Thule Culture Communal Houses in Labrador

Abstract

From the study of excavations at Saglek Bay, construction of large rectangular sod-stone and whalebone communal houses by the Thule culture Eskimos in northern Labrador apparently began about the latter half of the seventeenth century. There appears to have been a general trend towards communal living, beginning with the snow-house complex in the central Canadian Arctic during the early part of the Neo-Boreal period. Communal house development in Labrador is seen as an extension of this general trend, serving as an adaptive mechanism in times of social or economic stress. Variation in styles in explained in terms of available construction materials.