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Forskningsemne
Arctic
Comparative Arctic Archaeology
Comparative studies of cultural development and archaeological practice in the north
Deltaker(e):
Bryan Hood
My position at the Institute focuses on comparative arctic archaeology. Over the years I have been involved in archaeological fieldwork in northern Norway, Labrador (Canada), Baffin Island (Canada), Greenland, and the Kola Peninsula (northwest Russia). My recent research has touched on four major themes: (1) social complexity among arctic and subarctic hunter-gatherers, (2) the spatial analysis of dwelling sites (including social and symbolic interpretation), (3) the interpretation of socially constructed regional landscapes, and (4) the relationship between archaeology and aboriginal people. The following photos and text will give you a brief glimpse of these themes.
Map: The Circumpolar World (click for larger version).
(1) Hunter-Gatherer Complexity in Labrador, Canada.
The Maritime Archaic Indian culture inhabited the coast of Labrador in the northeastern Canadian subarctic between 7000-1800 BC. They are well known for their use of marine resources, mortuary ceremonialism (red ocher graves in cemeteries or under rock mounds), and long distance exchange systems (Ramah chert and other materials). During the 1980s, research conducted by William Fitzhugh of the Smithsonian Institution revealed another important dimension of the Maritime Archaic: a development from small, single family pit houses prior to 5000 BC, to increasingly large rectangular structures, eventually culminating in segmented multi-family "longhouses" ranging from 15 to 100 meters long. These longhouses seem to have been used for short periods by large coresidential groups. The spatial patterning of the structures has been interpreted either as a simple linear accretion of individual family modules, or as expressing a tension between family autonomy and a social collectivity. In the latter interpretation (Hood 1995), the longhouse creates and sustains an ideological fiction of collectivity in a context which is marked by strong economic pressures for fragmentation.
Photo 1.1. A small (3.5 m diameter) Maritime Archaic boulder structure, David Island, Nain region. Probably dates ca. 5000 BC or earlier. Situated on a raised boulder beach, ca. 30 m.a.s.l.
Photo 1.2. View towards Nukasusutok-5 (Nain region), a multi-component Maritime Archaic site dated 5000-3300 BC. The site is located on a sandy raised beach 30 m above modern sea level, slightly to the right of the picture's center. Note the typical mid-outer island environment: tundra-like, with spruce trees in protected areas.
Photo 1.3. Excavation of Nukasusutok-5 (Nain region). Two oval "behavioural modules" (each 4 by 3 m in size) were defined by debitage distributions and hearths. It is uncertain whether they represent separate dwelling features or linked segments of a 10 m long rectangular structure. The modules date ca. 4400 BC but are flanked by earlier occupations dated ca. 5000 BC.
Photo 1.4. A 30 m Maritime Archaic longhouse on a raised boulder beach, Aillik, Makkovik region (ca. 2500 BC). The site was investigated by the Smithsonian Institution (I took the photo while with them).
For more information on the Maritime Archaic see:
Fitzhugh, W. 1978. Maritime Archaic Cultures of the Central and Northern Labrador Coast. Arctic Anthropology 15(2):61-95.
Fitzhugh, W. 1984. Residence Pattern Development in the Maritime Archaic: Longhouse Models and 1983 Surveys. In Archaeology in Newfoundland & Labrador 1983, edited by J. Sproull Thomson and C. Thomson, pp.6-47. Historic Resources Division, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, St. John's.
Hood, B. 1993. The Maritime Archaic Indians of Labrador:Investigating Prehistoric Social Organization. Newfoundland Studies 9(2):163-184.
Hood, B. 1995. Circumpolar Comparison Revisited: Hunter-Gatherer Complexity in the North Norwegian Stone Age and the Labrador Maritime Archaic. Arctic Anthropology 32(2):75-105.
Tuck, J.A. 1976. Ancient People of Port au Choix.The Excavation of an Archaic Indian Cemetery in Newfoundland. Institute of Social and Economic Research, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's.
(2) Hunter-Gatherer Complexity in Finnmark, North Norway, and Russia's Kola Peninsula.
