![\"\"](\"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/echoyukonsfirstpeople\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/785\/2019\/07\/YUKON_ARCHSITES.jpg\")
Figure 2.2 Yukon archaeological sites discussed in the book (modified by Lovell Johns from Yukon Government Map 2017).[\/caption]\r\n\r\nLittle John\r\n\r\nAnother early site is the Little John site, which was excavated from 2002 to 2017 by Norman Easton (Figure 2.4). This site is located just off the Alaska Highway, 12 km north of the village of Beaver Creek, Yukon, and about 2 km from the international border with Alaska. This site, is within the traditional territory of the White River First Nation and unglaciated Beringia, and contains evidence of human occupation from the most recent past back to the end of the Pleistocene (10,000 years ago). The deepest identified site layer represents what may be the earliest precisely dated tool collection found in Canada. The tools found in that layer include bifaces, scrapers, large blades, and tear-drop\u2013shaped Chindadn projectile points, two of which are dated to 13,200 years ago, while many of the rest are characteristic of this early time period. Subsequent layers also have evidence of human occupation ranging in time from after the Pleistocene to the present. In addition, excavations in 2008 uncovered bison and wapiti bones that had been modified by people. These modified bones were found in association with stone flakes and cores dating to 14,000 years ago (Easton et al. 2011:289). The Little John site represents a sequence of shifting lifeways over time, the movement of people and\/or artifacts, and expressions of cultural identity through artifact remains (Easton and MacKay 2008).\r\n\r\nAnnie Lake\r\n\r\nLocated in the south-central Yukon, the Annie Lake site is in the Southern Lakes District and lies in the traditional territory of the Carcross\/Tagish and Kwanlin D\u00fcn First Nations. This site contains evidence of occupation spanning from 7,200 years ago to the present day and is one of the older documented archaeological sites in Yukon. The site was originally discovered and excavated by Sheila Greer in the 1980s; Greg Hare continued excavations at the site in the 1990s (Greer 1981, 1982, 1983; Hare 1995; Hare and Greer 1994). The earliest layers showing human occupation of the site occur during a time when shrubs and forest were just becoming established again, as the glaciers began retreating and caribou and bison started to become plentiful. The site contains well-made projectile points constructed with high-quality materials. This site also contains a distinctive tool form called a lanceolate spear point, which is similar to points found in the Plains and Plateau regions and may represent cultural interaction between different groups. A large scallop shell is evidence of transport with coastal peoples during the past 1,000 years.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_344\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"1186\"]![\"\"](\"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/echoyukonsfirstpeople\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/785\/2019\/07\/Screen-Shot-2019-08-01-at-3.59.29-PM.png\")
Figure 2.3. Archaeological sites and dates described in this volume: southwest Yukon and northwest Yukon\/central Alaska (after Hare 1995:130; Holmes 2011:181; West 1981, 1996:549).[\/caption]\r\n\r\nIce Patches\r\n\r\nIn 1997, two sheep hunters walking on the ice-covered peaks around Kusawa Lake in the southern Yukon discovered a wooden stick with string attached to it resting on an enormous pile of caribou dung. Yukon government archaeologists identified the string as sinew and also discovered some feathers attached to the stick. The dung and stick (which ended up being an atlatl<\/em>[footnote]Atlatl is an Aztec word for an early type of dart or spear thrower. An atlatl provided a means of increasing the thrust exerted on a spear or other projectile by artificially extending the length of the thrower\u2019s arm and thus the leverage available (Darvill 2008:29).[\/footnote] dart shaft) were dated to 2,400 and 4,300 years old (Hare 2011:6). The discovery prompted more research in what became known as the Ice Patch Project. There are currently sixteen Ice Patch sites identified on various mountaintops. These sites are located on the traditional territories of the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations, Kluane First Nation, Kwanlin D\u00fcn First Nation, Ta'an Kw\u00e4ch'\u00e4n Council, and the Teslin Tlingit Council. Some of the more significant archaeological finds include an ancient moccasin found in the Ruby Range that is approximately 1,400 years old, the oldest known moccasin in Canada (Figure 2.6) (Hare 2011:18). As well, there are approximately 200 artifacts made of bone, antler, wood, and stone, all of which are extraordinarily well preserved. The oldest artifact, a dart found west of Aishihik Lake, is 9,000 years old (Greer and Strand 2012:146-147; Hare 2011:22).\r\nAnthropologists in Yukon and Their Collaborators: Norman Easton and Chief David Johnny<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/header>\r\n
