The Tuktoyaktuk Interior Archaeology Project - Summer 1992
(Part 5)
by
Ken Swayze
NOGAP Archaeological Specialist
Canadian Museum of Civilization

The Cache Site NhTp-1 (artifact descriptions)

This is the "type site" of Inuvialuit sites in the Tuktoyaktuk Peninsula interior. It is located at the outlet of a headwater lake, approximately 27 km south of Tuktoyaktuk. This lake is known to be an important overwintering lake for various types of whitefish. The site was disturbed by heavy machinery in 1983 when a power transmission line was buried. The same year Gerald Lacho, of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, recovered a whaling harpoon foreshaft from the site, and forwarded it to the Prince of Wales Northern Hertiage Centre. The site was subsequently visited by two researchers (Arnold 1985; LeBlanc 1987), but no testing was carried out. LeBlanc reported at least 10 cache pits along the creek and noted a possible house feature. In 1991 Swayze mapped and tested the site, noting at least 18 caches and verified the presence of a house feature, and a relatively extensive midden.

During the summer of 1992, 16 m2 were opened in the midden and eight m were excavated in the house feature. Excavation in the midden was hampered by a dense mat of rootlets, and the permafrost was encountered within a short distance of the surface. There was no clear stratigraphy and solifluction lobes of heavy silt were a problem (Figure 8). A palimsest of hearths were encountered throughout the midden excavations, and, here and there, the remains of a post were noted. Evidently the site was occupied on numerous ocasions but the tents and/or stages were not always erected in precisely the same spot each time. In many respects the artifact collection from the midden is a typical Inuvialuit assemblage; however nothing related to marine mammal hunting was recovered. (Lacho's original discovery of a whaling harpoon foreshaft was indeed fortuitous.) Even items indicative of land mammal hunting were not numerous: they consist of a few small stemmed chipped projectile points, a chipped stone lance head and one plain antler arrowhead. Given the importance of this lake for certain fish species, it is not surprizing that implements relating to fishing were more common. Flat notched pebble net sinkers were ubiquitous, and several examples each of fish hook shanks, weights, barbs and fish spear prongs were recovered. Common artifacts from the midden included ceramic pot sherds, fragments of schist slab-pots (and the flakes detached while shaping the slabs), lithic debitage, cut antler pieces and fragments of (largely unidentified) carved antler tools. Ground slate ulus, chipped slate ulu blanks, and fragments of ground slate blades were also encountered. An exotic item is a small fragment of a flawless quartz crystal. Very fragile items include eight wooden tools and tool fragments, and a piece of baleen. Unfortunately, due to the constraints of time and permafrost, it was not possible to excavate the units to the bottom of the midden.

Faunal remains were numerous, and, by and large, well preserved. Based on the analysis of faunal remains from the 1991 test pits (Still 1992) and casual identification in the field (Still pers. comm. 1992) it is apparent that fish and fowl were the principal animals processed at the Cache site. Nevertheless, a preliminary assessment indicates that large mammal (eg. caribou) remains are, relatively speaking, more apparent here than at the Sukunnuk and Cliff sites. Small mammals, such as muskrat and hare are also present in significant numbers. Of the fish bones recovered, the most numerous elements are those of various types of whitefish; but burbot, lake trout, and, more rarely, pike are represented. Waterfowl, including various duck and goose species, loon and swan are the most numerous of the bird bones; but, ptarmigan, too, are well represented.

As at the Sukunnuk site, the excavations also recovered a small amount of diagnostic Palaeoeskimo (ASTt) material. This consisted of two burins (one on a projectile point, the other on a linear flake), and a small obsidian microblade. Unfortunately, it was not possible to identify a discrete ASTt strata or feature. Instead, the objects were scattered at different levels within a matrix largely created by Inuvialuit activities. Presumably, a portion of the lithic debitage recovered (and perhaps the small stemmed projectile points) are also of ASTt origin, but they are not diagnostic.

The "house", or dwelling, is located on the slope on the south side of the site close to the edge of the water. This location would maximize insolation in the colder months, and would provide some protection from the wind. Before excavation it appeared as a roughly circular depression partially obscured by heavy willow growth and leaf litter (Figure 9). On average it was about 30 cm deep, and there was no indication of any superstructure, or entrance passage. After excavation it became apparent that the feature is not a semi-subterranean "house", but a level platform excavated into the side of a hill. Excavation did not reveal an entrance passage per se but there was a slight trough on the south side, towards the lake, as if worn down by the comings and goings of the occupants.

During excavation several small hearths were noted at various depths, some so close to the edge of the feature that it can be assumed they were not active when the structure stood. Thus, after the dwelling collapsed, or the platform was no longer used as a house foundation, people continued to use the space, probably on a more temporary, open-air, basis. Between approximately 30 to 40 cm below the surface of the depression portions of the original living surface or floor were encountered. The principal component of this "floor" was a substantial, intact, stone-ringed hearth, surrounded by a profusion of artifacts and animal bones (Figure 10). In other areas of the depression the original activity surface was distorted by frost heaves and solifluction lobes of heavy, sticky, silt. The remnants of three spruce pole posts were found, which were probably used to support the roof. The structure was probably a domed hut, roofed with bent willow stems and covered with hide, or a willow-wattle hut chinked with moss. In either case, snow too was probably heaped on top to provide more insulation. The dwelling certainly was not a "sod house" like those excavated on the coast, with their massive driftwood beams, split-pole floors, and log and sod-insulated walls.

Excavation in the house feature produced a good collection of artifacts and faunal remains. Future analysis of the latter will probably produce a picture similar to that of the midden, although preliminary observation suggests that there may be proportionately more fish in the house. As might be expected a good number of artifacts found in the house relate to fishing: net sinkers, netting needles, fish hook shanks and barbs, and fish spear prongs. Other artifacts included considerable pottery, lithic debitage, bag handles, an adze head and a mattock head, a bird bone drinking tube, ground slate ulus and blade fragments, three chipped stone projectile points, an ice-pick tip, an ivory bead, and a fragment of a quartz crystal. Pieces of cut antler and fragments of unidentified antler tools were also common.