Samantha Leigh Walker

SAMANTHA WALKER, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, was approved funding in April 2024 to aid research on “New Narratives of the Interior: Investigating the Tuniit (Paleo-Inuit) Inland Settlement Landscape of Amittuq, Nunavut (2500 BCE-1350 CE).” This project investigated Tuniit (Paleo-Inuit) and Ancestral Inuit settlement practices in the interior of the Amittuq region of Nunavut (c.2500 BCE–1350 CE), addressing the persistent coastal bias in Arctic archaeology. The work was designed to examine two inland settlement areas, Kinngatuaq and Angmaluqtuq, identified through Inuit oral history as places of repeated occupation. Because summer travel to Angmaluqtuq was constrained by permafrost thaw and flooded ground conditions, fieldwork was concentrated at Kinngatuaq, with limited survey conducted en route toward Angmaluqtuq by ATV. The project integrated Inuit oral history, pedestrian survey, test excavations, and remotely piloted aircraft mapping. Archaeological work at Kinngatuaq documented Early Tuniit, Late Tuniit, and Ancestral Inuit occupations in the form of tent rings, caches, hunting blinds, a fishing weir, and stone-working associated with flint and chalcedony outcrops. A total of 333 artifacts were recovered, including debitage, bifaces, burins, microblades, worked antler and bone, and soapstone fragments, demonstrating hunting, resource procurement, tool manufacture, and repeated seasonal settlements through time. Local interviews structured survey strategies and continue to contribute interpretative narratives. Youth outreach programming in Igloolik linked research outcomes with educational initiatives and heritage stewardship. Ongoing radiocarbon and faunal analyses will refine site chronologies and land use interpretations.