Volume 20, 1970 - The Arctic Circle - Home

33l+5 fecf lonri by 16 feet wicle. lt inciuCed a lonq room or haII, a6 x 6 feet appenda.g'.e on the southrnrest corner, a 4-feef-wide nalleryat tirc; east end, a paved semicircular feat,ure be1'en6 that, in thef'c-,r:n of a,n apse vritli two narrow entra.nces, and oufside that asenic-i-rcular v"'ail runnir'rz paraliel to Lhe curvinq inner r'rall in thema.nner of an anrt--rila.fory, ah.horreh the passaqe was too narrovl foruse. Tlre clrurch-lik"e clraracfer of' the building irlan was striking,yet I wculd. not suqgest that it vras ever sio used.'l'he 1.ong si,les of the hall rrrere sliqhtly outcurved j-n iiorsefasitiorr. 1'lie sout,h rvall vras broken by a doorway anci a vrallfireple.ce,tl,e lafter astonishinqly mr:clern in iis arrallgement, v,'iththe rrchimneyrtopl,sjrle;.ind thre wj-nss projectirre info ti',e room. I donot lsroli of a. parallel for this in Fskimo archaeology.Facinq t,he fi replace was a broad semj-cj-rcle of pavingi_t,s v.rinqs spaced exactly 5 feet from either end. of fhe room. Quiteot:vi.r;r'.s1-v, here utas a. ga.therin,o', place fc-,r the telh-nrt- of storiesor t1e conclucting of village busirress. A namohl exit opened ontot,he east,ern galierlr.but llrere vrere rnorc surprises on the Carbier sife. Hear4yrains r.r,:vealed ft,c prcsence of ii lo'.r da:tt, 37 feet long, placedacross a shaliovr drainage cha.nnel leading froni tkre bogs behind thevi"llaqe. Belc,vr it, ancl parallel',"ifh it, vlas a stone causeway 2.7feet long, only a few inches high but fu}ly 5 feet widet Obv'rousl;rthis; is no fctotpafh, as is evirlerLt fron its width, its pl,lcementat ti,t: rcer of fhc site forcinr a consicterable detour in movi.ngacrosii 1.,hc vi11it,'e, arirl try its existence where no aid was neededin crossirrq this sliclrt depression dry-shod at all tj:nes.Upon se'eing fhcse evj-dences on the spot, and especiallytfie causehr&)rr tLi6: fa^ned C:rnadian vrrit,er, Farley Mowat said, ffThisi s unque stionabl;r arxi unmistakably a }irropean village fr .Altlrough rnyself satisfi-ed v'ith a lJorse explanatr-on,renemtrerilg fhat here w€).s tire ma.jor caribou mi,c,raflon route through16gava, toqether wi lh superb flstiirrq and Lv foot trout, f wellrealized that t|ere would be those who tryould find it hard to accepta villaee of seafrrcrs some llCr nriles inland over ctifficult terrain.I therefore turrred to the Ungava lla.1r coast in search of what mightbe ca.ll-ecl sta.,qinrr posf remains, pla-ces that woulct harre beertsettlerl J'irst, logically. In Lhj s search I was superbly aiCed byMr. .lanrcs Forrl of l"ort C]rimo antl an elderly liskimo Zachariasi, whoserved, ,{rsj guide in L()66.Althouch Z.achariasi knew of several occurrences of r'lolt,qhouserllrins un ttrer coast fronr Payne liarr, his effort s to find them fa.iledjn all brrt one case, Pamiok fsJ-atrd, a site fhat alrea'Jy had bc-:comeklown i1 the iif erat,u re. AIso, tirrouqh an unfortunate break in