The CMC Archaeological Sites Database is the product of a ministerial agreement between the territories and CMC. Archaeological Sites Regulations in effect in the territories stipulate that a permit must be obtained to undertake archaeological field research and that this research and any resulting artifact collections must be fully documented. The collections and all related documentation must be deposited and/or filed with designated agencies. The Sites Office, Canadian Museum of Civilization is the designated agency for maintaining the official registry of archaeological sites located in Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut and, by special arrangement, Prince Edward Island. The Sites Office has been accepting site data for registration for the past forty years or so. The inventory presently holds information on more than fifteen thousand archaeological sites spanning more than ten thousand years of human occupation including traces of Amerindian, Inuit, European and Canadian presence.

The CMC Sites Office maintains comprehensive map files and master Borden logs, acts as liaison between CMC Archives and Collections sections, consults with provincial Sites Offices regarding Borden attribution where Borden squares overlap provincial and territorial boundaries, assists territorial agencies in monitoring permits and processing information requests, and arranges for access to the CMC Sites Database.

The Sites Office endeavours to document yearly field research and register sites in a timely fashion. However, the Sites Office is in transition. The new KE database system along with the Sites Internet Interface and a mapping software project are all still in development. This has slowed down the site registration process somewhat. Presently, it is not unusual for large projects to take up to one year to fully document and enter online. We are confident the situation will improve.

The Canadian Museum of Civilization Sites Office: A Brief History

Under present agreements with territorial and provincial governments, the Archaeological Sites Office, CMC, is responsible for the creation and maintenance of the official site inventories for Yukon, Northwest Territories (NWT), Nunavut and Prince Edward Island (PEI). The inventories reside in the CMC Archaeological Sites Database.

From 1972 to 1981 the Sites Office, part of the Archaeological Survey of Canada (ASC), acted as co-ordinator of the National Inventory of Prehistoric Sites (NIPS), a countrywide inventory of archaeological sites. During this period, ASC co-ordinated the entry of approximately 35,000 site records from across Canada using a database system known as ISIS. NIPS was a component of the National Inventory Programme (NIP), a National Museums of Canada programme that operated a computer service for museum applications.

In 1980, the National Museum of Man (now CMC) was approached by NIP regarding a pilot project testing a new database system known as PARIS (Pictorial and Artifact Retrieval Information System). NIPS was abandoned and in September 1981, ASC transferred its Yukon, NWT and PEI site data to the new PARIS system. Approximately 4,000 records were transferred. ASC became the first client of the Canadian Heritage Information Network (CHIN), a renamed version of the original National Inventory Programme (NIP).

From 1981 to 1998, the CMC Sites Office, along with participating provincial Sites Offices, used CHIN resources to maintain their institutional sites database and to upload to CHIN's National Database of Archaeological Sites. Participating agencies also formed CHIN's National Archaeological Sites Working Group. The group worked at creating data entry standards and at developing consistent approaches to the computerization of site data. A data dictionary was compiled by the Group and published by CHIN in 1994.

In 1998, a change in CHIN's mandate meant that the Network no longer supported institutional databases and that new, individual in-house systems would have to be developed. CMC began developing and implementing the Cultural Assets Information System (CAIS) using a database known as KE Emu. In April 1998, the CMC Sites Office uploaded approximately 15,000 Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Prince Edward Island site records to the new database. The working group was renamed the "Archaeological Sites Inventory Group" during a National conference and workshop co-hosted by CMC and Heritage Canada and held at CMC in April 1999.

In 1991, the Archaeological Sites Office was moved from ASC to Collections Management Services under the Information and Collections Branch. In 1998, the Sites Office was moved to Library, Archives, and Documentation Services under the Research and Collections Branch where it resides today.

The KE system is operational. However the final version of the Sites module is still in development. An ArcView GIS 8.1 interface to the Sites Database is also in development.

CMC Sites Office
June 2002