Neo-Inuit strategies for ensuring food security during the Little Ice Age climate change episode, Foxe Basin, Arctic Canada

This paper examines Neo-Inuit (ca. AD 1250 to present) responses to the decreased temperatures of the Little Ice Age (LIA) climate change episode (ca. AD 1300–1900) in the Foxe Basin region of central Nunavut, Arctic Canada. Cooler temperatures (and increased sea ice) would be expected to have reduced both bowhead whale (Balaena mysticetus) and Atlantic walrus (Odobenus rosmarus rosmarus) habitats, forcing Neo-Inuit to refocus their hunting activities on landfast-ice-dwelling small seals (e.g., Pusa hispida) during winter months. However, an analysis of faunal remains from Foxe Basin's largest-known Neo-Inuit (Thule, historic and modern Inuit) archaeological site, Pingiqqalik (NgHd-1), reveals a long-term subsistence economy based largely on multi-seasonal walrus hunting. Two interrelated factors may explain these results: (1) a system of recurring polynyas provided a degree of ecological stability for local walrus populations, and (2) the development of a distinctive walrus caching regime—a form of which continues among the region's contemporary Inuit—allowed residents to adeptly exploit an ecological niche, thereby ensuring food security. Together, these factors likely insulated northern Foxe Basin Neo-Inuit from the worst effects of the LIA

Afterword:Storytelling Animals: Human-Nonhuman Relationships in the Arctic

A common misperception among non-arctic residents is that northern environments are less productive and more hostile to human life than other biomes; after all, it is true that in most arctic regions, traditional agriculture is generally not possible, and species richness is relatively low. Combatting such misperceptions is important because while the past century has foisted many traumatic changes on traditional Inuit lifeways, two of the most pressing relate to the availability of nonhuman-animal resources: climate change, which affects animal habitats and hunters’ ability to travel safely across increasingly volatile ice-and seascapes; and top-down, government regulation of subsistence hunting. Paleoclimatological and zooarchaeological research shows that arctic peoples have long found innovative ways to adapt to past episodes of climate change. Importantly, both cosmological and economic interests of arctic peoples have been addressed and better integrated within new interpretive frameworks that help align past-, present-and future-focused perspectives on vital human-nonhuman trajectories.</p

Afterword:Storytelling Animals: Human-Nonhuman Relationships in the Arctic

A common misperception among non-arctic residents is that northern environments are less productive and more hostile to human life than other biomes; after all, it is true that in most arctic regions, traditional agriculture is generally not possible, and species richness is relatively low. Combatting such misperceptions is important because while the past century has foisted many traumatic changes on traditional Inuit lifeways, two of the most pressing relate to the availability of nonhuman-animal resources: climate change, which affects animal habitats and hunters’ ability to travel safely across increasingly volatile ice-and seascapes; and top-down, government regulation of subsistence hunting. Paleoclimatological and zooarchaeological research shows that arctic peoples have long found innovative ways to adapt to past episodes of climate change. Importantly, both cosmological and economic interests of arctic peoples have been addressed and better integrated within new interpretive frameworks that help align past-, present-and future-focused perspectives on vital human-nonhuman trajectories.</p

Afterword:Storytelling Animals: Human-Nonhuman Relationships in the Arctic

A common misperception among non-arctic residents is that northern environments are less productive and more hostile to human life than other biomes; after all, it is true that in most arctic regions, traditional agriculture is generally not possible, and species richness is relatively low. Combatting such misperceptions is important because while the past century has foisted many traumatic changes on traditional Inuit lifeways, two of the most pressing relate to the availability of nonhuman-animal resources: climate change, which affects animal habitats and hunters’ ability to travel safely across increasingly volatile ice-and seascapes; and top-down, government regulation of subsistence hunting. Paleoclimatological and zooarchaeological research shows that arctic peoples have long found innovative ways to adapt to past episodes of climate change. Importantly, both cosmological and economic interests of arctic peoples have been addressed and better integrated within new interpretive frameworks that help align past-, present-and future-focused perspectives on vital human-nonhuman trajectories.</p

Subsistence walrus hunting in Inuit Nunangat (Arctic Canada) and Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland) from the 13th century CE to present

The long-term history of walrus hunting by Inuit can be characterised by the stark contrast between the innovation and venturous nature of the hunters, and the relative ecological conservatism of their prey. In this chapter, we examine several aspects of walrus subsistence hunting by Inuit from their earliest occupations in Arctic/Subarctic Canada and Greenland (beginning around the 13th century CE) to present. We focus our discussions on the intensive hunting practices of Amitturmiut of northern Foxe Basin, Nunavut, Inuit communities of the Avanersuaq region of North-West Greenland, as well as of their ancestors. We describe species-specific challenges, strategies and technologies for hunting, butchery, storage and consumption of walruses. We also provide a discussion of the position of the species within Inuit cosmology

