Survey
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
10 JOURN ISH APHY 20 GR OF GEO AL Dynamic Inuit Social Strategies in Changing Environments: A Long-Term Perspective DAN T. Max Friesen Abstract This paper presents an overview of the International Polar Year (IPY) research programme Dynamic Inuit Social Strategies in Changing Environments: A Long-Term Perspective. For this project, research teams from six separate multi-year subprojects performed fieldwork across much of the Canadian Arctic. Fieldwork and analysis revolved around two primary processes critical to the understanding of Inuit history: first, is the migration from Alaska to the east by the earliest Inuit, known as ‘Thule’, an apparently rapid event which replaced populations of the earlier, and culturally very different Dorset tradition; second, is the transformation of Thule Inuit into their more diverse recent cultural forms, involving abandonment of some regions, combined with major changes in settlement patterns, artifact form, architecture, economy, and social organization. The ultimate goal of the project is to understand the variable roles of climate change and social structures on the culture change which can be observed during the past 800 years of Inuit history. Introduction: Background and development of the project with modern archaeometric methods such as sourcing of materials based on trace elements and stable isotopes, in an effort to reconstruct interactions as a central set of phenomena needed to understand Inuit history. Inspired by the concept of a ‘Polar Year’, the original proposal was built around a single intensive field season, during which several teams would disperse across the eastern Arctic to collect oral histories and excavate important sites. Sites would be chosen on the basis of their proximity to modern Inuit communities in order to allow collaboration with Inuit organizations; thus, the title ‘Arctic Connections’ was intended to signify not only connections between past peoples, but also connections between archaeologists and Inuit communities. This pre-proposal was based on two of the six primary themes identified by the international IPY planning process. First was Theme 2: Change in Polar Regions. This was a natural fit for archaeology, and would be manifested by our emphasis on interaction as a driver for social change in Inuit societies over the past 1,000 years. Second was Theme 6: Human Societies in Polar Regions. Again, this was a This paper presents an introduction to the International Polar Year (IPY) project Dynamic Inuit Social Strategies in Changing Environments: A Long-Term Perspective. A more concise version of the project title, Dynamic Inuit Societies in Arctic History (DISAH), will be used throughout the remainder of this paper. To provide context for the project, this section will present a brief history of the development of the project, emphasizing how academic goals intersected with complex administrative processes at the international and national levels. In January of 2005, as part of the Canadian IPY planning process, a small group of researchers submitted a preproposal for a project entitled ‘Arctic Connections through Space and Time: The Archaeology of Inuit Interaction’. This proposal concentrated on evidence for interaction in the Arctic, as manifested in phenomena such as trade, information exchange, and conflict. The researchers envisioned combining Inuit oral history and archaeological excavation Keywords International Polar Year, archaeology, Thule, Inuit, Canadian Arctic, climate change. T. Max Friesen Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto, Canada E-mail: [email protected] Geografisk Tidsskrift Danish Journal of Geography 110(2):215‑225, 2010 Geografisk Tidsskrift-Danish Journal of Geography 110(2) 215 logical fit for the project, allowing the proposed research to contribute to the theme’s emphasis on the ‘cultural, historical, and social processes that shape the sustainability of circumpolar human societies’. Following the pre-proposal stage came an interlude when projects at local, regional, and national levels joined together as international consortia, in order to receive formal approval from the international IPY committee. By May of 2005, a number of like-minded projects with researchers from Canada, Denmark, Germany, Greenland, Norway, and Sweden collaborated on an international proposal originally entitled ‘Cultural and Social Strategies in Dynamic Arctic Environments: Diachronic Perspectives on Movement and Communication’, with Hans Christian Gulløv of the Danish National Museum as lead applicant. This eventually morphed into the final international proposal, entitled ‘Dynamic Social Strategies in Arctic Environments: Long-term Perspectives on Movement and Communication’ (DSS). At this point, 33 researchers were listed, and an additional country, the U.S.A., had been added. Of course, as an umbrella for what was envisioned as a multiplicity of interconnected sub-projects, the frame of reference was very broad, covering the Canadian Arctic, Greenland, Fennoscandia and Northern Russia. The approval of this proposal by the international IPY office gave it legitimacy, but not money. In fact, one of the ironies of the IPY process was that it was intended to function at a fully international level, but all funding was to be acquired through highly variable national mechanisms. In