September 5-12
THE ARCTIC SETTING
An overview of the geography, climate, and arctic resources past and present are introduced as they relate to the adaptation of arctic peoples.

PALAEOENVIRONMENT
5000 years of arctic palaeoenvironment are assessed relative to human cultural adaptation and Steward's concept of Cultural Ecology.

HUMAN ADAPTATION TO LIFE IN AN ARCTIC ENVIRONMENT
The major stresses of living in a cold arctic environment are explored with regard to physical and cultural adaptation and acclimatisation.

Required Reading:
Stager, J.K. & R.J. McSkimming
1984 Physical Environment. Handbook of North American Indians, Artcic, Volume 5. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, pp. 27-35.

Rowley-Conwy, P.
1999 Introduction: Human Occupation of the Arctic. World Archaeology, Vol. 30(3):349-353.

Recommended Reading:
Maxwell, M.S.
1985 Prehistory of the Eastern Arctic. Academic Press Inc., Orlando, pp.5-31.

So, J.K.
1980 Human Biological Adaptation to Arctic and Subarctic Zones. Annual Review of Anthropology, 9:63-82.

September 17-19
THE DEVELOPMENT OF ARCTIC CULTURE HISTORY
The invention, classification and maintenance of archaeological cultures are reviewed and critically assessed through the exploration of the foundations of archaeological cultural classification. What are the implications for the practice of Arctic archaeology and our understanding of prehistory?

ARCTIC CULTURE HISTORY: AN OVERVIEW
A thumbnail sketch of the spatial and temporal patterning of the archaeologically derived and ethnographically described peoples of the Arctic.

THE PALAEOARCTIC  AND ARCHAIC TRADITIONS
The Palaeoarctic and Archaic Traditions are defined, and evidence for cultural relationships are explored.

Required Reading:
McGhee, R.
1990 Canadian Arctic Prehistory, Canadian Museum of Civilisation, pp. 1-25.

Dumond, D.
1987 The Eskimos and Aleuts. Thames & Hudson, pp. 32-54.

Recommended Reading:
Maxwell, M.S.
1980 Archaeology of the Arctic and Subarctic Zones. Annual Review of Anthropology, Volume 9, pp.161-185.
September 24-26

THE ESKIMOS AND ALEUTS: THE CULTURE HISTORY OF ALASKA AND THE ALEUTIAN ISLANDS
Culture histories of Alaska and the Aleutian Islands are presented and the cultural relationships of Eskimo and Aleut peoples are considered.

Required Reading:
Dumond, D.
1987 The Eskimos and Aleuts. Thames & Hudson, pp. 55-86, 101-127.

Recommended Reading
McCartney, A.P. & D.W. Veltre
1999 Aleutian Islands Prehistory: Living in Insular Extremes. World Archaeology, 30(3), pp. 503-515.

October 1-3
THE EARLY PALAEOESKIMOS: THE EASTERN ARCTIC'S FIRST INHABITANTS
The culture histories of Early Palaeoeskimos from Alaska to Greenland are considered.

Required Reading:
McGhee, R.
1990 Canadian Arctic Prehistory. Canadian Museum of Civilisation, pp. 26-51.

Dumond, D.
1987 The Eskimos and Aleuts. Thames & Hudson, pp. 79-93.

October 8-10
CULTURES IN TRANSITION: THE LATE-EARLY PALAEOESKIMOS
The Culture history of the late Early Palaeoeskimo cultures is presented. Issues of culture change and affinity are introduced.

THE LATE PALAEOESKIMOS OF THE EASTERN ARCTIC
Early, Middle and Late Dorset cultural manifestations are presented and compared. What is the meaning of Late Dorset Art?

Required Reading:
McGhee, R.
1990 Canadian Arctic Prehistory. Canadian Museum of Civilisation, pp. 52-73.

Dumond, D.
1987 The Eskimos and Aleuts. Thames & Hudson, pp. 93-100.

October 15-17
THE THULE CULTURE
The culture history of Thule peoples is presented. Subsistence and settlement patterns are compared and contrasted with earlier Palaeoeskimo adaptations. How can we account for the differences?

Required Reading:
Dumond, D.
1987 The Eskimos and Aleuts. Thames & Hudson, pp. 128-150.

Recommended Reading:
Maxwell, M.S.
1985 Pioneers of the Eastern Arctic, Eastern Arctic Prehistory. Academic Press Inc., Orlando, pp.247-310.

THE NORSE
An introduction to the Norse occupation of Greenland is presented. Why did the Norse Western Settlement eventually fail? What evidence is there for cultural interaction with Native populations?

Required Reading:
McGovern, T.H.
1980 Cows, harp seals and churchbells: Adaptation and Extinction in Norse Greenland. Human Ecology 8(3):245-277.

Arneborg, A. et al.
1999 Change of Diet of the Greenland Vikings Determined from Stable Isotope Analysis and 14C Dating of their Bones. Radiocarbon 41:157-168.

