Ancient People of the Arctic

Mima Kapches is head of the Department of Anthropology at the Royal
Ontario Museum.

Robert McGhee, an archeologist at the Canadian Museum of Civilization,
has produced a superbly written account of the first peoples of the
Arctic, the Palaeo-Eskimos.

In the opening chapter, readers are introduced to the basic tenets of
archaeology: site formation, artefact preservation, cultural continuity
and discontinuity, relative dating, and stylistic markers. The book next
chronicles the arrival of Old Eskimos, the Palaeo-Eskimos, from Siberia
and then follows their migrations westward. It accurately describes
their lifestyles, their technical expertise, their dwellings, and their
trials from about 2000 BC to around AD 1500, the time of their
disappearance. McGhee conveys deep admiration for these ancient peoples
and for their ability to adapt to the harsh Arctic environment.

Two minor quibbles concern the author’s failure to provide
measurements for the artefacts cited in the text and the absence of any
discussion on the conservation of these fragile archaeological
resources.