Ringed seal mortality patterns as an aid in the determination of Thule Eskimo subsistence strategies

• Main Author: Danielson, Robert A. (Robert Alden)
• Other Authors: Savelle, James (advisor)
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: McGill University 1994
• Subjects: Thule culture > Nunavut > Somerset Island > Hunting; Ringed seal > Nunavut > Somerset Island; Sealing > Nunavut > Somerset Island > History; Arctic; Hazard Inlet; Nunavut; Somerset Island; eskimo*; Phoca hispida; ringed seal; Thule culture
• Online Access: http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=68081

Dental annuli analyses were performed on 170 ringed seal (Phoca hispida) canines recovered from five Thule semisubterranean houses located at site PaJs-13 at Hazard Inlet, Somerset Island in the central Canadian Arctic. Season of death results indicate greater seal hunting during the spring. Age at death results were used to produce mortality profiles which, when compared with idealized patterns, revealed a prime-dominated pattern indicating the presence of some selective factor in the subsistence strategy. Based on ethnographical studies of traditional seal hunting techniques, conscious selection was eliminated as a factor. Biological studies of ringed seal demonstrate that during the spring, older, sexually mature seals, occupy breeding areas in stable fast ice formations located close to the coast in complex coastal areas. Younger immature seals, on the other hand, occupy areas of unstable pack ice formations either further from the shore in complex coastal areas, or along simple coastlines. The archaeological mortality patterns do not clearly resemble either complex or simple coast modern populations, although a trend toward simple coasts was observed. This observation is consistent with the site location, which allows greater access to pack ice formations. The appearance of selective biological factors affecting random human subsistence strategies indicates that caution must be utilized when interpreting mortality patterns.