During the Late Stone Age (5000-1800 BC) of Finnmark, northern Norway, we see a shift in dwelling forms which may be related to important social changes. From 5000-3000 BC, relatively small (3.5-5 m diameter) single family-sized pit houses were used. Subsequently, house size increased, with the large, distinctive "Gressbakken" house type in use between 2400-1800 BC. These houses have floor areas averaging 10 m by 3.5 m, entrance passages on three sides, double hearths and often external middens. The size of the structures could indicate multi-family coresidential groups. Several houses may have been occupied simultaneously at each site. The faunal material from the middens suggests intensified hunting of sea mammals and fishing, as well as semi-sedentary settlement. A copper dagger was found in the midden of one house, indicating links to metal producing cultures to the east (Russia). Recent research on Russia's Kola Peninsula, east of Murmansk, has identified similar--and even larger-- Gressbakken-like house structures (Drozdovka Project, Knut Helskog, Troms¢ Museum, Vladimir Shumkin, Institute for Material Culture, St. Petersburg). These developments indicate widespread shifts in settlement and social organization along the Barents Sea coast on the threshold of what north Fennoscandinavian and Russian archaeologists call the Early Metal Period (1800 BC-AD 1 -- Bronze Age to early Iron Age in the south).
Photo 2.1. The site of Gropbakkeengen, Varangerfjord, Finnmark, dated ca. 3700-3000 BC. The site contains ca. 80 small pit houses distributed along a raised beach
Photo 2.2. The site of Gressbakken, Varangerfjord, Finnmark. Large pit houses such as this one were used between 2400-1800 BC. This house measures about 10 m by 5 m in size.
Photo 2.3. View up Lake Virdnejavri on the Alta-Kautokeino river system, interior west Finnmark, Norway. The flat area on the right shore of the lake contained a major site with occupations dating mostly between 2000 BC-100 AD. The large quantities of projectile points and asbestos-tempered ceramics found at the site suggest it was used as a base camp for reindeer hunting. The site is now submerged under a reservoir created by a controversial hydroelectric dam.
Another distinctive aspect of the north Norwegian Stone Age is rock carvings. These began to be produced some time during the terminal phase of the Early Stone Age (6500-4500 BC) and may have continued until the end of the Early Metal Period (ca. AD 1). Many of the figures depict elk (moose) and reindeer, but boats and human figures are also frequent. Several rock carving fields containing a total of over 3000 figures are found at the head of Altafjord in west Finnmark. One interpretation sees this site as a central point in a socially and symbolically defined landcape, a point where coastal and inland groups negotiated their social relationships. Other large rock carving fields associated with northern Fennoscandinavian hunter-gatherers are found in Sweden at Nämforsen and in Russia on the Kola Peninsula, the White Sea and Lake Onega.
Photo 2.4: Late Stone Age rock carvings at Alta, Finnmark.
Drozdovka Project, Kola Peninsula, Russia
Prior to the 1990s, virtually no houses were known from the Kola Peninsula. Since then, several different dwelling types have been identified, particularly at Drozdovka Fjord, 200 km east of Murmansk. During the summers of 1994, 1998 and 2000, researchers from the University of Tromsø and the Russian Academy of Science in St. Petersburg excavated houses dated to the Gressbakken Phase, between 2100-1500 BC.
Photo 2.5. Drozdovka house excavation underway.
More information on the Drozdovka Project can be found here
For more information on the north Norwegian Late Stone Age see
Engelstad, E. 1984. Diversity in Arctic Maritime Adaptations. An Example from the Late Stone Age of Arctic Norway. Acta Borealia 2(1):3-24.
Helskog, K. 1987. Selective Depictions. A Study of 3,500 Years of Rock Carvings from Arctic Norway and their Relationships to the Sami Drums. In Archaeology as Long-Term History, edited by I. Hodder, p.17-30. Cambridge University Press.
Helskog, K. 1988. Helleristninger i Alta. Bj¢rkmanns Trykkeri, Alta.
Hood, B. 1988. Sacred Pictures, Sacred Rocks: Ideological and Social Space in the North Norwegian Stone Age. Norwegian Archaeological Review 21(2):65-84.
Hood, B. 1995. Circumpolar Comparison Revisited: Hunter-Gatherer Complexity in the North Norwegian Stone Age and the Labrador Maritime Archaic. Arctic Anthropology 32(2):75-105.
Olsen, B. 1994. Bosetning og Samfunn i Finnmarks Forhistorie. Universitetsforlaget, Oslo.
Renouf, M.A.P. 1989. Prehistoric Hunter-Fishers of Varangerfjord, Northeastern Norway. BAR International Series 487. Oxford.
Schanche, K. 1994. Hus og Samfunn i Varanger omkring 2000 f.Kr. Dr. art. Dissertation in Archaeology, University of Troms¢.
