Thule Inuit
The Inuit peoples of the Canadian High Arctic have lived in the region for at least a thousand years. Their ancestors, called by archaeologists the Thule (pronounced Too-lee) tradition, entered the Canadian arctic from across the Bering Strait about 1,000 years ago. Within a few centuries, the Thule spread throughout Alaska, Canada, and Greenland.The Thule were primarily seal, walrus, and whale hunters, and they lived on the coastal margins of the High Arctic, along Baffin Bay and on the islands between the main land masses of Canada and Greenland. They had an elaborate and beautiful way with harpoon heads, carved pendants and toys of stone, bone, ivory, and antler. Winter houses were small (10 x 8 feet or so) oval or sub-rectangular sod huts excavated partly into the ground and built of whale bone. An entryway was built into the hut, dug lower than the interior floors, to act as a cold sink. The floors and sleeping platforms of the houses were paved with flagstones; the platforms then covered with mats and furs. Light and heat were derived from whale oil lamps. Dog sleds and kayaks were the main transportation of the Thule tradition peoples.
Thule Winter Communities
The size of the winter communities is somewhat under debate. While sites such as Naujan and others on Resolute Bay seem to have had lots of houses, some researchers have argued that they really represent rebuilding episodes, with only about 50 people living through the winter together at the same time. The brief summers were spent in hunting forays.The Thule tradition didn't so much end as become transformed. Around 500 years ago, the climate chilled throughout the northwest, and the Iniut peoples abandoned the islands of the High Arctic, moved to inland waterways and developed inland living strategies such as fishing with nets and communal hunting. This stage is known to archaeologists as the Inuvialuit culture; and the people maintained this new lifestyle until the Europeans invaded at the beginning of the 20th century.
