NATIONAL MUSEUM OF MANMERCURY SERIESARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEYOF CANADA PAPER NO. 131

,.MUSEE NATIONAL DE L'HOMME

COLLECTION MERCURECOMMISSION ARCHEOLOGIQUE

DU CANADA DOSSIER N° 131

Effects of Nineteenth Century European Exploration on the Development

of the Netsilik lnuit Culture

by

James M. Savelle

-Reprinted from: THE FRANKLIN ERA INCANADIAN ARCTIC HISTORY

1845 - 1859

Edited by Patricia D. Sutherland

? --

Courtesy Public Archives of Canada(C-1352)

Not here: the white north hath thy bones, and thouHeroic Sailor Soul

Art Passing on thy happier voyage nowToward no earthly pole.

Alfred, Lord T enn~'lSonEpitaph !or Sir clohn Franklin

ii

EFFECTS OF NINETEENTH CENTtTHY EUROPEAN EXPLORATION ONTHE DEVELOPMENT OF THE NETSILIK INUIT CtTLTtTRE

JamesM. Savelle

Department of Anthropology, University of Alberta

Abstract

Nineteenth century European exploration in the BoothiaPeninsula-KingWilliamIsland-AdelaidePeninsula region resulted in little sustained direct contact with indigenous Netsilik Inuit,and the impact of direct explorerilnuit interaction on cultural developmentwas relativelyminor. The abandonment of the Vict,-jr~) and associated materials in Lor-dMayor Bay in1832 by John Ross, and the abandonment of the Erebus and Terr,-j]' and associated materials

in the King William Island region by surviving members of the Sir John Franklin expeditionin 1848, however, introduced vast quantities of potentially saIvable rare and exotic materialssuch as iron, copper, tin and wood.Recent archaeological investigations and museumresearchdesigned to determine the nature and extent of the post-abandonment utilization of thismaterial are discussed. Whileconfirming previous reports of substantial utilization, the results,when int~grated with relevant data from ethnohistorical literature, also suggest that thisutilization resulted in significant changes in intra- and intergroup relationships.

R~sum~

L'exploration europeenne dans la region de la presqu'l1e de Boothia, de l'l1e King Williamet de la presqu'iJe Adelaide au Xme siec!e n'entraina que peu de contacts directs soutenusavec les lnuit Netsilik, et l'incidence de contacts directs entre les explorateurs et leslnuit sur le developpement culturel fut relativement faible. L'abandon par John Ross duVictor~) et de son materiel en 1832 dans la hie Lord Mayor, et l'abandon en 1848 deI'Erebus et du T eJ"J"{.jret de leur materiel dans la region de l'l1e King William par lesmembres survivants de l'expedition de Sir John Franklin, introduisit toutefois de vastesquantites de materiaux rares et exotiques pouvant etre recuperes, notamment du fer, ducuivre, de l'etain et du bois. Il est question de proceder a des fouilles archeologiques eta des recherches museologiquesen vue de determiner la nature et l'importance de l'utilisationde ces objets apres leur abandon. Tout en confirmant des rapports anterieurs evoquantune utilisation substantielle, les resultats, si on les integre aux donnees pertinentes desouvrages ethno-historiques, sugg~rent une utilisation qui entraina des changements importantsdans les relations entre les groupes, et a l'interieur de ces derniers.

192

Introduction:

In recent years, ethnohistorical andarchaeological research has shown thatEuropean contact, either directly orindirectly, had significantly altered manyCanadian Inuit societies prior to the firstdetailed ethnographic studies relating tothem (e.g. Ross 1975,1980,Jordan and Kaplan1980; Hickey 1984; see also Trigger 1981).These studies have important implicationssince such. societies, as first described byethnographers, have come to occupy aunique place in anthropological literatureas representative of "pristine" Inuit culture.As a result, they have figured prominentlyin acculturation studies, cross-culturalcomparisons, and in general models ofhunter-gatherer societies.

For Inuit groups inhabiting the BoothiaPeninsula, King William Island and AdelaidePeninsula region -- the central "link"

EUROPEAN EXPLORATION AND NETSELIK INUIT CULTURE

of the North-west Passage -- the firstethnographic study was conducted by KnudRasmussen in 1923 (Rasmussen 1927, 1931).More recent studies include those by Balikci(1964, 1970, 1984) and Damas (1968, 1969).During the century prior to Rasmussen'sinvestigations, a number of European andEuroamerican expeditions had entered thearea (Table i), and although several haddirect contact with indigenous Inuit groups,the effects on cultural development appearto have been minimal. Indirect contact,however, in the form of the introduction ~of large quantities of rare and exoticmati!rials such as iron, copper, tin and woodfollowing the abandonment of ships andlarge caches, appears to have hadconsiderable impact. Two expeditions are ofparticular importance in this regard: thatof John Ross in 1829-33, and that of SirJohn Franklin in 1845-48.