the case of Canada, a relatively large funding pool was eventually created, to which Canadian subcomponents of the international DSS proposal could apply. However, rather than emphasizing all six of the major themes promoted by the international IPY committee, two subthemes were to guide all Canadian research: ‘Health and WellBeing of Northern Communities’ and ‘Climate Change Impacts and Adaptations’. While these are both laudable research themes, they were not an easy fit for the original goals of the ‘Arctic Connections’ pre-proposal. In relation to the first subtheme, none of our proposed research was centred explicitly on the well-being of modern northern communities, despite our proposed close interactions with Inuit communities. In relation to the second subtheme, our original research design stressed social, historical, and cultural phenomena at least as much as climate change, despite our recognition of the importance of this last phenomenon. Judging ‘climate change’ to be the most natural fit with many of our goals, at this point the project was reconceived, with its new title designed to cover several important bases, 216 Geografisk Tidsskrift-Danish Journal of Geography 110(2) by a) incorporating environmental change into the core of the research design; b) maintaining an emphasis on Inuit social phenomena; and c) signalling a close connection to the international level ‘DSS’ IPY proposal of which this was a part. This led to the final title, ‘Dynamic Inuit Social Strategies in Changing Environments: A Long-Term Perspective’ (or, Dynamic Inuit Societies in Arctic History (DISAH)). DISAH was finalized in March 2006, and has remained extremely close to its original formulation through the planning, fieldwork, and initial data analysis stages. Following is a brief overview of the framework for this research. Project description and research plan Key issues in Inuit archaeology Inuit have lived in the eastern Arctic for approximately 800 years, their culture having developed in the Bering Strait region during the preceding centuries (Maxwell, 1985; Dumond, 1990; McGhee, 2004). Although the Inuit past in the eastern Arctic is complex, to some degree it can be seen to revolve around two primary processes or sets of interconnected events: first, is the migration from Alaska to the east by the earliest Inuit, known as ‘Thule’, an apparently rapid event which replaced populations of the earlier, and culturally very different Dorset tradition; second, is the transformation of Thule Inuit into their more diverse recent cultural forms, involving abandonment of some regions, combined with major changes in settlement pattern, artifact form, architecture, economy, and social organization. Current explanations for the first of these processes, the Thule migration, remain unresolved and even controversial, and are based on two quite different sets of factors. The earliest comprehensive explanation, originally suggested by Mathiassen (1927), revolved around the centrality of bowhead whaling to the Thule economy, and posited the presence of large, unexploited whale populations to the east of Alaska as a major factor attracting Thule migrants. In the 1970s, this hypothesis became linked to climate change, with the suggestion that the warming of the Medieval Warm Period led to increased bowhead ranges that drew pre-adapted Alaskan whalers to the east (McGhee, 1969/1970; McCartney, 1977). The exact geographic extent to which bowhead populations expanded, and the issue of whether the Atlantic and Pacific bowhead populations met during this period, remain unresolved (Dyke et al., 1996). The second set of explanations for the Thule migration revolves around social factors. These include both ‘pushes’ and ‘pulls’ (Anthony, 1990) – in this case, reasons to leave the western Arctic, and reasons to move to the east. The pushes have often been implicit, and are based on the fact that at the time of the migration, the Bering Strait region was a complex melting pot of peoples with diverse identities, interacting in complex networks of trade, alliance, and warfare (e.g., Mason, 1998; Maschner, 2000; Harritt, 2004). This was an ideal social and demographic environment to produce ambitious, status-seeking individuals and groups, and also to create conditions in which some might be tempted or forced to leave due to demographic stresses, fear of blood feuds, or other related factors (Arnold & McCullough, 1990; Stevenson, 1997). ‘Pulls’ to the east based on social factors revolve around the acquisition of meteoritic iron from Cape York in Northwest Greenland (McGhee, 1984), or smelted iron and other European goods from Norse settlers in Greenland (cf. Holtved, 1944; McCullough, 1989; McGhee, 2004). In this scenario, trade goods including iron were sought not only due to their importance to Inuit technology, but also because Thule Inuit society contained at least incipient social hierarchies in which powerful individuals acquired and redistributed exotic materials in order to enhance their prestige and social authority (e.g., Sheehan, 1995; Whitridge, 1999; Friesen, 2000). The second major process in Inuit history is the transformation from Thule to modern Inuit. This was a complex, multilinear process which involved regional population shifts, changing subsistence strategies, altered settlement patterns, changes in architecture including a greater emphasis on