\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_347\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"176\"]![\"\"](\"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/echoyukonsfirstpeople\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/785\/2019\/07\/Norm-Publication-Photo-DSC_0055-JPEG.jpg\")
Figure 2.4 Anthropologist Norman Easton at the Little John site (photograph courtesy of Grant Zazula).[\/caption]\r\n\r\nNorman Alexander Easton is a Canadian anthropologist. He has been an anthropology lecturer at Yukon University (formerly Yukon College) in Whitehorse since 1986. His research focuses on the social history of Northern Athapaskan (D\u00e9ne) Indigenous people and prehistoric underwater archaeology. His current research activities in Yukon include projects in archaeology, social history, linguistics, and contemporary social issues. A large component of his research concentrates on the Little John site (discussed in this chapter). Norman was born in Vancouver and moved to Yukon by happenstance in 1986 when his wife found work there. He had just finished his master\u2019s degree in underwater archaeology at the University of Victoria. While attending a Yukon Underwater Diving Association (YUDA) general meeting, he offered to take part in a project conducting an archaeological survey of the Yukon River system. This survey, conducted from 1986 to 1989 as part of YUDA\u2019s Underwater Heritage program, was the first of three major research highlights of Norman\u2019s northern archaeology career.\r\n\r\nThe second highlight was working on the Fort Selkirk Culture History Project from 1987 to 1991 in collaboration with the Selkirk First Nation and archaeologist Dr. Ruth Gotthardt. This was the beginning of Norman\u2019s collaborative work with First Nations. The third highlight of his career has been working on the Yukon-Alaska borderlands since 1990 and discovering the different sites that are located there, including the site of Little John.\r\n\r\nNorman graduated from university in the 1980s, a time when young anthropologists were starting to try different types of research, particularly through community involvement. He began conducting ethnographic and linguistic research with the White River First Nation of Beaver Creek, and Native Alaskans in Northway, Tanacross, and Tetlin, but did not conduct archaeological projects until his fifth year of research. That allowed him to establish rapport and trust with people in White River. This long-term community research has resulted in people throughout the Upper Tanana Valley region on both sides of the border feeling comfortable enough with Norman to share their time with his field school students, and to teach them about subsistence pursuits, such as hunting and fishing. He believes there is great value in having his students, many of whom are urban dwellers, leave the field school with a real appreciation of the value and importance of a village subsistence lifestyle.\u00a0 To Norman, collaboration means being patient and willing to put in the time to come back year after year, establishing personal relationships, not just professional ones. He feels that this is what counts with villagers: you need to be committed for the long term. What comes out of that is something really great that goes in all different directions. People will have a sense of real trust and they will know that the researcher cares about the people and their culture. It should not be about working with people for two weeks never to return. He feels you also have to be willing to be a part of the community.\r\n\r\nWhat Norman loves most about Yukon are the people he has met in the course of his work that have taught him about the D\u00e9ne way\u2014the values that the D\u00e9ne people hold. He has tried to integrate these values into his life and feels that he would not be the person that he is today without the guidance and support of D\u00e9ne people.\r\n\r\n
\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_348\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"250\"]![\"\"](\"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/echoyukonsfirstpeople\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/785\/2019\/07\/David-Johnny-Ruth-Johnny-Norm-Easton-2019.jpg\")
