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In the late 1970s, two large, multi-disciplinary, multi-year archaeological programs were initiated along the coasts of northern Labrador and Ungava in northern Quebec. Both envisioned a new model for Arctic archaeology that integrated archaeology, ethnography, environmental studies, earth sciences, and informatics. The Tuvaaluk research program was directed by Patrick Plumet at the Université du Québec à Montréal, and the Torngat Archaeological Project (TAP) by William Fitzhugh at the Smithsonian Institution and Richard Jordan at Bryn Mawr College. Project periods lasted roughly five years and included researchers and students from several institutions. The Tuvaaluk project concentrated on Paleoeskimo and Thule cultures, while TAP included research on Maritime Archaic and later Indian cultures as well as Paleoeskimo and Inuit cultures. This paper reviews and compares Tuvaaluk and TAP goals, methods, results, lessons learned, and legacies., À la fin des années 1970, deux grands programmes multidisciplinaires devant durer plusieurs années ont été lancés le long des côtes du nord du Labrador et de l’Ungava au nord du Québec. Tous deux envisageaient un nouveau modèle d’archéologie arctique alliant l’archéologie, l’ethnographie, les études environnementales, les sciences de la Terre et l’informatique. Le programme de recherche Tuvaaluk était dirigé par Patrick Plumet de l’Université du Québec à Montréal, et le projet archéologique Torngat, par William Fitzhugh de la Smithsonian Institution et Richard Jordan du Bryn Mawr College. Ces projets ont duré approximativement cinq ans et ont rassemblé des chercheurs et des étudiants de plusieurs institutions. Le projet Tuvaaluk se concentrait sur les cultures thuléennes et paléoesquimaudes, tandis que le projet archéologique Torngat incluait des recherches sur les cultures amérindiennes de l’Archaïque maritime et celles qui ont suivi, en plus des cultures paléoesquimaudes et inuit. Cet article passe en revue les projets Tuvaaluk et Torngat, et compare leurs objectifs, leurs méthodes, leurs résultats, les leçons qui en ont été tirées et l’influence qu’ils ont eue.

Arctic genetics comes in from the coldDespite a well-characterized archaeological record, the genetics of the people who inhabit the Arctic have been unexplored. Raghavanet al.sequenced ancient and modern genomes of individuals from the North American Arctic (see the Perspective by Park). Analyses of these genomes indicate that the Arctic was colonized 6000 years ago by a migration separate from the one that gave rise to other Native American populations. Furthermore, the original paleo-inhabitants of the Arctic appear to have been completely replaced approximately 700 years ago.Science, this issue10.1126/science.1255832; see also p.1004

Environmental conditions of the Eastern North American Arctic make this region suitable for biogeographical approaches to culture. Although composed of a vast assemblage of large and small islands, the Eastern Arctic differs from other “oceanic” environments where modern biogeographical work has been pioneered. This paper outlines conditions which make the Eastern Arctic suitable for biogeographical study and considers the nature of “islands” as analytical constructs rather than as discrete entities. Biogeographical concepts are considered in relation to the “core-periphery model” that has been the organizing principle for interpreting patterns of Eastern Arctic culture history. Abstractions, aspects, and conclusions reached from these studies outline some of the opportunities available for application of more directed anthropological biogeographical work in the future.

Northern Hemisphere sea ice has been declining sharply over the past decades and 2012 exhibited the lowest Arctic summer sea-ice cover in historic times. Whereas ongoing changes are closely monitored through satellite observations, we have only limited data of past Arctic sea-ice cover derived from short historical records, indirect terrestrial proxies, and low-resolution marine sediment cores. A multicentury time series from extremely long-lived annual increment-forming crustose coralline algal buildups now provides the first high-resolution in situ marine proxy for sea-ice cover. Growth and Mg/Ca ratios of these Arctic-wide occurring calcified algae are sensitive to changes in both temperature and solar radiation. Growth sharply declines with increasing sea-ice blockage of light from the benthic algal habitat. The 646-y multisite record from the Canadian Arctic indicates that during the Little Ice Age, sea ice was extensive but highly variable on subdecadal time scales and coincided with an expansion of ice-dependent Thule/Labrador Inuit sea mammal hunters in the region. The past 150 y instead have been characterized by sea ice exhibiting multidecadal variability with a long-term decline distinctly steeper than at any time since the 14th century.

