Qilakitsoq

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Qilakitsoq (who has little sky)
Commune Avannaata Communia
District Uummannaq
Geographical location 70 ° 36 '31 "  N , 52 ° 10' 55"  W Coordinates: 70 ° 36 '31 "  N , 52 ° 10' 55"  W.
Qilakitsoq (Greenland)
Qilakitsoq
Residents 0
Time zone UTC-3
particularities archaeological site

Qilakitsoq is a Greenlandic abandoned settlement and an important archaeological site. It became known as the location of eight mummified corpses from the time of the Thule culture . The Inuit mummies of Qilakitsoq provided important insights into the life of the Inuit around 500 years ago.

Qilakitsoq is located in western Greenland near the town of Uummannaq on the north bank of the Nuussuaq peninsula ( Greenlandic : Big Cape ) in a sheltered bay of the Uummannaqfjord . The Greenlandic name means “who has little sky” and probably refers to the surrounding steep cliffs and the fog that is very common here.

history

Already about 4300 years ago this area was settled for the first time by people of the Saqqaq culture, presumably over Ellesmere Island . A later wave of migration from Alaska via Canada to Greenland around 1000 AD resulted in a new settlement in the region around Qilakitsoq. At the time of this so-called Thule culture, which lasted until approx. 1800 AD, there was a settlement of about 30 inhabitants here. As hunters and catchers, they lived here mainly in winter in sod houses , while they spent the summer in their tents on extended hunting trips in the surrounding fjords. This region is considered to be very rich in game, in addition to seals and whales , polar bears , reindeer and ptarmigan were probably hunted and fished here.

The first description of Qilakitsoq, which was called "Killekitok" by the Europeans at the time, comes from the year 1789, shortly after the establishment of the colony Uummannaq (1761). At that time, Qilakitsoq, like other similar settlements, was only temporarily populated in winter; The way of life was then attributed to the Thule culture and was comparable to that of the mummies' lifetime around 1500. The last description of an existing settlement in Qilakitsoq comes from the year 1811. Shortly thereafter, the settlement was apparently abandoned by its ancestral population. One reason for this could have been the food competition with the newly arrived Europeans who hunted seals with nets on a large scale.

Finds

As early as 1903, Qilakitsoq found attention as an archaeological site when the colonial administrator at the time sent several discovered artefacts to the Danish National Museum . These included household items and hunting tools, mostly of recent date.

There are several graves in Qilakitsoq and human remains can still be found under piles of stones. But it was not until October 9, 1972 that the two hunters Hans and Jokum Grønvold from Uummannaq discovered the grave of several mummies when they were hunting ptarmigan here. They covered her again and immediately notified the authorities. Nevertheless, it was not until 1978 before the first scientific investigations of the tomb took place and the mummies were soon transferred to Copenhagen for examination. In the meantime, slight damage had already been caused by careless visitors, so Hans and Jokum Grønvold had repaired the partially covered graves several times.

In 1982 the mummies were brought back to Greenland as part of the repatriation of Greenlandic cultural assets. At their current location in the Greenland National Museum (Kalaallit Nunaata Katersugaasivia) in the Greenlandic capital Nuuk , the four best-preserved mummies are on public display and represent one of Nuuk's biggest tourist attractions.

The burial place

The tomb of the eight mummies differs from the other graves of Qilakitsoq in that it is the only one about 200 m outside the settlement and containing several corpses. It is located below an overhanging rock and, as was customary due to the lack of suitable soil, consists of a pile of large stones. This facility offered optimal conditions for natural mummification: the bodies were protected from the weather and animal damage in a cold and dry atmosphere and were well ventilated.

The corpses were stacked here in two groups, only about three feet apart. They were fully clothed and padded and covered with seal skins , flat stones, and grass.

The mummies

For a long time, based on information such as age and location, it was assumed that there were two unrelated families; later, on the basis of mtDNA analyzes, relationships between the people in both graves could be demonstrated. The radiocarbon dating of the mummies revealed as a probable time of death the year 1475 with a measuring error of +/- 50 years. The examination was carried out as gently as possible, the four best-preserved mummies were neither undressed nor opened. Intensive conservation measures were also dispensed with.

The numbering of the mummies follows the classification of the first examiners: The corpses were numbered separately from top to bottom according to graves.

Grave I.

