection Permit 4. If no objections are raised System. For more information to the applications, they are about permit requirements, go to sent back to the Department the Parks Canada Research Permit of Culture and Heritage who web page at www.gc.ca/apps/rps. review them one last time to make sure the archaeologist Fieldwork is qualified and the research is justified; If an archaeologist applies for and 5. The Department of Culture receives the and Heritage decides whether permits they need or not to issue a permit for to do research, the work outlined in the they are licensed to application. They have three begin their project in Nunavut. If choices to make: archaeologists plan to do surveys • Issue a permit for the or excavations, this usually project; happens during the months of July • Issue a permit with and August, when the weather is conditions attached; warm and the snow is gone.
39 A Year in the Life of a Research Archaeology Project
Analysis, conservation, archaeologists must send site forms to the Department of interpretation Culture and Heritage. Site forms list details about all the After archaeology sites discovered or archaeologists visited during their work and have excavated must include a map or set of GPS artifacts and coordinates showing the locations gathered artifacts of all the sites. Archaeologists and information must also send a plain language from a site, they are responsible summary of the fieldwork and two for putting them all in order. The photographs to the Department of process of cleaning, conserving Culture and Heritage for use in and cataloguing finds is usually public education programs and the done in a laboratory, and can annual report of fieldwork. often take months of hard work. It is during this part of the project that archaeologists begin building many of their ideas about the past.
Project reporting phase 1
Sixty days after fieldwork is complete, archaeologists must begin to report back to Nunavut about what they found. For the first round of reporting,
40 A Year in the Life of a Research Archaeology Project
Project reporting Topics for classroom phase 2 discussion
The second • As a class, review the round of more detailed permit reporting must application section in take place the companion booklet before the end ‘A Guideline to Nunavut Archaeology and of March of the Artifacts for Northern following year. By this time, Communities.’ What archaeologists must have sent are some of the reasons a report about their fieldwork that can be used to deny to all the Inuit organizations archaeologists a permit? listed on the permit and to Are these good reasons? the community nearest to the research. Archaeologists must • As evident in the time-line also have cleaned, catalogued presented on this page, and numbered all of the artifacts most of an archaeologists’ and material samples collected year is spent reporting on and cataloging finds during their fieldwork and sent it rather than digging them to the storage center specified on up. Why is this part of the their permit. project so important?
41 Best Practices in Nunavut Heritage: Artifacts
An overview of • Archaeological artifacts do not become the property archaeological artifacts of individual people. These artifacts are part of a cultural An archaeological artifact is a heritage that belongs to Inuit human-made object from the and should be made accessible past. Archaeological atifacts are as learning tools to Inuit and everywhere in Nunavut, and non-Inuit alike. can be found in museums, on the land, and in personal and family collections. While many What is considered to be Nunavummiut know old artifacts an archaeological artifact when they see them, few recognize in Nunavut? that the territory has created important guidelines about how Despite its name, an archaeological these artifacts should be interacted artifact does not belong to with. These guidelines were archaeologists. The Government developed to help make sure that: of Nunavut defines an archaeological artifact as: • The context of archaeological artifacts is well preserved, so “Any tangible evidence that both archaeologists and of human activity that non-archaeologists can use is more than 50 years it to build a better picture of old, in respect of which the past; an unbroken chain of • Nunavut’s archaeological possession or regular artifacts are properly recorded, pattern of usage cannot so that information exists be demonstrated.” about what kind of artifacts have been discovered, and where those objects are stored;
42 Best Practices in Nunavut Heritage: Artifacts
This means that an archaeological culture. While archaeological artifact is: artifacts are old, ethnographic artifacts have usually been made • Any form of material object more recently, so there are fewer that has been used by humans, guidelines that describe how they not just old tools and old should be collected. Examples of tent rings. Examples of an ethnographic artifact might archaeological artifacts include include a homemade tool or parka, clothing, inuksuit, animal a soapstone carving, or a modern bones, and old garbage dumps; qamutik. Like archaeological • An object that was made more artifacts, ethnographic artifacts than 50 years ago; do not always have to have been • An object that has not been made by Inuit. To be considered inherited, or handed down as significant to Inuit heritage, through families or from however, an ethnographic artifact person to person; must at least have been used or • An object that is no longer worked on by Inuit. being regularly used by Nunavummiut. Ethnographic artifacts can be owned by individual people or
How is an archaeological museums. Special laws have been put in place that allow the Inuit artifact different from an Heritage Trust to request the ethnographic artifact? return of ethnographic artifacts from museum collections outside An ethnographic artifact is similar of Nunavut, as long as it can to an archaeological artifact in that be proved the objects will be it is something made, modified transported and displayed under or used by humans. Both types safe conditions. of materials are collected and documented by researchers trying to better understand human
43 Best Practices in Nunavut Heritage: Artifacts
