Across Canadian Past By: Brandon Gillet With over 30 years experience in archaeology, Dr.

David Morrison has spent his life digging into Canadas past for the benefit of knowledge, our country and all mankind. Working with the Museum of Civilization, Dr. Morrison has spent the majority of his career conducting research in Arctic Canada studying past cultures near the top of the world. Born in Edmonton, David always had a keen interest in Canadas history and followed that interest to Trent University as well as the University of Toronto where he studied for his MA and PhD in archaeology. Though David had mentors, the only real inspiration was his own interest and the desire to tell it to the world. Up until a few weeks ago Dr. Morrison was the Director of Archaeology and History for the museum. In the final stretch of his long and historically important contribution to archaeology, David will serve as Director of Research and Content for the new Canada Hall project at the museum. Dr. Morrisons career has taken him to many places like Germany and Florida for example, with the Museum for bureaucratic purposes, but most of his time was spent in Arctic Canada. The beginning of Davids archaeological life began with research in Ontario, but he was quickly drawn to the vast mountains and valleys of the Far North. Put simply, studying in the Arctic was the best way to spend time in the beautiful tranquility of Northern Canada as David saw it. Pair that with the mysterious and surprisingly unknown history of the Inuit culture, and you have a wide open archaeologists playground. What drew Dr. Morrison as an archaeologist to these lands is the state of Inuit culture. At the time of Davids work in the Arctic, there was hardly any written history of the Inuit cultures which allowed for a fairly wide scope of research. As well, according to David, Inuit culture is attractive, intelligent and worth studying. This led to many planned excavations and site research parties in many parts of Arctic Canada and with various Inuit and Inuvialuit cultures. For six weeks to two months at a time, Dr. Morrison and a crew of about six would fly into Iqaluit only to require further transportation to get them to other towns and camp areas. This was never a concern for David as according to him, Iqaluit is not where you want to be, from an archaeological stand point that is. The area is inviting at regular temperatures of about 10 degrees in the summers of Dr. Morrisons research, once you get used to the 24-hour sun of course. On the outskirts of places like Bathurst Inlet and the Eskimo Lakes, Dr. Morrison and his crew would set up camp and begin to think about food. Living off the land in freedom was a big part of the thrill of archaeological excavations for David. Sleeping in tents, hunting for food, and learning from the local people about the land was essential to the experience. Excavations and site work would always determine the value of an area, value being either archaeological or scenic. Some parts of Arctic Canada are amazing sights to behold while others can be dull. Some parts can be a wealth of historical value while others can be a complete bust. This is all taken in stride as these scenarios tend to go along with the job as they say. Other than the obscure insects, which according to David are, hard to describe, the only difficulty in the Arctic is the isolation. In the early days of his research an excavation meant no contact

with anyone other than your team for six to eight weeks and homesickness does become a prevalent feeling when isolated from civilization. Even with the technology of today, you cant simply call your wife but maybe be able to reach a radio man in the next town. Although technology has done wonders for the field it is the reason that, as much as archaeologists may like, it is difficult to actually get a true feeling of what it was like to live in the times in which they are researching. A, Glimpse, according to Dr. Morrison is about all you can achieve because as you may be living according to old tradition, you still use things like modern tents, hot stoves, gear, and clothing. Field work is definitely the most tasking, possibly tedious work, but it is also the most exciting and fun part of the job. Dr. Morrisons research has led to many great works of literature in different forms. Baseline descriptive research, site data, surveys, and other publications are some of the many documents bearing Dr. Morrisons name. Most prominently, public offerings in the form of two books came his way. These were, Inuit: Glimpses of an Arctic Past, and, Across the Time and Tundra: The Inuvialuit of the Western Arctic. Dr. Morrison is very proud of these titles as it gave him a chance to explore these two cultures further and share it with the public. As David views it, Glimpses, focused on the Central Arctic region of Inuit culture and was aimed at the general public in Canada as a way to share a rarely spoken of past culture with Canadians. It was a well put together and illustrated by the publishing company and but it was very contentious at the time, says Dr. Morrison. The book was well accepted by the community, sold many copies and was translated into languages like French and German. The second book, Across the Time and Tundra, was written with Ishmael Alunik, Inupiat elder from Inuvik NWT, and Eddie Dean Kolausok another Native Inuvialuit. These were especially rewarding for David because it was aimed at giving the Inuvialuit some identity and history to be proud of. Given that David worked through Ishmael, it was accepted by the Inuvialuit rather than the view of a white man telling them their history, Even though it kind of was, says Dr. Morrison. In addition to the books, the publications are the true reward for archaeology according to Dr. Morrison. Archaeology and history are very important in the world, but what is it if it is not shared? History is important to humanity because it gives us an identity. David believes that history to a country is like memory to a person; it provides the continuity of a country. Dr. Morrison recounts a colleagues speech saying, History doesnt repeat itself, but it sure does rhyme, in connection to just how important history can be. Canada especially needs historical identity in Dr. Morrisons opinion, as we have simply mixed in with the general view of the English populace in the world. Much of Davids work at the museum since the days of his field work has centered on historical research of Canada although he is not formally trained in history at all. Dr. Morrisons work in the Arctic and research on other topics like the Fur Trade and the North West Trading Company for example, have made him a formidable expert in Canadas history in many ways. The field of archaeology in general is struggling as Dr. Morrison has learned through the years as government funding is becoming more difficult to get. Excavations and field operations are all government funded, whether working through a museum or university, all the money comes from the government. The cause sadly is there simply isnt much money for archaeology in our ever progressive society. The field needs to create more good jobs, but not lower positions like which have been spawned as a cause of it. With a masters degree in archaeology, one can work as a contracted consultant. The

problem with this is, Nothing gets published, says Dr. Morrison. As a surveyor in that sense, an archaeologist would be employed by a land development company for example. The company wants the archaeologist to find nothing, so they can build on it. Even if the archaeologist does find anything, they were contracted to do the work and therefore cannot lay claim to any findings. More often than not any finds end up, In the basement of the land development company, may as well throw it in the river, says Dr. Morrison. The point is therefore negated as the purpose of digging up the past is to tell the world about it. The Canadian Museum of Civilization is undergoing a change, in the form of its name and general perspective. It will soon be known as The Canadian Museum of History and will focus on, in detail, Canadas history. So in the final task of his exciting career, Dr. David Morrison will take on the massive job of re-building the museums Canada Hall. The current Canada Hall is a massive exhibit of recreated scenes and structures of Canadas past. The theme of the exhibit is a walk across Canada in time, therefore making the time period and parts of the country linear. Therein lays the problem, as you can only learn the history of one era and geographical location at a time rather than all of Canada for the almost 500 years of recorded history. With the museum changing its mandate to take solely Canadian history approach, Dr. Morrison will undertake the direction of research and content for the project of completely re-building the exhibit. With only four years to complete the new Canada Hall project, Dr. Morrison plans to travel to places like London England, and Washington D.C to view other museum exhibits as he just di having just returned from the Epcot Centre in Orlando Florida. After this final project, Dr. Morrison will close the doors on an illustrious career of over 20 seasons of Arctic fieldwork, and over 30 years experience in the field of archaeology. A much deserved retirement awaits and as Dr. David Morrison feels, not a moment too soon.