Figure 2.5 Deputy Chief David Johnny, language expert Ruth Johnny and Norman Easton (photograph courtesy of Victoria Castillo).[\/caption]\r\n\r\nDavid Johnny Senior is a former Chief of White River First Nation of Beaver Creek, Yukon. He has collaborated with Norm (Norman) Easton on archaeology and culture history projects for over 20 years. It took some time before their collaboration started. When Norm first arrived in Beaver Creek to begin his research on the borderlands at the invitation of Bessie John, David\u2019s older sister and village matriarch, many in the community, including David, were not convinced that collaboration could happen. \u201cYou know,\u201d says David, \u201cyou have government people coming up. They dig this site or that site but they never tell the First Nation nothing. When I became chief way back when, and Norm came and said he wanted dig, everybody was waiting for him to make a move. It took a few years but he came back and stayed with us.\" In 1996, Bessie John adopted Norm with a traditional potlatch. This means Norm is now David\u2019s nephew. \u201cHe stayed with my brother and he learned our ways. He learned our language, he learned by walking in our country. It took a few years to do that.\"\r\n\r\nEventually, when Norm asked for permission to conduct archaeological excavations at Little John in 2002, the community told him he could but that he would have to get approval in the traditional way from Elders in Beaver Creek and Northway, Alaska. With their approval, Norm began bringing students from southern Canada, the United States, and Europe to excavate the site and learn about the cultural traditions of White River peoples. Graduate students would conduct their research and others would participate in the field school he put on every summer until 2016. Part of the student\u2019s curriculum included Upper Tanana language lessons and listening to White River traditional stories as told by community members. David encouraged students to participate in moose cutting, packing, and cooking (including eating moose guts, moose head soup, and tongue, all delicacies).\r\n\r\nCommunity members participating in the field school created some long-lasting friendships. David notes, \u201cStill today, a lot of them call us, talk to us. A couple of them had kids and when we see them the kids say, \u2018hi grandma, hi grandpa\u2019. It came to the point where we interacted with them so much that a lot of them came into our family.\" The community also supported student\u2019s research by providing feedback on research publications.\r\n\r\nFor David, one of the highlights of working with Norm is his willingness to \u201cput his side away, he took our side. He dressed like us, he talked like us, and he started thinking like us. We have a different way of thinking when it comes to digging up your ancestors [material culture]. It took a few years for us to get easy with that. For thousands of years we\u2019ve had that tradition. We showed him our way and he accepted it and in turn taught us about archaeology.\" Having Norm teach White River youth about their deep-time culture in a different way is also valuable. \u201cBefore it was Injii [forbidden], you can\u2019t touch that stuff, but now just a simple rock draws their attention if it has a different shape.\" David adds that, \u201cbefore, nobody took the time to say, \u2018here is my grandmother or great-great-grandfather, from 15,000 years ago.\" He believes that learning through archaeology allows people to understand themselves better.\r\n\r\nWhen asked what his favourite part of being from and living in Yukon is he says, \u201cI would say the Little John site because we always had a hunting camp there. My dad said that people use to camp there a long time ago. It never really dawned on us. We thought about it and [back in the Pleistocene] there\u2019s no trees, a big valley there and the animals travel up and down the valley. That\u2019s when we looked at it from another way.\"\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_379\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"424\"]![\"\"](\"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/echoyukonsfirstpeople\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/785\/2019\/07\/OLDMOCCASIN010-Mike-ThomasYukon-News.jpg\")
Figure 2.6 Moccasin, estimated to be 1,400 years old, found in a Yukon Ice Patch (photograph courtesy of Mike Thomas, Yukon News).[\/caption]\r\n\r\nPelly Farm\r\n\r\nThe Pelly Farm site is located in the traditional territory of the Selkirk First Nation, on the north bank of the Pelly River approximately 5 km from its confluence with the Yukon River. The site, discovered in 1957 by Scott MacNeish, sits on an 18-metre-high terrace overlooking Pelly Farm (MacNeish 1964:220). Excavations uncovered a collection of stone tools and animal bones related to multiple occupations ranging from 5,000 years ago to until approximately 1,200 years ago. The deepest layers, showing the oldest human occupations, contained evidence of a small group of hunters who were processing bison and elk during the winter and muskoxen, bison, elk, caribou, bear, beavers, and birds during the summer. Over time, different people arrived and deposited their animal processing remains at the site. The final occupancy of the site indicates that people had new tools and were processing animals such as moose, caribou, goat, sheep, and rabbits. The numerous stone tools recovered include spear points, scrapers, choppers, burins, and hammerstones, indicating that people occupied this location multiple times over many years (MacNeish 1964:229\u2013230).