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

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...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:American Antiquity
Main Authors: Walls, Matthew, Knudsen, Pauline, Larsen, Frederik
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 2015
Subjects:
Museology
Archeology
Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)
History
Greenland
Kayak
Washington Land
Inughuit
inuit
Washington land
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.7183/0002-7316.80.3.602
https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0002731600003541
Description
Summary: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.

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