Mummy I / 1

I / 1 boy about 6 months old

This best preserved mummy was initially mistaken for a doll by the explorers. The particularly good preservation is probably due to the faster loss of body heat due to the smaller body size. It probably descends from I / 4 or II / 7. It is believed possible that after the death of his mother he was buried alive or suffocated, as was common with children up to two years of age in such cases, in order not to subject them to slow starvation.

I / 2 four year old boy

With this boy, probably the son of 1/3, it seems reasonable to assume that he was abandoned alive, especially since he probably had Down's syndrome and abandoning disabled children was a common practice at the time. However, there is no evidence that the common cause of death is choking. The boy could also have died from the indirect consequences of his illness. There is evidence that at least this mummy was reburied after death.

I / 3 20 to 30 year old women

This is probably the daughter of II / 6 or II / 8 and not, as originally assumed, the sister of I / 4. This woman is also exhibited in the museum in Nuuk. Possible causes of death are a kidney stone or an intestinal obstruction.

I / 4 woman over 30 years old

This mummy is also well preserved and can be viewed in Nuuk. It could be the sister of II / 7.

I / 5 woman around 50 years old

DNA analysis shows that this woman is not maternal related to any of the other mummies.

Grave II

Married Greenlander in 1654. The tattoo corresponds almost exactly to that of the adult mummies in Qilakitsoq.

II / 6 woman around 50 years old

This well-preserved mummy, which can be viewed in the museum, is probably the sister of II / 8. Her tattoo is noticeably different from that of the other women.

II / 7 approx. 20 year old woman

This woman could have been I / 4's sister. She was the only one of the adult women not to have a tattoo, which could indicate her unmarried marital status. Food residues were discovered in her intestines that provided information about her diet. As expected, the proportion of plant-based food was low, surprisingly, in addition to pollen, remnants of evergreen, partly burnt wood, which does not occur in this region, were found. More soot was found in their lungs than in today's city dwellers, which is mainly due to the oil lamps in the cramped dwellings. The mummy is relatively poorly preserved compared to its well-preserved clothing. Although her internal organs were thoroughly examined, no evidence of the cause of death could be found.

II / 8 woman around 50 years old

This mummy is very poorly preserved. It could be the sister of II / 6. The woman suffered from an end-stage malignant tumor, believed to be impaired hearing and vision, and a poorly healed shoulder fracture. Your poor health could be a possible cause of death. As with all older women, she was also missing several teeth. Furthermore, the teeth of all older mummies showed clear signs of wear and tear, which, in addition to the tough food, is mainly due to the stress on the teeth during depilation (here the skins were mostly held to scrape off with the teeth) and tanning of leather. Given the hard-to-chew meat and often raw food, bad teeth were particularly dangerous among the Inuit.

dress

All mummies were fully clothed so that not only the clothing but also its use could be adequately examined. The custom of burying people with clothes is derived from the idea that the deceased need these clothes on their journey to the land of the dead. A total of 78 pieces of clothing were discovered. In particular, the kamit (singular: kamik ) should be mentioned, almost waterproof sewn boots made of sealskin , which were insulated against the cold with hay. Socks were mostly still worn under the Kamit. Basically the mummies wore two layers of clothing: outer and inner (mostly short) pants, and one outer and one inner anorak , Mummy II / 8 even three. The inner anoraks are largely made of bird leather, with up to five different bird species being used for an anorak, the outer layers are made of seal skins. The use of different colors and their arrangement suggest the conscious design based on aesthetic criteria.

Other mummy finds in Greenland

Similar, but mostly not so well preserved, mummy finds were made on the island of Uunartoq in southern Greenland and on Mount Pisissarfik near Nuuk.

