History, Oral History and Archaeology: Reinterpreting the “Boat Places” of Erebus Bay
Historical and archaeological records are examined for three archaeological sites at Erebus Bay, King William Island, associated with the 1845 John Franklin expedition. Comparison of 19th century historical descriptions with archaeological data from sites NgLj-1 and NgLj-3 establishes that the ident...
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crarcticinstna:10.14430/arctic4649 2024-06-09T07:42:05+00:00 History, Oral History and Archaeology: Reinterpreting the “Boat Places” of Erebus Bay Stenton, Douglas R. Park, Robert W. 2017 http://dx.doi.org/10.14430/arctic4649 http://arctic.journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/arctic/index.php/arctic/article/viewFile/4649/4846 unknown The Arctic Institute of North America http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ARCTIC volume 70, issue 2, page 203 ISSN 1923-1245 0004-0843 journal-article 2017 crarcticinstna https://doi.org/10.14430/arctic4649 2024-05-14T12:53:42Z Historical and archaeological records are examined for three archaeological sites at Erebus Bay, King William Island, associated with the 1845 John Franklin expedition. Comparison of 19th century historical descriptions with archaeological data from sites NgLj-1 and NgLj-3 establishes that the identification of NgLj-1 as the site of the 1859 McClintock “boat place” is incorrect and that NgLj-3 is the actual site. An assessment of 19th century oral historical information and contemporary archaeological data from NgLj-2 supports the conclusion that a ship’s boat from the Franklin expedition was once located at the site, but its identification as the second “boat place” discovered by Inuit in 1861 is problematic. The study underscores interpretive risks associated with uncritical acceptance of historical and oral historical accounts and the importance of archaeological research in the reconstruction of events surrounding the fate of the Franklin expedition. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic inuit King William Island Arctic Institute of North America King William Island ENVELOPE(-97.418,-97.418,69.168,69.168) McClintock ENVELOPE(157.433,157.433,-80.217,-80.217) William Island ENVELOPE(-130.703,-130.703,54.035,54.035) ARCTIC 70 2 203 |
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Arctic Institute of North America |
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description |
Historical and archaeological records are examined for three archaeological sites at Erebus Bay, King William Island, associated with the 1845 John Franklin expedition. Comparison of 19th century historical descriptions with archaeological data from sites NgLj-1 and NgLj-3 establishes that the identification of NgLj-1 as the site of the 1859 McClintock “boat place” is incorrect and that NgLj-3 is the actual site. An assessment of 19th century oral historical information and contemporary archaeological data from NgLj-2 supports the conclusion that a ship’s boat from the Franklin expedition was once located at the site, but its identification as the second “boat place” discovered by Inuit in 1861 is problematic. The study underscores interpretive risks associated with uncritical acceptance of historical and oral historical accounts and the importance of archaeological research in the reconstruction of events surrounding the fate of the Franklin expedition. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Stenton, Douglas R. Park, Robert W. |
spellingShingle |
Stenton, Douglas R. Park, Robert W. History, Oral History and Archaeology: Reinterpreting the “Boat Places” of Erebus Bay |
author_facet |
Stenton, Douglas R. Park, Robert W. |
author_sort |
Stenton, Douglas R. |
title |
History, Oral History and Archaeology: Reinterpreting the “Boat Places” of Erebus Bay |
title_short |
History, Oral History and Archaeology: Reinterpreting the “Boat Places” of Erebus Bay |
title_full |
History, Oral History and Archaeology: Reinterpreting the “Boat Places” of Erebus Bay |
title_fullStr |
History, Oral History and Archaeology: Reinterpreting the “Boat Places” of Erebus Bay |
title_full_unstemmed |
History, Oral History and Archaeology: Reinterpreting the “Boat Places” of Erebus Bay |
title_sort |
history, oral history and archaeology: reinterpreting the “boat places” of erebus bay |
publisher |
The Arctic Institute of North America |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.14430/arctic4649 http://arctic.journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/arctic/index.php/arctic/article/viewFile/4649/4846 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-97.418,-97.418,69.168,69.168) ENVELOPE(157.433,157.433,-80.217,-80.217) ENVELOPE(-130.703,-130.703,54.035,54.035) |
geographic |
King William Island McClintock William Island |
geographic_facet |
King William Island McClintock William Island |
genre |
Arctic inuit King William Island |
genre_facet |
Arctic inuit King William Island |
op_source |
ARCTIC volume 70, issue 2, page 203 ISSN 1923-1245 0004-0843 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.14430/arctic4649 |
container_title |
ARCTIC |
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70 |
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2 |
container_start_page |
203 |
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1801370981865881600 |