The Arctic Culture

Everything in Arctic life had to be made from animals, because above the tree line there is almost no wood. Bone, antler, ivory, sinew, skin and fat did the work that timber, iron and cloth did everywhere else. Snow goggles were carved from bone, ivory or driftwood with a narrow slit, which cuts glare and prevents snow blindness. Waterproof parkas were sewn from seal intestine with a stitch that swells when wet and seals itself.

The kayak was fitted to the hunter — traditionally built to measurements taken from his own body — and closed with a skirt so the paddler and the boat were one watertight object, light enough to carry. The roll, which lets a capsized hunter right himself without leaving the boat, meant survival in water that kills in minutes. Modern sea kayaks are built on the same pattern.

The Thule moved east from Alaska all the way to Greenland in the centuries after about AD 1000, with the umiak, the dog sled and the toggling harpoon. As they spread, the Dorset people who had lived in the eastern Arctic before them disappear from the archaeological record. Inuit oral tradition remembers the Dorset as the Tuniit.

Thule and Norse people met. The Norse sagas describe the people they called Skrælingar, and Norse objects — pieces of metal, links of chain mail, part of a bronze trader's balance — have been found at Thule sites in the Canadian Arctic. Two peoples from opposite ends of the Atlantic world met in the ice five hundred years before Columbus.

The Arctic shows what people can build with bone, skin, snow and knowledge, in a land with no trees and no metal. People have lived there for thousands of years. The book follows three cultures: the Pre-Dorset, from about 2000 BC; the Dorset, from about 500 BC; and the Thule, the ancestors of today's Inuit, from about AD 1000.

Made from animals

Above the tree line — the point in the far north beyond which trees no longer grow — there is almost no wood. So bone, antler, ivory, sinew, skin and fat did the work that timber, iron and cloth did everywhere else.

Snow goggles were carved from bone, ivory or driftwood with a narrow slit. The slit cuts the glare off the snow and prevents snow blindness. Waterproof parkas were sewn from seal intestine, with a stitch that swells when it gets wet and seals itself.

The kayak

The kayak was fitted to the hunter. It was traditionally built to measurements taken from his own body. A skirt closed the gap around him, so paddler and boat became one watertight object, still light enough to carry. The roll lets a hunter who has tipped over turn himself upright without leaving the boat. In water that kills in minutes, that skill meant survival. Modern sea kayaks are built on the same pattern.

The Thule move east

In the centuries after about AD 1000, the Thule moved east from Alaska all the way to Greenland. They brought the umiak (a large open boat), the dog sled and the toggling harpoon, whose head turns sideways inside the animal so it cannot pull free. They built houses of whale bone, sod and stone. As the Thule spread, the Dorset people who had lived in the eastern Arctic before them disappear from the archaeological record. Inuit oral tradition — history passed down by word of mouth — remembers the Dorset as the Tuniit, and describes them as unusually strong, able to drag a walrus alone.

Norse and Thule

Thule and Norse people met. The Norse sagas describe the people they called Skrælingar. Norse objects have been found at Thule sites in the Canadian Arctic: pieces of metal, links of chain mail, and part of a bronze trader's balance. Two peoples from opposite ends of the Atlantic world met in the ice five hundred years before Columbus.

Living in the cold

An iglu's entrance tunnel is dug below the sleeping platform. Cold air sinks out and warm air stays in. Body heat and a seal-oil lamp can hold the inside near freezing when it is −40°C outside.

In Greenland, Inuit carved wooden maps of the coastline. They could be read by touch in the dark or inside a mitten, and they float if dropped overboard.

Arctic diets were almost entirely meat and fat, yet people did not get scurvy, a disease caused by a lack of vitamin C. Raw seal, whale skin and organ meat contain vitamin C, which cooking would destroy.

The Arctic is the far, cold north. Hardly any trees grow there, and people had no metal. So they made almost everything from animals: bone, ivory, antler, skin and fat. The Inuit of today are the descendants of the Thule people, who lived there long ago.

People in the camp

• Hunters went out on the sea and the ice to hunt seals, walrus and whales, and on land to hunt caribou.
• Toolmakers and carvers shaped harpoon heads, needles and fish hooks from bone and ivory. They also carved small animals and people from walrus tusk.
• Sewers cut and stitched skins into warm clothing. A raincoat, or parka, sewn from seal intestine kept the rain and spray out.
• Leaders helped decide when and where to hunt and when to move camp.
• Shamans were the spiritual leaders and healers.

Animals

• Seals — for meat, skins for clothes and boats, and oil for lamps.
• Walrus — for meat, hide, and ivory tusks to carve.
• Whales — their big bones became the frames of houses.
• Caribou — for meat and warm skins.
• Dogs — they pulled the sleds.

Things they made

• Kayak — a small, closed boat for one hunter, made to fit his own body.
• Umiak — a big open boat for carrying families and their things.
• Dog sled — for travelling fast over snow and ice.
• Toggling harpoon — a spear whose head turns sideways once it goes in, so it holds tight.
• Snow goggles — carved from bone, ivory or wood, with a thin slit to look through. They protected the eyes from the bright snow.
• Iglu — a snow house. The door tunnel is dug lower than the sleeping place, so cold air stays down and warm air stays up.
• Seal-oil lamp — gave light and heat inside the house.
• Wooden maps — in Greenland, people carved maps of the coastline that could be felt with the fingers in the dark. They float if they fall in the water!

Before the Thule came, the Dorset people lived in the eastern Arctic. Inuit stories call them the Tuniit and say they were so strong that one of them could drag a walrus alone.