Table 1: Expeditions into the Boothia Peninsula-King William Island-AdelaidePeninsula region between 1829 and 1923.

193

E:xpedition Leader

VICTORIA

ISLAND

~. BOOTH lAPENINSULA

FRANKLlN

1848

..

~ROSS

1832

'u '~(J)

~Figure 1: Locations of abandoned ships (triangles) and other materials (hexagons) fromthe expeditions of John Ross (1829-33) and Sir John Franklin (1845-48) in the centralCanadian Arctic.ItI(iI

X~

'"J

The Ross expedition spent three years,1829-32, in the Lord Mayor Bay area on theeast coast of Boothia Peninsula. Ross hadconsiderable difficulty with the steamengine of the expedition ship Victo~), andabandoned most parts of the engine at FelixHarbour in 1830. The expedition spent thefirst winter at Felix Harbour, the secondwinter at Sheriff Harbour (approximately5 kilometers to the northeast), and thethird winter at Victoria Harbour (app-roximately 20 kilometers northeast ofSheriff Harbour. The Victo~) itself, alongwith a smaller launch, the Krusenstern, anda stores depot, were abandoned at VictoriaHarbour in 1832. Ross spent the fourthwinter of the expedition at Fury Beach onSomerset Island, and was finally rescued bythe whaler lsabella in August 1833 northof Baffin Island.

EUROPEAN EXPLORATION AND NETSELII< INUIT CULTURE

In 1848,16 years after the abandonmentof the Victo~) and associated materials, theErebus and Terror were abandonednorthwest of King William Island by thesurvi ving members of the Franklin ex-pedition. Probably by no later than theautumn of the same year, ships' boats,various supplies, and ultimately humancorpses, were scattered along the west andsouth coasts of King William Island andalong the north coast of Adelaide Peninsula.At least one of the abandoned ships app-arently drifted to the vicinity of O'ReillyIsland.

The locations of abandoned ships andknown or probable locations of substantialquantities of other abandoned materialsfrom the Ross and Franklin expeditions areshown in Figure 1. The remainder of this

Figure 2: Remains of Victo~'s engine parts on McDiarmid's Island, Felix Harbour.

195

J AMES M. SA VELLE

paper will briefly describe recent arch-aeological and museum research which wasdesigned to determine the effects of theintroduction of this abandoned material onthe indigenous Inuit groups, in particularthe Netsilik Inuit, and will summarize theresults of these investigations.

Archaeological Investigations

Archaeological investigations inconnection with the project were conductedin 1980, 1981 and 1982. The 1980 fieldresearch concentrated primarily on footand helicopter surveys of selected areas ofSomerset and Prince of Wales islands andneigh boring smaller islands, in an attemptto determine the nature and extent ofnineteenth century Inuit occupations in theregion and the relationships of suchoccupations to European exploration. Theresults suggested that such occupationswere very restricted and that nineteenthcentury European presence in this area,both direct and indirect, elicited littleresponse from the Netsilik Inuit to thesouth and the Iglulik Inuit to the east(Savelle 1981;but see also Wenzel 1979, 1984a,1984b for alternate approaches and inter-pretations).

Archaeological investigations in 1981and 1982 again included foot and helicoptersurveys, and concentrated upon theexamination of (a) known or probablelocali ties of abandoned Ross and Franklinexpedition materials, and (b) con-temporaneous and later Inuit sites in thesame regions.

Ross Expedition Localities:

Felix Harbour: Ross deposited most of theVicto~1'S engine parts on McDiarmid's Island,which forms the south margin of theharbour, and on the north side of thechannel that separates McDiarmid's Islandfrom the mainland (Ross 1835:182, 205, 467).As shown in Figures 2 and 3, the engineparts even today represent a considerable

source of iron. Evidence of Inuit "quarrying"or "mining" of the iron is considerable, withsubstantial quantities of debris resultingfrom hammering and chipping of thematerial occurring in association (Figure 4).

