Natturalik was a summer-camp program for Inuit youth, held each year in the Inukjuak area. The camp was organized and run by community Elders, who invited Avataq to participate in their efforts. In 1991, the summer’s theme was archaeology. For almost nine weeks, young Inuit campers were introduced to various aspects of archaeological fieldwork.
Daniel Gendron and four Inuit students on lunch break at site IdGo-51
Two Inuit students surveying site IdGo-50
The program’s major goals were to provide Inuit youth with an opportunity to gain archaeological knowledge, fieldwork experience and a better appreciation of Palaeoeskimo and Inuit cultures and ways of life.
Inuit youth learning excavation techniques on a block-field at site IdGo-12
Students at site IdGo-27 excavating a structure found in a block-field
Over a two-month period, 34 students participated in the archaeological fieldwork project overseen by Avataq’s archaeological team. Their research took them to 48 archaeological sites, over half of them of Pre-Dorset [def.] origin. Also studied was an area more than a kilometre long that contained evidence of over 200 dwellings (site IdGo-51).
Contact: Daniel Gendron
