Research Catalog

Title

Technology and tradition in the eastern Arctic, 2500 BC-AD 1200 : a dynamic technological investigation of lithic assemblages from the Palaeo-Eskimo traditions of Greenland / Mikkel Sørensen.

Author

Sørensen, Mikkel.

Publication

Copenhagen : Museum Tusculanum Press, University of Copenhagen, 2012.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Additional Authors

Greenland Research Centre (Nationalmuseet : Denmark)

Description

418 p. : ill. (some col.), maps (some col.); 28 cm.

Series Statement

Monographs on Greenland = Meddelelser om Grønland, 0025-6676 ; v. 350. Man & society, 0106-1062 ; v. 40

Uniform Title

• Meddelelser om Grønland. Man & society ; 40.
• Meddelelser om Grønland bd. 350.

Subject

• Paleo-Eskimos > Greenland
• Paleo-Eskimos > Arctic regions
• Stone implements > Greenland
• Stone implements > Arctic regions
• Excavations (Archaeology) > Greenland
• Excavations (Archaeology) > Arctic regions
• Greenland > Antiquities
• Arctic regions > Antiquities

Note

• Based on the author's Ph. D. project conducted from Mar. 2002 to Nov. 2005 at SILA, the National Museum of Denmark's center for Greenlandic research. Cf. acknowledgments.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 399-418).