Victoria Harbour: Ross abandoned theVictor~ while it was frozen in the ice inthe harbour, but left the Krusenstern andvarious stores well up on the shore of thenorth side of the harbour (Ross 1835:641,PI. 26). In addition, a number of scientificinstruments were concealed in a "tunnel"(trench?), possibly on the north shore ofthe harbour (Ross 1835: 643) or in a series ~of stone caches (Huish 1835). The Victor:;apparently remained in the harbour for twoyears following its subsequent discovery byNetsilik Inuit (Gibson 1929).

Victoria Harbour has been a popularcollecting locality for Arctic historyenthusiasts for a number of years, andconsequently the original patterns of debrisdistribution are difficult to determine.However, judging from other collectionsexamined in the course of the study, andfrom the field investigations, it appearsthat utilization of the abandoned materialwas extensive. Very little material, relativeto the original quantities, remains at thesite or is present in previous collections.What remains is primarily iron debris verysimilar to that at Felix Harbour.

Franklin Expedition Localities:

Franklin expedition localities examinedduring the 1981 and 1982 field seasonsincluded three which had been previouslyidentified as potential sources of sig-nificant quantities of abandoned material:Starvation Cove (Nourse 1879; Amundsen1908; Stack pole 1965), Montreal Island(Anderson 1856, 1857), and O'Reilly Island(Nourse 1879, Wonders 1968). In addition,several locations at which Franklinexpedition skeletal remains had beenpreviously reported were also examined,including Booth Point (Nourse 1879),PefferRiver (Nourse 1879;Stackpole 1965),Tulloch

196

EUROPEAN EXPLORATION AND NETSELIK INUIT CULTURE

,!

Figure 3: Remains of Victl.,r~,J's engine parts on the north side of the channel separatingMcDiarmid's Island from the mainland, Felix Harbour.

Figure 4: Iron debris resulting from the post-abandonment utilization of the VictoJ~)'Sengine parts, Felix Harbour.

197

IRON DEBITAGE . 0VICTORYENGINEPARTS .....

ra1.J.Jra1>«

(J)

~111ra1J:«'":I

to0-.......

FELlX HARBOUR

0 m 200

Figure 5: Distribution of iron debris resulting from the post-abandonment utilization ofthe Victo~'s engine parts, Felix Harbour. Contours approximate.

EUROPEAN EXPLORATION AND NETSELIK INUIT CULTURE

DRIFTWOOD - 0 "-

EXPEDITION DEBRIS .\

tN

~

O'REILLY

ISLAND

0 km 5

Figure 6: Distribution of probable Franklin expedition material and driftwood on O'ReillyIsland. Surveyed coast is indicated by parallel diagonal lines.

199

JAMES M. SAVELLE

Point (Gibson 1932, 1937; Stack pole 1965),Todd Islands (Nourse 1879;Gibson 1932,1937),Douglas Bay (Gibson 1932, 1937) andStarvation Cove. Owen Beattie, as a physicalanthropologist, was invited to accompanythe field crew for three weeks during the1981 season, in case any skeletal remainswere actually located. This aspect of theproject has been described in detailelsewhere (Beat tie and Savelle 1983), andBeattie's continued work in the area isdescribed in this volume.

Very little non-skeletal material wasnoted at the Franklin expedition locations.No material was found at Starvation Cove,and only a few pieces of worked iron werenoted at Anderson's (1856,1857)"boat place"on Montreal Island. O'Reilly Island was theonly locality visited where significantquantities of material that probably relatesto the Franklin expedition occurred. Whilemost was found in archaeological contextsin Inuit sites, several of the largerfragments occurred as drift material inassociation with driftwood along thecoastal areas of the island (Figure 6).

Booth Point and Todd Islands were theonly locations at which Franklin expeditionskeletal remains were noted. At Booth Point,the skeletal remains were scattered aroundthe periphery of an elongated pattern ofstones which probably held down amakeshift tent (Figure 7). A clay pipe stemand a shell button were the only itemsfound in association. On the Todd Islands(examined in 1982), the remains of two andpossibly three members of the Franklinexpedition were located. The remains werelocated on a long, low sand spit on thesouthwestern coast of the largest of theislands. These expedition members wereapparently part of a party of at least fivewho perished on the Todd Island group. Thebodies were originally reported to Hall in1869 (Nourse 1879: 400-01>, and four werelater found by Gibson (1932, 1937) in 1931.Two of these were on the spit noted above,and were buried beneath a small cairn by

Gibson. The two skeletons, or at leastportions thereof, under the cairn appear tohave been disturbed since that time.Approximately 100 meters from the cairn,and scattered over an area of approximately50 m2, a number of other human skeletalelements, probably representing a thirdindividual, were found. All five of theindividuals reported to Hall would thusappear to have been accounted for. Anexamination of skeletal remains at TullochPoint, which had previously been reportedby Schwatka (Stackpole 1965:97) and Gibson(1937: 69) and believed by them to beFranklin expedition members, weredetermined to be historic Inuit burials(Beattie and Savelle 1983: 104). Finally, anexamination of the cairn in Douglas Bay,in which Gibson (1932,1937)appears to haveburied the remains of at least seven ~Franklin expedition members, indicated thatall material had since been removed.

