2 Background of the Work

• Published in: Memoirs of the Society for American Archaeology
• Main Author: Taylor, William E.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 1968
• Subjects: General Earth and Planetary Sciences; General Environmental Science; Arctic; Cape Dorset; Dorset culture
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0081130000003233; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0081130000003233

The 1957–58–59 archaeological reconnaissance in northwestern Ungava and adjacent islands sought to find sites of the Dorset and Pre-Dorset occupations and to test them extensively. I hoped to collect data that would contribute to a solution of two questions — first, the origin or origins of the Cape Dorset culture, and second, the chronological development of that culture. This meant the work must produce large enough site samples from very early Dorset stations for comparison with the other areas, and enough site samples from throughout the Dorset time span for seriation analysis. Unfortunately the eastern Arctic is only in rare cases archaeologically prolific, either in number of sites or abundance of artifacts in a site. Also anyone working in Arctic prehistory must resign himself to a lavish expenditure of time on travel, camp maintenance, and poor weather.