Thule Archeological Sites

Thule Archeological Sites

The Thule people migrated east from Alaska around 1,000 AD, following the Bowhead whale. The Thule culture is characterized by large permanent winter camps built of rocks, sod and whalebone. Caches of whalemeat prepared in the summer provided the Thule with food for the winter months. Today's Inuit are the direct descendents of the Thule.

There are three different Thule ancestral sites near Hall Beach:

• Ugli Island
• Qinniqturvik
• Nappaqut

where you can see:

• tent rings
• food caches
• Qarmait (sod houses)
• semi-subterranean houses

These sites were inhabited between 300 and 900 years ago.

At the southern edge of Hall Beach you can still find the remains of Thule winter houses with flagstone floors, stone sleeping platforms with walls, rafters and doors made of bowhead whale skulls. Sod roofs would have finished the homes.

Thule Archeogolical site

Semi-subterranean house

Meat Cutting Tool made from
Caribou Bone - age unknown

Jellyfish, Trilobites, Ammonites,
and a Bird egg (bottom right)

Fossils

The Hall Beach area is a haven for fossil hunters. You can find:

• Trilobites
• fossilized sponges
• fossilized bird eggs

Hall Beach is located in what is known as the Arctic Platform geological province. The rocks here are of Ordovician age, or about half a billion years old