Historic Inuit Sites:

Following the examination of the sourcelocalities, much of the remaining fieldinvestigations concentrated upon thedetermination of the distribution andmodification of the introduced materialsthrough the excavation of nineteenth andearly twentieth century Inuit sites.Appropriate surveys and excavations wereconducted near the source localities and intraditionally occupied areas away from thesource localities, such as Netsilik River,Netsilik Lake, Thom Bay, inner Lord MayorBay, and along the south coast of KingWilliam Island. Details of the surveys andexcavations will not be given here, exceptto note one site of particular historicalinterest at Sheriff Harbour. The site issituated immediately west of SheriffHarbour, and includes four tent rings andan external hearth (Figure 8) which are theremains of an Inuit camp depicted in awatercolour painted by Ross during hisexpedition (Figures 9 and 10), and modifiedsomewhat for publication (Ross 1835:SiB, PI.21).

200

EUROPEAN EXPLORATION AND NETSELIK INUIT CULTURE

Figure 7: Scattered stone tent ring with Franklin expedition member skull fragments incentre foreground, Booth Point, King William Island. Tent ring measures approximately 3x6meters.

Figure 8: Remains of the four tent rings associated with the four tents depicted in thewatercolour painted by Ross at Sheriff Harbour, August 1831(see Figures 9 and 10).

201

NCl('.J

to1..J..Jto1:>-«

(J)

:E111to1::£«

>-:I

Figure 9: Watercolour painted by Ross depicting scene at Sheriff Harbour, August 1831.Modified scene appears in Ross (1835: 518, PI. 21). The original is in the Picture Collectionof the Scott Polar Research Institute, and is reproduced here with the Institute's permission.

EUROPEAN EXPLORATION AND NETSELIK INUIT CULTURE

Figure 10: Sheriff Harbour as viewed from the perspective of Figure 9. The four tentrings associated with the four tents in Ross' watercolour are located on the hill in themiddle ground.

Figure 11:Remains of Parry's cache at Fury Beach, Somerset Island, deposited in 1825.

203

J AMES M. SA VELLE

Although several of the sitesinvestigated contain trade items such asneedles and beads, which were typicallycarried by expeditions, most Europeanmaterial consists of modified or workedpieces of metal and wood obtained from theabandoned ships or from caches.

Museum Investigations

Museum investigations related to thepresent study were carried out in Oslo,London, Cambridge and Yellowknife. In Oslo,the investigations concentrated upon theexamination of Netsilik and Ookjulik Inuit(treated here as separate groups) artifactscollected by Amundsen during his two yearsresidence (1903-05) on King William Island.This material is housed in the Universityof Oslo Ethnographic Museum, and has beenreported in detail by Taylor (1974).Museuminvestigations in London involved theexamination of collections made by variousFranklin search expeditions (especiallythose of Rae, McClintock and Schwatka) inthe King William Island-Boothia Peninsula-Adelaide Peninsula region, and which arecurrently housed in the National MaritimeMuseum. At Cambridge, the research in-volved the examination of severalunpublished sources relating to the Rossexpedition, currently housed in the ScottPolar Research Institute. Finally, in Ye-llowknife, investigations concentrated onthe examination of modified material (pri-marily iron) previously collected fromVictoria Harbour and currently housed inthe Prince of Wales Northern HeritageCentre. All of the above investigationsconcentrated upon the determination of (a)the nature and extent of use of the ab-andoned expedition materials, and (b) thesource, where it could be determined, of thematerial.

Summary of Results

Changes in indigenous Inuit culturewhich were related to nineteenth centuryEuropean exploration occur in both

material culture and in inter- andintragroup relationships. The limitedamount and modified condition of mostmaterials at the source localities suggeststhat a tremendous quantity of iron, copper,tin, wood and other material was in-corporated into the Inuit material culturesystem. This is particularly well illustratedif the Ross and Franklin expeditionlocalities are compared with Parry's cacheat Fury Beach on Somerset Island (Figure11). This cache was established by Parryin 1825, .!'1d although utilized by Ross in1832-33 and visited by a number of later ~expeditions, it was left essentially un-touched by Inuit during the nineteenth andearly twentieth centuries.

