Mystery cairns on Washington Irving Island

Abstract In 1875, members of the British Arctic Expedition under the command of George S. Nares discovered two ancient-looking stone cairns on Washington Irving Island at the entrance to Dobbin Bay, eastern Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada. At least one of these cairns was destroyed by the expediti...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Polar Record
Main Authors: McCullough, Karen, Schledermann, Peter
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 1999
Subjects:
General Earth and Planetary Sciences
Ecology
Geography, Planning and Development
Arctic
Nunavut
Ellesmere Island
Canada
Nares
Kane
Cairn
Bache Peninsula
Dobbin Bay
Washington Irving Island
Irving Island
inuit
Kane Basin
Polar Record
Thule culture
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0032247400015643
https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0032247400015643
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Summary:Abstract In 1875, members of the British Arctic Expedition under the command of George S. Nares discovered two ancient-looking stone cairns on Washington Irving Island at the entrance to Dobbin Bay, eastern Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada. At least one of these cairns was destroyed by the expedition members to construct their own cairn. The possibility that these cairns were built by Norse voyagers to Kane Basin is supported by the large number of Norse artifacts recovered from Thule culture Inuit sites in the Bache Peninsula region just south of Washington Irving Island. Surveys of the island have identified scattered boulders marking the location of the cairns, but the question of the builders' identity still remains a mystery.

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