The History of Archaeological Research in North East Greenland : Putting the Geoark Project Into Perspective

Kopi fra DBC Webarkiv Kopi af: The history of archaeological research in North East Greenland : putting the GeoArk Project into perspective Dette materiale er lagret i henhold til aftale mellem DBC og udgiveren. www.dbc.dk e-mail: [email protected] OF GEO L G A R N A The History of Archaeological Research in North R P U H O Y J 2 0 H 1 East Greenland: Putting the GeoArk Project into S I 0 N A D Perspective Bjarne Grønnow Abstract Starting with a brief presentation of the GeoArk Project and its Keywords goals, this paper focuses on the archaeological research history North East Greenland, archaeology, research history, Thule culture, of North East Greenland, in particular the area of Sabine Ø and sites, monuments. Clavering Ø, in order to view the current project in a wider con- text. The paper questions the myths about the ‘virgin’ land and it Bjarne Grønnow demonstrates how a number of expeditions, activities of professional SILA – Arctic Centre at the Ethnographic Collections, The National hunters and trappers, and geopolitical matters in dispute between Museum of Denmark Denmark and Norway during the 1930s dramatically determined the E-mail: [email protected] quite ill fortune of the archaeological sites and monuments of the Thule culture in the study area. Geografisk Tidsskrift Danish Journal of Geography 110(2):117-129, 2010 Introduction proach of the GeoArk Project is in line with the tradition of research in this high arctic region. North East Greenland is wrapped in myths. This vast region The priorities of the fieldwork of GeoArk were highly is even today considered as representing the archetypical influenced by the state of preservation of the prehistoric arctic wilderness of rugged mountains, glaciers, and ice sites and monuments in our study area around the Sabine covered fjords hidden behind drift ice. Current natural sci- Ø, Wollaston Forland, and Clavering Ø area (Figure 1). As ences are presenting North East Greenland (NE Greenland) it appears from the present paper, earlier archaeological as a ‘virgin’ environment – as close as you can get on activities in the area have in fact destroyed important parts this planet to an ecosystem untouched by human beings of the sources, in particular all winter houses and graves (Meltofte et al., 2008). Archaeology also has its myths of the Thule culture. Nevertheless, it was possible to make concerning NE Greenland: Helge Larsen’s excavations in new discoveries and to gain new insights into the life, the Dødemandsbugten (Dead Man’s Bay) (Larsen, 1934) stand life conditions and cultural history of NE Greenland. out as a beachhead in an otherwise unexplored region of the archaeological map of Greenland. However, working within the International Polar Year project, GeoArk, during The GeoArk Project and the Thule culture sites the last five years, we have of course realized that there is a gap between myths and realities concerning NE Greenland. The GeoArk Project was established on the initiative of the In order to evaluate the achievements of GeoArk it is geographer Bjarne Holm Jakobsen in 2003 as an interdis- important to view the project in relation to the research ciplinary research program exploring the dynamics of high history of NE Greenland. The issues raised by the current arctic environments and the cultural adaptations and re- project are based partly on some ‘classic’ questions posed source utility strategies applied by the prehistoric societies by the early explorers of this remote region – e.g, why in NE Greenland. Initiated by two pilot projects (2003 and did the native Northeast Greenlanders disappear? – and 2005) in the Sabine Ø, Wollaston Foreland and Clavering partly based on topics emanating from the current debate Ø area, GeoArk became an International Polar Year project on climate change. Furthermore, the interdisciplinary ap- during the years 2007 – 2009 under the umbrella of IPY Geografisk Tidsskrift-Danish Journal of Geography 110(2) 117 Figure 1: Map showing the Clavering Ø and Sabine Ø area with sites and place names mentioned in the text. 41: Fladstrand; 42: Eskimovig; 43: Båd- sted; 45-47: Dødemandsbugten; 78: Blåklokkenæs; 95: Germania Havn; 96: Hvalros Ø. Drawing: Jørn Bjarke Torp Pedersen. project #6: Dynamic Social Strategies in Arctic Environ- • Which environmental and cultural preconditions fa- ments (Sørensen & Andreasen, 2006; Jensen et al., 2008; voured the initial Thule culture colonization of high Kroon et al., 2009; Sørensen et al., 2009). arctic Greenland during the first part of the 1400s AD The GeoArk Project is based on collaboration between after probably more than 1500 years of desolation? the National Museum of Denmark, the Greenland National • Which factors, including environmental and/or external Museum and Archives and the University of Copenhagen. cultural changes like European commercial whaling GeoArk has conducted geomorphological and palaeo-cli- and sealing, and native cultural strategies triggered the matological studies, and surveyed and investigated