Central Inuit Household Economies

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1 B/95324 Central Inuit Household Economies Zooarchaeological, environmental, and historical evidence from outer Frobisher Bay, Baffin Island, Canada Anne Stevens Henshaw BAR International Series

2 TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION: ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS PREFACE LIST OF TABLES LIST OF FIGURES LIST OF PLATES vii ix xi xiii xiii xv CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1 OBJECTIVES OF STUDY 1 THE STUDY OF COLONIAL ENCOUNTERS IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE 3 THE NATURE OF COLONIAL DISCOURSE ON SOUTHEAST BAFFIN ISLAND 4 Sources of data. 4 The distribution of contact 5 Environmental parameters 5 BACKGROUND TO PROJECT 6 ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE 6 CHAPTER 2: ECONOMY, ECOLOGY AND COLONIAL ENCOUNTERS IN THE ARCTIC 7 INTRODUCTION 7 A SUBSTANTTVIST APPROACH TO HUNTER-GATHERER ECONOMY 7 LOCATIONAL AND APPROPRIATIONAL MOVEMENTS IN THE ARCHAEOLOGY AND ETHNOGRAPHY OF INUIT ECONOMY: A REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE 8 Archaeological Perspectives '. 8 Ethnographic perspectives 9 LOCATION AND APPROPRIATION IN HISTORIC INUIT ECONOMIC FORMATIONS IN OUTER FROBISHER BAY 10 INUIT HOUSEHOLDING: A DYNAMIC MODEL OF HISTORIC INUIT ECONOMIC TRANSFORMATIONS 11 An investigation of the origins of householding in outer Frobisher Bay 11 CHAPTER 3: THE PHYSICAL AND BIOLOGICAL GEOGRAPHY OF SOUTH BAFFIN ISLAND INTRODUCTION 13 PHYSIOGRAPHY OF OUTER FROBISHER BAY 13 Vegetation 13 Temperature and Precipitation 13 Oceanography : 14 Sea ice 14 Outer Frobisher Bay polynya 14 STAPLE BIOLOGICAL RESOURCES IN OUTER FROBISHER BAY 14 Rimed seal (Phoca hispida) 14 Ringed seal breeding and habitat requirements 15 Ringed seal seasonal dispersion and spatial segregation of age classes 15 Caribou (Ranzifer tarandus tarandus) 15 South Baffin Herds 15 Natural cycles of caribou population dynamics 15 OTHER MARINE RESOURCES 15 Western Atlantic Harbor seal (Phoca vitulina concolor) 15 Bearded seal (Eraznathus barbatus) 17 Polar bear (Ursus maritimus) 17 Harp seal (Phoca zroenlandica) 17 Walrus (Odobenus rosmarus) 17 Whales (Cetaceans) 17 OTHER TERRESTRIAL RESOURCES 18

3 Grey Wolves (Canis lupus) 18 Arctic Fox (Alopex lazopus) 18 Arctic hare (Lepus arctos) 18 INTERTIDAL AND RIVERINE SPECIES 18 Bivalves 18 Fish 18 AVIAN SPECIES 18 Willow ptarmigan (Lazopus mutus) 18 Waterfowl and seabirds 18 DOMESTICATED ANIMALS 19 Dogs (Canis familiaris) 19 CHAPTER 4: A HISTORY OF COLONIAL ENCOUNTERS ON SOUTHEAST BAFFIN ISLAND INTRODUCTION 20 CHRONOLOGY OF ENCOUNTERS IN SOUTHEAST BAFFIN ISLAND 20 FOREIGN AGENTS OF CHANGE IN THE NORTH 21 Early Explorers 21 Distribution of Contact 21 Seasonality of Contact 21 Nature of Relations 21 Commercial marine mammal hunting. 23 Introduction 23 Distribution of Whaling Activities on southeast Baffin Island 26 Seasonality of Interaction 26 Nature of relations 27 Subsistence technology trade 31 Missionaries 32 Distribution of missionary activity 32 Seasonality of interaction 32 Nature of relations 33 The fur trade era 33 Distribution of fur trading activity 33 Seasonality of interaction 34 Nature of Relations 34 Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) 35 Distribution of RCMP activities 35 Seasonality of contact 36 Nature of Relations 36 SUMMARY 37 CHAPTER 5: ETHNOHISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES ON NUGUMIUT HOUSEHOLDING 38 INTRODUCTION 38 MULTI-FAMILY INUIT HOUSEHOLD GROUPS: AN OVERVIEW 38 SOURCES OF DATA, 40 LOCATIONAL MOVEMENTS 40 The seasonality ofnugumiut resource procurement and the distribution of settlements through the historic period APPROPRIATIONAL MOVEMENTS 45 Multifamily household groups and the appropriation of goods and resources DISEASE AND NUGUMIUT POPULATION TRENDS THROUGH TIME 52 SUMMARY 53 CHAPTER SIX 54 NUGUMIUT HOUSEHOLD ARCHAEOLOGY 54 INTRODUCTION 54 COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION AND OUTREACH 54

