Ottawa museum identifies artifact
Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services
Gjoa Haven (Dec 11/00) - A human skull found in a lake outside Gjoa Haven has been identified.
The bone was sent to the Ottawa Museum of Civilization's physical anthropology section for identification.
"They had a look at it and did the examination and determined it was of Inuit descent," said Sgt. Mark Hennigar from his office in Iqaluit.
"It had been in the water a long time. They can't positively assess how old, but it's very old. It's a historic item."
When it was first discovered by Simon Hiqiniq last month, some residents of the Kitikmeot community thought the human skull might have belonged to one of Franklin's explorers.
Hiqiniq was checking his fish nets on Kakqivaktovik Lake when he pulled them out of the water, the skull was tangled in the nets.
Reached at his home Thursday afternoon, Hiqiniq said he was still excited by the find.
"I was excited, but at the same time, I was shocked because I never heard of anybody pulling a human skull out of the water," said Hiqiniq.
Mayor Michael Angotittauraq said he was glad the skull was found to be old and that an investigation wouldn't be held. He said he's intrigued by the whole situation.
"It's really quite unusual the way it was pulled out, especially in a lake that's been used for modern fishing and also an ancient fishing spot," said Angotittauraq.
Hennigar said a committee of hamlet elders, clergy and other community members had been formed to figure out what to do with the skull now that it had been returned from Ottawa.