snow houses, and changes in material culture. These changes occurred from approximately AD 1400 onward, although the rate and nature of change varied across different regions, with, for example, complete abandonment of much of the northern part of the original Thule range (e.g., McGhee, 1984; Maxwell, 1985); a shift from landbased winter occupations to snow house villages on the sea ice in the central regions of the Arctic (e.g., Savelle, 1987; McGhee, 2004); and a shift from smaller houses to large, communal dwellings in parts of Ellesmere Island, Greenland and Labrador (e.g., Petersen, 1974/1975; Kap lan, 1980; Richling, 1993; Schledermann & McCullough, 2003). As with the Thule migration, explanations for these changes fall into two main categories: those relating to changing environments, and those relating to social and cultural factors. The connection to climate change again appears to be significant, with changes in Inuit lifeways generally coincident with the ‘Little Ice Age’, a region- ally variable period of lower temperatures, increased sea ice, and changing distributions of major plant and animal species (e.g., Fitzhugh, 1997; Woollett et al., 2000; Henshaw, 2003), potentially resulting in major changes to the Thule economy (e.g., Savelle & McCartney, 1988; Sabo, 1991). However, other, equally compelling explanations also exist for the Thule-Recent Inuit transition. Most importantly, much of this period coincides with increasingly intense interactions between Inuit and European newcomers. Europeans were a source of material, either traded or scavenged, employment of various kinds, and ideas. The archaeological record is rich with the evidence for the fluctuating presence of these phenomena, especially trade goods, over time (e.g., Friesen, 1994; Henshaw, 2000). Furthermore, Europeans brought epidemic diseases which had a major negative impact on many local populations leading to movement, abandonment, or change (e.g., Keenleyside, 1990; Fortuine, 1992). Finally, Inuit society itself was not static during this period, and social dynamics within regional groups, households, or other social units could also drive observed changes (e.g., Kaplan, 1980; Stevenson, 1997). Cross-cutting research problems In sum, Inuit culture history in the eastern Arctic can be seen as fertile ground for exploring the impacts of an environment demonstrably influenced by climate change on the one hand, and social factors on the other, as they pertain to the development of human societies. However, there is currently no agreement on the nature and relative importance of these factors, either as they impact the Thule migration, or the Thule – Recent Inuit Transition. While each of these processes coincided to some degree with climate change, other potential factors, including interaction with others (Dorset Palaeo-Eskimos, subarctic First Nations, and Europeans), and internal social processes were also demonstrably operating during this period. Therefore, we are left with two primary challenges: 1) determining the relative importance of these various factors on the observed Inuit culture changes, including the relationships between factors; and 2) understanding the dynamic role of Inuit social structures and mechanisms (‘strategies’) in shaping, enabling, or in some cases constraining the Inuit perceptions of and responses to these various factors. These primary concerns lead to a series of further questions, which include, but are not limited to: What were the precise mechanisms through which climate change influenced Inuit cultural development in particular regions?; How were altered environments or changed prey behavGeografisk Tidsskrift-Danish Journal of Geography 110(2) 217 iours and population densities perceived and dealt with in the context of households, communities, and wider social networks?; How did the Thule social system, originating in the complex and densely populated social milieu of the Bering Strait region, become altered by different, and changing, environments in the east?; and, How do dynamic social strategies such as trade, alliance, and population movement allow Inuit to both buffer potential difficulties, and take advantage of new opportunities, resulting from changing environments? The project was designed to address these questions through multiple programmes of field research, the pooling of a variety of theoretical approaches, and the integration of palaeoenvironmental data with archaeological data. In terms of theoretical frameworks, the projects are linked by two general perspectives. First, is the recognition that in order to understand the ways in which human societies are organized and change, one must be aware of both environmental factors and the historical trajectories and internal dynamics of individual societies (e.g., Trigger, 1989; Barnard, 2004; Sassaman, 2004). Second, the various projects shared the position that social and cultural change cannot be understood fully through research into only one scale of social structure; rather, society is best seen as multi-scalar (e.g., Marquardt, 1985; Gamble, 1999; Whallon, 2006). As a result, human social change, including that relating to environmental factors, can only be understood if one considers archaeological correlates, and actions, of individuals, families, households, local groups or communities, regional groups, and larger entities often called ‘traditions’ or ‘cultures’ by archaeologists. In terms of methodology, due to the overwhelming contribution of animal foods to the Inuit diet, and the usually excellent preservation of bone in Arctic contexts, all projects had a methodological focus on zooarchaeology. More specifically, fieldwork, analysis and interpretation addressed the following four interconnected issues: A) The timing and nature of the Thule migration (subprojects 1 and 2). Currently, there is significant controversy over whether the Thule migration occurred around or shortly after 1000 AD (e.g., Maxwell, 1985; Morrison, 1999) or much later during the 13th century AD (McGhee, 2000, 2004; Friesen & Arnold, 2008). This issue has major implications for understanding the ways in which climate change impacted the migration, since climates were not stable during these crucial centuries, and linkages between the earliest Thule socioeconomic organization and the environment are poorly understood. DISAH research into the 218 Geografisk Tidsskrift-Danish Journal of Geography 110(2) chronology of early Thule occupations, the routes taken by Thule migrants, and the nature of their earliest adaptations in the east is intended to further our understanding of whether environmental factors played a role in attracting Thule to the region. B) Variability in Thule economic and social organization (subprojects 1, 2, 3, and 4). In terms of economy, Inuit societies interacted with their environments most directly through hunting, fishing and gathering, which imposed tight constraints on (but were not the sole determinants of) settlement patterns, site seasonality, and population densities. Although Thule were justifiably famous for their prowess in hunting bowhead whales (e.g., Savelle & McCartney, 1988; McCartney & Savelle, 1993), there are also regions in which caribou, seals, walrus, fish, and other resources were primary (e.g., Taylor, 1963; Grønnow et al., 1983; Morrison, 1983; Stenton, 1991), however this variability remains poorly understood. As is the case with economy, Thule social organization is imperfectly understood, but clearly varied along a number of axes including degree of social ranking, nature of leadership, size and composition of households, nature of gender roles, and character of interaction with neighbouring groups as manifested by trade, conflict, or economic cooperation (Grier & Savelle, 1994; Park, 1997; Friesen, 1999; Whitridge, 1999; Savelle & Wenzel, 2003). DISAH provides a series of case studies illustrating the relationships between economic and social spheres of Thule life. This is crucial to the broader research strategy, because to understand the eventual changes in Inuit social organization coincident with climate change, one must first understand the ‘starting point’, in this case represented by Thule socioeconomic organization. C) The role of climate and social interaction in Inuit culture change (subprojects 3, 5, and 6). Several projects have as their primary goal the high resolution understanding of particular key instances of Inuit culture change following the Thule period. In these cases, social, economic, and environmental factors are being drawn into the interpretation of changing patterns of architecture, population distribution, economies, and artifact form. Indicators of interactions with ‘outsiders’ especially Europeans, are emphasized where present. D) Reconstruction of palaeoenvironments through a variety of data sets, and assessment of their linkages to Inuit culture change (subprojects 2, 3, 5, and 6). Several projects collected primary palaeoenvironmental data, includ- ing pollen and diatoms from cored lakes located directly adjacent to archaeological sites, and variable frequencies of bowhead whale bones and other macrofossils on dated beach ridge sequences. Among the major challenges being addressed are the difficulties in correlating palaeoenvironmental sequences with archaeological events, given the difficulties inherent in providing precise chronologies for both (e.g., Jones et al., 1999), and the recognition of short term fluctuations, in addition to broad long-term trends, in climate records. Subproject descriptions The themes, problems, and interpretive threads identified in the previous sections are being addressed through six subprojects (Figure 1). Each approaches a subset of the overall project goals in a different region of the eastern Arctic, and each is focused on one part of the Inuit past. Following are brief overviews of each, in roughly chronological order from the earliest Thule Inuit migration to the 19th century AD. 1) Environment and Society during the Thule Migration (Max Friesen, University of Toronto). Project 1 was intended to reconstruct the chronology, economy, and social organization of early Thule occupations in order to understand the mechanisms which allowed Inuit to successfully colonize a new environment in the Cambridge Bay region of southeastern Victoria Island, Nunavut. This region is vital for resolving key issues in the study of the Thule migration, for two reasons. First, it is located on one of two possible routes from Alaska to the east. Second, nearby Dorset sites were occupied until the early 13th century, and possibly later, leading to the possibility that Dorset and Thule came into face-to-face contact in this region (Friesen, 2004). Over the IPY period, fieldwork occurred in cooperation with the