However, they are required to Who owns study and report on the artifacts archaeological artifacts? they find, and are allowed to borrow them from Nunavut for In most cases, Inuit own the that purpose. An annual loan artifacts of their ancestors. The agreement for the artifacts must be Government of Nunavut and signed if they are borrowed longer the Inuit Heritage Trust are than a year after their collection. If responsible for overseeing the the Government of Nunavut and collection, research and storage Inuit Heritage Trust both agree, an of all archaeological artifacts artifact can be loaned to a museum except for: or another institution for a long period of time. • Public records;
• A person’s private property; Where do the artifacts • Artifacts in an area managed by the Parks Canada; collected during • Artifacts collected and owned archaeology get sent? by museums or individuals prior to the signing of the The Nunavut Land Claims Nunavut Land Claims Agreement specifies that a new Agreement in 1993. building has to be constructed in Nunavut to house the Nunavut has no territorial facility archaeological collections from to store and look after its artifacts. the territory. This building has not Because of this, artifacts are often been made yet, so archaeological loaned to other institutions such as collections are currently stored in universities and museums. other facilities outside of Nunavut.
Archaeologists can not keep and Most archaeological collections are do not own the artifacts they find stored in either the Prince of Wales during their excavations. Northern Heritage Centre in
44 Best Practices in Nunavut Heritage: Artifacts
Yellowknife, or the Canadian Can artifacts be kept if Museum of History in Gatineau, Quebec. If an archaeological found on the land? collection comes from Inuit Owned Lands, the Inuit Heritage Old artifacts should always be Trust decides where it will be sent. left undisturbed when they are If an archaeological collection found. When an artifact is moved comes from lands other than it loses its context, or relationship Inuit Owned Lands, then the with the place it was left by past Government of Nunavut decides generations. Lack of context where it will go. makes an artifact’s history more difficult to understand. The rules Artifacts collected from in Nunavut do not allow an artifact archaeological investigations in to be taken home. Parks Canada protected areas are stored in a specialized building Can archaeological in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The temperature and humidity in this artifacts be sold? building is set at levels which help to preserve very fragile artifacts. It is illegal for anybody--Inuit or non-Inuit--to sell an archaeological In some cases, an archaeologist artifact that was removed from an will need some or all of the archaeological site on or after June artifacts, animal remains and 15, 2001. While it is legal to sell original documentation from their artifacts found before this date, it project for continued research is illegal to take artifacts from an or to write publications. In such archaeological site. a case, the archaeologist has to arrange an agreement to loan these artifacts from the storage facility that has been chosen by either the Inuit Heritage Trust or Government of Nunavut.
45 Best Practices in Nunavut Heritage: Artifacts
Do artifacts get destroyed The Government of Nunavut has developed a specific permit that when archaeologists allows archaeologists to destroy an study them? artifact. On the permit application, an archaeologist must describe: Archaeologists are specifically trained to be careful while • The type of destructive analysis collecting or handling artifacts. they are seeking authorization It is very rare that an artifact for; will purposely be broken or • Where, and by whom the destroyed. In some instances analysis will be performed; an archaeologist will request • Justification for the proposed the removal of a small piece, or destructive analysis. sometimes a whole artifact, for tests. This is done for various If the Department of Culture reasons. For example, measuring and Heritage is satisfied with the the amount of carbon in a piece of archaeologist’s application, they bone will destroy it, but will also will be allowed to destroy part or tell us how old the bone is. This all of the artifact. helps to infer the age of the site where the bone was found. What should I do if I find As scientific techniques are an archaeological artifact, improved, smaller and smaller or have artifacts at home? pieces of an artifact are needed for analysis. Some kinds of testing Old artifacts should always be left can be done without affecting undisturbed if they are found on the artifact at all. Today, it is rare the land. Sometimes artifacts are that an entire artifact would be collected by people unaware of destroyed by analysis. regulations which say they should be left on the ground. Other times, artifacts are handed down through
46 Best Practices in Nunavut Heritage: Artifacts friends and families. The best Topics for classroom thing to do with these objects is to keep them in a way that makes discussion sure that they are both respected • There is currently no and safe. What the regulations territorial museum for in Nunavut try to prevent is the housing archaeological continued removal of artifacts or ethnographic artifacts. from the land. As a class, discuss what a Nunavut museum should If you have questions about any look like, what artifacts it artifact at your house, you can should include, and how bring it to a local heritage center it should represent Inuit or museum, or see if local elders culture through material know more information about it. exhibits. If you find an artifact on the land • If Inuit are the owners of that you have questions about, archaeological artifacts, take a photo of it on your phone why are they not allowed or camera rather than bringing it to sell them? Discuss how with you. If taking photos, it is giving monetary value to important to know that images of artifacts might affect their archaeological artifacts can not be value as heritage items. taken for commercial purposes without applying for a Class 1 archaeology permit first. Photos taken of archaeological sites without a permit are not allowed to be sold.
