Volume 8, 1955 - The Arctic Circle - Home

VCL. V1Il NC. 1 THE. ARCTIC CIRCULAR ZCommittee membersDr. ft. W •F. BanfieldMr. W. W. MairDr. R.G. Blackadar ~'''rs. T. H. ManningMr. Trevor HarwoodMr. R.a.J. fhillipsMr. J.",,-. HoustonDr. D.C. RoseSupt. H.i>.. Larsen, R.C.M.P. Mrs. rl.. G. SangsterRev. Father G. Laviolette. O.M.l. Mr. Harold SersonDr. C.S. LordMr. W.B. SmithWIC D.h. MacLulich, R.C.a.F.h.rchaeological work on Southampton and Coats islands. By H. B. CollinsD'-Ir:'ng th" summer of 1954 ;'.:1 CXFedition sponsored bythe National Museum of Canada. the National Geographic Society.and the Smithsonian Institution made archaeological investigationsat DorBet and Sadlermiut sites on Southampton and Coats islands.The Farty, consisting of myself, J. Norman Lmerson, d.ssistantFrofessor of h.nthropology at the University of Toronto, William £.Taylor. Jr .• Research ,1o.ssistant at the .1o.nthropology Museum.University of Michigan. and £ugene Ostroff. I-hotographer, ofWashington, D.C., left Montreal by R.C.A.F. aircraft on June Z3and arrived at Coral Harbour the following day. Our primary purposewas to excavate at Native Point. particularly at a Dorset culture sitethat had been dis covered by W . D. Bell, a member of J •B. Bird'sgeographical j-arty of 1950. 1 .Through arrangements made by 1>.. T. Swaffield, Hudson'sBay Fost Manager. we left Coral Harbour with four Eskimo dog teamson the afternoon of June Z5. The sea ice was still safe for travel,though leads were beginning to develop and there were extensive areasof meltwater on the surface. The trip to Native Point. 40 miles downthe coast, took fourteen hours, including frequent stops while theEskimo hunted seals. rl.rriving at Native Foint, we set up camp neara small stream below the raised beach line on which the old Sadlermiutvillage is located.Tunermiut. as the olel vill" .e is called, was the principalsettlement of the Sadlermiut tribe of .i£:skimo, which became extincthere in an epidemic in tne wm,er of 19Q2-3. The Sadlermitot are oneof the pUl.:z.les of £skimo ethnology; they were a strange. primitivegroup, different in many ways from the other Canadian Eskimo.1. Bird. J. Brian. 1953. 'Southampton Island'. Canada, Departmentof Mines and Technical Surveys, Geographical Branch Memoir 1 ,84 PI', map.