Ancient People of the ArcticUBC Press, 2001 - 244 pages Ancient People of the Arctic traces the lives of the Palaeo Eskimos, the bold first explorers of the Arctic. Four thousand years ago, these people entered the far northern extremes of the North American continent, carving a living out of their bleak new homeland. From the hints they left behind, accessible only through the fragmented archaeological record, Robert McGhee ingeniously reconstructs a picture of this life at the margins. He discusses how the Palaeo-Eskimos spread across the entire Arctic, explains how they dealt with sharp climate changes that drastically altered their environment, offers glimpses into their spiritual practices and world view, and speculates about their eventual demise. |
Contents
Maps Figures and Illustrations | 4 |
A People of the Imagination3 | 9 |
An Asiatic People in America | 24 |
The People of the Muskox Way | 44 |
The Great Exploration | 73 |
When the Climate Changes | 106 |
How an Arctic Culture Was Transformed120 | 120 |
The Dorset People | 135 |
Lost Visions | 149 |
IO Encounters and Isolation | 174 |
The End of the Dorset World | 196 |