The Archaeology and Petrology of Coal Artifacts from a Thule Settlement
ABSTRACT. Coal artifacts are occasionally excavated by archaeologists from Thule culture settlements (c. A.D. 1100–1700) in the Canadian Arctic and Alaska. This study examines two such artifacts from a Thule settlement located on the east coast of Axel Heiberg Island, Canada. One specimen has a petr...
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| Format: | Text |
| Language: | English |
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1998
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| Online Access: | http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.562.5670 http://pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/arctic/Arctic51-4-345.pdf |
| Summary: | ABSTRACT. Coal artifacts are occasionally excavated by archaeologists from Thule culture settlements (c. A.D. 1100–1700) in the Canadian Arctic and Alaska. This study examines two such artifacts from a Thule settlement located on the east coast of Axel Heiberg Island, Canada. One specimen has a petrographic composition typical of a cannel shale, in which sporinite is the most abundant organic constituent; the other is characterized by Botryococcus-alginite bodies typical of a boghead coal. Nearby exposures of Tertiary coal are generally woody and are not known to contain boghead layers or cannel shales. It is suggested that these artifacts may have their origin in Alaska, where boghead coal and cannel shales show strikingly similar petrographic features. Key words: Arctic Canada, Axel Heiberg Island, Thule culture, coal artifacts, coal petrology, archaeology RÉSUMÉ. Il arrive que des artefacts de charbon soient mis à jour lors de fouilles archéologiques dans les sites de peuplement de la culture Thulé (v. 1100-1700 apr. J.-C.) dans l’Arctique canadien et en Alaska. La présente étude se penche sur deux de ces |
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