Palaeo- abandonment of NE Greenland during the first half of eskimo as well as Thule culture and historical sites in the the 19th century? study area. On the archaeological side the main topic has • Which were the key game species of the Thule culture been to investigate the era during which the Thule cul- and how were their distribution and availability linked ture Inuit migrated into and settled in NE Greenland from to climate fluctuations, sea ice conditions, snow cover- about 1400 AD to 1823 AD. The year 1823 was the year age on land, and other dynamic environmental factors? that European explorers for the first – and the last – time • Did the annual hunting cycle and hunting strategies encountered a native population in this part of the country change throughout the Thule period in the study area? (Clavering, 1830). • In which way and at which time did regional climatic GeoArk involves researchers from the humanities (ar- changes – primarily in temperature, precipitation and chaeology and history) and natural sciences (geography, wind regimes – determine substantial changes in snow archaeozoology)1. The team has collaborated across disci- and ice coverage, ice margins and open water areas plinary borders in order to elucidate a number of questions: (polynyas) during the Thule era? 118 Geografisk Tidsskrift-Danish Journal of Geography 110(2) study area, only two could with certainty be classified as ‘intact’, and out of an estimated number of 200 stone built Thule graves only one was untouched. On the other hand, features with few and unspectacular finds like tent rings and meat caches had ‘survived’ late 19th and early 20th century exploration, and the same goes for inconspicuous Palaeo- eskimo features and stone artefacts, which were unknown to explorers and archaeologists until the mid 20th century. Surveying the many Thule sites during our fieldwork we gradually realised that the Thule culture sites and monuments in ‘virgin’ NE Greenland had been more or less destroyed by our former ‘colleagues’. The GeoArk team added several hitherto unknown Thule ‘warm season’ sites Figure 2: The GeoArk team at Kap Breusing, Clavering Ø, summer to the archaeological record thus providing a new under- 2007. From left to right: Bjarne Holm Jakobsen, Jens Fog Jensen, standing of the settlement pattern and resource exploitation Anne Birgitte Gotfredsen, Aart Kroon and Morten Meldgaard. Photo: in the area (Gotfredsen, 2010; Sørensen, 2010). However, Bjarne Grønnow. contrary to expectations, the team did not discover a single Thule winter site or hardly any burial, which had not been located already and excavated (or looted) a century or several decades ago. • How are these critical and often non-linear environmen- We must turn our attention to the history of exploration tal changes – including sea level changes – connected and geopolitics in order to understand how a cultural re- to the overall Holocene climatic changes as they can be source like the Thule archaeological heritage of NE Green- deduced from the Greenland ice cores and deep ocean land became exhausted to a degree that, to my knowledge, sediments? is unparalleled in other parts of Greenland. With logistic support from the Zackenberg Ecological Research Organization and The Sirius Patrol the GeoArk Clavering and the last North East Greenlanders team undertook two field seasons (2007 – 2008) combining archaeological surveys, excavations, geomorphological in- It is no coincidence that the famous encounter, in 1823, vestigations and sampling of sediments in lakes and in near between the British Captain Clavering and the few remain- coastal zones (Figure 2). This provided a comprehensive ing indigenous NE Greenlanders took place at 74 degrees body of data for analyses. As it appears from the papers by northern latitude (Sabine, 1825; Clavering, 1830; Mik- GeoArk team members in the present volume, the project kelsen, 1922; Gulløv, 2009). Here a recurring opening in has already provided important contributions to answering the sea ice, the Sirius Water Polynya (Kaufmann, 2009; the questions posed. Pedersen et al., 2010; Grønnow et al., in press) forms a Several surveys and excavations of prehistoric sites had rare entrance for sea going vessels to the coasts of central previously been carried out in NE Greenland during the NE Greenland (Nathorst, 1900: 85 ff.). The Sirius Water first half of the 20th century. Thus, a rich material consisting stretches from Shannon Ø via Lille Pendulum to Hvalros Ø of publications, archival material and thousands of finds (Walrus Island) and Sabine Ø with leads opening towards stored in the National Museums of Denmark and Greenland south to Wollaston Forland and Clavering Ø (Figure 1). formed our starting point. Expectations were high when On his boat trip from the anchorage off Sabine Ø along GeoArk embarked on the first professional archaeologi- the coasts of Wollaston Forland, captain Clavering and his cal investigation for over six decades in this central part crew discovered fresh tracks of the native population in of NE Greenland.

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