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Paleo-Eskimo
The Paleo-Eskimo meaning ''"old Eskimos"'', also known as, pre-Thule people, Thule or pre-Inuit, were the peoples who inhabited the Arctic region from Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Chukotka (e.g., Chertov Ovrag) in present-day Russia across North America to Greenland before the arrival of the modern Inuit (formerly called Eskimo) and related cultures. The Early Paleo-Eskimo, first known Paleo-Eskimo cultures developed by 3900 to 3600 BCE, but were gradually displaced in most of the region, with the last one, the Dorset culture, disappearing around 1500 CE. Paleo-Eskimo groups included the Pre-Dorset; the Saqqaq culture of Greenland (2500–800 BCE); the Independence I culture, Independence I and Independence II cultures of northeastern Canada and Greenland (c. 2400–1800 BCE and c. 800–1 BCE); the Groswater culture, Groswater of Labrador, Nunavik, and Newfoundland (island), Newfoundland and the Dorset culture (500 BCE – 1400 CE), which spread across Arctic North America. The Dor ...
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Eskimo
''Eskimo'' () is a controversial Endonym and exonym, exonym that refers to two closely related Indigenous peoples: Inuit (including the Alaska Native Iñupiat, the Canadian Inuit, and the Greenlandic Inuit) and the Yupik peoples, Yupik (or Siberian Yupik, Yuit) of eastern Siberia and Alaska. A related third group, Aleuts, who inhabit the Aleutian Islands, are generally excluded from the definition of ''Eskimo''. The three groups share a relatively recent common ancestor, and speak related languages belonging to the family of Eskaleut languages. These circumpolar peoples have traditionally inhabited the Arctic and subarctic regions from eastern Siberia (Russia) to Alaska (United States), Northern Canada, Nunavik, Nunatsiavut, and Greenland. Some Inuit, Yupik, Aleut, and other individuals consider the term ''Eskimo'', which is of a disputed etymology, to be pejorative or even offensive. ''Eskimo'' continues to be used within a historical, linguistic, archaeological, and cultural ...
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Early Paleo-Eskimo
The Early Paleo-Eskimo is the first of three distinct periods of human occupation recognized by archaeologists in the eastern North American Arctic, the others being the Late Paleo-Eskimo and the Thule. Dates for these occupations vary according to specific geographic region and cultural historical perspective, but it is generally agreed that the Early Paleo-Eskimo approximately spans the period from 4500 BP to 2800-2300 BP. The Early Paleo-Eskimo tradition The Early Paleo-Eskimo tradition is known by a number of local, and sometimes spatially and temporally overlapping and related variants including the Independence I culture in the High Arctic and Greenland, Saqqaq culture in Greenland, Pre-Dorset in the High and Central Arctic and the Baffin/ Ungava region and Groswater in Newfoundland and Labrador. More generally these are subsumed under a larger microlith tradition known as the Arctic Small Tool Tradition. Their ancestral origins are presumed to lie in Alaska, and ul ...
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Dorset Culture
The Dorset was a Paleo-Eskimo culture, lasting from to between and , that followed the Pre-Dorset and preceded the Thule people (proto-Inuit) in the North American Arctic. The culture and people are named after Cape Dorset (now Kinngait) in Nunavut, Canada, where the first evidence of its existence was found. The culture has been defined as having four phases due to the distinct differences in the technologies relating to hunting and tool making. Artifacts include distinctive triangular end-blades, oil lamps ( qulliq) made of soapstone, and burins. The Dorset were first identified as a separate culture in 1925. The Dorset appear to have been extinct by 1500 at the latest and perhaps as early as 1000. The Thule people, who began migrating east from Alaska in the 11th century, ended up spreading through the lands previously inhabited by the Dorset. It is not fully known whether the Inuit and Dorset ever met. Some modern genetic studies show the Dorset population were distinct ...
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Independence I Culture
Independence I was a culture of Paleo-Eskimos who lived in northern Greenland and the Canadian Arctic between 2400 and 1900 BC. There has been much debate among scholars on when Independence I culture disappeared, and, therefore, there is a margin of uncertainty with the dates. The culture is named after Independence Fjord, which is a fjord located in Peary Land. The Independence I people lived at the same time as the Saqqaq culture of southern Greenland. Independence I culture was followed by Independence II culture, which had a similar geographical extent, and lasted from the 8th century BC, roughly 600 years after the disappearance of Independence I. The Independence I occupation of northern Greenland appears to have been much more extensive than that of Independence II. Independence I alongside Saqqaq culture are considered to be the earliest known cultures in Greenland. The first Palaeo-Eskimo migrants are thought to have migrated from the Canadian High Arctic and have a ...
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Groswater Culture
The Groswater culture was a Paleo-Eskimo culture that existed in Newfoundland and Labrador, as well as Quebec from 800 BC to 200 BC. The culture was of Arctic origin and migrated south after the decline of the Maritime Archaic people following the 900 BC Iron Age Cold Epoch. It is believed to have been replaced by or developed into the Dorset culture around 2000 BP. It is named after Groswater Bay, a bay in central Labrador. Archaeological Evidence Remains of animals found in Groswater sites imply a reliance on sea mammals, especially the Harp seal. Sea birds, small game, and caribou were also hunted. Sites were situated on headlands and their tools were focused on hunting sea mammals. They demonstrate fine craftsmanship with stone tools, creating lithic and bone tools that were small and finely chipped. They used tools made from finely cut chert, a rock used by the Paleo-Eskimo peoples of the North Atlantic. It is unclear why the Groswater Culture declined, although histo ...