With the introduction of the expeditionmaterial, the use of several traditional andlocally available materials was drasticallyreduced. For example, ground slate, whichpreviously had been used extensively forvarious types of knife, lance, harpoon andarrow blades, is extremely rare in allhistoric archaeological and ethnographicalcollections from the area. Instead iron,copper, tin and occasionally brass, con-stitute the primary material from whichblades were made. There was also somereplacement of soapstone pots with copperpots, and bone rivets were almost entirelyreplaced by ri vets of copper and iron. Theuse of wood also increased dramatically;sleds, traditionally made from frozen fishwrapped in sealskin, and occasionally madeentirely from ice, were replaced with sledsconstructed from wood.

These changes in materials, however,were for the most part not accompanied bycorresponding changes in form or function.With the exception of a few minor itemssuch as saws, modelled after surgeons' saws,and scissors, hunting and domestictechnologies appear to have remainedunchanged.

Less obvious but in many respects moreimportant effects, however, appear to have

204

occurred in the relationships between thevarious Inuit groups inhabiting the BoothiaPeninsula-King William Island-AdelaidePeninsula region. By combining the resultsof the archaeological and museum in-vestigations with ethnohistorical infor-mation contained in the various explorers'accounts and early ethnographies (Table 1),it is possible to suggest the sequence ofevents which is summarized below.

Prior to the Ross expedition, theNetsilik Inuit groups inhabiting the BoothiaPeninsula region appear to have obtainediron (although in small quantities) throughtrade with the Iglulik Inuit from MelvillePeninsula and with the Utkuhikjalik Inuitfrom the Back River. Wood, primarilydriftwood, was obtained through trade withthe Ookjulik Inuit of King William Islandand Adelaide Peninsula. Thus the Netsilikoccupied the terminal position of severaltrade networks (Figure 12).

With the abandonment of the VictoI"$engine parts at Felix Harbour and of theVictor~ and Krusenstern at VictoriaHarbour, however, the situation wasreversed. The Netsilik now had direct accessto material that previously had figuredprominently in the trade networks. Tradingrelationships with the neighboring groups,along with corresponding social relat-ionships, were probably considerablydisrupted (Figure 13). This breakdown inrelationships would have been especiallyserious for the Ookjulik Inuit, whoseprimary trade item was wood, and who,because of the relatively marginal sub-sistence resources of Adelaide Peninsula andKing William Island, would have dependedupon extensive intergroup relationships forsecurity during periods of resourcescarcity.

When the Erebus and Terror wereabandoned off the northwestern coast ofKing William Island in 1848, the Ookjulikstill apparently inhabited AdelaidePeninsula and King William Island. It was

EUROPEAN EXPLORATION AND NETSILIK INUIT CULTURE

primarily the Ookjulik who met members ofthe Franklin expedition attempting to reachthe Back River, and it was the Ookjulikwho originally had access to abandonedFranklin expedition materials (Figure 14).

Shortly after the abandonment of theErebus and Terror, perhaps within two orthree years, Netsilik Inuit from BoothiaPeninsula moved into the eastern part ofthe traditional Ookjulik area, apparently toacquire abandoned Franklin expeditionmaterials. As a result, the Ookjulik terr-itory was substantially reduced and/orshifted to the west (Figure 15). This dis- ~placement of the Ookjulik by the Netsilik,although apparently a response to thenewly introduced Franklin expeditionmaterials, would have been facilitated bythe previous disruption of relationshipsbetween the two groups from 1832 onwards.Throughout approximately the next 30years, Franklin materials were apparentlywidely circulated amongst the Netsilik, aswere the materials still being introducedfrom the abandoned Ross expedition shipsand caches. In addition, trade items fromwhalers in northwestern Hudson Bay beganto enter the region during this period.

As the importance of the centres ofabandoned materials declined due todepletion, extensive trade networks appearto have been re-established betweenNetsilik and Iglulik groups, with the latternow obtaining a large variety of Europeangoods from whalers in Hudson Bay. Duringthe next 20 to 30 years a considerablenumber of Netsilik Inuit in fact migratedto the Hudson Bay area in order to tradedirectly with whalers (Damas 1968, 1969,1984). In addition, Netsilik from King WilliamIsland and Adelaide Peninsula apparentlymoved east, back toward their originalterritory, although several local groupsremained in the vicinity of the east coastof King William Island (Figure 16). Alsoduring this period, the Ookjulik appear tohave initiated (or intensified?) trade withCopper Inuit on Victoria Island to the west.

