[Go to Parent Session] [Previous Page] [SEARCH] [DAILY OUTLINES]

On the geoarchaeology of subterranean winter sod houses in eastern Hudson Bay, Canadian Arctic

Anne-Marie Lemieux (Université Laval)
Pierre Desrosiers (Avataq Cultural Institute)
Najat Bhiry (Université Laval)

Abstract

Subterranean Inuit houses were the initial object of archaeological research in the Arctic in the 1920s. The fact that they were often built with sod blocks containing artefacts of Palaeoeskimo occupations produced inverse stratigraphy that confused the first archaeologists in the making of cultural history. Despite those problems, geoarchaeology has not been very popular among Arctic archaeologists until recently. Last summer, as part of the International Polar Year, the excavation of a sod house provided the occasion for documenting site formation processes. In addition to studies of the structure itself, the study focussed on soils analysis, as well as the paleoecology and paleogeography of the surrounding area. In addition, the traditional knowledge of the Inuit provides resources that assist in the interpretation of land use. Given the preliminary stage of the research, we will emphasize the methodology and discuss its anthropological implications.