47 Photographing Archaeological Artifacts and Sites
48 Photographing Archaeological Artifacts and Sites
5 tips for photographing 3) Capture context archaeological artifacts An artifact’s location is often and sites connected to the area that surrounds it. Is an artifact near 1) Be resourceful an old tent ring? Is it close to other objects that might have Just because you don’t have been used alongside it? Try and your camera with you doesn’t demonstrate these relationships mean that you can’t take a in pictures. photograph. Cameras are built into many cell phones, ipads, mp3 players and computers. 4) Objects and sites have Don’t have any of these? Draw many sides a picture. Take pictures of an artifact 2) Create scale or a site from multiple To show the size of an artifact or angles. Sometimes different site, place something of known perspectives will shed new light size beside it for the photo, like on an object and its original use. a coin (in closeups) or a person. 5) Location, location, location Try to remember where your photographs were taken and include this information with the photo. Sometimes it helps to capture a visible landmark in the photo or to take a GPS reading.
49 Best Practices in Nunavut Heritage: Sites
What is considered to be • Dig up old antler and bone from archaeological sites; an archaeological site in • Remove artifacts they find at Nunavut? archaeological sites; • Remove stones from old In Nunavut, an archaeological tent rings, inuksuit and site is considered to be any site other structures. where an archaeological artifact is found. A site can be as big as Many modern camping spots, a whole ancient campground, cabins and outpost camps are or as small as a scattering of old near archaeological sites, and antler flakes from somebody these sites can become threatened making a tool hundreds of years by modern camp activities. It ago. It is important to note that is recommended that camp archaeological sites are not only residents take extra consideration areas formerly used by Inuit of not accidentally disturbing or people, but can include areas damaging their archaeological with non-Inuit artifacts such heritage. If you go to a camp as explorers’ cairns and trading or cabin and you come across post goods. archaeological evidence nearby, please contact IHT for advice Who is allowed to on how to manage your camp activities without threatening any excavate or alter an old structures or artifacts. archaeological site? Even if an archaeological site No one is allowed to excavate, alter is under water, a permit is still or disturb an archaeological site needed to disturb or take things unless they have a Class 2 permit. from it. This includes shipwrecks, This means that Nunavummiut fish weirs and areas where artifacts and other people without permits have fallen to the bottom of lakes should not: or the seabed. With the exception
50 Best Practices in Nunavut Heritage: Sites
of search and rescue operations, no one should go within 30 meters What happens if of an underwater site unless they development and have a Class 1 permit. construction projects occur near What happens to an archaeological sites? archaeological site when an excavation is finished? There are many forms of development that can endanger A person who excavates an the archaeological sites of an area. archaeological site has to restore These include: the site as close to its original state as possible once the • Projects that cut lines through excavation is finished. As part of the landscape, such as the Class 2 permit applications, an building of roads, winter roads, archaeologist must specifically and pipelines. describe what measures will be • Projects that take things out taken to restore a site once it of the ground, such as mining, has been modified or excavated. gravel and sand removal and Even if a site has already been the creation of landfills. fully excavated and restored, it is • Projects that create heavy still considered an archaeological traffic on certain parts of the site, and a class 2 permit is landscape, such as recreational needed by anyone who wishes to areas, residential areas, and the dig there again. use of heritage sites in tourism. • Projects that establish large scale camps and infrastructure on the landscape, such as oil, mineral and gas exploration.
