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travel / great places / explorer / mj05
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Northern affairs
Archeological sites
There are over 500 archaeological sites in Ukkusiksalik National Park. Fox traps, tent rings and inuksuit are three
examples of these sites.
Fox traps are simply constructed tunnels of stone, usually positioned on elevated areas. Bait is placed inside the trap and a door is propped open. Foxes come for the bait, trigger the stick or bone holding up the door and are trapped inside. The traps are indicative of ancient activity to find food or find pelts to trade.
A tent ring is a site where ancient people would have made a temporary camp. Stitched skin tents were weighted at the edges by boulders that were about one foot in diameter. The boulders were arranged in ovals or circles and wood or whalebones were used as stays and centre poles. Today, the rings of lichen-covered boulders all are that's left on the landscape, but these rings are great spots for archaeologists to find things like arrowheads and broken carvings
Inuksuit are among the most important objects created by the Inuit. They are stone figures placed on the landscape as navigation aids, coordination points, indicators and message centres. Some inuksuit had spiritual connotations, marking the edge of the spiritual landscape. Each inuksuk is as unique as a fingerprint and, often, their placement and arrangement were carefully thought out to show their true meaning.
Other archaeological sites within the park include food caches and an abandoned twentieth century Hudson's Bay Company Post.
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