\r\nA Change in Environment: White River Ash<\/h3>\r\nApproximately 1,900 years ago and then again 1,250 years ago, massive volcanic eruptions occurred at Mt. Churchill, located in eastern Alaska close to the Yukon border. The second eruption was incredibly large and filled the air with plumes of volcanic ash, which spread eastward through Yukon to the Northwest Territories and beyond. Ingesting the ash would have seriously injured the eyes and lungs of animals and people\u2014inhaling it would have been like inhaling particles of glass. Once the clouds settled, most of the central Yukon was covered with a substantial amount of volcanic ash. (This layer of ash is called White River Ash because its thickest deposits and first description are from along the White River.) Water sources would have become contaminated and vegetation would have been destroyed. Digesting the ash would have been akin to eating small shards of glass. No one is sure when plants and animals returned. What is visible archaeologically is the change in tool types that took place after the eruption (Clague et al. 1995:1177; Lerbekmo et al. 1975:203\u2013209).\r\n\r\nThe fifteen hundred years after the eruption brought about notable innovations in technology and tool manufacture. Items made of copper appeared for the first time. Nuggets of native copper were heated and hammered into tools, including awls and arrow points, and adornments such as tinkling cones began appearing. As well, there was a greater prevalence of bone and antler tools. Some of these items often contained line and dot decorative motifs. Interestingly, this is a time when small stemmed and notched arrow points appeared in the tool kit, indicating a transition from the use of the atlatl\u00a0to bow and arrow, a completely new technology. In interviews with Upper Tanana Elders, Mr. Andy Frank and Mrs. Bessie John (interviewed in Northway Alaska, August 2004), and Mr. Joseph Tommy Johnny (interviewed in Tsoogot Mann, July 2001), Norm Easton was told that the traditional village of Leek\u2019ath Niik (Muddy Water Creek), which is located on the eastern side of the middle of Scottie Creek valley, \u201cwas the location to which their ancestors retreated at the time of the eruption and subsequent ash fall \u2013 a time referred to in their oral history as the year of two winters\u201d (Easton 2009:17).\r\n
Figure 2.4 Anthropologist Norman Easton at the Little John site (photograph courtesy of Grant Zazula).[\/caption]\r\n\r\nNorman Alexander Easton is a Canadian anthropologist. He has been an anthropology lecturer at Yukon University (formerly Yukon College) in Whitehorse since 1986. His research focuses on the social history of Northern Athapaskan (D\u00e9ne) Indigenous people and prehistoric underwater archaeology. His current research activities in Yukon include projects in archaeology, social history, linguistics, and contemporary social issues. A large component of his research concentrates on the Little John site (discussed in this chapter). Norman was born in Vancouver and moved to Yukon by happenstance in 1986 when his wife found work there. He had just finished his master\u2019s degree in underwater archaeology at the University of Victoria. While attending a Yukon Underwater Diving Association (YUDA) general meeting, he offered to take part in a project conducting an archaeological survey of the Yukon River system. This survey, conducted from 1986 to 1989 as part of YUDA\u2019s Underwater Heritage program, was the first of three major research highlights of Norman\u2019s northern archaeology career.\r\n\r\nThe second highlight was working on the Fort Selkirk Culture History Project from 1987 to 1991 in collaboration with the Selkirk First Nation and archaeologist Dr. Ruth Gotthardt. This was the beginning of Norman\u2019s collaborative work with First Nations. The third highlight of his career has been working on the Yukon-Alaska borderlands since 1990 and discovering the different sites that are located there, including the site of Little John.\r\n\r\nNorman graduated from university in the 1980s, a time when young anthropologists were starting to try different types of research, particularly through community involvement. He began conducting ethnographic and linguistic research with the White River First Nation of Beaver Creek, and Native Alaskans in Northway, Tanacross, and Tetlin, but did not conduct archaeological projects until his fifth year of research. That allowed him to establish rapport and trust with people in White River. This long-term community research has resulted in people throughout the Upper Tanana Valley region on both sides of the border feeling comfortable enough with Norman to share their time with his field school students, and to teach them about subsistence pursuits, such as hunting and fishing. He believes there is great value in having his students, many of whom are urban dwellers, leave the field school with a real appreciation of the value and importance of a village subsistence lifestyle.