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 northern Greenland, which developed around 2400 BCE and lasted until about 1300 BCE. After the Saqqaq culture disappeared, the Independence II culture of northern Greenland and the Early Dorset culture of West Greenland emerged. There is some debate about the timeframe of the transition from Saqqaq culture to Early Dorset in western Greenland.

The Saqqaq culture came in two phases, the main difference of the two being that the newer phase adopted the use of sandstone. The younger phase of the Saqqaq culture coincides with the oldest phase of the Dorset culture.

Archaeological findings

Frozen remains of a Saqqaq person dubbed "Inuk" were found on Disko Island in western Greenland at Qeqertarsuaq and have been DNA sequenced. He had brown eyes, black hair, and shovel-shaped incisors. It has been determined that he lived about 4000 years ago and was related to indigenous populations in northeastern Siberia. The Saqqaq are not the ancestors of contemporary Kalaallit; their closest relatives are the modern Chukchis and Koryaks. It is not known whether they crossed in boats or over ice.Walton, Doreen
"Analysis of hair DNA reveals ancient human's face."
''BBC News.'' (retrieved 11 February 2010)

The Saqqaq people lived in small tents and hunted seals, seabirds, and other marine animals. They used silicified slate, agate, quartzite, and rock crystals as materials for their tools.

Genetics

A genetic study published in ''Science'' in August 2014 examined the remains of six Saqqaq individuals buried in Qeqertasussuk, Greenland between ca. 3000 BCE and 1900 BCE. The five samples of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) extracted belonged to haplogroups D2a1 (four samples) and D2a. These haplogroups also predominate in the Dorset culture, and are today found in high frequencies among the Siberian Yupik and Aleuts, with whom the Saqqaq are relatively closely related. The evidence suggested that the ancestors of the Saqqaq entered North America from Siberia through a distinct migration about 4000 BC, and that they subsequently remained largely genetically isolated from other North American populations.

See also

* Thule people
* Qilakitsoq

References

Sources

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Further reading

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External links

4000 year old remains

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saqqaq Culture
Archaeological cultures of North America
Archaeology of Greenland
Prehistory of the Arctic
Greenlandic Inuit