ARCTIC A Few Problems Elucidated. And New Questions Raised By Recent Dorset Finds In The North Baffin Island Region

• Main Author: G Mary-rousseliere
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Arctic; Baffin Island; Kayak; Hall Beach; Baffin; Dorset culture
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.562.6970; http://pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/arctic/arctic32-1-22.pdf

ABSTRACT. Several recent discoveries, made possible by exceptional conditions of preservation at the Nunguvik site (North Baffin Island), provide new information, among others, on the kayak and sled of the Dorset culture, and suggest that the Dorset people used skis. An engraved bone plate from the Dorset site of Sannirajaq (Hall Beach) pictures, associated with a caribou, an enigmatic object variously interpreted as a sled, a trap for caribou, or a wicker-trap. RESUME. Plusieurs decouvertes recentes favorisees pour la plupart par les excellentes conditions de preservation du gisement de Nunguvik, fournissent des renseignements nouveaux sur les kayaks et les traineaux des Dorsetiens, et suggerent que ces derniers posskdaient le ski. D'autre part, une piece ornbe, provenant du site dorsetien de Sannirajaq (Hall Beach), represente, associk à un caribou, un objet diversement interpret6 comme un tralneau, un pikge ou une nasse. Archaeologists of today must, in most cases, be satisfied with mere glimpses of prehistoric cultures, even in their material aspects. This is true not only of the 15,000 year-old Magdalenian of Europe, but almost as much of the