Dorset Through Their Own Eyes

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The Dorset PalaeoInuit (Tuniit in Inuit traditional knowledge) are a culturally extinct group who lived throughout much of the eastern North American Arctic between about 2500 and 700 years ago. They are best known for their art, primarily two- and three-dimensional carvings, which range from highly naturalistic to highly abstract. Ubiquitous amongst the carvings are representations of human and near-human faces with a variety of expressions suggesting emotions including surprise or alarm, sadness, joy, peace, and anger. The faces appear on a variety of handheld objects extending from the utilitarian (harpoon heads) to the esoteric (“wands”), as well as at three petroglyph sites. Researchers have offered a variety of interpretations for why the faces were made, usually linking them with shamanistic practices including human-animal transformations and ancestor reverence. However, there is sufficient variation between faces to indicate that a large range of individuals, likely real people, were being depicted. At the same time, certain faces appear to repeat again and again, across time and space, suggesting specific stories or individuals were being referenced as cultural touchstones. Using collections at the Canadian Museum of History, this presentation investigates the variability and possible meanings underlying Dorset representations of themselves.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 39524.0