The Pembroke Site: Thule Inuit Migrants on Southern Victoria Island

Abstract

This paper presents description and interpretation of the Pembroke site, the earliest known Thule Inuit occupation in the southeastern Victoria Island region, Nunavut. The site has 11 extant dwellings, including five heavy tent rings, five light semi-subterranean dwellings, and a <em>qalgiq </em>(large communal structure). The site’s economy revolved mainly around the acquisition of caribou, Arctic char, and lake trout, with minimal consumption of sea mammals. Radiocarbon dates, reinforced by artifact analyses, indicate an occupation around AD 1400. Based on several lines of evidence, including the extremely small artifact samples, the site is interpreted as having been occupied relatively briefly. It represents the first colonization of the region by Thule people, approximately 200 years after the initial Thule migration from Alaska into the eastern Arctic. Thus, it documents a second migration wave: an expansion of Thule peoples from their initially occupied territories to other, in some ways less optimal, regions

Radiocarbon Evidence for Fourteenth-Century Dorset Occupation in the Eastern North American Arctic

“…There is currently no evidence for earliest Thule in the immediate region, implying that pioneering Thule did not settle here, perhaps because it did not contain the bowhead whales and walrus that were economically and socially prized in many other regions (see Figure 1). This does not mean Thule were incapable of living here; they did settle the region around AD 1400, but probably in a second wave of Thule settlement after many other regions were already occupied (Friesen and Norman 2016). It is also possible, however, that a relatively large Late Dorset population at Iqaluktuuq presented a socially risky situation for Thule, which contributed to its late settlement—perhaps pointing to a rare instance where Thule avoided Dorset, rather than vice versa.…”

An Early Inupiaq Occupation: Observations on a Thule House From Cape Espenberg, Alaska

“…VanStone (1970) also excavated a historic qargi at Akulivik, on the Nushagak River in southwestern Alaska. One early Thule qargi was excavated by Friesen at the Pembroke Site in the central Canadian Arctic Friesen 2010, Friesen andNorman 2016); it conformed to ethnographic expectations as it was larger than the contemporary winter dwellings and had stones arranged as benches around the entire interior walls. One, and potentially two, Thule qargich were excavated at Hazard Inlet (Savelle 1987, Habu and Savelle 1994, Savelle 1997.…”

Paleogeography of Human Settlement at Iqaluktuuq, Victoria Island, Nunavut

“…Research on the area continues, though it is important to note that Inuinnait (modern Inuit of the region, sometimes referred to as "Copper Inuit" in the scholarly literature) always knew Iqaluktuuq was culturally important [2,3]. Renewed fieldwork as part of the Iqaluktuuq Project occurred from 1999 to 2010 and included further survey and mapping as well as excavations at ten sites [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] (Figure 2). Primary attributes of each significant site are summarised in Table 2, though it must be noted that information on these sites is somewhat uneven; some have been excavated and published intensively, while others have only been observed during a rapid survey or are known only through Taylor's [16] field notes.…”