Middle Dorset communal living at Alarniq, northern Foxe Basin, Inuit Nunangat (Arctic Canada)

Abstract

Our understanding of Dorset communal living is largely derived from the Late Dorset period when longhouses are prevalent throughout the Eastern Arctic. However, based on the recent identification of large multi-family dwellings that date to the Middle Dorset period communal living was seemingly a significant part of Dorset lifeways much earlier. To date, few such dwellings have been excavated, and none have been published in detail. In 2015 a large Middle Dorset multi-family dwelling, Feature 9, was excavated at Alarniq, northern Foxe Basin, Nunavut— one of the largest Dorset sites found across the Eastern Arctic. Feature 9 is the fourth large Middle Dorset multi-family dwelling recorded at Alarniq and radiocarbon dates indicate that these dwellings were not a short-term phenomenon, but instead were built (and rebuilt) at the site for several centuries. Unlike Late Dorset longhouses, which appear to be warm season occupations containing few artifacts and faunal material, Feature 9 was occupied during the cold season, perhaps even year-round, and contained abundant artifacts and faunal material. Undoubtedly, it is an enlarged version of the more typical winter dwelling used in the region. However, since all known large Middle Dorset multi-family dwellings are associated with dwellings of a more typical size they may have also served as gathering spaces, in some ways resembling qaqqiq used in traditional Inuit society.