Eric Stevens wrote:
(Floyd L. Davidson) wrote:
You do realize that is what that quoted text is about, right?
Of course its about right!
Whats more it makes rubbish of your claim that Dorset/inuit were
building boats in Greenland 4000 years ago. Can't you do arithmetic?
Where have I *ever* said that *Dorset* people where there 4000
years ago? Can't you follow a thread that extends past anything
within the last 10 lines you've read? The reference to the
Dorset was to demonstrate that your claims about the Thule and
Dorset people not being there at the same time are *clearly*,
according to *your* cite, wrong.
I'm trying to stick with my original point to which you took
exception.
Then don't be dishonest. Playing your Seppo The Word Weasel Game
is not appropriate behavior for adults.
That is absurd. The Thule and the Dorset cultures were in the
same areas for 300 years and suggesting they never met is just
insane.
I'm suggesting that the while the mixed artifacts show that the Thule
and the Dorset had both been in the same places, that is not evidence
that they had been there at the same time.
That is absurd. Over a *300* year period! Stop being silly.
The artifacts that have been found indicate that Dorset people,
typical of all Eskimo cultures, were fairly mobile. They move
around. But their technology only allowed them to survive where
certain game was available. They were not able to hunt the
larger sea mammals, for example.
The advantage that Thule Technology had, which is the main
reason it spread so fast among Eskimo people, was that it
allowed them to subsist in places where they had not been able
to before; and in traditional places it gave them a fantasticly
higher rate of food production.
One example of the effect is that a place like Point Barrow,
here in Alaska, which previously was barely habitable suddenly
became the *most* productive location. Point Hope is an example
where a traditionally productive location became an
overwhelmingly better location.
One of the side effects of Thule Technology was a significant
increase in mobility. The Umiaq was introduced, which meant
entire families could travel and transport *tons* of goods for
long distances. Consider that and the above paragraph in
relation to why this Thule Technology spread so fast across the
Arctic Ocean coast, and how it apparently took with it what had
been a rather isolated dialect of Proto-Eskimo that suddenly
became the widest spread dialect!
And travel they did. The idea that for 300 years the Thule
folks roamed the entire coast line of Greenland without ever
meeting up with the somewhat less mobile Dorset people is just
too much to accept.
The information given on
the Greenland National Museum site about the Thule
http://www.sila.dk/History/Thule/Start.html# and about the Late Dorset
http://www.sila.dk/History/Dorset/LateDorset.html leaves open the
question of whether or not there was any significant meeting of the
two in Greenland.
So if that one site doesn't specifically say that they met in
January of 1309 to have the 40th Annual Arctic Winter Games, you
can't believe they ever met? (Do I really need to tell you what
that says, logically?)
I'm sorry, but your lack of familiarity with Eskimo culture does
not inhibit me from understanding what that web page is saying.
They are *clearly* describing one continuum of culture that
evolved from one specifically identified as Dorset to one
specifically identified as Thule. What you are missing is that
in the between times, they were each other. One and the same
people. (In order for there to have been a significant number
of Thule people... they not only had to have met, but they
clearly did a lot of other things too. Procreation, just for
starters.)
Examination of the maps (click on them) on each of
those sites is interesting in this respect. There is only the one
region where they may have met and of that the Greenland Museum states
"No sites have been found in the northernmost part of the country
except from a few shelters". It doesn't sound like a recipe for hearty
intermingling.
Eric, what were the "few shelters" doing there? And how did you
miss the significance of what they said (I'm not going to go get
quotes). The two groups had *permanent* settlements in
different areas. The more mobile of the two *clearly* traveled
the entire coast of Greenland and clearly made regular
expeditions into the areas where the less mobile group lived.
They were doing that for 300 years! How would they not meet?
--
FloydL. Davidson http://web.newsguy.com/floyd_davidson
Ukpeagvik (Barrow, Alaska)