October 22-24

I. MID TERM REVIEW - WHO WANTS TO BE AN ARCTIC ARCHAEOLOGIST?

II. MID TERM EXAMINATION
 
 

SOCIAL ORGANISATION OF ARCTIC HUNTER-GATHERERS
An Alaskan Case Study is used to explore the role of social organization in arctic hunting and gathering societies.  Gender issues and stereotypes are explored

Required Reading
Sheehan, G.
1985 Whaling as an Organizing Focus in Northwestern Alaskan Eskimo Society. Prehistoric Hunter-Gatherers: The Emergence of Cultural Complexity, ed. T.D Price & J.A. Brown., pp. 123-154.

Bodenhorn, B.
1990 "I'm not the Great Hunter, My Wife Is" Iñupiat and anthropological models of gender. Inuit Studies, 14(1-2), pp. 55-74).

CHILDREN OF THE ARCTIC
What can we know about the role of children in Arctic prehistory? Inuit concepts of childhood are explored through the ethnographic and archaeological records. Can the Inuit model be used for understanding children in Palaeoeskimo archaeology?

Required Reading:
Park, R.W.
1998 Size Counts: the miniature archaeology of childhood in Inuit societies. Antiquity, 72:269-281

November 5-7
POPULATION MOVEMENTS, MIGRATION AND THE CORE HYPOTHESIS
Models of population movement, settlement are examined as they relate to cultural expansion, contact and extinction.

Required Reading
Fitzhugh, W.W.
1997 Biogeographical Archaeology in the Eastern North American Arctic, Human Ecology, Vol. 25, No.3, pp.385-418.

Rowley, S.
1985 Population Movements in the Canadian Arctic. Inuit Studies, pp.3-21.
 

November 12-14
THE DORSET/THULE SUCCESSION
The Dorset/Thule succession is perhaps the most perplexing problems in North American Prehistory. We review the evidence and discuss the explanations.

Required Reading
Park, R.W.
1993 The Dorset-Thule Succession in Arctic North America: Assessing Claims for Culture Contact. American Antiquity 58(2), pp.203-234.

McGhee, R.
1997 Meetings Between Dorset Culture Palaeo-Eskimos and Thule Culture Inuit: Evidence from Brooman Point. Fifty Years of Arctic Research: Anthropological Studies from Greenland to Siberia, Publications of the National Museum Ethnographical Series, vol.18. Edited by R. Gilberg and H.C. Gullov, Department of Ethnography, the National Museum of Denmark, Copenhagen, pp. 209-213.

November 19-21
CULTURAL TRANSITIONS
The role of cultural contact in the Arctic is examined relative to cultural boundaries, identity, culture change and health.

Required Reading:
Nagy, M.
2000 From Pre-Dorset Foragers to Dorset Collectors: Palaeo-Eskimo Cultural Change in Ivujivik, Eastern Canadian Arctic. Identities and Cultural Contacts in the Arctic: Proceedings from a Conference at the Danish National Museum Copenhagen, November 30 to December 2, 1999. M. Appelt, J. Berglund and H.C. Gullov (eds.), Dansk Polar Center, pp.143-148.

Richling, B.
1993 Labrador's 'Communal House Phase' Reconsidered. Arctic Anthropology. Vol. 30, No.1, pp. 67-78.

McGhee, R.
1994 Disease and the Development of Inuit Culture. Current Anthropology, Volume 35, Number 5, pp.565-594.

November 26-28
CULTURAL CONTINUITY OR EXTINCTION?
Issues of cultural continuity and extinction are explored through archaeological, historical and ecological evidence.

Required Reading:
Tuck, J.A. & R.T. Pastore
1985 A Nice Place to Visit…Prehistoric Population Extinctions on the Island of Newfoundland. Canadian Journal of Archaeology 9(1):69-80.

Renouf, M.A.P.
1999 Prehistory of Newfoundland Hunter-Gatherers: Extinctions or Adaptations. World Archaeology 30(3), pp.403-420.

ENDURING IMAGES: ESKIMO AND INUIT ON FILM
A brief introduction to the role of film in the portrayal of Eskimo and Inuit peoples and the impact on popular views, stereotypes and traditional knowledge. The basis of this conversation will be Joseph Flaherty's 1922 film Nanook of the North.

Recommended Reading:
Ann Fienup-Riordan
1995 Freeze Frame: Alaska Eskimos in the Movies. University of Washington Press, Singapore.
 

Recommended General Interest Books on Arctic Archaeology:

Fitzhugh, W.W. and E.I. Ward (eds.)
2000 Vikings: The North Atlantic Saga. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington.

McGhee, R.
1996 Ancient People of the Arctic. UBC Press, Vancouver.

Schledermann, P.
1996 Voices in Stone. Komatik Series No.5, The Arctic Institute of North America.