The ideological dimensions of whale bone use in Thule winter houses /

• Main Author: Patton, A. Katherine B. (Anna Katherine Berenice)
• Other Authors: Savelle, J. M. (advisor)
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: McGill University 1996
• Subjects: Thule culture > Dwellings; Whales > Nunavut > Somerset Island > Mythology; Dwellings; Prehistoric > Nunavut > Somerset Island; Decoration and ornament; Canada; Northwest Territories; Nunavut; Somerset Island; bowhead whale; inuit; Inupiat; Thule culture
• Online Access: http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=26750

This study attempts to demonstrate symbolic whale bone patterning within 31 Thule winter houses along the southeast coast of Somerset Island, Northwest Territories, Canada. All visible architectural whale bone incorporated within the dwellings was mapped. Trends towards particular patterns of whale bone distribution were demonstrated using Spearman's Rank-order Correlation Coefficient. The potential symbolic nature of such patternings was determined within the context of north Alaskan ethnographic and oral historical sources. The extensive use of whale bone in some Thule entrances suggests that their builders sought to create a distinction between the entrance tunnel and main room, not unlike the Inupiat dwellings in 19th-century Tikigaq. The significance of this architectural phenomenon is rooted in the Inupiat, and to some extent Inuit, association between women, the house and the bowhead whale. It is also suggested that whaling status may be reflected in differential access to bowhead whale bone.