History of Greenland - Early Paleo-Eskimo Cultures

Early Paleo-Eskimo Cultures

The prehistory of Greenland is a story of repeated waves of Paleo-Eskimo immigration from the islands north of the North American mainland. As one of the furthest outposts of these cultures, life was constantly on the edge and several cultures came and then died out during the centuries. Of the period before the Norse exploration of Greenland, archaeology can give only approximate times.

The Saqqaq culture is the earliest culture established in the southern and western parts of Greenland. It arose around 2500 BC and declined around 800 BC. For much of that time Saqqaq culture coexisted with the Independence I culture, which arrived in northern Greenland from Canada. The earliest culture in the northern and northeastern parts of the island, Independence I arose around 2400 BC and lasted until about 1300 BC. In around 800 BC the Independence II culture rose in the same area where rose Independence I. Independence II has been called an intermediate phase between the earlier cultures and the Dorset culture, which arrived in Greenland in around 700 BC; recent studies have shown the cultures may be identical within Greenland. For this reason the cultures have been designated "Greenlandic Dorset". The most recent dates for Independence II artifacts are from the second or 1st century BC. The Early Dorset culture existed in Greenland until about AD 200, and artifacts have been found as far north as Inglefield Land on the west coast and the Dove Bugt area on the east coast.

There is general consensus that, after the collapse of the Early Dorset culture, the island remained unpopulated for several centuries. The next to arrive may have been people belonging to the Late Dorset culture, perhaps as early as AD 800. The Late Dorset culture was limited to the northwest part of the island, and disappeared around AD 1300. The Norse arrived in AD 980 and began to colonize the island.

Anthropologists once classed the Inuit as members of the Mongoloid race, along with various Siberian tribes such as the Yakut, as well as the Chinese, Korean, and Japanese. Their physical appearance is closer to what is generally associated with Asian peoples than to other Native Americans, but racial categorisation is no longer considered very productive among anthropologists, in part because of the highly contested nature of racial categories.