Contents

Machine generated contents note: ch. 1 Introduction -- Aims -- Two observations -- The problem -- Former technological analyses in Arctic archaeology -- ch. 2 Methodology -- The terminology -- the researcher's tools -- The topic -- the preconditions -- Lithic technology -- `Culture' and `tradition' in the Arctic -- The material -- the physical level -- Technique -- Method -- The chaicnes operatoires -- Steps in the manufacturing process -- The raw material -- The ideas -- the conceptual level -- The production concept -- Knowledge -- Know-how -- Direction -- towards a technological recognition of a prehistoric society -- The perspective -- the way we perceive and the consequences -- The methods of examination -- The procedure -- How the chai[ˆ]nes operatoires and the prehistoric reduction method is analyzed: Two examples -- Burins from Adam C. Knuth's site and end blades from the Kap Holb�k site -- ch. 3 Geology and lithic raw material from a Palaeo-Eskimo perspective in Greenland -- Microcrystalline quartz -- Metamorphosed rock types (killiaq) -- Other rock types that give conchoidal fractures -- Occurrences of lithic raw materials that give conchoidal fractures in Greenland -- Conclusion -- ch. 4 Lithic technology in the Palaeo-Eskimo cultural groups in Greenland -- 4.1.Lithic technology in Saqqaq -- Sites and assemblages chosen for analysis -- Itinnera -- Qeqertasussuk -- The chaicnes operatoires -- The raw material -- Preforms -- Flake knives -- End scrapers -- Side scrapers -- Burins -- Bifacial knives -- Lance points -- Arrowheads -- Harpoon points -- Awls -- Saws -- Strike-a-lights -- Adzes -- Blades -- The flake material -- Tools used for lithic reduction -- Discussion -- Conclusion: The Saqqaq lithic concept -- Choice of raw material -- Choice of reduction method -- Choice of hafting method -- Choice of reduction technique -- 4.2.Lithic technology in Independence I -- Sites and assemblages chosen for analysis -- Adam C. Knuth site -- Solbakken -- The chaicnes operatoires -- The raw material -- Preforms -- Flake knives -- End scrapers -- Side scrapers -- Burins -- Arrowheads -- Harpoon points -- Bifacial knives with oval distal end -- Bifacial narrow end blades -- Lithic wedge tool -- Adzes -- Blades -- The flake material -- Tools used for lithic reduction -- Discussion -- Conclusion: The Independence I lithic concept -- Choice of raw material -- Choice of reduction method -- Choice of hafting method -- Choice of reduction technique -- 4.3.Lithic technology in Dorset I -- Sites and assemblages chosen for analysis -- Annertusuaqqap Nuua -- Ikkarlussuup Timaa -- The chaicnes operatoires -- The raw material -- Heat treatment of lithic raw materials -- Preforms -- End scrapers -- Side scrapers -- Burins with ground edges -- Bifacial end blades -- Side blades -- Strike-a-lights -- Ground points made from killiaq (bevelled points) -- Adzes -- Blades -- Blade knives -- The flake material -- Tools used for lithic reduction -- Discussion -- Conclusion: The Dorset I lithic concept -- Choice of raw material -- Choice of reduction method -- Choice of hafting method -- Choice of reduction technique -- 4.4.Lithic technology in Independence II -- Sites and assemblages chosen for analysis -- Vandfaldsn�s -- Kap Holb�k -- The chaicnes operatoires -- The raw material -- Discussion -- End scrapers -- Side scrapers -- Burins with ground edges -- Bifacial end blades -- Side blades -- Adzes -- Blades -- The flake material -- Tools used for lithic reduction -- Discussion -- Conclusion: The lithic concept in Independence II -- Choice of raw material -- Choice of reduction method -- Choice of hafting method -- Choice of reduction technique -- 4.5.Lithic technology in Late Dorset -- Sites and assemblages chosen for analysis -- Qeqertaaraq -- Qallunatalik/Polaris site -- The chaicnes operatoires -- The raw material -- End scrapers -- Side scrapers -- Burins with ground edges -- Bifacial end blades -- Stemmed corner notched end blades -- Harpoon points -- Unilateral knives with notches -- Adzes -- Blades -- The flake material -- Tools used for lithic reduction -- Discussion -- Conclusion: The Late Dorset lithic concept -- Choice of raw material -- Choice of reduction method -- Choice of hafting method -- Choice of reduction technique -- 4.6.Other Palaeo-Eskimo traditions in Greenland -- Pre-Dorset -- Early Canadian Dorset -- ch. 5 Discussion -- Choice of raw materials -- Heat treatment -- Procurement of the lithic raw materials -- Theory and models -- Mobility or exchange: Criteria and arguments -- Mobility or exchange: The Palaeo-Eskimo traditions in Greenland -- The manufacture of the lithic tool assemblage: Typology -- The tool types -- Similarity and variation in typology -- The relation between settlement intensity and the formal tool types -- Reduction: Method, technique, hafting and tradition -- Saqqaq -- Independence I -- Dorset I -- Independence II -- Saqqaq -- Dorset transition? -- Late Dorset -- Burin technology: The technological marker of the Palaeo-Eskimo traditions -- Regional traditions or `cousins'? -- The methodology: Advantages and problems -- Source criticism -- ch. 6 Greenland's prehistory interpreted on the basis of analyses of lithic technology -- Arctic Small Tool tradition: The Denbigh flint complex -- The Early Palaeo-Eskimo regional traditions in the easternmost Arctic: Independence I and Saqqaq -- The origin of Saqqaq and Independence I -- Saqqaq's regional settlement -- Independence I's regional settlement -- Overlap in the geographical settlement between Saqqaq and Independence I -- Saqqaq's development -- Dorset: The Canadian connection and the second circum-population of Greenland -- Greenlandic Dorset's immigration route to East Greenland -- Greenlandic Dorset's development -- Late Dorset: the last Palaeo-Eskimo society in the Arctic -- The gateway to Greenland: the region with the greatest diachronic cultural diversity in the eastern Arctic -- Conclusion -- ch. 7 The usefulness of the technological methodology and future possibilities in Arctic archaeology -- The cultural history -- Culture-historical perspectives -- The methodology -- Methodological perspectives -- ch. 8 Appendix -- 1.Scientific experimental studies of Palaeo-Eskimo lithic technology -- Experiments with heat treating of microcrystalline lithic materials from Greenland -- Experiments with Palaeo-Eskimo lithic reduction technology -- 2.Catalogue -- studied lithic artefacts.

ISBN

• 9788763531672 (hbk.)
• 8763531674 (hbk.)

LCCN

^^2012422009

OCLC

• 664325897
• SCSB-10227973

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library