205

J AMES M. SA VELLE

However, the attempt apparently met withlittle success, as there is no evidence tosuggest sustained trading networks.

During the early twentieth century, asevere winter resulted in a famine amongstthe Ookjulik, the surviving members mergedwith the Utkuhikjalik on the Back River,and their abandoned region was reoccupiedby the Netsilik. Significantly, the apparentreason for this last Netsilik movement wasthe abundant driftwood on the west coastof Adelaide Peninsula.

In 1923, when Knud Rasumussenconducted the first ethnographic fieldworkamongst the Netsilik, significant quantitiesof iron were being obtained through tradewith both the Utkuhikjalik from the BackRiver and the Iglulik from MelvillePeninsula, and occasionally directly fromnewly established trading posts at BakerLake and Repulse Bay. Wood, primarilydriftwood, was obtained from a localNetsilik group on Adelaide Peninsula (Figure17).

Rasmussen described the Netsilik, as heencountered them in 1923, in the followingterms:

Cut off from the surrounding world byice-filled seas and enormous tracklesswastes, a little handful of peoplecallingthemselves Netsilingmiut(the SealEskimos)have been suffered to live their ownlife,entirely untrammelledby outsideinfluence,right up to the present time.(Rasmussen1931:84)

The present study suggests that severalvery important changes had occurred in theNetsilik area as a result of outsideinfluence, including the virtual dis-appearance of the Ookjulik Inuit. However,in several respects, Rasmussen may wellhave been describing a "traditional"situation. Considering again the situationat the time of the original contact by Ross(Figure 12), trade relationships wereessentially identical. Wood was obtained

from a local, but culturally distinct, groupon Adelaide Peninsula, while iron wasobtained from groups on the Back River andMelville Peninsula. If trading posts andvarious government and other agencies hadnot been permanently established in thearea from 1923 onwards, it is quite possiblethat the local Netsilik group on AdelaidePeninsula, through time, would havedeveloped as a distinct cultural group --at least as culturally distinct from theBoothia Peninsula Netsilik as were theOokjulik.

Discussion

The present study outlines theimportance of considering indirect as wellas direct contact in assessing the responseof Inuit groups to European andEuroamerican exploration. Furthermore, itwould suggest that such contacts may havecaused abrupt and turbulent changes inindigenous Inuit societies, primarilythrough the disruption of various trading,and corresponding social, relationships.Such changes, however, at least among theNetsilik, were not irreversible. Finally, therapid displacement and eventual dis-appearance of the Ookjulik perhapsexplains the general paucity of first-handInuit accounts of the Franklin expeditionfollowing the abandonment of the ErebuS'and Terror. By the time that the firstsearch expeditions entered the area, mostInuit who would have had contact with theFranklin expedition had already beendisplaced, and by the time of the firstinuktituut-speaking ethnographer, KnudRasmussen, they had essentially disappearedas a distinct cultural group.

206

~

o~'..

N0......

...~

;;;;-.....

INUIT GROUPS:

N- NETSILlK1- IGLULlK0 - OOKJULlKU - UTKUHIKJALlKC - COPPER

~. BOOTHlAPENINSULA/- ---,/

I

0

"'" V ~ .G

'\.. ~" / 1" '- - ../, MELVILLE- l ,/~o PENIN;;ULA'" //

/ IPrior to 1832,/ ~Repulse Bay

km 200,.\

tr:Ic::::00"f:I:I»ztr:I>

~.~O_'B

OOTHlA /, ~ '\I . \

PENINSULA n 'VI'CTORY' 1832- --- \

WOODIRON

COPP~R,.0,., "-?J "-~

NCl...0

BOOTHIA fc~'--6""'" "PENINSULAI ' \- """'- \/ ~/ - ," '.. \\ ""

"- ""\

~

;...--

"-\

", /'-- - -.;'"d

N - NETSILlK1- IGLULlK0 - OOKJULlKU - UTKUHIKJALlKC - COPPER 0 km 200

MELVILLE\ /

PENIN)'ULA

//

(/ I(I\

tTjc:~0"11tIJ)-ZtTj><"11I:'"0~)-..f...0z)-z0ZtIJ..f1,/1...I:'"...:0:

INUIT GROUPS:\

""""_/"...

/'

//

/

1848 - 1850?

Figure 14: Probable distribution of Inuit groups and associated trade networks in thecentral Canadian Arctic following the abandonment of the Erebus and Terror and relatedmaterials in 1848.

