A Geographical Description of Southampton Island and Notes upon the Eskimo

Sealing, whaling and caribou revisited: additional insights from the skeletal isotope chemistry of eastern Arctic foragers

“…Mathiassen (1927: 287) speculated that the Sadlermiut originated on southern Baffin Island and at extermination were the ''last redoubt of the Thule culture.'' Occupying Southampton, Coats and Walrus Islands in north Hudson Bay, the Sadlermiut were considered ''backward'' by other Inuit groups and remained relatively isolated (Clark, 1980;Comer, 1910). They built stone and sod ''Dorset-like houses'' and spoke a ''strange dialect of Eskimo'' (Collins, 1956a: 674) leading to speculation that they were an anomalous Dorset remnant.…”

“…If bowhead encounter rates dropped substantially, late spring and summer occupations may have become less profitable; however European whaling commenced in Roes Welcome Sound in 1860 (Finley, 2001) coincident with heavy sea ice cover and continued until 1915. Encounter rates in Roes Welcome Sound resulted in the capture of 568 animals (Finley, 2001), an average of 10þ whale/year, adequate to raise concerns about the extinction of bowheads (Comer, 1910). This harvesting rate may reflect a substantial decline in Hudson Bay bowhead stock relative to earlier periods; but the success of European whaling demonstrates the historic stability of bowhead migration patterns through Roes Welcome Sound despite fluctuations in sea ice cover, a pattern further confirmed by modern bowhead inventories which identify northwest Hudson Bay as a summering area for mature bowheads (Cosens and Blouw, 2003).…”

“…When coupled with radiocarbon dating of purified bone collagen from the same individuals analyzed for diet, temporal shifts in reliance on key foods can be addressed. Burial collections analyzed in this study represent Late Holocene Thule village occupations at Kamarvik (LeHv-1, 64 45 0 N, 87 19 0 W) and Silumiut (KkJg-1, 63 41 0 N, 90 05'W) (McCartney, 1977) on northwest Hudson Bay and the proto-historic Sadlermiut (KkHh-1) (Clark, 1980;Collins, 1955Collins, , 1956aComer, 1910;Mathiassen, 1927;Rowley, 1994;Taylor, 1959Taylor, , 1960VanStone, 1960), a purported Dorset remnant living at Native Point on Southampton Island (65 N, 85 W) (Fig. 1).…”

Identification of a Pre-Contact Polar Bear Victim at Native Point, Southampton Island, Nunavut, Using 3D Technology and a Virtual Zooarchaeology Collection

“…While it is likely that someone at Native Point cared for the woman before her death, the location of her remains on the outskirts of the village in what Collins (1954 -55b) identified as a disused tent suggests that her caregivers did not wish to place her inside an occupied dwelling. This was probably because the Sadlermiut, like other Inuit, maintained a taboo against deaths inside inhabited dwellings (e.g., Boas, 1888Boas, , 1907Comer, 1910;Rasmussen, 1929Rasmussen, , 1932. Groups typically went to great lengths to prevent such a calamity, as it meant the dwelling and its contents had to be abandoned.…”

Comments on Coltrain et al., Journal of Archaeological Science 31, 2004 “Sealing, whaling and caribou: the skeletal isotope chemistry of eastern Arctic foragers”, and Coltrain, Journal of Archaeological Science 36, 2009 “Sealing, whaling and caribou revisited: additional insights from the skeletal isotope chemistry of eastern Arctic foragers”

“…The Sadlermiut are poorly known because they had little contact during the historic era with both neighboring Inuit groups and Europeans (Back,1838;Bird,1953;Boas, 1888Boas, , 1901Clark, 1986;Comer, 1906Comer, , 1910Comer, , 1921Ferguson, 1938;Lyon, 1825;Manning, 1942;Munn, 1919;Paton, 1825).…”