4 ARCHAEOLOGY IN OUTER FROBISHER BAY: RESULTS OF FIELD SEASONS 54 Survey methodology survey results 54 Excavation methodology 54 Excavation results and site chronologies 55 Kamaiyuk 55 Kuyait 57 Kussejeerarkjuan 57 CHAPTER 7: ZOOARCHAEOLOGICAL RECONSTRUCTIONS OF NUGUMIUT SUBSISTENCE PRODUCTION 62 INTRODUCTION 62 THE NATURE OF ARCTIC SITE FORMATION PROCESSES ON SOUTHEAST BAFFIN ISLAND 62 Cultural factors 62 Historic Inuit discard behavior 62 Historic Inuit building construction 64 Animal butchery and processing behavior 64 Reclamation processes 65 Environmental factors : 65 Animal agents 65 Isostatic processes and erosion 65 Cryoturbation 65 Solifluction processes 67 Summary 67 ZOOARCHAEOLOGICAL ANALYSIS 68 Curation, conservation, and preservation of Frobisher Bay zooarchaeological collections 68 Identification methodology 68 Quantification methods 68 Tooth thin section analyses 69 Caribou teeth: the physiology of cementum incremental structures 69 Ringed seal canines: the physiology of cementum and dentine incremental structures 70 SUMMARY OF FAUNAL RECOVERY 70 LOCATIONAL PROCESSES 70 Nugumiut prey selection 70 Kamaiyuk households 70 Birds 70 Seals 70 Walrus 72 Polar Bear 72 Arctic hare, 72 Arctic fox 72 Caribou 72 Dog 72 Unidentified bone 73 Discussion 73 Kuyait households 73 Birds 75 Seals 75 Walrus 75 Polar bear 75 Arctic hare 75 Arctic fox 80 Caribou 80 Dog 80 Unidentified bone 80 Discussion 80 Kussejeerarkjuan households 80 Birds 81 Seals : 81 Walrus 81 Polar bear 82 Arctic hare 82 Arctic fox 82

5 Caribou 82 Dog 82 Unidentified remains 82 Discussion...: 82 The seasonality of resource procurement 83 Introduction 83 Seals: Results of thin section analysis 83 Results of caribou thin section analysis 85 Discussion 85 Appropriational processes 87 Seal transport and consumption 87 Taphonomic considerations 91 Discussion 92 Household meat sharing practices in outer Frobisher Bay 92 Methodology 92 Results 94 Future research 94 DISCUSSION OF FAUNAL ANALYSIS RESULTS: LOCATION AND APPROPRIATION IN PERSPECTIVE 94 CHAPTER 8: POLYNYAS, PREDICTABILITY AND PROCUREMENT: THE PALEOCLIMATIC CONTEXT OF NUGUMIUT ECONOMIC FORMATIONS INTRODUCTION 97 THE NATURE OF CLIMATE VARIABILITY ON BAFFIN ISLAND 97 SEA ICE: MODERN FORMATION AND ABLATION PROCESSES 98 Influencing factors: temperature, synoptic activity, ocean currents, and wind 98 The impact of changing sea ice conditions on polynya formation 99 CLIMATE OF THE LATE HOLOCENE: SUMMER TEMPERATURE AND SEA ICE RECONSTRUCTIONS (AD ) 99 The nature of Baffin Island proxy data 99 Summer temperature reconstructions 100 Ice core melt records 100 Tree rings 100 Historic records 100 Sea ice reconstructions Ice core data 102 Historic records 102 Implications for the presence of the outer Frobisher Bay polynya during the historic period 102 The biological impacts of changing climatic conditions in outer Frobisher Bay 103 Terrestrial 103 Marine 103 THE HUMAN DIMENSION OF CLIMATE CHANGE: MAPPING MODERN SEA ICE FLUCTUATIONS IN RELATION TO NEOESKIMO SETTLEMENT PATTERNS USING GIS 104 GIS and archaeology 104 Sources of data. 104 Archaeological 104 Sea ice 104 Methods 107 Archaeological 107 Sea ice 108 Results 108 Winter sea ice extremes in relation to Neoeskimo settlement distribution 108 Summer/fall sea ice extremes and Neoeskimo settlement distribution 108 Future research 108 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION 109 CHAPTER 9: DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION 117 PHASE I: AD PHASE II: AD PHASE III: AD DISCUSSION 119 Comparison to other northern contact situations 119 PATHWAYS INTO THE FUTURE 120

6 APPENDIX A: FAMILIES LIVING IN CYRUS FIELD BAY AND FROBISHER BAY IDENTIFIED DURING WINTER APPENDIX B: KAMAIYUK (KFDE-5) INDIVIDUAL HOUSE DESCRIPTIONS AND FLOOR PLANS 122 APPENDIX C: KUYAIT (KFDF-2) INDIVIDUAL HOUSE DESCRIPTIONS AND FLOOR PLANS 127 APPENDIX D:.. KUSSEJEERARKJUAN (KEDE-7) INDIVIDUAL HOUSE DESCRIPTIONS AND FLOOR PLANS 135 APPENDIX E: SUMMARY OF QUANTIFICATION METHODS 140 APPENDIX F: TOOTH THIN SECTIONING METHODS 143 APPENDIX G: TOOTH THIN SECTIONING ANALYSES: CARIBOU SAMPLES 144 APPENDIX H: TOOTH SECTIONING ANALYSES: RINGED SEAL CANINE SAMPLES 146 APPENDIX I: KEY TO ICE CODE DEFINITIONS 149 APPENDIX J: ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES INCLUDED IN SETTLEMENT PATTERN ANALYSIS 150 BIBLIOGRAPHY 151

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