NEW BOOK ON THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF NORTHERN GREENLAND
The Northernmost Ruins of the Globe
Eigil Knuth's Archaeological Investigations in Peary Land and Adjacent
Areas of High Arctic Greenland
By Bjarne Grønnow and Jens Fog Jensen
Meddelelser om Grønland, Man & Society 29, Copenhagen 2003.
ISSN 0106-1062. ISBN 87-90369-65-3
404 pages, Price DKK 398 plus postage
Price USD 66.33 plus postage
Danish Polar Center, Strandgade 100 H, DK-1401 Copenhagen, Denmark. Tel.
+45 32 88 01 00. Fax +45 32 88 01 01 Email dpc [at] dpc.dk Website
http://www.dpc.dk
To order this book visit the DPC internetshop: http://www.polarshop.dk
From the Abstract:
An important part of the heritage of Count Eigil Knuth (1903-1996) is
his archaeological archive including contextual information on
prehistoric sites gathered during six decades of research in High Arctic
Greenland. The finds and observations are a key to the understanding of
human life under extreme conditions in a long-term perspective and
represent a unique piece of evidence concerning the early cultural
history of the Eastern Arctic. Knuth's expeditions from 1932 to 1995
took him to Greenland and Canada, in particular High Arctic Greenland.
In a number of important articles Knuth published the findings dating
back to the earliest human settlement in Greenland. However, he never
managed to present the complete body of information and results from his
many investigations. The present authors have thus compiled a computer
data base based on his archive, and this has formed the starting point
of the present book. The book focuses on Knuth's most substantial
contribution to archaeology: the prehistory of Peary Land and adjacent
areas.
In the catalogue emphasis has been placed on topographical and
architectural information, site structure, artefact statistics and
radiocarbon dates. A total of 154 archaeological sites are presented.
51 sites with a total of 244 features are Independence I sites
(c. 2460 - 1860 cal. BC), 23 sites with a total of 416 features belong
to Independence II (c. 900 - 400 cal. BC) and 63 sites with a total of
626 features are of Thule origin (c. 1400 - 1500 ca. AD).
It has not been our ambition to re-analyse the finds or add new
empirical data in connection with the production of this book. We do,
however, present some new information on the faunal material from Peary
Land based on Christyann Darwent's recent analyses as well as new data
on the dwelling features on the Adam C. Knuth Site, which was visited by
a multidisciplinary team in 2001.
The book is provided with an introduction presenting an overview and
evaluation of Knuth's remarkable curriculum vitae as an independent
arctic archaeologist.
In the concluding chapters some basic statistics on the archaeological
sites are presented. We evaluate Knuth's radiocarbon datings of the
Independence I, Independence II and Thule cultures in High Arctic
Greenland, and settlement distributions and settlement patterns for the
three cultures represented in Peary Land are discussed.
The Danish Polar Center, Copenhagen, is a government agency with the
purpose of facilitating and coordinating Danish and Greenlandic polar
research. For further information please contact the center or visit our
website at http://www.dpc.dk.
Read more about the book on the Danish Polar Center website
http://www.dpc.dk/Publications/
To order this book visit the DPC internetshop: http://www.polarshop.dk