\u00a0 To Norman, collaboration means being patient and willing to put in the time to come back year after year, establishing personal relationships, not just professional ones. He feels that this is what counts with villagers: you need to be committed for the long term. What comes out of that is something really great that goes in all different directions. People will have a sense of real trust and they will know that the researcher cares about the people and their culture. It should not be about working with people for two weeks never to return. He feels you also have to be willing to be a part of the community.\r\n\r\nWhat Norman loves most about Yukon are the people he has met in the course of his work that have taught him about the D\u00e9ne way\u2014the values that the D\u00e9ne people hold. He has tried to integrate these values into his life and feels that he would not be the person that he is today without the guidance and support of D\u00e9ne people.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_348\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"250\"]
Figure 2.5 Deputy Chief David Johnny, language expert Ruth Johnny and Norman Easton (photograph courtesy of Victoria Castillo).[\/caption]\r\n\r\nDavid Johnny Senior is a former Chief of White River First Nation of Beaver Creek, Yukon. He has collaborated with Norm (Norman) Easton on archaeology and culture history projects for over 20 years. It took some time before their collaboration started. When Norm first arrived in Beaver Creek to begin his research on the borderlands at the invitation of Bessie John, David\u2019s older sister and village matriarch, many in the community, including David, were not convinced that collaboration could happen. \u201cYou know,\u201d says David, \u201cyou have government people coming up. They dig this site or that site but they never tell the First Nation nothing. When I became chief way back when, and Norm came and said he wanted dig, everybody was waiting for him to make a move. It took a few years but he came back and stayed with us.\" In 1996, Bessie John adopted Norm with a traditional potlatch. This means Norm is now David\u2019s nephew. \u201cHe stayed with my brother and he learned our ways. He learned our language, he learned by walking in our country. It took a few years to do that.\"\r\n\r\nEventually, when Norm asked for permission to conduct archaeological excavations at Little John in 2002, the community told him he could but that he would have to get approval in the traditional way from Elders in Beaver Creek and Northway, Alaska. With their approval, Norm began bringing students from southern Canada, the United States, and Europe to excavate the site and learn about the cultural traditions of White River peoples. Graduate students would conduct their research and others would participate in the field school he put on every summer until 2016. Part of the student\u2019s curriculum included Upper Tanana language lessons and listening to White River traditional stories as told by community members. David encouraged students to participate in moose cutting, packing, and cooking (including eating moose guts, moose head soup, and tongue, all delicacies).\r\n\r\nCommunity members participating in the field school created some long-lasting friendships. David notes, \u201cStill today, a lot of them call us, talk to us. A couple of them had kids and when we see them the kids say, \u2018hi grandma, hi grandpa\u2019. It came to the point where we interacted with them so much that a lot of them came into our family.\" The community also supported student\u2019s research by providing feedback on research publications.\r\n\r\nFor David, one of the highlights of working with Norm is his willingness to \u201cput his side away, he took our side. He dressed like us, he talked like us, and he started thinking like us. We have a different way of thinking when it comes to digging up your ancestors [material culture]. It took a few years for us to get easy with that. For thousands of years we\u2019ve had that tradition. We showed him our way and he accepted it and in turn taught us about archaeology.\" Having Norm teach White River youth about their deep-time culture in a different way is also valuable. \u201cBefore it was Injii [forbidden], you can\u2019t touch that stuff, but now just a simple rock draws their attention if it has a different shape.\" David adds that, \u201cbefore, nobody took the time to say, \u2018here is my grandmother or great-great-grandfather, from 15,000 years ago.\" He believes that learning through archaeology allows people to understand themselves better.