Kitikmeot Heritage Society of Cambridge Bay, with three primary field activities. First, a combined elders’ oral history camp and archaeological survey occurred at the traditional fishing and caribou hunting camp Huluraq, northeast of Cambridge Bay. Second was investigation of three large Late Dorset ‘longhouse’ aggregation sites located on the south coast of Victoria Island 40 km west of Cambridge Bay. By understanding the Figure 1: Map of the North American Arctic, indicating locations of the six subprojects. Geografisk Tidsskrift-Danish Journal of Geography 110(2) 219 Figure 2: Elders and archaeologists discuss an early Thule house at the Pembroke site near Cambridge Bay, Nunavut. Photo: T. Max Friesen. chronology and change through time in this series of over ten longhouses, we could address the possibility of contact between Thule and Dorset in this region (Park, 1993, 2000; Friesen, 2000). Third, we excavated at the Pembroke site (Figure 2), which is the earliest Thule site in the region, and thus provides insight into the nature of social and economic organization during a migratory episode. 2) Timing and Causes of the Early Thule Migration (Arthur Dyke, Geological Survey of Canada; James Savelle, McGill University). Project 2 is also centred on the Thule migration, but from very different methodological and regional perspectives. Its primary goal relates to the potential role of bowhead whales in the migration, by addressing the issue of whether ice-free seas expanded during the Medieval Warm Period to create a ‘bowhead corridor’ in the central Arctic. In recent times, there has been a large zone in the central Arctic which has been beyond the range of the Pacific and Atlantic bowhead whale populations. However, it has long been hypothesized that during the Medieval Warm Period the two whale populations may have met, and thus provided an impetus in the form of a high-ranked resource to Thule migrants. For this project, researchers surveyed the ‘central bowhead corridor’ to search for proxy evidence for past bowhead ranges, particularly in the form of naturally beached bowhead carcasses on beach ridges dating to the Medieval Warm Period (Figure 3). A second goal of this project was to determine the nature of early Thule occupations during the Medieval Warm Period in this central bowhead corridor region. Thus, the research involved survey for early Thule sites, followed by targeted excavation of those judged to date to the early part of the migration. 220 Geografisk Tidsskrift-Danish Journal of Geography 110(2) Figure 3: Arthur Dyke recording naturally stranded mid-Holocene bowhead whale cranium. Photo: James Savelle. 3) Palaeoenvironments and Thule Social Change on Melville Peninsula, Nunavut (Sarah Finkelstein, University of Toronto; Julie Ross, Government of Nunavut). The Melville Peninsula has been occupied for at least 4000 years, however very little research has focussed on its Thule period occupations. This project was designed to reconstruct regional Thule socio-economic organization, to produce the first palaeoenvironmental records from Melville Peninsula, and to analyze the two data sets together to understand the ways in which they are related. The two IPY field seasons incorporated a joint field-school for Nunavut high school and college students in cooperation with the Inuit Heritage Trust. Excavations focused on a large Thule site near the community of Hall Beach, which included several houses with extremely well preserved architecture, material culture, and faunal remains. A second focus of fieldwork involved collecting ecological data and sediment cores from several lakes in the vicinity of the archaeological sites at Hall Beach (Figure 4). The cores are being used to generate high-resolution, multi-proxy palaeoenvironmental records based on both geochemical and biological (pollen, algae) indicators. These records are being compared with published data from the better studied Baffin Island region (e.g., Zdanowicz et al., 2000; Wolfe, 2003) to determine how the Medieval Warm Period and Little Ice Age affected ecosystem function. 4) Thule Settlement Patterns and Seasonal Procurement Strategies in Coastal Nunavik (Daniel Gendron, Avataq Cultural Institute). Nunavik, consisting of Inuit land in northern Québec, has seen only limited archaeology relating to the Thule Inuit period. Project 4 was designed to Figure 4: Jennifer Adams removing algae from rocks in Sarcpa Lake, interior Melville Peninsula, to obtain information on the chemical and physical status of freshwater ecosystems. Photo: Sarah Finkelstein. redress this situation through two intensive field seasons exploring linkages between climate change and Inuit society in the coastal region of Nunavik. The project is coordinated by Avataq Cultural Institute, the cultural arm of the Nunavik Inuit Association. In coastal Nunavik, Thule Inuit winter sites are almost exclusively located on islands, with very few semi-subterranean dwellings located on the mainland. In contrast, Spring, Summer, and early Fall sites appear to be located on both the mainland and on these same islands. However, the time depth of this pattern, and the degree to which it changed over time, has not yet been explored. Therefore, a key goal of this project is to determine whether this pattern has been constant throughout the Thule/Inuit period, up to the early 20th century, or if the pattern has changed; and if so, what triggered these changes. Fieldwork occurred in the Inukjuaq region, and was centred on a Thule site on one of the islands on the coast of Hudson Bay (Figure 5). Research methods included survey, site mapping, excavation of houses and middens, and analyses of artifact and zooarchaeological assemblages. 