Ancient People of the Arctic

Front Cover
UBC 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
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