"That's Where They Gathered" History at Tsiigehtchic, N.W.T. (verbatim transcript) A Mackenzie Valley Heritage Vignette Directed & Edited: Lori J. Schroeder Written and Produced: Jean-Luc Pilon A video production of the Canadian Museum of Civilization, Hull, Québec. February 1995 (Annie Norbert, Gwich'in elder): "Crow is no good you know. In the olden days they say all the animals are human beings, mens, huh, and womens. And Crow like to fool the people.He get kick out of it, you know. In the morning you say "Crow make you mad." They make noise, huh, they're fed up with hearing him scream all the time and they took his jaw. While that raft was coming down, there's supposed to be some people from up the Red are still coming, some more people. And they think it's a real raft and everybody screaming.This old woman, blind old woman too, look after that thing.Everybody just try to gather on the shore to meet the people but it was not the people, it was Crow, his work.That old woman said "Gee I don't know where to put this jaw?" "Give it to me!" he said "Give it to me!" So she, she is blind, where she hear noise, she just give it.It was Crow. Him, he play tricks." (Jean-Luc Pilon, archaeologist): "Tsiigehtchic is a small Athapaskan community in the Northwest Territories with a population of less than 150 people. It is now considered the home of the Gwichya Gwich'in whose traditional lands cover the lower Mackenzie and Arctic Red River valleys. The present-day community is not old. It's only within the lifespans of today's elders that people have come to live permanently at this or any other location." "In the past, the Gwich'in lived in a number of camps throughout their traditional lands over the course of a year. Although the beginnings of the permanent settlement date to the turn of the century, the use of the Flats below the town as a seasonal camp is much older. " "Archaeological investigations by Luc Nolin of the Canadian Museum of Civilization in 1992 and 1993 revealed a record of use spanning more than 1 400 years. This record was probably even longer, but river erosion and permafrost have so far kept this information out of reach." (Luc Nolin, archaeologist): "For two summers we patiently, slowly, and carefully scraped away layers of dirt which had built up over the centuries. It was an archaeologist's dream. Objects were found in thin dark bands, stacked one atop the other. But luckily, thick layers of river mud had separate these. So we could easily distinguish each episode of occupation and study differences between them." "There isn't much left of the site; I've been told that the river has washed away large sections of the Flats." (Gabe Andre, Gwich'in elder): "They used to have fish camp here. There was no such thing as thinking about town, not a settlement like. And people used to have camp down on the Flat, and you know where the road is, that used to be the edge of the bush. That side was just nothing but bush. And from the road out this side is...all cut off. All fell in. That what you see there between the lake and the river bank, right around there used to be a Hudson's Bay warehouse and it's right on, the road is over it now. And the police warehouse too, RCMP warehouse and then out little further is one more house too, Old Ts'ideh'tii house, Old Modeste. And out from there towards the river, is lots of room. And camp, people used to have camp there same Ahdree kanh, huh... I don't know, took a long time before they start building houses." (Luc Nolin, archaeologist):"Our findings show that fishing has always been a very important activity for the people who camped on the Flats, but they also hunted a variety of other game. They chipped stone tools and they made bone implements and birchbark containers. In most cases we find evidence of these and other activities focussed around fireplaces. Like our kitchens today, people were drawn by the heat of the fire, of course, but also by the warmth of the people who gathered there." (Caroline Andre, Gwich'in elder): "I know they, long ago that's where, uh, people used to stay, huh, and that Eskimos when they used to come up, that's the only place they stay is, on that Flat, huh, and in the summer that's where everybody used to stay. It was just full of tents down that way. They just stay there, some of them just for nothing. Some of them they got no place to stay up here. No houses, them days too I guess because they go in the bush in the winter and all summer they just stay around down on the Flat and some of them make dryfish, and some of them just stay there for nothing, to live in a tent. You know, I used to live there too." (Bob Norman, Gwich'in elder): "They all stay in tent there, lots of tent there! That's where the summertime they gather. Lots of people gather, dancing and all that dancing in circle." "And then they gambling, they call "hand game". Yeah, I seen that too! Hand game. With stick, eh? They got something in their hand...try to guess which side..." (Jean-Luc Pilon, archaeologist): "We often take ordinary things and everyday places for granted. But some facinating history lies literally just beneath the surface. Although parts of the history of Tsiigehtchic can be found in books, the rich details of life there are kept by the community's Elders. Beneath the grass, in the frozen ground, artifacts confirm and complement this information." "At Tsiigehtchic, archaeologists and Elders combined their efforts to save this history for future generations." (Hyacinthe Andre, Gwich'in elder): "...very close to the water. Right there you find that birchbark, birchbark canoe. Oh, about that long. On the side its about that long and sewn up too. Maybe they've got it. I don't know, maybe." (Luc Nolin, archaeologist): "A birchbark canoe, right there? We're finding a lot of pieces of birchbark along there. And sometimes they're large pieces and I think they could be parts of old canoes." (Hyacinthe Andre, Gwich'in elder): "Maybe..."