The Frozen Saqqaq Sites of Disko Bay, West Greenland

Qeqertasussuk and Qajaa are the only known sites of the early arctic small tool tradition in the Eastern Arctic, where all kinds of organic materials, such as wood, bone, baleen, hair, and skin are preserved in permafrozen culture layers. Together, the sites cover the entire Saqqaq era in Greenland. This book offers technological and contextual analyses of the well-preserved archaeological materials, which draw a new picture of a true Arctic pioneer society with a remarkably complex...
More Description

Qeqertasussuk and Qajaa are the only known sites of the early arctic small tool tradition in the Eastern Arctic, where all kinds of organic materials, such as wood, bone, baleen, hair, and skin are preserved in permafrozen culture layers. Together, the sites cover the entire Saqqaq era in Greenland. This book offers technological and contextual analyses of the well-preserved archaeological materials, which draw a new picture of a true Arctic pioneer society with a remarkably complex technology. The Saqqaq hunting tool kit, consisting of bows, darts, lances, harpoons, and throwing boards, as well as kayak-like sea going vessels, is described for the first time. A wide variety of hand tools and household utensils were also found, providing entirely new information on the daily life and subsistence of the earliest hunting groups in Greenland.