\r\n\r\nWhen asked what his favourite part of being from and living in Yukon is he says, \u201cI would say the Little John site because we always had a hunting camp there. My dad said that people use to camp there a long time ago. It never really dawned on us. We thought about it and [back in the Pleistocene] there\u2019s no trees, a big valley there and the animals travel up and down the valley. That\u2019s when we looked at it from another way.\"\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_379\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"424\"] Figure 2.6 Moccasin, estimated to be 1,400 years old, found in a Yukon Ice Patch (photograph courtesy of Mike Thomas, Yukon News).[\/caption]\r\n\r\nPelly Farm\r\n\r\nThe Pelly Farm site is located in the traditional territory of the Selkirk First Nation, on the north bank of the Pelly River approximately 5 km from its confluence with the Yukon River. The site, discovered in 1957 by Scott MacNeish, sits on an 18-metre-high terrace overlooking Pelly Farm (MacNeish 1964:220). Excavations uncovered a collection of stone tools and animal bones related to multiple occupations ranging from 5,000 years ago to until approximately 1,200 years ago. The deepest layers, showing the oldest human occupations, contained evidence of a small group of hunters who were processing bison and elk during the winter and muskoxen, bison, elk, caribou, bear, beavers, and birds during the summer. Over time, different people arrived and deposited their animal processing remains at the site. The final occupancy of the site indicates that people had new tools and were processing animals such as moose, caribou, goat, sheep, and rabbits. The numerous stone tools recovered include spear points, scrapers, choppers, burins, and hammerstones, indicating that people occupied this location multiple times over many years (MacNeish 1964:229\u2013230).\r\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/echoyukonsfirstpeople\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/785\/2019\/07\/Fort-Selkirk-Bone-Artifacts-Castillo.png\")
<\/td>\r\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/echoyukonsfirstpeople\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/785\/2019\/07\/Fort-Selkirk-Lithic-Artifacts-Castillo.png\")
<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/echoyukonsfirstpeople\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/785\/2019\/07\/Fort-Selkirk-Metal-and-Glass-Artifacts.png\")
<\/td>\r\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/echoyukonsfirstpeople\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/785\/2019\/07\/Fort-Selkirk-Beads-Castillo.png\")
<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/echoyukonsfirstpeople\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/785\/2019\/07\/IMG_3906-939x1024.jpg\")
Figure 2.8 Archaeologist Dr. Raymond Le Blanc and applied anthropologist Sheila Greer (for more on Greer's work see the section on Kw\u00e4day D\u00e4n Ts'inchi) (photograph courtesy of Victoria Castillo).[\/caption]\r\n\r\nRaymond (Ray) Le Blanc grew up just northwest of Toronto, in Rexdale (which is now a part of Etobicoke). Ray\u2019s interest in archaeology was piqued at the age of 14 during a grade 11 history class at North Albion Collegiate Institute. The class partly focused on classical archaeology, which sparked in him a desire to learn more about archaeology, and he eventually discovered that there was more to the discipline than just the classics. He realized that there was a rich archaeological heritage in North America and, once he was accepted into the University of Toronto (U of T) as an undergrad, he dedicated himself to becoming an archaeologist.\r\n\r\nAfter receiving his bachelor\u2019s degree in archaeology from the U of T, Ray moved on to pursue a master\u2019s degree at Memorial University. His thesis, titled \u201cThe Wigwam Brook Site and the Historic Beothuk Indians,\u201d was completed in 1973. He returned to the U of T for his doctorate and cites Bill Irving, his dissertation supervisor, as one of his most influential mentors. In 1975, when Ray\u2019s plan to work on Hudson\u2019s Bay materials fell through, Bill invited him to join the Northern Yukon Research Program (NYRP) and go to Old Crow, Yukon, for the summer. As Ray says, \u201cOnce I got off the plane I realized I wasn\u2019t going back to eastern North America.\u201d He continued doing doctoral research in Old Crow for four years as part of the NYRP. It was during this time that he met Jacques Cinq-Mars, who was co-director of the NYRP with Bill Irving. It was Jacques who encouraged Ray to take on research at the Rat Indian Creek site, which is located 60 km upstream from Old Crow. The stratified site dates back to 2,500 years ago. Here he conducted major research on the development of the culture history in the Middle Porcupine area. And, during his years working with the NYRP, Ray also became familiar with many of the now well-known Yukon sites: Bluefish Caves, Dog Creek, K-Ridge, and the caribou fence sites of the northern Yukon.