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More than anything I am ecstatic to hear that First Nations are playing a key role in the archaeological work. It's a great way to integrate cutting-edge techno

by sounds 12y ago

More than anything I am ecstatic to hear that First Nations are playing a key role in the archaeological work. It's a great way to integrate cutting-edge technology while simultaneously encouraging teenagers to become interested in their heritage.

beloch 12y ago
Based on the age and region of the artifacts, they are probably related to the Dorset culture. Some of the First nations in the area are descended from the Thule, who migrated from Siberia and extirpated the Dorset after the date of the most recent of these finds. As such, this is not really the heritage of those first nations that is being studied, but people their ancestors may have encountered and still tell tales of. Other first nations in the area likely share a common, but distant, ancestry with the Dorset. Most people of European extraction are far more intimately linked, in terms of decent, to the Roman empire than any of the modern first nations would be to the Dorset. It's a bit strange to think of in this way, but the Inuit are almost as new to North America as Europeans are. Vikings built tentative (and quickly abandoned) settlements on the East coast of Canada when the Inuit were establishing themselves in the West and had yet to spread across the North. The Vikings actually encountered the Dorset before they disappeared, and later the Thule as they replaced the Dorset. As such, those of us descended from Vikings are almost as intimately related to the Dorset as the Inuit! Archaeology is a discipline that, ultimately, tries to tell the story about those who came before us, no matter our relation to them. First Nations groups really have no more right to protest these digs than we, here in Canada, have to protest digs in Italy. It is only our vast ignorance about the pre-history of the Americas that forces us to entertain their court claims. The artifacts uncovered by melting ice must be found within a very short period of time before the stories they can tell are lost for all time. While it is important to involve First Nations, just as any other Canadians, their interference, to the point of entirely preventing searches some years and thereby causing the loss of a part of our heritage, must not be permitted. The history of humanity belongs to us all.
contingencies 12y ago
In northern Australia, the Aboriginals of Arnhem Land are also being trained by archaeologists based in Darwin.

by sounds 12y ago

beloch 12y ago

Based on the age and region of the artifacts, they are probably related to the Dorset culture. Some of the First nations in the area are descended from the Thule, who migrated from Siberia and extirpated the Dorset after the date of the most recent of these finds. As such, this is not really the heritage of those first nations that is being studied, but people their ancestors may have encountered and still tell tales of. Other first nations in the area likely share a common, but distant, ancestry with the Dorset. Most people of European extraction are far more intimately linked, in terms of decent, to the Roman empire than any of the modern first nations would be to the Dorset. It's a bit strange to think of in this way, but the Inuit are almost as new to North America as Europeans are. Vikings built tentative (and quickly abandoned) settlements on the East coast of Canada when the Inuit were establishing themselves in the West and had yet to spread across the North. The Vikings actually encountered the Dorset before they disappeared, and later the Thule as they replaced the Dorset. As such, those of us descended from Vikings are almost as intimately related to the Dorset as the Inuit! Archaeology is a discipline that, ultimately, tries to tell the story about those who came before us, no matter our relation to them. First Nations groups really have no more right to protest these digs than we, here in Canada, have to protest digs in Italy. It is only our vast ignorance about the pre-history of the Americas that forces us to entertain their court claims. The artifacts uncovered by melting ice must be found within a very short period of time before the stories they can tell are lost for all time. While it is important to involve First Nations, just as any other Canadians, their interference, to the point of entirely preventing searches some years and thereby causing the loss of a part of our heritage, must not be permitted. The history of humanity belongs to us all.

contingencies 12y ago

In northern Australia, the Aboriginals of Arnhem Land are also being trained by archaeologists based in Darwin.