This paper describes the process of developing the NWT Ice Patch Study with Elders from Tulı́t’a, and the researchers’ efforts to incorporate traditional knowledge into their interpretation of archeological data. They interviewed Elders, ran science camps with Elders and youth, and involved oral histories and traditional land-use mapping in their fieldwork. The team spatially recorded oral traditions about hunting caribou in the mountains and on ice patches, contextualizing these histories with maps of place names, trails, hunting areas, resource-gathering areas, etc. Ice patches were of particular interest for the archaeological remnants of both historical caribou and their hunters.

During the study, the researchers recorded a number of Dene terms about Ice Patch conditions and other snow/ice terms (p 39).

Conditions of snow (zha)

zhahdewé                    “big snow,” a deep blanket of snow from a storm (a)

k’ahbahchoré              “ptarmigan feathers,” light, fluffy snow (a)

shiré                              dry, flaky top layer of snow (a)

fileh                              loose, crystalline snow layer below shiré (a)

náegah                         powdery snow (a)

tahsilé                          hard snow (a)

zhaaɂurééłįh               melting snow (a)

zhahtsele                     heavy, wet snow (a)

įzé                                 slushy snow (a)

dazhá                           snow on tree branches (a)

zhatú                           water from melted snow (a)

Ice or snow features

zhaayáfelah                ice patch (a)

łubee                           glacier (a)

łuugháh                      rough, broken ice on a river, making it difficult for travel (a)

p’enii                           frozen overflow, where water from below the snow or ice has seeped to surface and frozen (a)

tegahtú                       wet overflow (a)

Access this Resource:

Thomas D. Andrews, Glen MacKay, Leon Andrew, Wendy Stephenson, Amy Barker, Claire Alix and the Shúhtagot’ine Elders of Tulita. “Alpine Ice Patches and Shúhtagot’ine Land Use in the Mackenzie and Selwyn Mountains, Northwest Territories, Canada.” Arctic 65, no. 1 (2012): 22-42.