Genevieve LeMoine

Woman of the House: Gender, Architecture, and Ideology in Dorset Prehistory

The role of women in Paleoeskimo households has rarely been examined. Careful application of analogies to Inuit culture reveal that there are both similarities and differences in how Late Dorset and Inuit gender roles are expressed in household organization. On an ideological level, Late Dorset women probably had a similar role to that of women in Inuit society, as the soul of the house and an important intermediary between hunters and the souls of the animals they hunted. On a day-to-day basis, however, Late Dorset women seem to have shared more of their labor as members of dual family households than did Inuit women, as members of nuclear family units. The increased importance of small, trapped game such as foxes and rabbits during Late Dorset times (Darwent 2001) may have contributed to the need for shared labor. Finally, women, in their role as keepers of the hearth, were important in maintaining community ties at seasonal aggregation sites dominated by long houses and external hearth rows.

Archaeological Survey of Eastern Inglefield Land, Northwest Greenland

Archaeological survey by foot, boat, and helicopter was undertaken in the eastern portion of Inglefield Land, northwestern Greenland. Although the research interests of the Inglefield Land Archaeology Project (ILAP) are focused on the late Thule-early Historic contact period, all cultural features were documented. A total of 1376 features, including winter houses, tent rings, fox traps, caches, hearths, kayak stands, and burials were recorded during pedestrian survey of three broad regions, which represent the entire culture history of the High Arctic from ca. 4200 years ago to modern use of the region by Inughuit hunters. Settlement pattern analysis suggests greater use of easternmost Inglefield Land by Paleoeskimo inhabitants compared to Thule/Historic groups and overall more short-term occupation (i.e., hunting forays) during the Paleoeskimo period. Thule winter houses are concentrated in the Glacier and Marshall Bay regions and secondarily at Cape Grinnell.

The Inglefield Land Archaeology Project: Introduction and Overview

Abstract Geografisk Tidsskrift—Danish Journal of Geography 110(2):279–296, 2010 Archaeological field research was undertaken in northwestern Greenland between 2004 and 2009 by the Inglefield Land Archaeology Project (ILAP). Over 2400 cultural features were recorded during foot survey, with additional sites located during helicopter reconnaissance. Focusing on the late prehistoric to historic transition, excavation of two Thule-Inughuit winter houses and adjacent middens was carried out at Iita, Foulke Fjord, western Inglefield Land, in 2006. Although constructed during the mid-1800s to early 1900s, the structures were dug into early through late Thule and Paleoeskimo deposits. At Cape Grinnell, in central Inglefield Land, three Thule sod-block houses, a Thule fall-winter qarmat, a Thule cache, a Late Dorset axial-feature, and an early Paleoeskimo axial-feature were excavated. Radiocarbon analysis revealed a tight cluster of dates, ca. AD 1200–1420, from the Late Dorset and Thule features. Preliminary analysis suggests near continual occupation of Iita for at least 1000 years. Cape Grinnell appears to have been inhabited, at least periodically since initial migration of Paleoeskimo into the region ca. 4000 years ago, with intensified Late Dorset-early Thule occupation followed by apparent abandonment coincident with the onset of climatic cooling.

Early Thule Winter Houses: An Archaeoentomological Analysis

This paper presents the results of archaeoentomological analyses of soil samples from early Thule (ca. AD 1200–1400) winter-house remains at Cape Grinnell and Qaqaitsut, Northwest Greenland. Excavated over the summers of 2008 and 2009 by the Inglefield Land Archaeological Project (ILAP), four houses yielded 467 ectoparasites, mostly human lice, unevenly distributed across the identified areas of the structures. A recurring pattern of distribution was found in three of the houses and is interpreted as the result of delousing practices. Using historical explorer accounts, Inughuit oral tradition, and archaeoentomological evidence we investigate the potential for studying hygiene practices on Inuit sites.

Living on the Edge: Inughuit Women and Geography of Contact

The women of northwestern Greenland experienced contact with Euro-American men in multiple ways and in a variety of geographical contexts. Together the archaeological record and unpublished historical documents reveal the complexities of these situations and women’s responses to them. Archaeological and documentary data from two early 20th-century contact situations at Iita in northwestern Greenland and Floeberg Beach on Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, highlight the varied nature of women’s responses to contact and the ways in which interaction with newcomers affected them individually and collectively. The women’s responses varied over time and across space. They responded to both the stresses and the opportunities of contact with resilience and resistance, acceptance and rejection, depending on circumstances.