Dr. Erik Holtved ( Greenlandic nickname: ''Erissuaq''; translation: "Big Eric") (21 June 1899 in

Fredericia Fredericia () is a town located in Fredericia Municipality in the southeastern part of the Jutland peninsula in Denmark. The city is part of the Triangle Region Denmark, Triangle Region, which includes the neighbouring cities of Kolding and Vej ...

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

– 1981 in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

, Denmark) was a Danish artist, archaeologist, linguist, and ethnologist. He was the first university-trained ethnologist to study the

Inughuit The Inughuit (singular: Inughuaq), Inuhuit, or Smith Sound Inuit, historically called Arctic Highlanders or Polar Eskimos, are an ethnic subgroup of the Greenlandic Inuit. They are the northernmost group of Inuit and the northernmost people in No ...

, the northernmost Greenlandic

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 Northwe ...

Career

Holtved was born in Fredericia, Denmark in 1899. An artist early on, in 1931, he was selected by

Knud Rasmussen Knud Johan Victor Rasmussen (; 7 June 1879 – 21 December 1933) was a Greenlandic-Danish polar explorer and anthropologist. He has been called the "father of Eskimology" (now often known as Inuit Studies or Greenlandic and Arctic Studies) ...

to head the Sixth Thule Expedition to

Greenland Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...

which changed the course of his life. His field trips to Greenland continued in 1932, 1933, 1934, 1935–1937, and 1946–1947. He received his master's degree (1941) and doctorate (1944) at the

University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen (, KU) is a public university, public research university in Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in Scandinavia, after Uppsala University. ...

. As an archaeologist, he researched Eskimo archaeology in the Julianehaab district,

Disko Bay Disko Bay (; Christensen, N.O. & al.Elections in Greenland". ''Arctic Circular'', Vol. 4 (1951), pp. 83–85. Op. cit. "Northern News". ''Arctic'', Vol. 5, No. 1 (Mar 1952), pp. 58–59.) is a large bay on the western coast of Greenland. ...

, and Inglefield Land. In 1931, he did work in the Lindenows Fjord area of southern Greenland, excavating 25 houses and unearthing 2,000 artifacts. In the 1930s, he was the first to identify the Ruin Island Phase of the Thule culture in northwest

. He excavated the Comer's Midden site from 1935 to 1937, and again from 1946 to 1947. He surveyed the Greenland coast from Humboldt Glacier to

Thule Thule ( ; also spelled as ''Thylē'') is the most northerly location mentioned in ancient Greek and Roman literature and cartography. First written of by the Greek explorer Pytheas of Massalia (modern-day Marseille, France) in about 320 BC, i ...

. As a linguist, Holtved participated in the study of Eskimo–Aleut phonetic notation with William Thalbitzer and Knut Bergsland. Regarding Eskimo

folklore Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, culture or subculture. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, myths, legends, proverbs, Poetry, poems, jokes, and other oral traditions. This also ...

, he published several scholarly works, including, ''The Eskimo Myth about the Sea-woman'', ''The Eskimo legend of Navaranâq'', ''Myths and tales translated'', and ''The Polar Eskimos: Language and Folklore'' which included song texts. In ''Eskimokunst : Eskimo art'' he surveyed Eskimo art, including items such as dolls,

Tupilaq A ( or in Inuktitut syllabics, plural ) is a monster or carving of a monster. In Inuit religion, especially in Greenland, a tupilaq was an avenging monster fabricated by an angakkuq (a practitioner of witchcraft or shamanism) by using various ...

s, containers, garments, and maps. Upon Thalbitzer's retirement, Holtved became Professor of Eskimology at the University of Copenhagen.

Later years

He lived for a time at 14 Hauser Plads, Copenhagen, Denmark. After retiring from the university, Holtved painted again. He died in Copenhagen on 24 May 1981.

Partial works

* (1914). ''Archaeological investigations in the Thule district'' * (1900s). ''Mackenzie eskimo ordliste efter Petito'' * (1936). ''The eskimo archaeology of Julianehaab District'' * (1943). ''The Eskimo legend of Navaranâq'' * (1947). ''Eskimokunst: Eskimo art'' * (1951). ''The Polar Eskimos, language and folklore 2, Myths and tales translated'' * (1952). "Remarks on the Polar Eskimo dialect", ''International Journal of American Linguistics'' * (1962). ''Eskimo shamanism'' * (1962). ''Otto Fabricius' Ethnographical works'' * (1963). ''Tornarssuk, an Eskimo Deity'' * (1967). "Contributions to Polar Eskimo ethnography". '' Meddelelser om Grønland''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Holtved, Erik 1899 births 1981 deaths 20th-century Danish artists Danish ethnologists Linguists from Denmark People from Fredericia University of Copenhagen alumni Academic staff of the University of Copenhagen Linguists of Eskaleut languages 20th-century Danish archaeologists 20th-century Danish linguists Eskimologists