Sea bird exploitation on coastal Inuit sites, west and southeast Greenland

Abstract

The exploitation of birds, especially sea birds, in Low Arctic Greenland was studied, based on over 80 000 bird bones from 16 coastal Inuit settlements comprising both Palaeoeskimo and Neoeskimo sites. Twenty-seven bird species were identified, with Brunnich's Guillemot (Uria lomvia) as the most frequent game bird on most sites, although gulls, eiders, fulmar, and other alcids were hunted too. The relative frequencies of bone elements of the economically important game birds indicated that almost all parts of the birds were used by the Inuit. For the Saqqaq settlement, Nipisat I, first evidence of a summer exploitation of birds (based on an unusually high proportion of juvenile bird bones) for the Saqqaq Culture and first evidence of goose hunting at a coastal site in Greenland was documented. Regional differences in the species composition of the 16 sites were found and demonstrated to be due to season of occupation and/or to geographical and topographical variation. The distribution of settlements with birds as an important part of the exploited resources coincides very well with the Open Water Region of West Greenland. The analysis demonstrated that Inuit cultures were highly adaptive to the annual cycles and distribution of the game birds. # 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Int. J. Osteoarchaeol., 7: 271-286 (1997) No. of Figures: 4. No. of Tables: 4. No. of