51 Best Practices in Nunavut Heritage: Sites
Before a development project 3. The number and type of even begins, there are several archaeology sites near the steps that a developer has to proposed development area follow in relation to the area’s are used to come up with archaeological sites: an archaeological value that decides what measures will 1. Developers must have an be taken either to avoid and initial heritage study done fully protect the sites, or to on the land where work is lessen the amount of harm that going to take place. This study development does to the sites. roughly identifies the number of archaeological sites in 4. A mitigation plan has to be the area, and the likelihood built between developers and of it being an important the Department of Culture archaeological area. and Heritage to continue development in the area. 2. A list is made of all the sites Options might be to protect that might be changed or the area’s sites and relocate damaged if development takes development, or to excavate place. It is the obligation of and record the sites and the developer to hire and pay continue with development for a qualified archaeologist to as planned. obtain an archaeology permit and perform this study. The 5. Over the course of developer will use the results construction, development of the inventory to figure areas often have to be out costs and the best way to monitored to make sure that proceed with the development no new sites appear, and project. that known sites are being managed according to the mitigation plan.
52 Best Practices in Nunavut Heritage: Sites
Are Inuit allowed to Topics for classroom harvest bones and ivory discussion from archaeological • Should the old have to sites to make carvings or make way for the new artwork? in Nunavut? Have a classroom debate as to In Nunavut, digging up old whether new development sites to remove items without a projects in Nunavut permit is not allowed. Even if the should be allowed to build over old sites or whalebone and ivory found in old put them at risk? Should sites has not been carved or visibly new developments such altered, they are still considered to as mines, roads, and be archaeological artifacts. houses be considered more important than old sites than no one uses anymore?
• Should Inuit be allowed to re-use their ancestors’ belongings as they see fit? Discuss the pros and cons of recycling old materials into new art.
53 Classroom Archaeology
Thinking about migration 2515. What material traces would archaeologists find? What kind of As a class, consider the entry of past society would archaeologists Inuit into the Canadian Arctic interpret from these items? What from the perspective of migration. messages about present day culture Research what conditions in and society would they draw from Alaska would have been like for these items? The Archaeological the early Thule people: What Institute of America lesson plan were their settlements, jobs found at the URL below can also and daily lives like? What new be used to introduce ideas of challenges did the Canadian organic and inorganic materials Arctic environment represent? into this activity: Refresh students’ memory of early conditions in the Canadian Arctic www.archaeological.org/sites/de- by playing the Arctic migration fault/files/files/What%20Will%20 game on the Arctic Peoples and Survive-edited.pdf Archaeology website or CD ROM. Following this research, discuss Tools of the trade: current challenges that face identifying artifacts Nunavummiut when they move to through research, stories another community or country. and experience
Future archaeology Present each student with a tool (or photo of a tool) alongside a If the community you live in description of the setting where was suddenly abandoned, what the tool was found. Examples would archaeologists find there could include a modern tool in 500 years? Have students write from a carpentry shop, or an a fictional archaeological report old tool from a local museum. detailing the excavation of part or Students should research the tool all of the community in the year sufficiently to describe what
54 Classroom Archaeology the object is, and how it is used. They should then collect personal CSI Nunavut stories related to that item from As an exercise in storytelling, family, elders, or other community have students create a short story members. If possible, students based on the following scenario: A should try using the item (or a team of archaeologists visiting a similar item) themselves to better community unearths a understand how it works. Students mysterious artifact during their should than prepare a short paper excavation. This artifact may hold or presentation describing if and the clue to an unsolved event that how adding stories and personal happened in the community’s experience to the item changed the past. Have students write this way they understood that tool. story with at least three references to the information learned about Signs of the times the yearly research schedule of an archaeologist. References Have students design an can be made to the timing of inaugural exhibit for the opening fieldwork, the processes of analysis of the new Nunavut territorial or the reporting deadlines for museum. What five objects archaeological research. would they include to represent the whole of Nunavut and its history? Have them explain Picture perfect what objects they chose and why How can stories be told through these objects are important to photographs? Using this booklet’s the territory and its history. guidelines for photographing archaeological artifacts and sites, have students practice capturing context through photography. Students should take turns with a digital camera to photograph
