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Davidson Point

The following pages contain pictures documenting an archaeological excavation carried out at a small Thule culture archaeological site at Davidson Point, located at the head of Frobisher Bay, just outside Iqaluit, Baffin Island.

The long-term research goal of excavating the Davidson Point site was to learn about the economic differences between small and large Thule culture winter camps in the Eastern Arctic. Previous archaeological research at Thule winter sites had focused on large sites—sites containing between 10 and 30 houses. Very few small sites had been investigated. Therefore, in 1996 and 1997 we carried out excavations at a site which had just three winter houses. According to our present understanding of Thule settlement and subsistence, winter sites this small should be rare but in fact they represent over one-third of all known sites. Why and how did people winter in such small groups when larger groups make more sense ecologically and socially? In order to provide comparative data with which to assess the findings from the Davidson Point excavations, in 1998 and 1999 we also carried out excavations at the nearby but much larger Tungatsivvik site.

View pictures from the Davidson Point excavation