The “Cast Iron Site”—A Tale of Four Stoves from the 1845 Franklin Northwest Passage Expedition

Abstract

Few detailed analyses exist for the majority of the sites that comprise the archaeological record of the 1845 Franklin Northwest Passage expedition. This paper presents the results of new investigations of an Inuit site (NgLj-9) at Erebus Bay on King William Island, Nunavut, containing materials derived from the 1845 Franklin expedition. The complex history of the origin and use of artifacts found at the site and its relationship to other Franklin sites and events associated with the expedition are revealed through the analysis and integration of archaeological, historical, and oral historical data.