literature

  • Jens Peder Hart Hansen, Jørgen Meldgaard, Jørgen Nordqvist (eds.): The Greenland Mummies . British Museum Publications, London 1991, ISBN 0-7141-2500-8 .
  • Jens Peder Hart Hansen, Jørgen Meldgaard, Jørgen Nordqvist: The Mummies of Qilakitsoq . In: National Geographic Society (Ed.): National Geographic Magazine . tape 167 , no. 2 . National Geographic Society, February 1985, ISSN  0027-9358 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ HC Gulløv, Jørgen Melgaard: Inuit and Norsemen . In: Jens Peder Hart Hansen, Jørgen Meldgaard, Jørgen Nordqvist (eds.): The Greenland Mummies . British Museum Publications, London 1991, ISBN 0-7141-2500-8 , pp. 22-26 .
  2. ↑ HC Gulløv, Jørgen Melgaard: Inuit and Norsemen . In: Jens Peder Hart Hansen, Jørgen Meldgaard, Jørgen Nordqvist (eds.): The Greenland Mummies . British Museum Publications, London 1991, ISBN 0-7141-2500-8 , pp. 34 .
  3. ↑ Graves. ourheritage.net (archived), accessed February 24, 2018 .
  4. ↑ Claus Andreasen, HC. Gulløv, JP. Hart Hansen, J. Lyberth, H. Tauber: The Find . In: Jens Peder Hart Hansen, Jørgen Meldgaard, Jørgen Nordqvist (eds.): The Greenland Mummies . British Museum Publications, London 1991, ISBN 0-7141-2500-8 , pp. 39 .
  5. ↑ Attractions. Nuuk Tourism (archived) March 15, 2008, accessed February 24, 2018 .
  6. ↑ M. Thomas P. Gilbert, Durita Djurhuus, Linea Melchior, Niels Lynnerup, Michael Worobey, Andrew S Wilson, Claus Andreasen, Jørgen Dissing: mtDNA from hair and nail clarifies the genetic relationship of the 15th century Qilakitsoq Inuit mummies . Ed .: American Journal of Physical Anthropology. tape 133 , no. 2 . Wiley-Liss, Inc, 2007, ISSN  0002-9483 , pp. 847-853 , doi : 10.1002 / ajpa.20602 .
  7. ↑ Jens Peder Hart Hansen, Jørgen Meldgaard, Jørgen Nordqvist: The Mummies of Qilakitsoq . In: National Geographic Society (Ed.): National Geographic Magazine . tape 167 , no. 2 . National Geographic Society, February 1985, ISSN  0027-9358 , pp. 193 .
  8. ↑ T. Ammitzbøll, S. Ry Andersson, J. Bodenhoff, M. Eiken, B. Eriksen, N. Foged, M. Ghisler, A. Gotfredsen, HE Hansen, JP. Hart Hansen, J. Jakobsen, J. Balslev Jørgensen, T. Kobayasi, N. Kromann, KJ Lyberth, L. Lyneborg, F. Mikkelsen, J. Møhl, R. Møller, J. Myhre, PO Pedersen, JU Prause, O Sebbesen, E. Svejgaard, DD Thompson, V. Frølund Thomsen, L. Vanggaard: The People . In: The Greenland Mummies . British Museum Publications, London 1991, ISBN 0-7141-2500-8 , pp. 34 .
  9. ↑ Detail from a painting by an unknown artist showing four people kidnapped from the Nuuk area by a Danish expedition led by David Dannell. It is the first known picture of the Inuit in Greenland.
  10. ^ H. Kapel, N. Kromann, F. Mikkelsen, E. Løytved Rosenløv: Tattoing . In: Jens Peder Hart Hansen, Jørgen Meldgaard, Jørgen Nordqvist (eds.): The Greenland Mummies . British Museum Publications, London 1991, ISBN 0-7141-2500-8 , pp. 115 .
  11. ↑ Don S Lin, William E Connor: Fecal steroids of the coprolite of a Greenland Eskimo mummy, AD 1475: a clue to dietary sterol intake . In: American Society for Clinical Nutrition (Ed.): American Journal of Clinical Nutrition . tape 74 , 2001, pp. 44–49 ( ajcn.org [PDF; accessed March 15, 2008]).
  12. ^ Rolf Gilberg, Robert Petersen: Death and Burial . In: Jens Peder Hart Hansen, Jørgen Meldgaard, Jørgen Nordqvist (eds.): The Greenland Mummies . British Museum Publications, London 1991, ISBN 0-7141-2500-8 , pp. 58 .
  13. ↑ T. Ammitzbøll, M. Bencard, J. Bodenhoff, Rolf Gilberg, A. Johansson, Jørgen Meldgaard, Gerda Møller, Rigmor Møller, E. Svejgaard, L. Vanggaard: Clothing . In: Jens Peder Hart Hansen, Jørgen Meldgaard, Jørgen Nordqvist (eds.): The Greenland Mummies . British Museum Publications, London 1991, ISBN 0-7141-2500-8 .