\u00a0Ray has always made collaboration a key part of his work. To him, it isn\u2019t collaboration so much as being a student, particularly when working with Indigenous Elders. For his doctorate, he was part of a multi-disciplinary research project that included people from Old Crow, both young people and Elders. He worked with community members Peter Tizya, Richard Charlie, Danny Kassi, Hugh Charlie, and Timothy Charlie. He also mentored younger archaeologists such as Sheila Greer and Ruth Gotthardt; Ruth was his field assistant in 1976 and 1977.\r\n\r\nIn 1979, Ray began working for the Archaeological Survey of Alberta. As Northern Archaeologist, he completed many major projects, including surveys of the Peace Country and Lesser Slave Lake, and excavated the Bezya microblade site in the oil-sands region. This work strongly resonates with northern Alberta researchers to this day. The lure of the North proved to be too strong, however, and after five years, Ray joined NOGAP\u2014the Northern Oil and Gas Action Plan at the Archaeological Survey of Canada. As part of NOGAP, Ray again worked with Jacques Cinq-Mars on a number of important sites in the northern Yukon and in the Mackenzie Delta.\r\n\r\nIn 1983\/1984, Ray completed his dissertation, The Rat Indian Creek Site and the Late Prehistoric Period in the Interior Northern Yukon<\/em> (Le Blanc 1984). This work is one of the most solid discussions of the late prehistoric in Yukon and one of the first, and still most referenced, works on prehistoric antler and bone technology. In William Workman\u2019s review of the dissertation monograph, he says that Ray \u201csets a new standard of rigour and detail\u2026 Le Blanc has made a valuable contribution to our understanding of a poorly known area\u2026 Certain of the analytical techniques break new ground and set new standards\u201d (1987:189-191).\r\n\r\nWhen NOGAP came to an end in 1991, Ray took up research and teaching duties at the University of Alberta (U of A), where he remained until his retirement in 2013. In 1994 he published the much-cited monograph The Crane Site and the Palaeoeskimo Period in the Western Canadian Arctic<\/em>. In his review of this publication, Charles Arnold states, \u201cRaymond Le Blanc\u2019s research on the Crane site\u2026 significantly advances our understanding of the Palaeoeskimo period in the history of the western Canadian Actic\u2026 It is also an excellent example of how to carry out archaeological fieldwork, analyze and present data: it could be used in archaeological instruction as a model of a good report\u201d (2010:104-105).\r\n\r\nRay supervised almost two dozen graduate students during his tenure at the U of A and taught courses in North American Prehistory, Cultural Resource Management, Lithic Technology, and Archaeological Methods, to name a few. He was also chair of the Department of Anthropology. In this period, he continued working in the northern Yukon independently and with his students, and at all times collaborating closely with the Vuntut Gwitchin community in Old Crow. The various sites he worked on included Rampart House, Schaeffer Creek, and Dechyoo Njik in Old Crow Flats, the moss houses at Berry Creek, and Rat Indian Creek, once again, where he researched the semi-subterranean house occupations. Beginning about 2005, Ray worked closely with the Vuntut Gwitchin Government Heritage Office as they began a long program of documenting their culture and history and places of importance in their traditional territory. Over a number of years, Ray worked with elders, community members and youth documenting caribou fences and archaeological localities and sharing his knowledge of the archaeology of the region acquired over many years. Other community members he has worked with include Lazarus Charlie, Charlie Thomas, Peter Tizya, Hugh Charlie, Danny Kassi, Joseph Bruce, Lance Nagwan, Chelsea Charlie and Brandon Kyikavichik. This work with the Vuntut Gwitchin continues to the present day. When asked what his favourite part of Yukon is he replies, \u201cIt\u2019s being there. I enjoy the people and the environment, more the northern Yukon than anything else. I just love when I fly over there, I feel kind of enveloped in an area I know very well. I\u2019ve actually had a fantastic opportunity to see so much of the country. I\u2019ve had the privilege of being able to go into some pretty remote locations.\u201d\r\n\r\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/echoyukonsfirstpeople\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/785\/2019\/07\/Brandon-and-Ray-Le-Blanc-3-Use-In-Book-VG2007-03-208-1.jpg\")
Figure 2.9 Culture and heritage specialist Brandon Kyikavichik in the forefront, Dr. Ray Le Blanc to his right (photograph courtesy of Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation).[\/caption]\r\n\r\n