Key words: caribou crossings, Caribou Inuit, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Harvaqtuurmiut, Inuit oral history, Kazan River, off-site archaeology, place names, settlement archaeology, traditional knowledge
This research is relevant to the history of the Caribou Inuit and, more generally, to the definition and interpretation of archaeological evidence of northern hunter-gatherers.
The project was jointly designed by archaeologists, cultural geographers, local elders, and oral historians from Baker Lake to record some of the heritage of the inland-dwelling Caribou Inuit. It was initiated both locally, by elders in Baker Lake under the auspices of the Harvaqtuuq Historic Site Committee, and federally, by Parks Canada.
Second, most of these features can be recognized as pertaining to Caribou Inuit settlement rather than non-Inuit (Dene and earlier) land use.
Also, other Caribou Inuit groups used this area, and Harvaqtuurmiut families certainly moved beyond the boundaries of the study area, so that this part of the lower Kazan River represents only a part of any one family's total range: