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Inughuit Open Water Hunting Before the Nineteenth Century: New Dates and Questions from Washington Land, Northwest Greenland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Matthew Walls ,
Pauline Knudsen  and
Frederik Larsen
Matthew Walls
Affiliation:
Institute of Archaeology, University of Oxford, Oxford, Oxfordshire, OX1 2PG (matthew.walls@arch.ox.ac.uk)
Pauline Knudsen
Affiliation:
Nunatta Katersugaasivia/Greenland National Museum, Nuuk
Frederik Larsen
Affiliation:
Ilisimatusarfik /University of Greenland, Nuuk
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Abstract

This report re-examines the Morris Bay Kayak, which was discovered in Washington Land, Northwest Greenland in 1921. Kayaks rarely preserve archaeologically, and the find is especially significant because the closest Inuit group, the Inughuit, were thought to have lost the technology sometime before the nineteenth century. In this context, radiocarbon dating of caribou antler pieces from the kayak places the date of the assemblage as surprisingly recent. Through comparison with regional assemblages, we argue that the Morris Bay Kayak is representative of a locally developed tradition of kayaking that was practiced until shortly before the colonial period and that this has important implications for understanding the deeper history of Inughuit open-water hunting.

Résumé

Résumé

Este informe examina nuevamente el Kayak de Bahia Morris, quefue descubierto en tierra de Washington, al noroeste de Groenlandia en 1921. Los kayaks raramente se conservan arqueológicamente, y el hallazgo es especialmente significativo porque el grupo Inuit más cercano, los Inughuit, se pensaba que habían perdido esta tecnología en algún momento antes del siglo XIX. En este contexto, la datación por radiocarbono de piezas de asta de caribú del kayak asocian estos restos a una fecha sorprendentemente reciente. Mediante la comparación con conjuntos regionales, argumentamos que el Kayak de Bahía Morris representa una traditión desarrollada localmente del uso de kayaks que se practicaba hasta poco antes de la época colonial, y discutimos las implicaciones que esto tiene para la comprensión de la historia más profunda de la caza en aguas abiertas de los Inughuit.

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 80 , Issue 3 , July 2015 , pp. 602 - 609
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 2015

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