Recent warming has resulted in Arctic permafrost thaw, earlier spring sea ice melt, and later fall sea ice formation. As a result, important coastal archaeological sites that were once protected by ice are exposed to increased damage and even complete loss due to a combination of melting permafrost and wave erosion during the extended open water season. With this project the research team will investigate significant prehistoric and historic archaeological deposits at one such threatened site, Iita (Etah) in northwestern Greenland. Research since 2006 has documented rapid erosion of the site and revealed stratified deposits extending back 1000 years. These deposits represent two different cultural groups, the Dorset, who lived there between AD 1050 and 1200, and the Thule (ancestors of the contemporary Inuit) who moved into the area from their homeland in Alaska around 1200. The area around Iita is rich in marine and terrestrial resources, including millions of dovekies, which nest in nearby cliffs. The investigators expect to recover both artifacts and animal bones that will increase our understanding of the different ways in which these two groups used these resources. The research team may also be able to determine whether they occupied the area at the same time, and if so, how they interacted. The nature of contact between Dorset and Thule people, if it happened, is one of the enduring questions in Arctic prehistory. The stratified deposits at Iita provide a rare opportunity to investigate this question. The team will focus their work on areas of the site most prone to erosion, recovering data before it is lost forever.
A team of six researchers from Bowdoin, UC Davis, and the National Museum of Greenland will excavate at the site of Iita, Qaasuitsup Kommunia, Greenland. Due to increased ice-free periods in the stormy fall season the site is experiencing rapid erosion, documented over the course of work at this site between 2006 and 2012. Excavations in historic contexts in 2006 revealed a buried early Thule component at the site and hinted at earlier occupations. In 2012 testing by J. Darwent and H. Lange confirmed the presence of a minimum of three discrete stratigraphic levels dating to the Late Dorset period, each separated by sterile sand. These distinct occupation levels offer an unprecedented opportunity to study and compare well-defined relatively brief occupations, in contrast to the often-mixed surface and near-surface sites more commonly found. They offer the opportunity to learn about many aspects of Late Dorset Culture, from the importance of exploiting the massive dovekie colony, to their demise as the ancestors of the contemporary Inughuit moved into the area. The early Thule levels also present at the site offer the possibility of identifying the nature and extent of interaction (if any) between these two groups. In this remote location, evaluation, monitoring, and mitigation of changes due to erosion are difficult. This fieldwork will allow the research team to both continue monitoring and to partially mitigate impending loss of these significant cultural resources.
