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Saqqaq, Dorset, Thule — an evidence note

Historical period

⚠ A WARNING ROW. Greenland has been settled repeatedly and not continuously: the SAQQAQ culture from about 2500 BC, the DORSET, then a gap, then the THULE from around 1200 AD. These are ARCHAEOLOGICAL CULTURES. Only Thule has a documented ancestral relationship to modern Inuit — genetic work has shown the earlier Palaeo-Inuit populations were a largely separate lineage that did not persist. Dorset food practice is therefore NOT modern Kalaallit food practice, and archaeological, genetic, historical, linguistic and self-identification evidence are treated here as different kinds of statement.

Atlas — where and when

What is recorded

  • Greenland was settled repeatedly and not continuously by the Saqqaq, Dorset and Thule cultures. Only the Thule have a documented ancestral relationship to modern Inuit; genetic evidence indicates the earlier Palaeo-Inuit populations were a largely separate lineage that did not persist. Archaeological food practice is therefore not attributed to modern Kalaallit identity. documented
  • The Saqqaq culture in Greenland — an archaeological entity, not a modern people. documented
  • The Thule culture reaches Greenland; the Thule are the documented ancestors of today’s Kalaallit. documented

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