Pre-history
North of the fjord, in southern Peary Land, there are remains of dwellings with elliptical floor plan, built by Early Paleoeskimo Independence I culture. These people used tools made from rocks and bones, and subsisted from hunting wildlife like musk oxen and arctic hares. Bones of musk oxen hunted down in Peary Land show that the area was inhabited at 2000 B.C. The oldest discoveries are dated at 2400 B.C. Discoveries of the time starting around 1800 B.C. until 1300 B.C. were mostly made south of Independence Fjord. It is unknown whether the Independence I culture vanished or the people moved south.
Discoveries of a later time, about 800 B.C. to 200 B.C., are related to the Independence II culture. Initially, Independence I and Independence II had been regarded as the same culture, but Eigil Knuth found in 1956 that the two were separate cultures, because of different dwelling constructions, and differences in other artefacts. The residential dwellings of Independence II are more complex and larger than the older buildings in this area. Other than their predecessors, the people of Independence II also settled south of Independence Fjord.
In both cases it is unclear whether discoveries in other areas of North Greenland and on Ellesmere Island should be attributed to other cultures.
Coordinates: 82°08′N 28°00′W / 82.133°N 28.000°W / 82.133; -28.000
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