A RCTIC CIRCULA NO. I Notes on a trip in l6-foot ... - The Arctic Circle

VOL. XV No. Z THE A<strong>RCTIC</strong> <strong>CIRCULA</strong>R z5
Df Anglure (1963) has suggested that the Qlkertaaluk petroglyphs
show stylistlc features resembltng those on masks and carvings of faces
from the Dorset culture. A miniature ivory mask found in the early
Do rs et Tya ra s lte on Sugluk Island (Nat, Mus , Can. No . KkFb -? -308)
shares with the petroglyphs the dtstlnctlve concave upper line of the
mouth reglon and a suggestlon of alveolar prognathism, a blowlng
action r or purslng of the lips. A simllar treatment of the mouth appears
on a mLnlature lvory mask from lgloollk (Mathiassen , L927 , Ft. I,
Fig. 35\ and on a small wooden figure from Bylot Island (Mathiassen,
L927, Pt. l, Fl. 62, No. 8) . Colllns (1952, Pl. 9) has lllustrated a low
rellef Dorset carvlng of faces from Prlnce of lVales Ietand some of whtch
show the same mouth formation, It appears agaln on a Dorset flgurlne
from Inuarflgssuaq ln northwest Greenland (Meldgaard, I960, pl. zl) ,
and on a mlnlature soapstone Dorset mask from Igloollk (Fl. Z7l , Although
varlous attributes of the petroglyphs may occur ln widely separated placee,
two wooden carvtngs, a mask (Meldgaard, 1960, Pl. 6) and a figurlne
(Meldgaard' 1960, Pl. 4I) wlth the oval gaplng mouth and protrudlng ltpe,
collected at Angmassaltk, east Greenland, are of special lnterest as they
date to the nlneteenth century. By a comparleon of styllstic features,
and recalllng thelr estlmated helght above sea level, 50 to 80 feet
(drAnglure, l9 63'l , lt may tentatlvety be concluded that the Qikertaaluk
carvings are the work of Dorset culture Esklmos .
Additlonal evldence comes from Beschells lichenometrlc method
of estlmatlng age (Beschel, 1957). f)r. Roland Beschel has examlned two
kodachrome trangparencles of lichen-encrusted petroglyphs at Qikertaalukr
Vrarnlng that wlth the evldence avallable to hlm a long serles of
assumptlons was necessary, Beschel estlmated the petroglyphs to be at
least 500 years old (Beschel r personal communlcatlon r 9 January 1963);
wtth his method there remains the posslblltty that the petroglyphs are very
much older. They may, therefore , have been carved some centurles before
A.D. 1460. wlth the avallable bits of evldence tt mlght be expected that
the Dorset culture persLsted in ttris reglon unti.l about A.D. 1350. Consequently
lt ts unlLkely that the petroglyphs belong to the period of Euro-
Pean contact and they may well have been made ln Dorset rather than ln
Thute ttmes .