Iqaluktuuq Archaeology Project

Text and Photographs by Max Friesen

Introduction

Aerial photo of Iqaluktuuq click to enlarge

Iqaluktuuq, meaning “place of many fish ”, is a short stretch of the Ekalluk River near Cambridge Bay. Modern elders recall it as a very important place for char fishing, and in past years caribou were hunted here in large numbers.

In 1999, the Kitikmeot Heritage Society decided that Iqaluktuuq should be studied by an archaeologist. They contacted Dr. Max Friesen, an archaeologist at the University of Toronto, and since then annual summer field camps have brought together elders, youth, and archaeologists to record and collect important information, and also to provide Inuinnaqtun immersion opportunities for youth. The combination of traditional knowledge and archaeology has revealed that Iqaluktuuq is one of the most important archaeological areas in Nunavut. This project is supported by the Department of Culture, Language, Elders & Youth, the Polar Continental Shelf Project, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

The cultural history of Iqaluktuuq is divided into several periods. For the past 750 years, Iqaluktuuq was inhabited by Inuit, including their early ancestors who are known as “Thule Inuit”. Before Inuit, the land was occupied by very different people whom Inuit knew as “Tuniit”, who first arrived in the region over 4000 years ago. Archaeologists call Tuniit by several names, with later Tuniit called Dorset, and the most ancient Tuniit known as Pre-Dorset.

Through elders’ knowledge, and archaeology, we can begin to understand something about how these ancient people lived. Follow the links to find out about the different people who lived at Iqaluktuuq over the past 4000 years. The buttons on the left are arranged in order from modern times at the top, to the oldest archaeological period at the bottom.