DOI: 10.5443/11460
title: NWT ice patch study

description: Twenty-eight alpine ice patches were identified using a combination of remote sensing techniques, archaeological site survey methods, and traditional knowledge. These alpine patches are similar in that they are all used extensively by caribou in summer and are accessible to human hunters. Biological specimens were collected from all 28 sites using ice coring technology and surface collection and include faunal remains (mostly bones) and fecal matter. The osteological remains were used, along with modern samples, to assess long-term changes in caribou population trends through analysis of ancient DNA. Caribou dominates the faunal remains recovered from the ice patches. Using ancient DNA techniques, we examined the genetic stability of woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) in the Mackenzie and Selwyn Mountains over the last 4000 years. Pollen and plant macro-remains extracted from the caribou fecal matter were used to assess caribou food habits and environmental change over the same period. Using ground-penetrating radar and analysis of ice cores, a 3D morphological model of ice patch formation was developed. Archaeological collections from ice patches in the Selwyn Mountains include examples of three precontact weapon systems.
description: Purpose: The emerging archaeological record of ice patches demonstrates that hunters intercepted and harvested caribou on these features. Ice patches preserve a long-term record of this relationship: as annual net accumulations of winter snow were gradually compressed into permanent ice lenses, ancient remains of caribou (primarily dung deposited on the patch), and hunting weapons lost or discarded by precontact hunters were incorporated and preserved within the ice. These features preserve even the most fragile organic components of hunting artifacts over impressive time spans. Recognizing that ice patches are at risk of impact from changing climate regimes, over the past decade archaeologists in North America have put considerable effort into finding ice patch archaeological sites and collecting and conserving the fragile biological specimens and artifacts melting out of the ice. The Northwest Territories Ice Patch Study combines the physical, biological and social sciences with traditional knowledge to investigate past and present environmental and human change in the Mackenzie Mountains. As repositories of well preserved archaeological artifacts and ancient biological specimens, permanent ice patches provide a long term material record of human hunting practices and data on the diet composition, health, and genetic histories of past caribou populations. By collecting and analyzing these specimens, this study will contribute to our understanding of the human history of the North and the ecology of caribou populations over time. A geophysical study to determine the internal structures and formation processes of ice patches and traditional knowledge research to investigate oral traditions about hunting caribou on ice patches and human adaptation to the alpine environment will compliment these studies. The project was designed in partnership with a northern Aboriginal community, and is a component of the research network organized for endorsed IPY Activity 435: Culturally and Scientifically Significant Materials Recovered from Melting Ice and Cryosols: Recovery, Research, Stabilization and Community Education.
description: Summary: Ice patches in northern regions can hold an abundance of information about historical environmental and societal change. This project combines archaeology, biology and geology to investigate ancient hunting artifacts and biological samples relating to caribou preserved in alpine ice patches, specifically in the Mackenzie Mountains. Insight into caribou diet and genetics will give a better idea of caribou population dynamics over time, while hunting artifacts will inform about past hunting practices and human use of ice patches. This information, in turn, will help in the development of management strategies for caribou populations in the Northwest Territories and further contribute to the sustained health and cultural well-being of Aboriginal communities that rely on caribou for traditional subsistence activities.