Faunal Remains from the Wollaston Forland—Clavering Ø Region, Northeast Greenland—Thule Culture Subsistence in a High Arctic Polynya and Ice-edge Habitat

Abstract

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@ 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 Dedemandsbugten. 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 @, 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

DNA evidence of bowhead whale exploitation by Greenlandic Paleo-Inuit 4,000 years ago

“…In all, 34 sediment samples were collected from stratigraphic sections in the midden deposits at Qajaa813, Qeqertasussuk5, Sandnes917 and Fladstrand111218 (Fig. 1).…”

“…To expand the current knowledge of subsistence practices in ancient Greenland, we investigate sedimentary ancient DNA ( sed aDNA) from four well-described midden deposits at Fladstrand1112, Sandnes9, Qajaa813 and Qeqertasussuk514. These four sites are characterized by exceptionally high preservation conditions and cover the entire history of human occupation in Greenland represented by remains from Thule, Norse, Dorset and Saqqaq cultures.…”

A hidden getaway for bowhead whales in the Greenland Sea

“…This pack ice area, that includes the Northeast Water Polynya (NEW), was never visited by the whalers, and the significance of the NEW area to bowhead whales remained unknown. However, archaeological remains demonstrate that fifteenth century Inuit hunted bowhead whales along the coast of the NEW as well as further north off Peary Land and in the polynyas along the Northeast Greenland coast south at least to Clavering Island (Jensen 2003;Gulløv 2010;Gotfredsen 2010).…”

Revisiting an Early Thule Inuit occupation of Skraeling Island, Canadian High Arctic

“…Juveniles, young seals, and old adults were also identified (Table 5). Though insufficient, the data may point to seasonably variable hunting (see Gotfredsen 2010). For instance, yearlings tend to occupy areas of land-fast ice until they are weaned, as do older adults (Smith 1973(Smith , 1987; thus, these animals could have been harvested during the spring or early summer when the land-fast ice was still present.…”