The Qijurittuq site (IbGk-3), Eastern Hudson Bay: An IPY Interdisciplinary Study

• Main Authors: Desrosiers, Pierre M., Lofthouse, Susan, Bhiry, Najat, Lemieux, Anne-Marie, Monchot, Hervé, Gendron, Daniel, Marguerie, Dominique
• Other Authors: Musée National d'Histoire Naturelle, Université Paris-Sorbonne (UP4), Centre de Recherche en Archéologie, Archéosciences, Histoire (CReAAH), Le Mans Université (UM)-Université de Rennes (UR)-Université de Rennes 2 (UR2)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Nantes - UFR Histoire, Histoire de l'Art et Archéologie (UFR HHAA), Université de Nantes (UN)-Université de Nantes (UN)-Ministère de la Culture (MC)
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2010
• Subjects: Inuit; semi-subterranean dwelling; Hudson Bay; sod-house; palaeoenvironment; dendrochronology; driftwood; faunal analysis; Nunavik; [SHS.ARCHEO]Humanities and Social Sciences/Archaeology and Prehistory; Arctic; Hudson; Drayton Island; Climate change; International Polar Year; inuit; IPY; Thule culture
• Online Access: https://hal-univ-rennes1.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01147607

International Polar Year GeoArk Workshop on Climate, Environment and the Thule Culture in the Holocene Arctic, Copenhagen, DENMARK, MAY 18-20, 2009 International audience An interdisciplinary study was conducted at Qijurittuq (IbGk-3), an archaeological site located on Drayton Island along the eastern shore of Hudson Bay, Nunavik. Local Inuit made important contributions to the research. High school students participated in the field school, and elders shared their traditional knowledge. The elders expressed an interest in the source of the wood used to construct Qijurittuq's semi-subterranean dwellings, and this inspired us to expand our research in that direction. This interdisciplinary study included a reconstruction of the geomorphological and environmental history of Drayton Island, wood provenance and dendrochronology studies, research on house architecture and settlement patterns, and a zooarchaeological analysis. This paper synthesizes the preliminary results of this interdisciplinary investigation within the context of climate change. We discuss the persistence of semi-subterranean dwellings in eastern Hudson Bay long after they had been abandoned elsewhere. At Qijurittuq, their abandonment corresponds with the end of Little Ice Age. However, at the same time, the development of more permanent contact with Euro-Canadians was having a strong impact upon Inuit culture.