....zc:.....f0c:I:'"..fc:~tIJ

~. BOOTHIA-/'PENINSULA11

d c.....N-

INUIT GROUPS:\" /'-'--/N - NETSILlK

1- IGLULIK0 - OOKJULIKU - UTKUHIKJALlKC - COPPER

//

//

"-

\\ 0\ [

1850? - 1880 Ikm 200

(iI.J.J(iI>«

(J')

~U1(iI::E«

'"'J

Figure 15: Probable distribution of Inuit groups and associated trade networks in thecentral Canadian Arctic from approximately 1850-80.

N.........

:--- BOOTHlA /'pENINSULA /

\ ./--

km 200

tr:1c:~0"t'J»:zItr:1>

~

~

I~ ~.0

INUIT GROUPS:

N- NETSILlK1- IGLULlK0 - OOKJULlKU - UTKUHIKJALlKC - COPPER

fa).:J.:Jfa)>«UJ:EtI'Ifa):E«

'"')

..

~

t). BOOTHIAPENINSULA

". ......., "-

'\~ '\

'\\ "

"-'\

'\

\

'\I

-,'\

'\ ----- 'u NoMNMELVILLE\ /

PENINSULA

/'

/I

II

/,/

/III

I....... "

\\ ?\

1923km 200

Figure 17: Distribution of Inuit groups and associated trade networks in the centralCanadian Arctic at the time of Rasmussen's investigations in 1923.

Acknowledgements:

Assistance and logistic support in the field wasprovided by the Polar Continental Shelf Project,Department of Energy, Minesand Resources.Financialsupport was provided through the Boreal Institutefor Northern Studies Grant-in-Aid-of-ResearchProgram, the Arctic Institute of North AmericaGrant-in-Aid Program, the Northwest TerritoriesScience Advisory Board Student Assistance Program,and the Social Sciences and Humanities ResearchCouncil of Canada Doctoral Fellowship Program. Tothese organizations I extend my gratitude. The verycapable field assistance provided by Carol DignamandFrancis Piugattuk (1980>,MikeAleekee,Kovik Hiqiniqand Owen Beattie (1981>,Karen Digby-Savelle (1981and 1982), and Jimmy Uleekatalik (1982)is gratefullyacknowledged. Sincere appreciation is extended to Mr.Harald Beyer Broch, Head Curator of the Eth-nographical Museum, University of Oslo; Ms. AnnSavours, Assistant Keeper of the National MaritimeMuseum;Drs. Harry King, Librarian, and Clive Holland,Curator, of the Scott Polar ResearchInstitute; andDr. Robert Janes, Director of the Prince of WalesNorthern HeritageCentre,for permissionto examineethnographical and archaeological collections andarchival materialsat the respectiveinstitutions.

REFERENCES:

Amundsen, R. 1908. The North /lest Passage.London:Archibald Constable.

Anderson, J. 1856. "Letter from Chief Factor JamesAnderson, to Sir GeorgeSimpson,F.R.G.S.Communicatedby the Hudson's Bay Company."rlournal 01 theRq;al Geographical Societ~ Vol.26:18-25.

1857. "Extracts from Chief Factor JamesAnderson's arctic journal. Communicatedby Sir JohnRichardson." rlournal 01 the Ro~al Geo-graphical Societ~ Vol.27:321-28.

Back, G. 1836.Narrative 01 the Arctic LandExpedition to the mouth 01 the Great FishRiver and along the shores 01 the ArcticOcean in the ~ears J8.13, J834 and J835.London:JohnMurray.

EUROPEAN EXPLORATION AND NETSILIK INUIT CULTURE

Balikci, A. 1964.Development 01 basic socio-economic units in two Eslnino communities.

Ottawa: National Museumof Canada Bulletin No.202,AnthropologicalSeries No.69.

1968."The Netsilik Eskimos:adaptive processes."In ilan the Hunter, R. Lee and I. De Vore eds.,pp. 78-82. Chicago: Aldine.

1970.The Netsilik Eskimos. Garden City N.V.:Natural History Press.

1984. "Netsilik." In Handbook 01 NorthAmerican Indians, Vol. 5: 415-30.Washington:SmithsonianInstitution.

Beatti~, O.B. and J.M. Savelle. 1983."Discovery ofhuman remains from Sir John Franklin's lastexpedition." Historical Archaeolog~ Vol. 17 (2):100-05.

Cyriax, R.J. 1939. Sir rlohn Franklin's last ~expedition: a chapter in the histor~) 01 theRq;al Nav~. London:Methuen.

