Neo-Inuit strategies for ensuring food security during the Little Ice Age climate change episode, Foxe Basin, Arctic Canada

This paper examines Neo-Inuit (ca. AD 1250 to present) responses to the decreased temperatures of the Little Ice Age (LIA) climate change episode (ca. AD 1300–1900) in the Foxe Basin region of central Nunavut, Arctic Canada. Cooler temperatures (and increased sea ice) would be expected to have reduc...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Quaternary International
Main Author: Desjardins, Sean P. A.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: 2020
Subjects:
Arctic
Canada
Foxe Basin
Nunavut
Balaena mysticetus
bowhead whale
Climate change
inuit
Odobenus rosmarus
Pusa hispida
Sea ice
walrus*
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/11370/79bae0ca-f485-4e3a-96db-c36e297ea829
https://research.rug.nl/en/publications/79bae0ca-f485-4e3a-96db-c36e297ea829
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2017.12.026
https://pure.rug.nl/ws/files/176117926/1_s2.0_S1040618217312375_main.pdf
Description
Summary:This paper examines Neo-Inuit (ca. AD 1250 to present) responses to the decreased temperatures of the Little Ice Age (LIA) climate change episode (ca. AD 1300–1900) in the Foxe Basin region of central Nunavut, Arctic Canada. Cooler temperatures (and increased sea ice) would be expected to have reduced both bowhead whale (Balaena mysticetus) and Atlantic walrus (Odobenus rosmarus rosmarus) habitats, forcing Neo-Inuit to refocus their hunting activities on landfast-ice-dwelling small seals (e.g., Pusa hispida) during winter months. However, an analysis of faunal remains from Foxe Basin's largest-known Neo-Inuit (Thule, historic and modern Inuit) archaeological site, Pingiqqalik (NgHd-1), reveals a long-term subsistence economy based largely on multi-seasonal walrus hunting. Two interrelated factors may explain these results: (1) a system of recurring polynyas provided a degree of ecological stability for local walrus populations, and (2) the development of a distinctive walrus caching regime—a form of which continues among the region's contemporary Inuit—allowed residents to adeptly exploit an ecological niche, thereby ensuring food security. Together, these factors likely insulated northern Foxe Basin Neo-Inuit from the worst effects of the LIA.

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