Skeletons for shelter
Around 1000 CE, the ancestors of the Inuit, known as the Thule people, expanded rapidly eastward from Alaska. They brought a sophisticated technology for hunting the largest animals in the Arctic: bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus). This expertise provided sustenance but also supplied the primary building material for their winter homes. In the treeless tundra of the high Arctic, the massive bones of the bowhead whale became the structural frame for semi-subterranean houses.
These dwellings were marvels of environmental engineering. Typically oval and between three and nine meters in diameter, the houses were dug as much as a meter into the ground for insulation. A narrow, underground entrance tunnel, several meters long, was an effective cold-trap, preventing warmer air from escaping the main chamber. The most prominent features were the roof supports, constructed from the enormous mandibles and ribs of whales. Floors and lower walls were often lined with flagstones, and the entire structure was covered in animal skins, stone slabs, and a thick layer of insulating sod. A single settlement could have one to four houses, with each housing about ten people.
A zooarchaeological record
The remains of these whalebone houses are architectural records; they are a detailed record of Thule life. Zooarchaeologists study the animal bones from archaeological sites to understand past human-animal interactions. The presence of so many bowhead whale bones at winter village sites across Nunavut, particularly on Somerset Island, is direct evidence of a successful and organized open-water whaling industry. This hunting required large skin boats called umiaks, crews of multiple hunters, and advanced toggling harpoons.
The bones themselves contain specific clues about the entire process. Cut marks left by stone flensing tools show how the whales were butchered after being towed to shore. Researchers can analyze the patterns of these marks to reconstruct the techniques used to strip the meat, blubber, and baleen. The selection and placement of certain bones—such as using mandibles for the main arches—also reveal a deep understanding of the skeleton's structural properties. Some evidence suggests the placement of specific bones, like skulls or jaws in the entranceway, had symbolic meaning, perhaps representing the mouth of the whale. By studying the refuse deposits around the houses, archaeologists find the remains of other prey like seals, walrus, and caribou, showing the Thule diet. The abandonment of these permanent houses around 1600 CE coincides with the cooling climate of the "Little Ice Age," which likely reduced the bowhead whale populations in the region.