Looking back while moving forward:How past responses to climate change can inform future adaptation and mitigation strategies in the Arctic

Modern Arctic Indigenous peoples face many interconnected pressures, not the least of which is anthropogenic climate change, which is emerging as one of the most dramatic drivers of social and economic change in recent memory. In this paper, we investigate whether or not insights into premodern strategies for coping with climate change—and especially the “deeper histories” of traditional ways-of-knowing—can play a useful role in future planning, management and mitigation efforts. We do this in two ways. First, we assess this special issue's 17 archaeological case studies, in order to determine whether they are conducted within a framework that is consistent with approaches to resilience in studies of modern Arctic communities. Second, we focus on three climate-driven challenges faced by Canadian Arctic Inuit: safe travel, food security and food safety. For each, we identify specific ways in which studies of past social-ecological systems intersect with modern climate adaptation. We conclude that since archaeological insights highlight the operation of decision-making processes within long-term culture-adaptive trajectories, they can offer unique insights into the much shorter-term processes currently underway. While we highlight many potential directions for productive collaboration, much more work is required in local and regional settings to demonstrate the full potential of archaeology for future-oriented planning and mitigation efforts

Editorial: Long-Term Perspectives on Circumpolar Social-Ecological Systems

Modern climate change is having profound environmental impacts at the world's higher latitudes, leading to the disappearance of sea ice, the melting of permafrost and the northward shift of major biogeographic zones. These changing conditions have consequences for contemporary Arctic Indigenous peoples and their traditional lifeways. As planning and mitigation efforts intensify, there is renewed interest in looking back through time to understand how past Arctic societies were able to maintain a long-term—and often highly-resilient —presence in these ever-changing ecosystems. Of particular interest is how past groups coped with earlier changes in climate, both shorter-term “shocks” as well as longer-term up- and downturns in temperatures. A number of recent publications have highlighted the abundance of high-resolution and human-scale data that archaeology is uniquely positioned to contribute to this discussion (Riede, 2014; Jackson et al., 2018; Fitzhugh et al., 2018). So far, however, the practical integration of such long-term “paleo-” perspectives on specific future-orientated planning and management efforts has been limited. For example, the Arctic Council's Arctic Resilience Report (2016)—an in-depth comparative analysis of fragility and resilience in numerous local circumpolar social-ecological systems—acknowledges the importance of “deep history”, and the role of flexibility and traditional knowledge, while the chronological coverage of all 25 local case-studies remains firmly rooted in the present and very recent historical past. The overarching aim of this Special Issue is to explore the gap in knowledge between archaeological understandings of long-term Arctic adaptations and the practical application of these insights to the future-oriented challenges of sustainability and cultural survival. The first objective is to illustrate the wealth and diversity of archaeological research that is currently taking place in both the northern and southern polar regions. The issue showcases a selection of case-studies focusing on long-term human-environment interactions, integrating archaeological, climatic and paleoecological datasets. A wide range of insights emerge in terms of cultural responses to specific climatic fluctuations, but also in terms of longer-term cultural trajectories, including major shifts in settlement, subsistence, demography and interaction networks, all of which can be understood in terms of fragility and resilience in particular social-ecological systems. Another objective of the volume is to stimulate reflection and debate about what these archaeological datasets—and the long-term insights that emerge—can contribute to future planning and mitigation efforts. Seventeen papers in this issue “look back”, examining human-environment interactions in three regions: Arctic Eurasia; Arctic North America and Greenland; and Sub-Antarctic South America. Conversely, three papers “look ahead”, exploring emerging challenges and future implications. We conclude this editorial with a series of recommendations – or “action points” – that are addressed to the wider interdisciplinary research community

Holocene deglaciation drove rapid genetic diversification of Atlantic walrus

Rapid global warming is severely impacting Arctic ecosystems and is predicted to transform the abundance, distribution and genetic diversity of Arctic species, though these linkages are poorly understood. We address this gap in knowledge using palaeogenomics to examine how earlier periods of global warming influenced the genetic diversity of Atlantic walrus (Odobenus rosmarus rosmarus), a species closely associated with sea ice and shallow-water habitats. We analysed 82 ancient and historical Atlantic walrus mitochondrial genomes (mitogenomes), including now-extinct populations in Iceland and the Canadian Maritimes, to reconstruct the Atlantic walrus' response to Arctic deglaciation. Our results demonstrate that the phylogeography and genetic diversity of Atlantic walrus populations was initially shaped by the last glacial maximum (LGM), surviving in distinct glacial refugia, and subsequently expanding rapidly in multiple migration waves during the late Pleistocene and early Holocene. The timing of diversification and establishment of distinct populations corresponds closely with the chronology of the glacial retreat, pointing to a strong link between walrus phylogeography and sea ice. Our results indicate that accelerated ice loss in the modern Arctic may trigger further dispersal events, likely increasing the connectivity of northern stocks while isolating more southerly stocks putatively caught in small pockets of suitable habitat