5) The Komaktorvik Archaeology Project: Inuit Household Economies from the Thule to Historic Periods in Northern Labrador (Peter Whitridge, Memorial University of Newfoundland; James Woollett, Université Laval). Project 5 focussed on long-term change in Inuit household economies in northern Labrador. It involved two seasons of archaeological survey and excavation, with one season spent at the large Labrador Inuit winter village of Komaktorvik 1 (IhCw-1), at the mouth of Komaktorvik Fiord, Figure 5: Community members visit a Thule house excavation in progress at Drayton Island near Inukjuak, Nunavik. Photo: Avataq Cultural Institute. and the second spent in the Nain region (Figure 6). Data collected are being used to characterize the organization of household production (of food, fuel, raw materials, and manufactured goods) in the pre-contact and post-contact periods through integration of social, economic, historical and palaeoenvironmental evidence (Kaplan & Woollett, 2000; Woollett et al., 2000). Ultimately, the project seeks to understand the interaction of climate change, Inuit social dynamics, and interaction between Inuit groups and other peoples such as Innu, Dorset, and various European groups (Basque whalers, Moravian missionaries, Hudson’s Bay Company traders, and Newfoundland fishers). Fieldwork included survey and palaeoenvironmental sampling, site mapping, excavation of dwellings and middens, and analyses of zooarchaeological and artifact Figure 6: Julia Ford and Sacha Auclair-Vincent excavating House 11 at Green Island 6, northern Labrador. Photo: James Woollett. Geografisk Tidsskrift-Danish Journal of Geography 110(2) 221 rivers, and coastal locations were undertaken, followed by excavation of important sites, including a large site relating to Taltheilei (ancestral Chipewyan) occupations. The results will be used in the Nunavusiutit curriculum by the Department of Education. Conclusion Figure 7: Oral History Research with Inuit Elders from Arviat, Nunavut. (From left) Philip Kigusiutuak, Louis Angalik, Luke Kiniksi, Donald Uluadluak, Natasha Lyons, Mark Kalluak. Photo: Peter Dawson. assemblages. The results are currently being integrated with oral history and traditional use data collected by community researchers in Nain, and during arranged visits by elders at the field site. 6) Resilience, Transformational Change, and the Origins of Caribou Inuit Culture (Peter Dawson, University of Calgary; Steven Ferguson, Fisheries and Oceans Canada; Lisa Hodgetts, University of Western Ontario). This project investigates Caribou Inuit origins, which have been the subject of debate for nearly a century. Unlike their Thule predecessors who relied heavily on the hunting of sea mammals, the early Caribou Inuit began to inhabit interior rivers and lakes year round sometime prior to the 19th century (Birket-Smith, 1929). Factors such as population growth on the coast, the onset of the Little Ice Age, the withdrawal of Chipewyan due to disease and shifting trade relations, and the introduction of new technologies such as the rifle have all been suggested as potential causes (Burch, 1978; Stewart, 1993; Csonka, 1994, 1995). This project studied the development of the Caribou Inuit cultural pattern using an integrative approach for examining complex adaptive systems. This project uses Resilience Theory (Gunderson & Holling, 2002) to assess changes in Late Thule and historic Caribou Inuit societies, as indicated through survey, excavation, palaeoclimatic indicators, zooarchaeology, and Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit (traditional ways of knowing; Figure 7). Fieldwork was centred on the Maguse River system near Arviat, where archaeological surveys of selected lakes, 222 Geografisk Tidsskrift-Danish Journal of Geography 110(2) As of early 2010, all major DISAH fieldwork has been completed. In the broadest sense, it is clear that the concept of an ‘International Polar Year’ was a success, in that the fieldwork, and subsequent interaction between researchers, occurred on a greater scale and with broader geographic coverage than would ordinarily be possible. Equally important has been the direct participation of and collaboration with a broad spectrum of Inuit cultural and community organizations, as well as representatives of the Nunavut and Federal Governments. Collectively, the project’s participants have addressed critical questions relating not only to the relationship between climate change and social change, but also to the dynamic social strategies through which past Inuit coped with, reacted to, and took advantage of environmental change. Ultimately, we hope that the historical perspective developed by project members will provide long-term context for discussions around modern social and environmental issues in the North. The project is now entering its final phases, in which data are analyzed and interpreted, and project participants begin to deliver conference presentations and publish scholarly articles, including the three interdisciplinary papers which follow in this journal issue. Over