Faunal remains from the Wollaston Forland - Clavering Ø Region, Northeast Greenland - Thule culture subsistence in a high arctic polynya and ice-edge habitat

TY - JOUR

T1 - Faunal remains from the Wollaston Forland - Clavering Ø Region, Northeast Greenland - Thule culture subsistence in a high arctic polynya and ice-edge habitat

AU - Gotfredsen, Anne Birgitte

PY - 2010/12

Y1 - 2010/12

N2 - The GeoArk project conducted interdisciplinary studies between 2003 and 2008 to investigate the Thule culture (c. 1400 AD until c. 1850 AD) in the Wollaston Forland - Clavering Ø region (74°N). Faunal remains of recent excavations and re-analyses of previous excavations of Thule culture seasonal features, winter houses and middens are presented, with an emphasis on the two winter sites of Fladstrand and Dødemandsbugten. The faunal assemblages showed ringed seal (Phoca hispida) to be the key game species, although, with important contingents of narwhal (Monodon monoceros) and caribou (Rangifer tarandus). Thule subsistence was highly dependent on having a well developed procurement system and the sea- and landscape was used differentially during the annual cycle. Hvalros Ø, located at the recurring Sirius Water Polynya, was used as a seasonal aggregation site especially for hunting walrus (Odobenus rosmarus) throughout the entire Thule culture era. Being a predictable source of meat and blubber, the walrus was of fundamental importance to the Thule Inuit in order to cope with a harsh high arctic environment. The site locations of the study area revealed a continued similar usage of the sea- and landscape for centuries and the analyses documented only minor temporal changes in subsistence patterns.

AB - The GeoArk project conducted interdisciplinary studies between 2003 and 2008 to investigate the Thule culture (c. 1400 AD until c. 1850 AD) in the Wollaston Forland - Clavering Ø region (74°N). Faunal remains of recent excavations and re-analyses of previous excavations of Thule culture seasonal features, winter houses and middens are presented, with an emphasis on the two winter sites of Fladstrand and Dødemandsbugten. The faunal assemblages showed ringed seal (Phoca hispida) to be the key game species, although, with important contingents of narwhal (Monodon monoceros) and caribou (Rangifer tarandus). Thule subsistence was highly dependent on having a well developed procurement system and the sea- and landscape was used differentially during the annual cycle. Hvalros Ø, located at the recurring Sirius Water Polynya, was used as a seasonal aggregation site especially for hunting walrus (Odobenus rosmarus) throughout the entire Thule culture era. Being a predictable source of meat and blubber, the walrus was of fundamental importance to the Thule Inuit in order to cope with a harsh high arctic environment. The site locations of the study area revealed a continued similar usage of the sea- and landscape for centuries and the analyses documented only minor temporal changes in subsistence patterns.

U2 - 10.1080/00167223.2010.10669506

DO - 10.1080/00167223.2010.10669506

M3 - Journal article

SN - 0016-7223

VL - 110

SP - 175

EP - 200

JO - Geografisk Tidsskrift

JF - Geografisk Tidsskrift

IS - 2

ER -