Hearth and home of the Palaeo-Eskimos

Abstract

Le présent article propose une approche méthodologique concernant l'étude des foyers en général. Les foyers de la tradition paléoesquimaude sont souvent assez bien conservés, ce qui permet d'interpréter les processus de combustion utilisés et comment ces derniers affectaient le climat à l'intérieur de l'habitation. Pour obtenir ces informations, il est important de recueillir des données concernant les pierres fracturées par le feu. Les Paléoesquimaux utilisaient une pyro-technologie versatile, s'ajustant aux conditions les plus extrêmes dans des régions où l'accès au bois de chauffage était limité. Une reconstitution expérimentale combinée à des calculs de la combustion hypothétique des matières grasses démontre qu'il était possible pour les Indépendanciens I de l'Arctique septentrional de passer confortablement l'hiver dans des tentes. Enfin, les aspects symboliques des foyers sont abordés dans le texte.This article offers a methodological approach to study hearth features in general. The hearths of the Palaeo-Eskimo tradition are often well preserved, which makes it possible to interpret which heating processes took place, and their effects on the indoor climate of the dwelling. To obtain this type of information, recording of fire-cracked rocks within and in connection to hearths is of special importance. The Palaeo-Eskimos made use of a versatile pyro-technology, adjustable to the most extreme conditions in areas where access to firewood was limited. An archaeological experiment in combination with calculations of hypothetical combustion of fat shows that it was possible for the Independence I people to live through the High Arctic winter in tents with a reasonable degree of comfort. Also, the symbolic aspects of hearths are discussed

Formation processes in Philistine hearths from Tell es-Safi/Gath (Israel): An experimental approach

“…Previous experimental and ethnographic studies report the suitability of heated stones for boiling/cooking (Backhouse and Johnson 2007;Backhouse et al 2005;Odgaard 2003Odgaard , 2007Pagoulatos 2005;Thoms 2008Thoms , 2009). We note that most of these studies involved closed earth ovens, where stones are put in an excavated pit containing the fire and are covered with sediment.…”

Comments on David G. Anderson: Dwellings, Storage and Summer Site Structure among Siberian Orochen Evenkis: Hunter‐Gatherer Vernacular Architecture under Post‐Socialist Conditions.Norwegian Archaeological Review 39, 1–26

“…In the case of the traditional house of Evenki, they -like many other people of Siberia and northern Scandinavia (Anisimov 1963a, Tugolukov 1978) -saw the hearth as a symbol of the middle world, the world of the living, and an opening to other worlds (Odgaard 2001(Odgaard , 2003(Odgaard , 2006. Through this opening, offerings could be given to the dead in the lower world and to the gods in the upper world.…”

Untangling Social, Ritual and Cosmological Aspects of Fishhook Manufacture in the Middle Mesolithic Coastal Communities of NE Skagerrak

“…They may involve sending off all the bone remains at the end of the season or the year, or at the time of each catch. Other variants are sending off the season's first game, sending off reared animals, sending off a youth's first game, or disposal of bones from animals caught the previous season (Watanabe, : 49–61; see also Westerdahl, ; 186; Grøn and Kuznetzov, ; Odgaard, , 369). Within such a framework, seemingly insignificant waste, even small, burnt fragments of bones or tools can be of interest precisely because they are burnt, that is, the material has been exposed to cultural transformations.…”