Simonsen, P. 1961. Varangerfunnene II. Troms¢ Museums Skrifter VII(2) and VII(3).
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(3) Paleoeskimo Spatial Organization: Dwelling Structures and Regional Settlement Patterns: Labrador and Greenland.
"Paleoeskimo" is a term applied to the Pre-Inuit occupants of the central and eastern North American Arctic and Greenland, a time period extending from ca. 2300 BC- 1000 AD. The Early Paleoeskimo period (2300-1000 BC) consists of archaeological units referred to as Pre-Dorset (Canada), Independence I (high arctic Canada and northern Greenland) and Saqqaq (western and southern Greenland). The Late Paleoeskimo Period (500 BC-1000 AD) is marked by the Dorset culture. In between is something nebulous that is sometimes called the "Transitional" period, in which Pre-Dorset develops into Dorset (distinctive regional variants include Independence II in high arctic Canada and northern Greenland and the Groswater Phase of Labrador and Newfoundland).
A distinctive aspect of the Paleoeskimo societies was their use of so-called "mid-passage" structures. Whether found in a simple tent ring or a sod house, the basic principle of the mid-passage is a rock construction (usually containing a hearth or oil-lamp platforms) which divides the structure into two symmetrical halves. The spatial analysis of artifact distributions often indicates differences in tool types or lithic raw materials on either side of the passage, in some cases suggestive of a gendered division of space.
Pre-Dorset sites in Labrador are generally small lithic scatters associated with the remnants of a dwelling structure. There is little accumulation of material and the occupations tend to be spread out along raised beaches with relatively little overlap. The localities give the impression of short term occupations by small mobile groups. To some extent, this situation simplifies the spatial analysis of dwelling structures. In Labrador, Pre-Dorset sites are concentrated on the outer coast, but they are also found in some of the inner bays (Nain, Okak, Hebron).
In west Greenland one finds Saqqaq sites both on the outer coast and the inner bays, but the picture is a bit different. Although there are numerous small localities with lithic scatters and structure remnants, in places such as the Disko Bay region certain localities were reused repeatedly, resulting in thick accumulations of cultural material. Some of the resultant middens have been encased in permafrost, resulting in excellent preservation of Saqqaq organic materials. On the other hand, these localities are stratigraphically complex and therefore much more difficult to use for the spatial analysis of dwelling structures. In some cases the locations were also attractive to later Inuit people, so the Saqqaq materials may be covered by thick Inuit middens.
In Labrador, an added complication in understanding Pre-Dorset settlement patterns is their chronological overlap (2500-1800 BC) with the Maritime Archaic Indian culture, which had been established along the Labrador coast for several thousand years. Economically speaking, was there interference competition? How did the presence of Pre-Dorset colonists impact the existing social and ideological landscapes of the Maritime Archaic people? Was there a cultural partitioning of the landscape, or a relatively open settlement mosaic?
Diagram A well preserved Pre-Dorset mid-passage structure from Labrador (Nain region), with tool distribution.
Photo 3.1. The same mid-passage structure, partly excavated.
Photo 3.2. Excavation of a Saqqaq site at Illorsuup Nua, Disko Bay, West Greenland. There were at least two phases of Saqqaq occupation here, plus a bit of Dorset material. The Saqqaq components seemed to be associated with a shallow semi-subterranean structure, but the feature was problematic and the various observers were not agreed on its significance!! This site was excavated during my participation in the Sydvestbugt Project, directed by Jens Fog Jensen, Erik Brinch Petersen, Bjørnar Olsen and Elisa Evaldsen (a joint Danish-Norwegian-Greenlandic project).
Photo 3.3. The classic site of Sermermiut, Disko Bay, West Greenland. Saqqaq and Dorset material lies underneath Inuit occupation layers.
For more information about Labrador and Greenland Paleoeskimo archaeology:
Cox, S. 1978. Palaeo-Eskimo Occupations of the Central and Northern Labrador Coast. Arctic Anthropology 15(2):96-118)
Grønnow, B. 1994. Qeqertasussuk-- the Archaeology of a Frozen Saqqaq Site in Disko Bugt, West Greenland. In Threads of Arctic Prehistory: Papers in Honour of William E. Taylor, Jr., edited by D. Morrison and J.-L. Pilon, p. 197-238. Archaeological Survey of Canada, Mercury Series No.149. Canadian Museum of Civilization, Hull.
