Archaeological Investigations at the Ikirahak Site Raise Questions Concerning Taltheilei Land Use in Southern Nunavut
We report a new Taltheilei site-type found off the west coast of Hudson Bay in southern Nunavut. The Taltheilei is an archaeological culture that existed in the Barrenlands of the central Canadian Subarctic between 2600 and 300 years ago. Their land use strategies were tethered to the seasonal migra...
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ftunivcalgaryojs:oai:journalhosting.ucalgary.ca:article/69516 2023-05-15T14:19:02+02:00 Archaeological Investigations at the Ikirahak Site Raise Questions Concerning Taltheilei Land Use in Southern Nunavut Butler, Don H. Pickering, Sean J. Dawson, Peter C. 2019-12-18 application/pdf https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/view/69516 eng eng The Arctic Institute of North America https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/view/69516/53746 https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/view/69516 Copyright (c) 2019 ARCTIC ARCTIC; Vol. 72 No. 4 (2019): December:337-484; 413-433 1923-1245 0004-0843 archéologie culture taltheilei Nunavut landes utilisation des terres mobilité saisonnalité chasse au caribou info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion research-article 2019 ftunivcalgaryojs 2022-07-03T17:29:58Z We report a new Taltheilei site-type found off the west coast of Hudson Bay in southern Nunavut. The Taltheilei is an archaeological culture that existed in the Barrenlands of the central Canadian Subarctic between 2600 and 300 years ago. Their land use strategies were tethered to the seasonal migrations of the Beverly and Qamanirjuaq caribou herds throughout tundra and forest landscapes. Tundra-based sites are typically interpreted as short-lived summer camps, but our discovery of three unique pit-house sites on the shores of Maguse Lake raises new questions concerning diversity in Taltheilei tundra land use. Architectural, faunal, lithic, and geoarchaeological data recovered from the Ikirahak site (JjKs-7) support the hypothesis that Taltheilei groups were extending their tundra stays into the fall. We report the evidence from four excavated pit-house features. Terraced platforms along the internal perimeters of these houses suggest they were designed for cold season use. The faunal assemblage is dominated by caribou remains. Higher relative frequencies of appendicular elements suggest a focus on secondary butchering. A large fraction of the faunal assemblage is highly fragmented and calcined, which is consistent with heavy processing and the use of bone as an alternative fuel source. Higher frequencies of lithic debris around dwelling floor perimeters are suggestive of maintenance activities. Multi-element concentrations in dwelling and site-wide sediments also show that hearth refuse was dumped outside. These findings seem to reflect longer tundra occupations during fall, a land use strategy that was likely guided by Qamanirjuaq herd behaviour specific to the Maguse Lake area, fall hunting and processing goals, and ecologically couched mobility logistics. As just four pit-houses from one Taltheilei camp have been investigated to date, our understanding of these places within Taltheilei worlds and northern socio-ecologies is currently limited. Further research at Ikirahak, the other Maguse Lake pit-house ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Hudson Bay Nunavut Subarctic Tundra University of Calgary Journal Hosting Hudson Hudson Bay Maguse Lake ENVELOPE(-95.167,-95.167,61.617,61.617) Nunavut ARCTIC 72 4 413 433 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Calgary Journal Hosting |
op_collection_id |
ftunivcalgaryojs |
language |
English |
topic |
archéologie culture taltheilei Nunavut landes utilisation des terres mobilité saisonnalité chasse au caribou |
spellingShingle |
archéologie culture taltheilei Nunavut landes utilisation des terres mobilité saisonnalité chasse au caribou Butler, Don H. Pickering, Sean J. Dawson, Peter C. Archaeological Investigations at the Ikirahak Site Raise Questions Concerning Taltheilei Land Use in Southern Nunavut |
topic_facet |
archéologie culture taltheilei Nunavut landes utilisation des terres mobilité saisonnalité chasse au caribou |
description |
We report a new Taltheilei site-type found off the west coast of Hudson Bay in southern Nunavut. The Taltheilei is an archaeological culture that existed in the Barrenlands of the central Canadian Subarctic between 2600 and 300 years ago. Their land use strategies were tethered to the seasonal migrations of the Beverly and Qamanirjuaq caribou herds throughout tundra and forest landscapes. Tundra-based sites are typically interpreted as short-lived summer camps, but our discovery of three unique pit-house sites on the shores of Maguse Lake raises new questions concerning diversity in Taltheilei tundra land use. Architectural, faunal, lithic, and geoarchaeological data recovered from the Ikirahak site (JjKs-7) support the hypothesis that Taltheilei groups were extending their tundra stays into the fall. We report the evidence from four excavated pit-house features. Terraced platforms along the internal perimeters of these houses suggest they were designed for cold season use. The faunal assemblage is dominated by caribou remains. Higher relative frequencies of appendicular elements suggest a focus on secondary butchering. A large fraction of the faunal assemblage is highly fragmented and calcined, which is consistent with heavy processing and the use of bone as an alternative fuel source. Higher frequencies of lithic debris around dwelling floor perimeters are suggestive of maintenance activities. Multi-element concentrations in dwelling and site-wide sediments also show that hearth refuse was dumped outside. These findings seem to reflect longer tundra occupations during fall, a land use strategy that was likely guided by Qamanirjuaq herd behaviour specific to the Maguse Lake area, fall hunting and processing goals, and ecologically couched mobility logistics. As just four pit-houses from one Taltheilei camp have been investigated to date, our understanding of these places within Taltheilei worlds and northern socio-ecologies is currently limited. Further research at Ikirahak, the other Maguse Lake pit-house ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Butler, Don H. Pickering, Sean J. Dawson, Peter C. |
author_facet |
Butler, Don H. Pickering, Sean J. Dawson, Peter C. |
author_sort |
Butler, Don H. |
title |
Archaeological Investigations at the Ikirahak Site Raise Questions Concerning Taltheilei Land Use in Southern Nunavut |
title_short |
Archaeological Investigations at the Ikirahak Site Raise Questions Concerning Taltheilei Land Use in Southern Nunavut |
title_full |
Archaeological Investigations at the Ikirahak Site Raise Questions Concerning Taltheilei Land Use in Southern Nunavut |
title_fullStr |
Archaeological Investigations at the Ikirahak Site Raise Questions Concerning Taltheilei Land Use in Southern Nunavut |
title_full_unstemmed |
Archaeological Investigations at the Ikirahak Site Raise Questions Concerning Taltheilei Land Use in Southern Nunavut |
title_sort |
archaeological investigations at the ikirahak site raise questions concerning taltheilei land use in southern nunavut |
publisher |
The Arctic Institute of North America |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/view/69516 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-95.167,-95.167,61.617,61.617) |
geographic |
Hudson Hudson Bay Maguse Lake Nunavut |
geographic_facet |
Hudson Hudson Bay Maguse Lake Nunavut |
genre |
Arctic Hudson Bay Nunavut Subarctic Tundra |
genre_facet |
Arctic Hudson Bay Nunavut Subarctic Tundra |
op_source |
ARCTIC; Vol. 72 No. 4 (2019): December:337-484; 413-433 1923-1245 0004-0843 |
op_relation |
https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/view/69516/53746 https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/view/69516 |
op_rights |
Copyright (c) 2019 ARCTIC |
container_title |
ARCTIC |
container_volume |
72 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
413 |
op_container_end_page |
433 |
_version_ |
1766290570316087296 |