Thule archaeological sites typically yield large quantities of well-preserved faunal remains. These remains represent a wealth of information on a wide range of activities related to Thule animal-based subsistence economies, but have only recently been subjected to the quantitative ecological analyses that have increasingly concerned archaeologists elsewhere. This thesis involves the development of a linear programming model of Thule resource scheduling, and an explicit test of its applicability. When compared to the results of a detailed zooarchaeological analysis of faunal material collected from a variety of seasonal site types on southeastern Somerset Island, the modelling procedure was found to offer moderately interesting insights not otherwise attainable.

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Although the study of Thule harpoon heads has produced important seriations, datings and technological reflections during the last century, a lack of fundamental knowledge about these weapons is still occurring. An attempt is made to document the different contexts surrounding the use of these artifacts. Technological, social and symbolic investigations are made on the occupants of the Skraeling Island site (High Arctic, Canada) and the Clachan site (Coronation Gulf, Canada) in order to build a complete understanding of the harpoon head morphological attributes. Using the hierarchical cluster analysis (SPSS), groupings have been statistically formed, underlying the meaningful dimensions of variation of the objects. It is then found that technological, social and symbolic mechanisms are systematically responsible for different aspects of Thule harpoon head morphology, and by comparing the two archaeological assemblages, we conclude that these mechanisms operate in the same direction, even if resulting in different harpoon head styles.

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This thesis presents an exploratory approach using detailed zooarchaeological analysis to evaluate the nature of ringed seal ( Phoca hispida) remains from three seasonally different Thule sites in the Hazard Inlet area of Somerset Island, Nunavut. Most Thule research focuses on winter occupation and presents Thule as a whaling society. Little attention has been given on the nature of sealing during Thule occupation and research on seasonal differences of seal remains from Thule sites remains scarce. This thesis is thus one of the first to focus on ringed seal remains from seasonally different Thule sites through an analysis of over 30,000 bone specimens. The goal of this thesis is to determine if the seal assemblages are a product of differential butchering and transport, taphonomic processes, or if external factors are also playing a role in shaping the faunal record. The analysis considers variability within each site as well as between the sites. Overall, a moderate to strong correlation was found between bone density and the seal bone elements identified while a negative correlation existed with the elements and FUI (food utility indices). This led to the conclusion that taphonomy was the leading agent shaping the seal remains at Hazard Inlet. However, enough variation existed within each site to consider the role of outside factors, such as the presence of dogs, food preferences, food storage and season of occupation in shaping the seal remains at Hazard Inlet.

Dental annuli analyses were performed on 170 ringed seal (Phoca hispida) canines recovered from five Thule semisubterranean houses located at site PaJs-13 at Hazard Inlet, Somerset Island in the central Canadian Arctic. Season of death results indicate greater seal hunting during the spring. Age at death results were used to produce mortality profiles which, when compared with idealized patterns, revealed a prime-dominated pattern indicating the presence of some selective factor in the subsistence strategy. Based on ethnographical studies of traditional seal hunting techniques, conscious selection was eliminated as a factor. Biological studies of ringed seal demonstrate that during the spring, older, sexually mature seals, occupy breeding areas in stable fast ice formations located close to the coast in complex coastal areas. Younger immature seals, on the other hand, occupy areas of unstable pack ice formations either further from the shore in complex coastal areas, or along simple coastlines. The archaeological mortality patterns do not clearly resemble either complex or simple coast modern populations, although a trend toward simple coasts was observed. This observation is consistent with the site location, which allows greater access to pack ice formations. The appearance of selective biological factors affecting random human subsistence strategies indicates that caution must be utilized when interpreting mortality patterns.

The goal of this thesis is to re-evaluate the origins of the Caribou Inuit. The thesis presents theories that have been proposed by Birket-Smith (1929), Burch (1978), and Clark (1978). Each theory represents a diverse perspective regarding Caribou Inuit origins that include, respectively, a proto-Eskimo origin, an immigration origin, and cultural change resulting from European contact. / The alternative theory being proposed in this thesis is that change in environmental conditions that resulted from the Little Ice Age caused the most favoured food resource, the ringed seal, to decline significantly in abundance because the necessary ice conditions that are required for these seals to inhabit a particular area no longer existed. The implications that are discussed and tested as a result of a decline in marine resources are there would have been a shift in focal resources, a corresponding change in regional territories, and a change in subsistence-settlement systems.

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