Anthropology 2230F/G Lecture Notes - Arctic Small Tool Tradition, Thule People, Umiak
Document Summary
They are the earliest inuit and we have to be careful to distinguish between the thule culture versus the thule tradition and they are broadly distinguished from the arctic small tool tradition (inuit aka neo-eskimo) There are marked breaks between arctic cultures so distinct new groups could not have resulted from evolution from earlier peoples. They were in the chuckchi peninsula and st. lawrence island from 2200-1400 bp and they are characterized by highly decorated artifacts and they were very maritime focused. They used kayaks and umiaks with clear evidence for the umiak (translates as woman"s boat ) which were larger and made of skin and they were used for transporting larger groups of people. They had oil lamps of baked clay (not soap stone here) and everything was decorated and this shows they had an advanced symbolic life and animals were a common decorative motif.