SELECTED THESES ON THE CIRCUMPOLAR ARCTIC

The study is a critical evaluation of archaeological reconstructions of the subsistence pattern of the Thule culture, an ancestral Eskimo culture that spread from North Alaska across the American Arctic roughly 900-1300 AD.
More than perhaps any other branch of American prehistory, Eskimo archaeology was strongly influenced from the beginning by European research traditions and ideas. Reconstructions of the Thule culture were based largely on ethnographic parallels from Danish Greenland and the eastern Canadian Arctic, and on H. P. Steensby's hypothetical 'maritime Neoeskimo culture'. Though the obvious similarities with the historical North Alaskan coastal culture were noted, the idiosyncrasies of maritime hunting in this region were not considered.
The fact that the eastern Thule people adopted traits related to kayak sealing from the neighboring Dorset culture suggests that Thule kayak sealing was not well developed. The biomass contributed to the Thule catch by large whales -- which are underrepresented in bone counts -- probably radically diminished the actual importance of both caribou and seal in the Thule diet.
Archaeological and ethnographic data suggest that early Thule kayak sealers hunted mainly in ice leads with light darts like the historical North Alaskans, rather than out on the open sea. Statistical analyses of archaeological harpoon parts suggest that the early Thule sealing arsenal was primarily oriented toward ice edge hunting, while breathing hole and kayak sealing increased in the east only after 1200 AD, perhaps concurrent with decreased whaling returns.
The evidence suggests that the original Thule cycle was probably quite similar to that of contemporary North Alaskan coastal Eskimos. Large meat and blubber reserves amassed during late spring and early summer whaling and ice edge sealing were augmented in the winter by sealing at leads and polynyas, while the actual open water season was fairly unproductive and utilized primarily for caribou hunting and fishing. The original Thule subsistence system is suggested to have been based primarily on whaling, caribou hunting, and ice edge sealing, while kayak and breathing hole sealing were of only marginal importance.