55 Classroom Archaeology one item in the classroom or school. Their photographs should Lost in translation concentrate on communicating The oral tradition is a valuable tool as much information as possible for passing along knowledge about about the item without using any the past. As a class, discuss what, if words. Following the activity have any, cultural rules apply to passing a classroom slideshow, with each along stories and knowledge to student explaining the information make sure that their messages they tried to capture in their photo. travel through generations unchanged. The art of fiction for art-i-facts As a practical activity to explain how messages can become altered If artifacts actually spoke to through time have the classroom archaeologists, what would they engage in the following game: say? As a way to gain perspective on the life history of artifacts, Before starting the lesson, find have students write a short piece or make a set of blank paper of fiction following the life of an booklets so that each person in the artifact from its initial creation classroom has one. There should from raw materials to its various be one page in the booklet for uses and eventual discard. Have each person in the room. On the students write this story in the first page of each booklet, have first person from the perspective the students write a simple, one of the artifact. sentence statement or piece of knowledge. Have each student then pass their book to the right. The next student must then draw an image that represents the sentence that was just written. The books are again passed to the right,
56 Classroom Archaeology and the next student (without Clash of Two Truths (2010). This looking at the preceding page) movie runs for approximately 70 must translate the image back minutes and explores multiple into a sentence. The alternation narratives that exist around the between image and sentence killing of sled dogs by RCMP from continues until the booklet has the 1950s-70s in the Canadian reached its original owner. Arctic. The video is available for free online at the nfb website: Finish the activity by comparing www.nfb.ca/film/qimmit-clash_ the difference between the first of_two_truths. sentence and the final sentence, noting the gradual progression of miscommunication regarding the first sentence’s original meaning.
To each their own past
As a classroom, discuss the idea of single vs. multiple histories. How do personal experiences and modern politics change people’s understandings regarding the past? How can different people understand a historical event or artifact in completely different ways?
As an example of how history can have many opposing truths, watch the National Film Board documentary movie Qimmit: A
57 Notes and Comments
58 Notes and Comments
59 References and Resources
Booklet References Teaching Resources
• Mary Wilman. 2002. for Archaeology and “Governance through Inuit Community Research Qaujimajatuqangit: Changing Relationships in Nunavut the paradigm for the future of Inuit society.” In The Power of Traditions: Identities, Politics • Taloyoak Stories of and Social Sciences, Keynotes Thunder and Stone by Inuit presented at the Fourth Heritage Trust International Congress of Arctic Social Sciences, edited This virtual exhibit explores the by Murielle Nagy. Quebec: history of the thunder house and AGMV Marquis. related archaeological sites around the community of Taloyoak. • Janet McGrath. 2003. “Inter- The website has many teaching view: Janet McGrath on IQ.” resources included for Nunavut Meridian. Canadian Polar classrooms, and can be found at: Commission. Spring/Summer www.taloyoaknunavut.ca 2003: pp.5-10. • Arctic Peoples and • Douglas Stenton. 2003. Archaeology by Inuit Guidelines for Applicants Heritage Trust and Holders of Nunavut Territory Archaeology and This multimedia CD outlines Palaeontology Permits. the history of arctic peoples in Nunavut Department Nunavut. The CD-ROM can be of Culture and Heritage purchased, or tried for free, at the available at: www.ch.gov. IHT website. nu.ca
60 References and Resources
• Working in Research: • Ancient Harpoon Heads A Community Guide of Nunavut, and Ancient to Understanding and Stone Tools of Nunavut, Participating in Research by Robert Park and Programs by Brendan Douglas Stenton Griebel and Nunavut Arctic College These booklets introduce readers to the history of two types of This two volume teacher’s manual artifacts commonly found in and course textbook is designed to Nunavut. They can be purchased introduce advanced level students from the Nunavut Arctic College to various research methodologies or Inuit Heritage Trust website. and the skills needed to conduct research projects in their communities.
• Negotiating Research Relationships: A Guide for Communities by Nunavut Research Institute and Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami.
This booklet informs Nunavummiut about their rights and responsibilities when participating in research.
61 “When we speak about the origins and history of our culture, we do so from a perspective that is different from that often used by non-Inuit who have studied our past…Our history is simply our history and we feel that the time has come for us as Inuit to take more control over determining what is important and how it should be interpreted. To be of value, our history must be used to instruct our young and to inform all of us about who we are as Inuit in today’s world”
- Inuit Tapirisaat Kanatami 2012 www.itk.ca