University of Calgary Caribou Inuit Traders of the Kivalliq by Matthew D. Walls A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIRMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS DEPARTMENT OF ARCHAEOLOGY CALGARY, ALBERTA JANUARY, 2008 © MATTHEW WALLS 2008 Library and Bibliotheque et 1*1 Archives Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-38067-3 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-38067-3 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives and Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par Plntemet, prefer, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans loan, distribute and sell theses le monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, worldwide, for commercial or non­ sur support microforme, papier, electronique commercial purposes, in microform, et/ou autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. this thesis. Neither the thesis Ni la these ni des extraits substantiels de nor substantial extracts from it celle-ci ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement may be printed or otherwise reproduits sans son autorisation. reproduced without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne Privacy Act some supporting sur la protection de la vie privee, forms may have been removed quelques formulaires secondaires from this thesis. ont ete enleves de cette these. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires in the document page count, aient inclus dans la pagination, their removal does not represent il n'y aura aucun contenu manquant. any loss of content from the thesis. Canada i Abstract In 1717 A.D., the Caribou Inuit of the Kivalliq, Nunavut were introduced to the Fur Trade through the Hudson Bay Company. It has been previously posited that between that time and 1900 A.D., the Caribou Inuit were drawn out of a traditional subsistence pattern and into an economy that was a part of a world system. However, the actual process of how trade goods and technologies were incorporated into Caribou Inuit society by the Caribou Inuit themselves has received little attention. Using a combination of archaeology, archival history, and oral history to examine the profiles of specific individuals, this thesis demonstrates the importance of Caribou Inuit families that acted as intermediaries between their culture and European trade in the process of Caribou Inuit economic transition during the early historic period . ii Acknowledgements I owe my involvement in the subject matter of this thesis entirely to Dr. Peter C. Dawson, who first introduced me to Arctic archaeology and the Arviat Archaeology Project as an undergraduate in the summer of 2003. He devoted a large portion of the 2006 field season to the excavation of House I, encouraged my participation in the oral history side of the project, and funded my archival research in Winnipeg. My studies have benefited from his open-mindedness, originality, and support as a supervisor. The 2006 field work at Ihatik would not have been possible without the help of Mr. Luke Suluk, who is Dr. Dawson's partner in the Arviat Archaeology Project. Aside from being a part of the excavation crew, Mr. Suluk ferried us to and from Ihatik, provided the use of his cabin, fed us caribou and char, and protected us from bears. I would also like to thank Mr. John Blyth and Mr. Louis Irkok who were integral members of the crew. In the summer of 2007,1 had the opportunity to participate in the oral history research with the help and guidance of Dr. Natasha Lyons. It was a privilege to work with Louis Angalik, Mark Kalluak, Philip Kigusiutuak, Luke Kiniksi, and Donald Uluadluak. Their knowledge and passion for sharing history has added a unique perspective to this thesis. I would like to thank Dr. Gerald Oetelaar for his open-door policy, eagerness to discuss my research throughout my degree, and for being a part of my defense committee. As well, I greatly appreciate Dr. William Barr for joining my committee at the last minute, and for suggesting several critical corrections and references. iii I should also mention the friends that have helped me out more than they know - especially Don Gardner, Joan Dunkley, and Latonia Hartery. Their interest in my project has been encouraging throughout my studies, and has helped me realize how lucky I am to be studying archaeology in the Canadian Arctic. iv Table of Contents ABSTRACT / ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS // TABLE OF CONTENTS IV LIST OF TABLES VI LIST OF FIGURES VII LIST OF