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The Fieldwork and Methodology

The NHS staff arrived in Resolute on June 28 and traveled to Truelove the next day. Between July 1 and July 4 Park and Johnson set up a string grid over House 1 and began stripping sod in parts of the house. The field school students arrived at Truelove on July 5. From then until their departure on July 31 they participated in the excavation, while at the same time being trained in archaeological techniques and learning about the prehistory of the north through evening lectures. Between August 1 and August 3 Park and Johnson reconstructed House 1. The staff finally left Truelove on August 5.

The excavation of House 1 at QkHn-12 was carried out using standard archaeological techniques, modified as necessary to deal with its solidly-frozen state.

A 7x8 metre string grid was surveyed in by transit over the house utilizing datum stakes left in place at the site from the last three seasons of excavation. Using the grid system previously established, the corners of the grid were points S93W116, S100W116, S93W124 and S100W124. However, to simplify matters and reduce potential recording errors, the actual grid over the house was numbered 1 through 8 on the east-west axis and lettered A through G on the north-south axis. All records from the excavation were kept using this notation. Anyone wishing to could translate these square designations into those used for the whole site (e.g., square G1 would be S99W116, and square A8 would be S93W123).

Each 1x1 metre excavation unit was drawn, by levels relating to structural feature (e.g., sleeping platform, floor etc.) where appropriate. Artifacts were plotted on these maps and their relative position (depth and/or relationship to structural feature) recorded. Faunal remains were collected from the same 1x1 metre units, by levels where appropriate, and were shipped south for identification.

In the field, artifacts of a fragile nature were maintained in their original state as much as possible. The one skin artifact, a thimble, was treated with Lysol and allowed to dry slowly once out of the field. Almost all the bone, antler, ivory and wood artifacts were found to be extremely well-preserved and appear to require no immediate conservation efforts.

The Excavation >>