University of Calgary PRISM: University of Calgary's Digital Repository Graduate Studies The Vault: Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2012-09-06 Taltheilei houses, lithics, and mobility Pickering, Sean Joseph Pickering, S. J. (2012). Taltheilei houses, lithics, and mobility (Unpublished master's thesis). University of Calgary, Calgary, AB. doi:10.11575/PRISM/27975 http://hdl.handle.net/11023/177 master thesis University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission. Downloaded from PRISM: https://prism.ucalgary.ca UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY Taltheilei Houses, Lithics, and Mobility by Sean J. Pickering A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS DEPARTMENT OF ARCHAEOLOGY CALGARY, ALBERTA SEPTEMBER, 2012 © Sean J. Pickering 2012 Abstract The precontact subsistence-settlement strategy of Taltheilei tradition groups has been interpreted by past researchers as representing a high residential mobility forager system characterized by ephemeral warm season use of the Barrenlands environment, while hunting barrenground caribou. However, the excavation of four semi-subterranean house pits at the Ikirahak site (JjKs-7), in the Southern Kivalliq District of Nunavut, has challenged these assumptions. An analysis of the domestic architecture, as well as the morphological and spatial attributes of the excavated lithic artifacts, has shown that some Taltheilei groups inhabited the Barrenlands environment during the cold season for extended periods of time likely subsisting on stored resources. ii Acknowledgements First, and foremost I would like to acknowledge Dr. Peter Dawson of the Department of Archaeology at the University of Calgary for first introducing me to Arctic archaeology. Dr. Dawson brought me into the Ikirahak Archaeological Project as a senior undergraduate student to analyze lithics, which became the focus of my honour’s thesis research. He gave me the opportunity to have my first managerial experience in archaeology, first as the project lab manager in 2008, and then as field crew chief during the 2009 season. He supported my research by offering excellent advice and support throughout my graduate degree, as well as monetary support by allocating funding to hire two sets of skilled laboratory staff over two years, as well as the means to present a portion of my research at the 76th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology (Pickering and Dawson 2011). I would like to thank the International Polar Year (IPY) for providing the much of the infrastructure required to undertake the fieldwork, and subsequent lab analysis required to complete this project. I would also like to thank the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) for providing funding to support me during my graduate research. I would also like to express my gratitude to various members of the faculty of the Department of Archaeology at the University of Calgary who taught me much about what it means to be an archaeologist. I would especially like to acknowledge Dr. Gerald Oetelaar who participated in many, usually impromptu, conversations about household archaeology and mobility, and was always willing to provide useful insights and criticisms about my research. I would also like to acknowledge Dr. Brian Kooyman also iii of the Department of Archaeology at the U of C who introduced me to the fascinating world of lithic analysis. Dr. Len Hills of the Department of Geoscience at the U of C was also very helpful to this thesis by providing his expertise in identifying lithic material types, and for agreeing to be on my committee. This project could not have been completed without the hard work of the 2008 and 2009 field crews who braved the bugs, rain, and insane windstorms of the Barrenlands of the southern Kivalliq. Thank you to Howard Cyr, Calla McNamee, Matt Walls, Don Butler, and David Tasseor. I would especially like to thank Luke Suluk of the community of Arviat, Dr. Dawson’s archaeological collaborator for many years, for providing archaeological insights and expertise, as well as a large amount of logistical assistance in the field. Additionally, I need to thank my two lab crews who spent so many hours under fluorescent light providing skilled and detailed analysis of lithic debitage, thank you to Tanya Chiykowski, Lorelei Platz, Steve Simpson, Nikki Oakden, and Taylor Graham. I would additionally like to further acknowledge Tanya Chiykowski, Howard Cyr, and Don Butler, mentioned above, for their skilled work creating planviews and stratigraphic profiles of the excavated house pits at Ikirahak. I would also like to add a special thanks to Lindsay Amundsen Meyer for allowing me access to her extensive knowledge and skills with ArcGis software. I would like to thank my family for their support during my graduate research. My brother Matt Pickering provided much needed grammatical editing and criticism to this thesis, and my mother Cheryl Pickering offered emotional, and occasionally, financial iv support while I studied. I would like to thank my children, Seamus and Emily, for putting up with the long hours and extended absences this research required, especially my son Seamus who cheerfully went with daddy and played toys in the lab, so many times, while I worked. Finally, I would like to thank my wife Mary Pickering for providing all the support a husband could ask for, emotional, psychological, and financial, and for being the stable foundation that our family relied upon while I undertook this research. v For My Wife Mary vi Table of Contents Abstract...........................................................................................................................ii Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................iii Dedication......................................................................................................................vi Table of Contents ..........................................................................................................vii List of Tables .................................................................................................................ix List of Figures .................................................................................................................x List of Plates .................................................................................................................xii CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION.............................................................................1 1.1 Introduction...........................................................................................................1 1.2 Thesis Structure.....................................................................................................2 CHAPTER TWO: SITE DESCRIPTION AND GEOGRAPHICAL BACKGROUND ...................................................................................................5 2.1 Introduction...........................................................................................................5 2.2 Ikirahak Site Description .......................................................................................5 2.3 Previous Archaeological Research in the Maguse Lake Area .................................7 2.4 Geology, Physical Geography, and Climate of the Kivalliq District .......................8 2.5 Fauna...................................................................................................................12 2.6 Summary .............................................................................................................16 CHAPTER THREE: CULTURE HISTORY OF THE BARRENLANDS.....................18 3.1 Introduction.........................................................................................................18 3.2 Northern Plano Tradition .....................................................................................18 3.3 Shield Archaic Tradition......................................................................................20 3.4 Pre-Dorset/Arctic Small Tool Tradition ...............................................................21 3.5 Taltheilei Tradition..............................................................................................22 3.6 Chipewyan Dene .................................................................................................26 3.7 Caribou Inuit History...........................................................................................30 3.8 Summary .............................................................................................................31 CHAPTER FOUR: HUNTER-GATHERER MOBILITY AND ITS ARCHAEOLOGICAL CORRELATES................................................................33 4.1 Introduction.........................................................................................................33 4.2 Theories of Hunter-Gatherer Mobility..................................................................33 4.3 Case Studies of Settlement-subsistence Strategies from the Kivalliq ....................38 4.4 Archaeological Correlates of Hunter-Gatherer Mobility.......................................44