Damas, D. 1968. "The diversity of Central Eskimosocieties." In ilan the hunter, R. Lee and I Devoreeds., pp. 111-17.Chicago:Aldine.

1969."Environment, history, and Central Eskimosociety." In Ecological Essa~1 D.Damased., pp.40-64. Ottawa: National Museumof CanadaBulletinNo.230,AnthropologicalSeries No.86.

1984. "Central Eskimo: introduction." InHandbook 01 North American Indians, Vol.5: 391-96.Washington: Smithsonian Institution.

Gibson, W. 1929. "The 'Victor~' relics." TheBeaver Dec.1929,Outfit 260:311-12.

1932. "Somefurther traces of the Franklinretreat." Geographical rIournal Vol.79:402-08.

1937."Sir John Franklin's last voyage." TheBeaver June 1937,Outfit 268::44-75.

Gilder, W.H. 1881. Schwatka's search. London:SampsonLow,Marston, Searle and Rivington.

Hickey, C.G. 1984. "An examination of the processesof cultural change among the nineteenth centuryCopperInuit." Etudes/Inuit/Studies Vol.8: 13-35.

213

JAMES M. SA VELLE

Huish, R. 1835. The Last v°'9age o! Captainclohn Boss to the Arctic regions. London:Saunders.

Jordan, R.H. and S.A.Kaplan. 1980."An archaeologicalview of the Inuit/European contact period in CentralLabrador." Etudes/Inuit/Studies Vol4: 35-45.

King, R. 1836.Narrative o! a journ~ to theshores o! the Arctic Ocean in 1933, 1934and 1935 under the command o! Capt. Back.London: Richard Bentley.

HcClintock,F.L. 1859.The V~)age o! the aFox"in the Arctic seas. A narrative o! thediscover'9 o! the fate o! Sir clohn Franklinand his companions. London:JohnHurray.

Nourse, J.E. 1879. Narrative 01 the secondArctic expedition made b~)Charles F. Hall.Washington: Government Printing Office.

Rae,J. 1850.Narrative 01 an expedition tothe shores o! the Arctic Sea in 1946 and1947. London: T. and W. Bone.

1855. "Arctic exploration, with informationrespecting Sir John Franklin's missing party."clournal o! the B~)al Geographical Societ'9Vol. 22: 246-56.

Rasmussen, K. 1927. Across Arctic America:narrative o! the Fifth Thule Expedition. NewYork: G.P. Putnam's Sons.

1931.The Netsilik Eskimos: SocialliJeand spiritual culture. Reportof the Fifth ThuleExpedition, 1921-1924,Vol.8.

Ross, W.G.1975. Jlhaling and Eskimos: HudsonBa'9 1960-1915. Ottawa: National Huseumof HanPublications in EthnologyNo.10.

1980."Whaling,Inuit, and the Arctic islands."In A centur'9 o! Canada's Arctic Islands, H.Zaslowed., pp. 33-50.Ottawa: RoyalSociety of Canada.

Ross, J. 1835.Narrative o! a second v0'9agein search o! a North-west Passage. London:Webster.

Savelie, J.H. 1981."Thenature of nineteenth centuryInuit occupations of the High Arctic Islands ofCanada."Etudes/Inuit/Studies Vol.5 (2):109-23.

Simpson, T. 1843. Narrative o! the discoveries, on the north coast o! America. London:Bentley.

Taylor, J.G. 1974. Netsilik Eskimo materialculture: the Boald Amundsen collECtion fromKing Jlilliam Island. Oslo:Universitetsforlaget.

Trigger, B.G.1981."Archaeologyand the ethnographicpresent." Anthropologica Vol.23 (1):3-17.

Wenal, G. 1979. "Archaeological surmise andethnohistorical speculation: an example from theBarrow Strait region." Etudes/lnuit/Studies Vol.3 (2): 121-28.

1984a. "Nunamiut vs. Sikumiut: prehistoricCanadian politics." In Sikumiut: the people whouse the sea ice, A. Cooke and E. Van Alstineeds., pp. 31-40. Ottawa: Canadian Arctic ResourcesCommittee.

1984b. "Archaeological evidence for prehistoricInuit use of the sea-ice environment." In Sikumiut:the people who use the sea ice, A. CookeandE. Van Alstine eds., pp. 41-59.Ottawa: Canadian ArcticResourcesCommittee.

Wonders,W.C.1968."Search for Franklin." CanadianGeographical clournal Vol.76: 116-27.

214