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.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.83109 |
| Date | January 2004 |
| Creators | Henderson, Lyle |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Arts (Department of Anthropology.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 002209964, proquestno: AAIMR12727, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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