Mystery cairns on Washington Irving Island

• 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

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.