The Paleoeskimo in Northern Baffinland

• Published in: Memoirs of the Society for American Archaeology
• Main Author: Mary-Rousselière, Guy
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 1976
• Subjects: Flint; Pond Inlet
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0081130000000769; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0081130000000769

Paleoeskimo artifacts from the Pond Inlet region have been known since Mathiassen carried out archaeological excavations in 1923, although for some time they were not recognized as such by their discoverer. A short description of the main sites known at the present time and of the most characteristic artifacts will be given here. Some conclusions will then be drawn concerning the local aspects of the Pre-Dorset and Dorset cultures, and their implications. By a strange coincidence, the oldest dated remains of the whole region come from a point only 6 m distant from the Thule house excavated by Mathiassen at Mittimatalik (in which he found a few Dorset and perhaps Pre-Dorset artifacts) (Fig. 1). The site is situated on the west bank of a stream, in the middle of the present village of Pond Inlet, and is now covered in part by new houses and roads. In 1969, a pre-Dorset layer was found at 8 m above sea level, under modern, Thule, and Dorset remains. Underlaid by gravel and sand, it does not seem to have been too much disturbed by solifluxion, but the stratigraphy is confused by numerous crevices cutting through the sod and peat. Besides a few flint artifacts, mostly burins and burin spalls, a complete barbed harpoon head and a similar one with the point cut off were found. Seal bones from the same layer have provided a date of 4385±155 radiocarbon years (S-589), or 2435 B.C. (adjusted date: 2035 B.C.). Local conditions have made it impossible to carry out investigation of the site during the last four years.