Thule culture
Pre-Inuit Arctic people
Thule culture is the prehistoric Arctic civilization that spread from Alaska across northern Canada to Greenland roughly a thousand years ago.
The Thule people were whale hunters who traveled by dog sled and skin boat, developing sophisticated tools for surviving extreme cold.
They are the direct ancestors of modern Inuit peoples.
The name comes from Thule, Greenland, where archaeologists first studied their remains.
- harpoonsBarbed hunting spears
- permafrostPerpetually frozen earth layer
- artifactsHuman-made historical objects
- snow gogglesMountain glare blockers
- excavationAct of unearthing
ivory carvings · whale bone · midden · Bering Strait · sea ice · spiritual beliefs · sod houses · winter camps · oral traditions · trade networks · baleen · ceremonial practices · kayaks · bone tools · radiocarbon dating · seal hunting · sea mammal · blubber
- Arctic PeoplesInuit, Inuk, Aleut, Eskimo, Aleuts
- Canadian ArcticNunavut, Northwest Territories, Yukon, Baffin Island, Yellowknife
- Arctic Prehistorymicroblades, harpoons, stone tools, bone tools, seal hunting
- Greenland historyErik the Red, Leif Erikson, home rule, self-government, Nuuk
- Arctic ExplorationNorth Pole, Arctic, polar exploration, Arctic Circle, polar expedition
- GreenlandNuuk, tundra, fjords, glaciers, Inuit
Thule cultureNorse culture
Ancient Scandinavian civilization
Viking settlement · Hudson's Bay Company · European exploration