Archaeological experts in Nunavik seek protection for ancient petroglyphs off Quebec's northern coast after hearing that carvings were damaged.

Louis Gagnon, a curator with the Avataq Cultural Institute — a non-profit group dedicated to protecting and promoting indigenous language and culture in the eastern Arctic — says the area is an important archaeological site.

This face is one of 170 found at the Qajartalik site.
(Avataq Cultural Institute)

The approximately 170 petroglyphs are mask-like images and animal shapes carved into a soapstone ridge on Qajartalik Island, one hour by boat from the village of Kangiqsujuaq.

Avataq began an archaeological study of the petroglyphs in 1996.  Experts believe the extinct Dorset culture created the carvings 1,500 years ago.

The Avataq Institute would like to see the area monitored and protected, and possibly restricted, Gagnon said.

A large group of engravings shows the variety of faces carved by ancient peoples.
(Avataq Cultural Institute)

"If you count how many faces, you can go as far as 170 faces and all of them are different, but they look from the same age," he told CBC Radio.

"They were probably made at the same period. So, this is very, very special. We tried to understand why they were made like that …It means something. And especially as you cannot find other faces like that anywhere else in the North."

Gagnon says it's challenging to study the petroglyphs because they are carved on very soft soapstone. He hopes to visit the site in October and report on the damage.

"Maybe I'll have the opportunity to visit that place and take pictures — start to evaluate the damage — because we were told there were some damage, but I need to see something in order to prepare a plan of protection for that site," he said.

Quebec cultural officials discovered gouges on the etchings earlier this year.

Reports in some newspapers in southern Canada suggest local people may have done the damage because their religious beliefs, perhaps believing the petroglyphs are pagan images.

That suggestion has raised objections from Mary Piluqtuut, mayor of Kangirsujuaq.

She investigated the reports as soon as she heard them, she told CBC Radio.

Even though many people in the community do have strong religious beliefs, Piluqtuut says she knows they would not do anything like that.

Piluqtuut says people in her community care about the carvings and they support the protection of them.

From what she understands, she says the damage was done much earlier than this spring.

The Dorset culture that created the carvings may have been driven from the eastern Arctic by the Thule, the ancestors of today's Inuit.

Heritage advocates have called for protection of the site for years, but the issue has been delayed by negotiations between Nunavut, Quebec and the federal government over the ownership of the Hudson Strait islands.

Canada introduced protection for several significant petroglyph sites, including one near Peterborough, Ont., and one south of Nanaimo, B.C.