Thule Inuit arrived in High Arctic earlier than previously thought: Study
Researchers find evidence of habitation on Somerset Island as early as 1000 AD
Remnants of a Thule Inuit dwelling at Ditchburn Point, one of two sites on Somerset Island researchers explored as part of a seven-year study. (Photo courtesy of Jules Blais)
Researchers say they’ve found evidence that Thule Inuit — from whom all modern Inuit are descended — arrived in Canada’s High Arctic earlier than previously believed.
The team, from University of Ottawa and Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont., learned about Thule Inuit migration through a seven-year study from 2017 to 2024 gathering sediment core samples from Somerset Island, about 160 kilometres south of Resolute Bay.
“We read sedimentary cores like a history book,” said Jules Blais, a University of Ottawa biologist and researcher on the study.
Earlier research suggests Thule Inuit arrived in the North American High Arctic from northeast Siberia between 1200 and 1500 AD, but a study published July 9 in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B journal places them in the area as much as 200 years earlier, Blais said.
The research team gathered sediment core samples from the bottoms of ponds during their 2017 trip to Somerset Island.
The technique of using sedimentary research techniques to study areas where there is little or no other archeological evidence has only come about in the last 20 years, and this is the first time it’s been used on a Thule Inuit site, Blais said.
Biologist and researcher Jules Blais discovered evidence of Thule Inuit living on Somerset Island as early as 1000 AD, about 200 years earlier than previously believed. (Photo by Jorge Antunes)
The deeper they dug, the farther back in time they looked. As they worked, they found a sudden profusion of evidence of whale-hunting, which Blais said points to the presence of Thule Inuit, dating back as far as 1000 AD.
Dressing and preparing hunted whales causes a run-off of lipids, or fats, and other biological materials from the animals’ carcasses. Those materials end up in nearby ponds where they settle in layers at the bottom.
The amount of lipids discovered in a layer can provide a rough idea of the changing population — more lipids points to a larger population, while dwindling lipids can indicate the population was shrinking.
The researchers then carbon dated the lipid-rich sediment in order to more accurately determine its age.
Researchers also found artifacts in the area, such as whale bone structures for permanent and semi-permanent homes, which provided more evidence of the presence of the Thule Inuit.
Thule Inuit were not alone in the Arctic. Another group, known as Paleo Inuit, are believed to have inhabited the area from approximately 2500 BC to 1250 AD.
Sometime during the early Thule Inuit period, though, the Paleo-Inuit disappeared. It is not known why or how, Blais said.
Blais and his team believe their research provides specific evidence of Thule Inuit habitation because the Thule are known to have been whalers who specialized in hunting bowhead whales.
There is no evidence, on the other hand, that Paleo Inuit hunted whales.
“They hunted seals and walrus or they [went] after marine mammals, but not whales,” Blais said. “They didn’t have that whaling technology.”
Researchers believe the Thule Inuit followed the whales north during a medieval warming period, which is believed to have lasted from 900 AD to 1300 AD.
At around 1400 the climate shifted, bringing what’s known as the Little Ice Age, which may have driven the Thule Inuit south, where many present-day Inuit live today.
“Was it all driven by climate?” Blais asked about the migration of Thule Inuit. “Archeologists have been very interested in exploring and looking at various types of evidence from the archeological record.”
And then?
It strikes me as odd that we seem to have come upon this “discovery” only now. Travel–likely by boat–would have been inviting as soon as the Medieval Warm Period began around 950. It began to fade fast from 1250 into the Little Ice Age. In parallel, the Vikings began to inhabit Greenland from the late 900s. Some people say the current warm period has temperatures today at about the same level as during the Roman and the Medieval Warm Periods.
“Sometime during the early Thule Inuit period, though, the Paleo-Inuit disappeared. It is not known why or how, Blais said.”
Right, a total coincidence that as the Thule moved in the paleo-Eskimo, err.. paleo-Inuit (notice the new politically correct term here?) who had occupied the land for about 4,000 years just disappeared, and no one has a clue why. I guess no one is paying attention to Inuit oral histories, which do tell us the fate of their predecessors.
Thumbs down to the ugly truth!
Attention is paid to Inuit oral histories only when it is politically correct to do so.
The Thule had also coexisted with other indigenous peoples such as the First Nations, the stories I have heard is the Paleo Inuit were easy to scare off even though they were much bigger and stronger, but in no way was there any storied of fighting or killing, they would move off or run away, it was when the Europeans started arriving bringing their disease that most of the people here started dying off, Thule were almost wiped out too, luckily they were not.
Europeans (Norse specifically) arrived only in small numbers on the periphery of their world. They barely interacted with the paleo Inuit. The Thule by contrast moved directly into their lands and, if you have read any oral histories at all (which seems doubtful given your comment) you would know there are plenty of stories about the interactions between them, specifically how the Thule killed and drove them away.
Makes me wonder how archaeologists determine the exact age of artifacts. I found an interesting read on the subject in this article also https://interestingengineering.com/lists/9-things-you-probably-didnt-know-were-inuit-inventions
so inuit are russian cause they are Thule Inuit Siberia Russia. so our land is then russian land not canadian ? Scary lol
The archeologists are telling us what we have known for hundreds of years, that the
Paleo Inuit we’re colonized, enslaved, and many killed by the Thule invaders.
At least the Europeans brought us housing , stores, medical services, air travel and many
other benefits! Thank you CANADIAN TAXPAYERS, much appreciated.
Thank you Mr. Blais for your story which must be told.