International Polar Year 2007-2008
To facilitate the submission of arctic social science and humanities proposals to the International Council for Science (ICSU) for prospective endorsement as IPY projects, IASSA has launched an initiative to create a vigorous exchange of ideas, discussion, and active communication. The following was submitted to IASSA on its form at IASSA IPY Facilitation Initiative:

Christyann Darwent and Genevieve LeMoine: Inglefield Land Archaeology Project (ILAP): Culture Contact and Human Ecology at the Entrance to Greenland
Genevieve LeMoine email: glemoine@bowdoin.edu

Project Description:
The Inglefield Land Archaeology Project (ILAP) focuses primarily on last 300 years, the proto-history and history of the Inughuit on the eastern side of Smith Sound, at the northern extremity of the North Water polynya in northwestern Greenland. The dynamics of culture change in Inglefield Land, and indeed in the entire Smith Sound region at this time, are the result of a complex interplay of climatic change and historical contingencies. At the beginning of this period, proto-historic Inughuit occupied the region as maritime-oriented hunter-gatherers. Subsequently, they experienced dramatic changes, ranging from the loss and eventual reintroduction of key technological elements, to changing climatic conditions--from the Little Ice Age (ca. 1350) through a warming trend around 1850--and the nearly overwhelming influence of Robert E. Peary's expeditions between 1891 and 1909.

This project focuses on archaeological and ethnohistorical investigations into the period when Inughuit, Baffin Island Inuit, Europeans, and Americans all frequented the area. Already, one season of ethnohistoric research in Qaanaaq and archaeological survey in Inglefield Land in the summer of 2004, has identified numerous sites pertinent to addressing these questions. Following a second season in the summer of 2005 we will select the most promising locations for more detailed studies in 2006-08. Funding for the 2005 field season is in place (NSF OPP-0330981). We will be applying to NSF and other agencies for funding for subsequent field seasons.

Our study of northwestern Greenland promises to add to current discussions of cultural adaptation and cultural transmission and to enhance existing models of Canadian Inuit and west-central Greenland culture-contact situations. These latter studies incorporate archaeological, climatic, historic, and ethnohistoric data to understand complex changes in small scale northern societies during the contact period. It also will add to current discussions on adaptation and maladaptation resulting from culture contact, and on the impact of climate change and culture change on small, island and island-like populations. This research also has the potential to contribute to studies of island biogeography and modern conservation biology. Zooarchaeological data is currently being used to provide a historical context for management of northern muskox and caribou populations. ILAP thus addresses a number of the themes identified for IPY, most particularly quantifying past and present human and environmental change, polar-global connections, and the processes that shape cultural resilience in northern communities. This project is also linked to two other pre-proposals submitted to IPY--"Beyond the Pole: Robert E. Peary and History of American Arctic Exploration" proposed by Susan Kaplan of The Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum and "Arctic Connections through Space and Time: The Archaeology of Inuit Interaction" proposed by Max Friesen of the University of Toronto.

Project members (as of January, 2005):
Christyann Darwent, University of California, Davis
Genevieve LeMoine, The Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum and Arctic Studies Center, Bowdoin College
John Darwent, University of California, Davis
Hans Lange, Greenland National Museum and Archives, Nuuk
David Qaavigaq, Thule Museum, Qaanaaq


Sincere thanks to the U.S. National Science Foundation for support for the IASSA IPY facilitation initiative.

Questions? Contact Anne Sudkamp at <fyiassa@uaf.edu>.

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 This page was last modified October 24, 2005 by Anne Sudkamp