PLATES VIII CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 INTRODUCTION 1 1.2 THESIS STRUCTURE 2 CHAPTER 2 - GEOGRAPHICAL BACKGROUND 4 2.1 INTRODUCTION 4 2.2 KIVALLIQ PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY 4 2.3 CLIMATE 6 2.4 ANIMAL RESOURCES 7 2.5 KIVALLIQ PREHISTORY ....11 CHAPTER 3 - THE CARIBOU INUIT 14 3.1 DEFINITION OF 'CARIBOU INUIT' 14 3.2 MACRO-SCALE SOCIAL ORGANIZATION 14 3.3 SUBSISTENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 16 3.4 SOCIAL ORGANIZATION - THE FAMILY 21 3.5 LEADERSHIP AND DECISION MAKING- THE POLITICAL PROCESS 23 3.6 LEADERSHIP AND DECISION MAKING- THE IDEOLOGICAL BASIS 24 3.7 CARIBOU INUIT ORIGINS AND DEVELOPMENT 26 CHAPTER 4 - CARIBOU INUIT AND THE FUR TRADE 29 4.1 INTRODUCTION 29 4.21611-1717 EARLY EXPLORATIONS OF HUDSON BAY 30 4.4 EUROPEAN IMPACT ON CARIBOU INUIT CULTURE IN THE EARLY PERIOD OF HBC TRADE 41 4.5 THE DEVELOPMENT OF CARIBOU INUIT/EUROPEAN RELATIONS 43 4.6 SUMMARY OF THE EARLY PERIOD OF TRADE 1717-1790 49 4.71790-1900 THE INUIT TRADERS 50 4.8 PROFILES OF CARIBOU INUIT TRADERS 62 4.9 DISCUSSION 74 CHAPTER 5 - ARCHAEOLOGY OF HOUSE 1 78 5.1 INTRODUCTION 78 5.2 THE HOUSE I EXCAVATION 80 5.3 PART 1: STRATIGRAPHY 82 5.3 PART 2: ARTIFACTS 83 5.3 PART 3: HOUSE I FAUNAL ANALYSIS.... 99 5.3 PART 4: ARCHITECTURAL DISCUSSION 119 5.3 PART 5: ACTIVITY AREAS 123 CHAPTER 6 - DISCUSSIONS AND CONCLUSION 126 6.1 HOUSE I DISCUSSION 126 6.2 CONCLUSIONS AND DIRECTIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH 131 REFERENCES 139 V APPENDIX 165 vi List of Tables Table 1 Kivalliq Meteorological Data 6 Table 2 Kivalliq Birds that are Utilized by Humans 9 Table 3 Kivalliq Fish that are Utilized by Humans 10 Table 4 Kivalliq Archaeological Cultures 12 Table 5 Early Hudson Bay Explorers 30 Table 6 Contents of an 1864 Ahiarmiut Trade at Churchill Post 70 Table 7 Quantities of Feature Types at the Ihatik Site (JhKl - 1 & 2) 79 Table 8 House I Artifact Quantities and Representation 99 Table 9 Summary of House I Faunal Assemblage 166 Table 10 Caribou Element Summary.. 167 Table 11 Seal Element Summary 168 vii List of Figures Figure 1 Geographical Map of the Kivalliq, Nunavut 169 Figure 2 Qamanirjuaq Herd Seasonal Movement 170 Figure 3 Caribou Inuit Sub-Divisions 171 Figure 4 Hudson Bay 1717-1900 A.D 172 Figure 5 Central Arctic 173 Figure 6 H.H. Hall's Map 174 Figure 7 Donald Uluadluak's Drawing of Qiqut 175 Figure 8 Map of the Ihatik Site (JhKl 1 & 2) 176 Figure 9 Austin Island, Nunavut 177 Figure 10 Caribou Inuit Summer Tent 178 Figure 11 House I Local Topography 179 Figure 12 House I Spatial Layout and Excavation Units 180 Figure 13 Stratagraphic Profiles of House I 181 Figure 14 North Wall Composition 184 Figure 15 House I Artifacts and Faunal Materials 185 Figure 16 Caribou Element Summary 186 Figure 17 Seal Element Summary 187 Vlll List of Plates Plate 1 Kivalliq Landscape 188 Plate 2 House I Photos 189 Plate 3 House I Photos 190 Plate 4 Nails Recovered from House I 191 Plate 5 Metal Artifacts from House 1 192 Plate 6 Ground-Slate Ulu and Bead/Copper Ornament from House 1 193 Plate 7 Antler and Bone Tools from House I 194 Plate 8 Photo of Cache Containing a Beluga Spinal Column, 8m South of House 1 195 Plate 9 Richard Harrington's Photo of an Ahiarmiut Tent at Padlei 196 Plate 10 D. Leechman's Photo of an Elongated Tent at Pangnirtung, Baffin Island 197 Plate 11 Photo of an Ihatik Tent Ring of Comparable Dimensions to House 1 198 1 Chapter 1 - Introduction 1.1 Introduction This thesis explores the relationship between the Caribou Inuit and the Fur Trade in the Kivalliq Barrens of Nunavut between the years 1717-1900 A.D. It has previously been posited that with the introduction of European technologies during this period, the Caribou Inuit were drawn out of a traditional pattern of subsistence and into a larger world-scale economic system (see Burch 1986; Csonka 1994; Damas 1988; Fossett 2001; Vallee 1967; Williamson 1974). Arctic anthropologists have often used historical data, exclusively, to examine this transition - an approach which necessarily biases the examination of development to a colonial point of view; therefore removing the agency of the Inuit in the process (Cabak & Loring 2000: 2; Leone & Potter 1988; Jones 1989: 9- 12). In general, a common element of such studies is that it is assumed that the Caribou Inuit pursued the new and highly functional technologies introduced by the Hudson Bay Company, such as metal implements and firearms, and by doing so were drawn into an economy of trade (Jones 1989).