With the disappearance of Late Pleistocene glacial ice the North American Arctic and Greenland are quickly colonized and occupied by a succession of cultural groups originating from Asia. The ameliorating climatic conditions and the stability of maritime resources (principally marine mammals) supported the evolution of chiefly societies in the Aleutian Islands and Bering Sea regions while in northern Alaska, the Canadian Arctic and Greenland a succession of Palaeo-Eskimo cultures – small bands of nomadic hunting families – adapted to the more extreme environmental constraints. Around 1000 AD global warming and reduced ice cover in the Beaufort Sea and the North Atlantic brought new cultural groups into the Arctic. Thule people – a whaling culture from Alaska and the ancestors of today's Inuit – rapidly expanded throughout the North American Arctic replacing Palaeo-Eskimo groups at the same time that expanding European-Norse settlers established colonies in southern Greenland and Newfoundland.

Vikings: the North Atlantic Saga explores the little-known story of the dramatic Viking/Norse expansion across the North Atlantic between 850 and 1000 AD, and their explorations and settlement in Greenland and Northeastern North America. Special emphasis is on fads and fallacies in popular beliefs about "Vikings" in North America as contrasted with new archaeological evidence from Arctic and Subarctic regions where Norse contacts occurred with Native Americans -both Inuit and Indian. Finally, the lecture addresses the likely causes of failure of the western Norse colonies and implications for future human Arctic endeavours. Dr. Fitzhugh earned his undergraduate degree at Dartmouth, and his doctorate at Harvard. His areas of specialization are the Arctic, Mongolia, Basques, North Pacific, Siberia, Circumpolar. He has done fieldwork in Labrador, Quebec, North American and Russian Arctic, and Mongolia. His main publications are books on Genghis Khan, Maine to Greenland, Vikings, Ainu, Bering Sea Eskimos, and Ancient Eskimo Art. The Archaeological Institute of America extends an invitation to this lecture to Canadian Friends of Iceland, Canadian Nordic Society, Canadian Friends of Finland, Danish Club of Ottawa, Swedish Club in Ottawa and the Arctic Circle. Paterson Hall is one of the original buildings in the quad facing the inner park, facing the Dunton Tower across the quad. Dunton Tower is the tallest building on campus. Parking Lot 1, behind the Library is close. Lot 2 is close as well, but involves a walk up the hill to Paterson Hall. Parking is a flat rate of $3 on weekends. For a map of the campus, click on to this link: http://www.doe.carleton.ca/~cp/radio/map.html

The Torngat Archaeological Project conducted two seasons of field work in northern Labrador in 1977-78. Surveys by boat and ground crews ranging from Nain to the Button Islands located nearly 350 archaeological sites and gathered data from many geological and botanical stations. Cultures represented in this region include all of the known arctic groups (Pre-Dorset, Dorset, Thule, and Labrador Inuit) and northern Indian cultures (Maritime Archaic, Saunders, and Point Revenge) known from the central Labrador coast. In addition to contributing to knowledge of 6000 years of culture history in this environmental and cultural frontier, the project is investigating environmental relationships and processes of culture change which have affected Eskimo, Indian, and European settlement. This paper presents a project overview and discusses TAP goals, physical setting, analytical orientation, field methods, and preliminary conclusions.

Preliminary results of the second Smithsonian field season in Nain, Labrador are described. The area surveyed lies at the boundary between arctic and subarctic environments on the central Labrador coast and has been occupied intermittently by Indians for more than 6,000 years and by Inuit (Eskimo) for the past 4,000 years. Six major cultural groups, some with several chronological subdivisions, have been recognized, and new geographic limits of certain Indian and Inuit groups are suggested. Each of the major complexes is discussed in terms of tool inventories, and preliminary conclusions regarding site typology and settlement patterns are advanced. Other aspects of the 1975 fieldwork include surveys of the coast south of Nain and excavations of a 4,000 year old Maritime Archaic cemetery at Rattlers Bight in Hamilton Inlet.