the next few years, we anticipate an increased pace of publication, much of which will derive from our concluding symposium in 2011. At this symposium, the specific data and interpretations generated by the six subprojects will be brought together to address our broader goals, and in particular the dynamic ways in which internal and external forces impact Inuit social, cultural, and economic change. Acknowledgements Project participants gratefully acknowledge the Canadian Program for the International Polar Year. We also thank the organizers of the GeoArk workshop in Copenhagen for a very stimulating and informative event. Finally, many thanks to my co-applicants listed above in connection with the various subprojects, for their forbearance and their vari- ous written submissions on which I have drawn for the subproject descriptions. References Anthony, D. (1990): Migration in archaeology: the baby and the bathwater. American Anthropologist 92: 895‑914. Arnold, C. & McCullough, K. (1990): Thule pioneers in the Canadian Arctic. Pp. 677‑694 in: Harrington, C. (ed.): Canada’s Missing Dimension: Science and History in the Canadian Arctic Islands 2. Ottawa, National Museums of Canada. Barnard, A. (ed.) (2004): Hunter-Gatherers in History, Archaeology and Anthropology. Oxford, Berg. Birket-Smith, K. (1929): The Caribou Eskimos: Material and Social Life and their Cultural Position. Report of the Fifth Thule Expedition 1921‑24 5. Copenhagen, Gyldendalske Boghandel, Nordisk Forlag. Burch, E. (1978): Caribou Eskimo origins: an old problem reconsidered. Arctic 15: 1‑35. Csonka, Y. (1994): Intermédiaires au long cours: les relations entre Inuit du Caribou et Inuit du Cuivre au début du XXe siècle. Etudes/Inuit/Studies 18(1‑2): 21‑48. [in French] Csonka, Y. (1995): Les Ahiarmiut. Neuchatel, Editions Victor Attinger. [in French] Dumond, D. (1990): The Eskimos and Aleuts. London, Thames & Hudson. Dyke, A., Hooper, J. & Savelle, J. (1996): A history of sea ice in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago based on postglacial remains of the bowhead whale (Balaena mysticetus). Arctic 49(3): 235‑255. Fitzhugh, W. (1997): Biogeographical archaeology in the eastern North American Arctic. Human Ecology 25: 385‑418. Fortuine, R. (1992): Chills and Fever: Health and Disease in the Early History of Alaska. Fairbanks, University of Alaska Press. Friesen, T. (1994): The Qikiqtaruk Archaeology Project 1990‑92: preliminary results of archaeological investigations on Herschel Island, Northern Yukon Territory. Pp. 61‑83 in: Pilon, J. (ed.): Bridges Across Time: The NOGAP Archaeology Project. Ottawa, Canadian Archaeological Association Occasional Papers. Friesen, T. (1999): Resource structure, scalar stress, and the development of Inuit social organization. World Archaeology 31(1): 21‑37. Friesen, T. (2000): The role of social factors in DorsetThule interaction. Pp. 206‑220 in: Appelt, M., Berglund J. & Gulløv, H.C. (eds.): Arctic Identities and Culture Contacts. Copenhagen, Danish Polar Center. Friesen, T. (2004): Contemporaneity of Dorset and Thule cultures in the North American Arctic: new radiocarbon dates from Victoria Island, Nunavut. Current Anthropology 45(5): 685‑691. Friesen, T. & Arnold, C. (2008): The timing of the Thule migration: new dates from the Western Canadian Arctic. American Antiquity 73(3): 527‑538. Gamble, C. (1999): The Palaeolithic Societies of Europe. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. Grier, C. & Savelle, J. (1994): Intrasite spatial patterning and Thule Eskimo social organization. Arctic Anthropology 31(2): 95‑107. Grønnow, B., Meldgaard, M. & Nielsen, J. (1983): Aasivissuit – The Great Summer Camp. Meddelelser om Grønland, Man & Society 5. Gunderson, L. & Holling, C. (eds.) (2002): Panarchy: Understanding Transformations in Human and Natural Ecosystems. Washington, Covelo. Harritt, R. (2004): A preliminary reevaluation of the PunukThule interface at Wales, Alaska. Arctic Anthropology 41(2): 163‑176. Henshaw, A. (2000): Central Inuit Household Economies. Oxford, BAR International Series 871. Henshaw, A. (2003): Polynyas and ice edge habitats in cultural context: archaeological perspectives from southeast Baffin Island. Arctic 56: 1‑13. Holtved, E. (1944): Archaeological investigations in the Thule District. Meddelelser om Grønland 141. Jones, T., Brown, G., Raab, L., McVickar, J., Spaulding, W., Kennett, D., York, A. & Walker, P. (1999): Environmental imperatives reconsidered: demographic crises in Western North America during the Medieval Climatic Anomaly. Current Anthropology 40: 137‑170. Kaplan, S. (1980): Neo-Eskimo occupations of the northern Labrador Coast. Arctic 33: 646‑658. Kaplan, S. & Woollett, J. (2000): Challenges and choices: exploring the interplay of climate, history, and culture on Canada’s Labrador Coast. Arctic and Alpine Research 32(3): 351‑359 Keenleyside, A. (1990): Euro-American whaling in the Canadian Arctic: its effects on Eskimo health. Arctic Anthropology 27: 1‑19. Marquardt, W. (1985): Complexity and scale in the study of fisher-gatherer-hunter societies: an example from the eastern United States. Pp. 59‑98 in: Price, D. & Brown, Geografisk Tidsskrift-Danish Journal of Geography 110(2) 223 J. (eds.): Prehistoric Hunter-Gatherers: The Emergence of Cultural Complexity. Orlando, Academic Press. Maschner, H. (2000): Catastrophic change and regional Interaction: the southern Bering Sea in a dynamic world system. Pp. 252‑265 in: Appelt, M., Berglund J. & Gulløv, H.C. (eds.): Arctic Identities and Culture Contacts. Copenhagen, Danish Polar Center. Mason, O.K. (1998): The contest between the Ipiutak, Old Bering Sea and Birnirk polities and the origin of whaling during the First Millenium AD along Bering Strait. