Mankind in polar habitats
Abstract Only recently have the enormous areas around the poles been invaded by mankind (Sugden 1982; Ives and Sugden 1995). The Arctic, being nearer to centres of population and approachable by land, was the first to suffer intrusion. This came via the unglaciated lowland of northeast Siberia and t...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Book Part |
| Language: | unknown |
| Published: |
Oxford University PressOxford
1998
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198549543.003.0009 https://academic.oup.com/book/chapter-pdf/52366943/isbn-9780198549543-book-part-9.pdf |
| Summary: | Abstract Only recently have the enormous areas around the poles been invaded by mankind (Sugden 1982; Ives and Sugden 1995). The Arctic, being nearer to centres of population and approachable by land, was the first to suffer intrusion. This came via the unglaciated lowland of northeast Siberia and the Beringia peninsula (p. 47) which was occupied by groups of people hunting mammoth, bison, and caribou with stone-tipped spears and living in winter in semi-subterranean dwellings. This Palaeo-Arctic culture persisted until around 7000 BP but long before, perhaps 20 000 BP, it had spread across the then existing land bridge to North America. About 11 000BP the climate became warmer, ice caps melted, and the land connection with Asia was cut by the rising sea, leaving the primitive Arctic hunters to evolve in isolation. Those that remained in coastal areas lived on sea mammals, muskoxen, and caribou, and gave rise to the palaeo-Eskimo who reached northern Greenland about 3000 years BP. Another group, the Dorset culture, with the same origin, moved to the eastern Canadian Arctic and developed the building of ice houses (igloos), boats (umiaks and kayaks), and efficient harpoon technology for hunting on ice. This exploitation of sea mammals was the key to successful occupation of the high Arctic. |
|---|