This collection of eighteen papers honours the long and productive career of Dr. William E. Taylor, Jr. They deal with a range of topics in Canadian Arctic archaeology from the Mackenzie Delta to Labrador and from the earliest Palaeoeskimo to historical questions such as the origins of the Copper Inuit and the mysterious demise of the Sadlermiut.
The North American Arctic was one of the last regions on Earth to be settled by humans, due to its extreme climate, limited range of resources, and remoteness from populated areas. Despite these factors, it holds a complex and lengthy history relating to Inuit, Iñupiat, Inuvialuit, Yup'ik and Aleut peoples and their ancestors. The artifacts, dwellings, and food remains of these ancient peoples are remarkably well-preserved due to cold temperatures and permafrost, allowing archaeologists to reconstruct their lifeways with great accuracy. Furthermore, the combination of modern Elders' traditional knowledge with the region's high resolution ethnographic record allows past peoples' lives to be reconstructed to a level simply not possible elsewhere. Combined, these factors yield an archaeological record of global significance--the Arctic provides ideal case studies relating to issues as diverse as the impacts of climate change on human societies, the complex process of interaction between indigenous peoples and Europeans, and the dynamic relationships between environment, economy, social organization, and ideology in hunter-gatherer societies. In the The Oxford Handbook of the Prehistoric Arctic, each arctic cultural tradition is described in detail, with up-to-date coverage of recent interpretations of all aspects of their lifeways. Additional chapters cover broad themes applicable to the full range of arctic cultures, such as trade, stone tool technology, ancient DNA research, and the relationship between archaeology and modern arctic communities. The resulting volume, written by the region's leading researchers, contains by far the most comprehensive coverage of arctic archaeology ever assembled.
Attempts to arrange in sequence descriptions of adaptive technologies, tactics and strategies devised by the prehistoric Eastern Arctic Eskimos over nearly a 4000 year period.
Examining human occupation of the arctic and subarctic zones, irrespective of place and time, this book explores a wide variety of fascinating areas and inhabitants along several points in history. Beautifully illustrated, Arctic Archaeology is essential reading for all those curious about how organisms survived in this life threatening environment.
Newfoundland lies at the intersection of arctic and more temperate regions and, commensurate with this geography, populations of two Amerindian and two Paleoeskimo cultural traditions occupied Port au Choix, in northern Newfoundland, Canada, for centuries and millennia. Over the past two decades The Port au Choix Archaeology Project has sought a comparative understanding of how these different cultures, each with their particular origin and historical trajectory, adapted to the changing physical and social environments, impacted their physical surroundings, and created cultural landscapes. This volume brings together the research of Renouf, her colleagues and her students who together employ multiple perspectives and methods to provide a detailed reconstruction and understanding of the long-term history of Port au Choix. Although geographically focussed on a northern coastal area, this volume has wider implications for understanding archaeological landscapes, human-environment interactions and hunter-gatherer societies.
This volume includes new research on the theoretical implications regarding the mechanisms of change in the geographical distribution of hunter-gatherer settlement and land use. It focuses on the long-term changes in the hunter-gatherer settlement on a global scale, including research from several continents. It will be of interest to archaeologists and cultural anthropologists working in the field of the forager/ collector model throughout the world.
Qeqertasussuk and Qajaa are the only known sites of the Early Arctic Small Tool tradition in the Eastern Arctic, where all kinds of organic materials - wood, bone, baleen, hair, skin - are preserved in permafrozen culture layers. Together, the sites cover the entire Saqqaq era in Greenland (c. 2400-900 BC). Technological and contextual analyses of the excellently preserved archaeological materials from the frozen layers form the core of this publication. Bjarne Grønnow draws a new picture of a true Arctic pioneer society with a remarkably complex technology. The Saqqaq hunting tool kit, consisting of bows, darts, lances, harpoons, and throwing boards as well as kayak-like sea-going vessels, is described for the first time. A wide variety of hand tools and household utensils as well as lithic and organic refuse and animal bones were found on the intact floor of a midpassage dwelling at Qeqertasussuk. These materials provide entirely new information on the daily life and subsistence of the earliest hunting groups in Greenland. Comparative studies put the Saqqaq Culture into a broad cultural-historical perspective as one of the pioneer societies of the Eastern Arctic.
This collection of papers offers insights into the Dorset Palaeo-Eskimo occupation of Arctic Canada, Newfoundland and Greenland. Topics include biological relationships in the Dorset population; succession and discontinuity in Palaeo-Eskimo occupations; Dorset technology in soapstone, metal, and skeletal materials; and social aspects of the late Dorset stone “longhouses”.
