The Iqaluktuuq field camp will commence during the last week of June 200_. The duration of the oral history portion will be approximately one week. Elders will be flown to the site using a Bell 212 helicopter, provided to us in-kind by the Polar Continental Shelf Project.2

Two youth, recommended by Kiilinik High School and chosen by the KHS will work one-on-one with graduate students from the University of Toronto and with the Elders. These youth and their mentors will work on the actual archaeological dig. After the oral history work is completed the field camp will remain in place for an additional two to three weeks. During this time the archaeologists and the students will continue work at the sites. Elders and other members of the community are encouraged to come out to the site to participate in the work.

During the oral history research, important sites (camps, hunting places, caribou blinds, fishing places, and graves) will be visited in order to trigger the memories of the principal informants. The focus of this season’s research again is on the excavation of a Late Dorset long house. The Elders were intrigued by the construction of the long house and were anxious to talk about stories they had been told about the Tuniit. They felt that these people must have lived here side by side with their own ancestors. The past field season allowed the archaeologists to map the entire Dorset site. According to this work it is clear that this is one of the largest Dorset long house sites in Nunavut.3 The research collected at the site in 200_ has been used to build a replica of the Dorset Long house for the new cultural centre (see Appendix H).

Stories and knowledge of the area and its history will be documented using digital videotape and/or audiotape, carefully written notes and photographs taken using 35mm film.

During the camp, families will be encouraged to come and visit the sites so that they can see their Elders’ history as a living phenomenon. To the extent possible they will be encouraged to communicate with the Elders exclusively in Inuinnaqtun.

After the fieldwork is completed, all of the audiotapes will be transcribed in both Inuinnaqtun and English. A final report, including the transcriptions and field notes will be produced. Excerpts from the fieldwork will be used to publish Inuinnaqtun stories for use by students learning and practicing Inuinnaqtun. This project will be funded separately.

Traditional place names will also be recorded and will be added to the information that forms the basis of another KHS project – the Kitikmeot Atlas. The atlas project will also be funded separately.