Qorluulasupaluk site: an important puzzle piece in the interpretation of the Palaeo-Eskimo cultures in the High Arctic Thule region

Abstract

The Qorluulasupaluk site is located in Inglefield Fjord, Thule, northwest Greenland. From a matrix in the coastal erosion zone of the site a substantial amount of artifacts typical of early Palaeo-Eskimo groups has been retrieved. The assemblage documents the presence of Saqqaq, Independence I, Pre Dorset and Greenlandic Dorset groups. With its location in Inglefield Fjord and its substantial inventory of lithics and bone the site is the first to evidence considerable Palaeo-Eskimo use of the central Thule region not related to the North Water Polynya. Five radiocarbon dates evidence that the site has been in use from c. 2200 BC to 200 BC. Four of the dates represents an interval from c. 2200 - 1750 BC, the last is dating the interval c. 350-150 BC. The dating of Qorluulasupaluk is compared with new dates from two other Palaeo-Eskimo sites (Qeqertat and Nuusuarqipaluk) in Inglefield Fjord and are analysed in relation to dating from other Palaeo-Eskimo sites of the Thule region. It is concluded that the Qorluulasupaluk site contributes to a new understanding of the Thule region’s prehistory and that it raises important questions concerning the earliest prehistory in Greenland.