Grønnow, B. (ed.) 1996. The Paleo-Eskimo Cultures of Greenland. Danish Polar Center, Copenhagen.
Hood, B. C. 2000. Pre-Dorset/Maritime Archaic Social Boundaries in Labrador. In Identities and Cultural Contacts in the Arctic, edited by M. Appelt, J. Berglund and H. C. Gulløv, pp. 120-128. Danish National Museum and Danish Polar Center, Copenhagen.
Maxwell, M. 1985. Prehistory of the Eastern Arctic. Academic Press, Orlando.
Meldgaard, M. (ed.) 1991. Qegertasussuk. De første mennesker i Vestgrønland. Tidskriftet Grønland 39(4-7).
(4) Archaeology, Northern Resource Development and Aboriginal People.
Although archaeology tends to focus on the study of past societies, archaeologists have become increasingly conscious of the contemporary socio-political matrix in which their work is situated. Over the past 10-15 years, archaeological practice in the central and eastern Canadian arctic has been transformed by pressures from Inuit to make our work more relevant and understandable to them and more accountable to their communities. One of the areas in which the relationship between archaeology and aboriginal concerns becomes very clear is that of large scale natural resource development. Aboriginal people and archaeologists have overlapping concerns for the protection of cultural resources and archaeological data can help support aboriginal land claims. Archaeologists have been involved in the assessment and mitigation of a variety of northern development projects, such as James Bay hydroelectric project in northern Quebec, the Northern Oil and Gas project (NOGAP) in arctic Canada and the Alta hydroelectric project in northern Norway.
In 1994-95, the pressures of large scale resource development arrived in Labrador in the form of the Voisey's Bay nickel find. After a somewhat shaky start in 1995, archaeological assessment continued in 1996 in the form of a survey project co-managed by the Labrador Inuit Association, the Innu Nation and Jacques Whitford Environment (a private consulting firm). The aboriginal groups contracted directly with Voisey's Bay Nickel and hired their own archaeological consultants (I worked for the Inuit, Fred Schwarz for the Innu and Yves Labrèche for Jacques Whitford) and a group of Inuit and Innu fieldworkers was provided with a training program. Fieldwork took place from June to September 1996. This was the first time that aboriginal groups in Labrador were able to acquire some degree of control over archaeological fieldwork.
Photo 4.1. Voisey's Bay archaeological survey, 1996; Ed (Inuit) and Etienne (Innu) on the job.
Photo 4.2. Recent Innu tent camp, Anaktalak Bay, Labrador.
You can find out a bit more about this project in:
Hood, B. C. (with the collaboration of G. Baikie)
1998. Mineral Resource Development, Archaeology and Aboriginal Rights in Northern Labrador. Etudes/Inuit/Studies 22(2):7-30.
5) Archaeology and Everyday Life: Ethnoarchaeology.
One of the most enriching components of archaeological work in the north is the opportunity to experience some of the everyday life of our aboriginal colleagues and friends. Since most northern archaeologists are based in the "south" and do their fieldwork primarily during the summer, it is extremely valuable to get out and experience the land during the winter as well. Participating in hunting trips provides insight into game distribution and behavior patterns, hunting techniques and camp organization. I have included some pictures that illustrate a few of my experiences with my Inuit friends in Labrador. Nakomek (thanks) for taking me along....
Photo 5.1. View over the April sea ice towards the ice edge (sina); Nain region, Labrador.
Photo 5.2. Inuk going after ôttuks (seals lying on the ice beside their breathing holes) with a tâluk (hunting blind) and rifle; Nain region, Labrador.
Photo 5.3. Rest stop, north of Nain, on our way to Okak. Soft snow in April overheats skidoo engines.
Photo 5.4. Lunch break with my Inuit friends, Iglusuaktalialuk Island, Okak region.
6) Archaeological Surveys Between the Nain and Hebron Regions, Northern Labrador, 1997
A preliminary report is available online at the Newfoundland Museum Home page
For a short illustrated overview click here
Links to other relevant sites:
Labrador Inuit Association Home Page
Innu Nation Home Page
Arctic Paleoeskimo Exhibit, Canadian Museum of Civilization
Canadian Arctic Archaeology
High Arctic archaeology, University of Calgary
Newfoundland Museum Homepage
Troms¢ Museum
Danish Polar Center
Sila (Greenland Research Centre, National Museum of Denmark)
Arctic Studies Center, Smithsonian Institution
Arctic climate research:
NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) Arctic Theme Page
University of the Arctic
University of the Arctic
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