Chasse aux mammifères marins et identité ethnique : le rôle du harpon au sein de la culture thuléenne : analyse comparative des sites Clachan et de l'île Skraeling

• Main Author: Gadoua, Marie-Pierre
• Format: Thesis
• Language: French
• Published: McGill University 2005
• Subjects: Thule culture > Nunavut; Harpoons; Prehistoric > Nunavut; Nunavut > Antiquities; Arctic; Canada; Coronation Gulf; Nunavut; Skraeling Island; Thule culture
• Online Access: http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=83102

Although the study of Thule harpoon heads has produced important seriations, datings and technological reflections during the last century, a lack of fundamental knowledge about these weapons is still occurring. An attempt is made to document the different contexts surrounding the use of these artifacts. Technological, social and symbolic investigations are made on the occupants of the Skraeling Island site (High Arctic, Canada) and the Clachan site (Coronation Gulf, Canada) in order to build a complete understanding of the harpoon head morphological attributes. Using the hierarchical cluster analysis (SPSS), groupings have been statistically formed, underlying the meaningful dimensions of variation of the objects. It is then found that technological, social and symbolic mechanisms are systematically responsible for different aspects of Thule harpoon head morphology, and by comparing the two archaeological assemblages, we conclude that these mechanisms operate in the same direction, even if resulting in different harpoon head styles.