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Syalakh Culture
Syalakh culture is an early Neolithic culture of Yakutia and Eastern Siberia. It formed in the middle Lena River basin in the V — IV millenniums BCE as a result of the migration of tribes from Transbaikalia, which assimilated the local Sumnagin culture (10,500-6,500 BP) that was preceramic. The culture got its name from Lake Syalakh, located 90 km from the town of Zhigansk in Yakutia (Saha). The first archaeological excavations in this area were conducted under the direction of A. P. Okladnikov in the 1940s. The sites of the carriers of Syalakh culture are marked by the first appearance of polished stone tools, as well as the earliest ceramics (fired clay pottery with a characteristic mesh pattern). Bone harpoons, and bow and arrows have also been found. More than 50 sites of the Syalakh culture are known. In decorative arts, a central place is occupied by the images of moose, which reflect mythological representation. The Syalakh culture was followed by the Belkachi ...
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Pre-Dorset
The Pre-Dorset is a loosely defined term for a Paleo-Eskimo culture or group of cultures that existed in the Eastern Canadian Arctic from c. 3200 to 850 cal BC, and preceded the Dorset culture. Due to its vast geographical expanse and to history of research, the Pre-Dorset is difficult to define. The term was coined by Collins (1956, 1957) who recognised that there seemed to be people that lived in the Eastern Canadian Arctic prior to the Dorset, but for whose culture it was difficult to give the defining characteristics. Hence, for Collins and others afterward, the term is a catch-all phrase for all occupations of the Eastern Canadian Arctic that predated the Dorset. To Taylor (1968) and Maxwell (1973), however, the Pre-Dorset were a distinct cultural entity, ancestral to the Dorset, and that lived in the Low Arctic of Canada with a number of incursions into High Arctic. At the site of Port Refuge on the Grinnell Peninsula, Devon Island, McGhee distinguished two sets of occup ...
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Newfoundland (island)
Newfoundland ( , ; , ) is a large island within the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It is situated off the eastern coast of the Northern America, North American mainland and the geographical region of Labrador. The island contains 29 percent of the province's land area, but is home to over 90% of the province's population, with about 60% of the province's population located on the small southeastern Avalon peninsula. The island is separated from the Labrador Peninsula by the Strait of Belle Isle and from Cape Breton Island by the Cabot Strait. It blocks the mouth of the Saint Lawrence River, creating the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, the world's largest estuary. Newfoundland's nearest neighbour is the French overseas collectivity of Saint Pierre and Miquelon. With an area of , Newfoundland is the List of islands by area, world's 16th-largest island, List of Canadian islands by area, Canada's fourth-largest island, and the largest Canadian island outside Northern Can ...
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Inuit
Inuit (singular: Inuk) are a group of culturally and historically similar Indigenous peoples traditionally inhabiting the Arctic and Subarctic regions of North America and Russia, including Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories, Yukon (traditionally), Alaska, and the Chukotsky District of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. The Inuit languages are part of the Eskaleut languages, also known as Inuit-Yupik-Unangan, and also as Eskimo–Aleut. Canadian Inuit live throughout most of Northern Canada in the territory of Nunavut, Nunavik in the northern third of Quebec, the Nunatsiavut in Labrador, and in various parts of the Northwest Territories and Yukon (traditionally), particularly around the Arctic Ocean, in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region. These areas are known, by Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami and the Government of Canada, as Inuit Nunangat. In Canada, sections 25 and 35 of the Constitution Act of 1982 classify Inuit as a distinctive group of Abo ...
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Ymyyakhtakh Culture
The Ymyyakhtakh culture (, ) was a Late Neolithic culture of Siberia, with a very large archaeological horizon, dating to c. 2200–1300 BC. Its origins seem to be in the Lena River basin of Yakutia, and also along the Yenisei River. From there it spread to the east and west. Individual sites were also found in Taymyr. It is named after Ymyyakhtakh, a settlement in the Sakha Republic, Russia. Description A. Golovnev discusses Ymyyakhtakh culture in the context of a “circumpolar syndrome”: :"... some features of the East Siberian Ymyyakhtakh culture spread amazingly quickly as far as Scandinavia. Ceramics with wafer prints are found at the Late Bronze Age monuments of the Taimyr Peninsula, Yamal Peninsula, Bolshezemelskaya and Malozemelskaya tundra, the Kola Peninsula, and Finland (not to mention East Siberia and North-East Asia)." The Ymyyakhtakh made round-bottomed ceramics with waffle and ridge prints on the outer surface. Stone and bone arrowheads, spears and harpo ...
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Chertov Ovrag
Chertov Ovrag is an archaeological site on Wrangel Island, Russian Arctic. In 1975, evidence was found at this site of human occupation. This is the westernmost site of Paleo-Eskimo habitation. No decisive evidence was found that the people hunted large land animals, but there was evidence that they were hunting sea mammals. Various stone and ivory tools were found, including a toggle harpoon, used for hunting sea mammal A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the Class (biology), class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a broad neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair, and three ...s. The emergence of hunting sea mammals was a significant innovation for the Arctic culture, believed to have started from 2000 to 1 BCE. The Chertov Ovrag site contributed to the understanding of the development of Arctic culture. References Wrangel Island Former populated places in Russia Prehistory of ...
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Saqqaq Culture
The Saqqaq culture was a Paleo-Eskimo culture in southern Greenland. It was named after the settlement of Saqqaq, the site of many archaeological finds. The Saqqaq were the longest-residing residents of Greenland in all of history. Timeframe The earliest known archaeological culture in southern Greenland, the Saqqaq existed from around 2500 BCE until about 800 BCE.Saqqaq culture profile
— from the Greenland Research Centre at the National Museum of Denmark.
This culture coexisted with the Independence I culture of nort ...
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