NiJp-4 Netsilik River Narrows South
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This Thule semi subterranean house site is on the south bank of the Netsilik River where the caribou like to cross. This type of cold weather house was built in the Alakan way by early Thule migrants and was probably out of fashion when the Netsilingmiut met the Tunrit, for the traditional winter dwellings for both, especailly the maritime Tunrit, would have been a snow house.
Oral history realates that the Netsilik Inuit met the 'Tunnit' here. Although the Netsilingmiut and the Tunrit lived together for some time, violence eventually broke out, and the Tunrit fled the country.
Netsilik River
Along the Netsilik River on the upper river there is a shallow part, when there is a shallow part we call it itimniq. It is right near a camping area. That is where they wait for caribou to cross the river. It is call itimniq. It is a shallow part and flat.
Across from it there is another place called Naulingiarvik. It is a deep part. It is deep right near the land. The men would spear fish in the area, as they did not have nets that time and they couldn't make a fishing weir because it was too deep. They would fish when the fish were going back up the river to the lake. It is called Naulingiarvik. Only if I'm there I can say it is right here, you can't know where it is when we are here in Taloyoak. At the camping area where they wait for caribou to cross the river on the upper mainland near itimnirut, the Netsilik River has a lot of names, but I don't know some of the names of the locations.
Fishing Weirs
When I was a child I was not around Netsilik lake area. I was raised over by Gjoa-Haven area. The very first time I game to Taloyoak area was in 1962. But I know some about Netsilik lake and Netsilik river area. I can talk a bit about the area, from what I've heard.
That lake, Netsilik, had a river that was small at one time. At one time people use to make fish wear. The fishes are always going up the lake so people use to catch fishes at the river, because the rivers use to be shallow there. Because of the fishes that go up the river people use to catch fish using fish wear. That was the first thing I've heard about the river of Netsilik from my father.
The Netsilik River was a place for people to catch fish like people use Tariunituk to catch fish using fish wears, and it was the land of a lot of people. But there was always a lot of Tuniit living by the Netsilik river area and at that time one Tuniik just had a baby and this Tuniik that had just gotten a baby that was hungry, and she wanted fish so she went in the river to catch fish in the fish wear, and that is how the river flooded and gotten very huge.
That is how I've heard the story.
Site Field Notes
This a village site located on a grassy hill on the south bank of the Netsilik River where it is narrow and fast, where the caribou like to cross was a revisit because it was recorded first by Dan Gardner, during the Polargas survey and revisited by James M. Savelle, a University of Alberta graduate student, in 1982. Savelle was assisted in the field by Simon and James Oleekatalik of the Hamlet of Taloyoak. It.
The site has an eastern part, which consists of round stone tent rings associated with a small tundra pond, and a western part on a hillside which consists of 6 large semi-subterranean house depressions as well as tent rings (the Borden form reports 14 semi-subterranean houses and 7 tent rings). Two house pit depressions are disturbed, with rocks scattered, and are presumably the ones excavated by Savelle in 1982. Several of the house depressions are deep and well defined while others are shallow and indistinct.
Human remains were observed in proximity to one of the tent rings in the eastern part of the site. These consisted of a mandible and femur of a robust adult individual. This site was probably occupied, seasonally, for over a thousand years and, for part of that time at least, it was probably contemporaneous with NiJp-19. Savelle reports a radiocarbon date (NMC-1312) of 1010 +/- 50 which "seems early, since none of the artifacts recovered in 1982 suggest early Thule. Probably closer to 600-800 BP (Savelle)".
Site Description
Historic Association: Oral history relates
that the Netsilik Inuit met the 'Tunnit' here
Representativeness: the semisubterrancean
house depressions are classic Thule period features; the tent rings are
Type/Function: tent rings and caches
Rarity: rare semisubterranean dwellings
Integrity: ranges from good to poor
Preservation: almost no bone observed on
surface
Artifact and feature density: high feature
density
Human Remains and Burials: human remains
present, marked burials not observed