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 17: 240‑325. Mathiassen, T. (1927): Archaeology of the Central Eskimos. Report of the Fifth Thule Expedition 1921‑24 4. Copenhagen, Gyldendalske Boghandel, Nordisk Forlag. Maxwell, M. (1985): Prehistory of the Eastern Arctic. Orlando, Academic Press. McCartney, A.P. (1977): Thule Eskimo Prehistory along Northwestern Hudson Bay. Archaeological Survey of Canada Mercury Series 70. Ottawa, National Museum of Man. McCartney, A.P. & Savelle, J. (1993): Bowhead whale bones and Thule Eskimo subsistence–settlement patterns in the central Canadian Arctic. Polar Record 29: 1‑12. McCullough, K. (1989): The Ruin Islanders: Early Thule Culture Pioneers in the Eastern High Arctic. National Museums of Canada, Archaeological Survey of Canada Mercury Series 141. Ottawa, National Museum of Man. McGhee, R. (1969/1970): Speculations on climatic change and Thule culture development. Folk 11‑12: 173‑184. McGhee, R. (1984): The timing of the Thule migration. Polarforschung 54: 1‑7. McGhee, R. (2000): Radiocarbon dating and the timing of the Thule migration. Pp. 181‑191 in: Appelt, M., Berglund, J. & Gulløv, H.C. (eds.): Arctic Identities and Culture Contacts. Copenhagen, Danish Polar Center. McGhee, R. (2004): The Last Imaginary Place: A Human History of the Arctic World. Toronto, Key Porter. Morrison, D. (1983): Thule Culture in Western Coronation Gulf, NWT. Archaeological Survey of Canada Mercury Series 116. Ottawa, National Museum of Man. Morrison, D. (1999): The earliest Thule migration. Canadian Journal of Archaeology 22(2): 139‑156. Park, R. (1993): The Dorset-Thule succession in Arctic North America: assessing claims for culture contact. American Antiquity 58: 203‑234. Park, R. (1997): Thule winter site demography in the High Arctic. American Antiquity 62: 273‑284. 224 Geografisk Tidsskrift-Danish Journal of Geography 110(2) Park, R. (2000): The Dorset-Thule succession revisited. Pp. 192‑205 in: Appelt, M., Berglund, J. & Gulløv, H.C. (eds.): Arctic Identities and Culture Contacts. Copenhagen, Danish Polar Center. Petersen, R. (1974/1975): Some considerations concerning the Greenland longhouse. Folk 16/17: 171‑188. Richling, B. (1993): Labrador’s “communal house phase” reconsidered. Arctic Anthropology 30: 67‑78. Sabo, G. (1991): Long-term adaptations among Arctic Hunter-Gatherers. New York, Garland. Sassaman, K. (2004): Complex hunter-gatherers in evolution and history: a North American perspective. Journal of Archaeological Research 12: 227‑280. Savelle, J. (1987): Collectors and Foragers. Oxford, British Archaeological Reports, International Series 358. Savelle, J. & McCartney, A. (1988): Geographical and temporal variation in Thule Eskimo subsistence economies: a model. Research in Economic Anthropology 10: 21‑72. Savelle, J. & Wenzel, G. (2003): Out of Alaska: reconstructing the social structures of prehistoric Canadian Thule culture. Senri Ethnological Studies 63: 103‑122. Schledermann, P. & McCullough, K. (2003): Late Thule Culture Developments on the Central East Coast of Ellesmere Island. Copenhagen, Danish Polar Center. Sheehan, G. (1995): Whaling surplus, trade, war, and the integration of prehistoric northern and northwestern Alaskan economies, A.D. 1200‑1826. Pp. 185‑206 in: McCartney, A. (ed.): Hunting the largest Animals: Native Whaling in the western Arctic and Subarctic. Edmonton, Canadian Circumpolar Institute. Stenton, D. (1991): Caribou population dynamics and Thule culture adaptation on southern Baffin Island, N.W.T. Arctic Anthropology 28: 15‑43. Stevenson, M. (1997): Inuit, Whalers, and Cultural Persistence: Structure in Cumberland Sound and Central Inuit Social Organization. Oxford, Oxford University Press. Stewart, A. (1993): Caribou Inuit settlement response to changing resource availability on the Kazan River. Unpublished PhD Dissertation, University of California at Santa Barbara. Taylor, W. (1963): Hypotheses on the origin of Canadian Thule culture. American Antiquity 28(4): 456‑464. Trigger, B. (1989): A History of Archaeological Thought. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. Whallon, R. (2006): Social networks and information: non“utilitarian” mobility among hunter-gatherers. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 25. Whitridge, P. (1999): The Construction of Social Difference in a Prehistoric Inuit Whaling Community. Unpublished PhD Dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Arizona State University, Tempe. Wolfe, A. (2003): Diatom community responses to lateHolocene climatic variability, Baffin Island, Canada: a comparison of numerical approaches. The Holocene 13: 29‑37. Woollett, J., Henshaw, A. & Wake, C. (2000): Palaeoecological implications of archaeological seal bone assemblages: case studies from Labrador and Baffin Island. Arctic 53: 395‑413. Zdanowicz, C., Zielinski, G., Wake, C., Fisher, D. & Koerner, R. (2000): A Holocene record of atmospheric dust deposition on the Penny Ice Cap, Baffin Island, Canada. Quaternary Research 53: 62‑69. Geografisk Tidsskrift-Danish Journal of Geography 110(2) 225