Nadlok and the Origin of the Copper Inuit

Abstract

Nadlok is the only known site clearly spanning the transition between the first Inuit culture in Canada, called Thule, and that of the Copper Inuit described by the first explorers in the western Central Arctic. Radiocarbon dates and the absence of European trade goods suggest this transition occurred over several centuries, between A.D. 1450 and 1750. An inland site with abundant evidence of caribou hunting, Nadlok is a marked departure from traditional Thule coastal seal hunting, a change induced by increased ice thickness caused by the Little Ice Age which destroyed breathing hole hunting.



Table of Contents  |  Glossary  |  Next Page: Introduction