Re: Dorset 'longhouses'


"Eric Stevens" <eric.stevens@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:68nk72tdduhg21nnlhu5p65c5envht4e3u@xxxxxxxxxx
On Mon, 29 May 2006 00:12:01 +0200, "Peter Alaca" <P.Alaca@xxxxxx>
wrote:

Eric Stevens wrote: news:081k72l3hn4tkagv99ogrpvf1hho1t3jov@xxxxxxx

On Sun, 28 May 2006 11:47:04 +0200, "Peter Alaca" <P.Alaca@xxxxxx>
wrote:

Dorset 'longhouses'

In a series of still running threads Inger mentions, or is
referring to, "the so called Late Dorset buildings in
Labrador", longhouses with stonework ("mortal", "mortar").
She claimes they are similar to buildings in Scandinavia and
therefore must have been built by Scandinavians or at least
the locals were copying norse settlers (Maybe that is
what she means with "diffusion"). This is not the first time
she writes about that.

It is all about rectangular stone structures along the NW
coast of Ungaya Bay. (Covering 621,000 sq.km and only
ice-free in summer, is in the north-east of the Labrador
peninsula, opening onto the Hudson Strait. The many
large rivers flowing into the bay include the George,
Koksoak, Leaf, Payne and Whale)

See the map http://www.spirasolaris.ca/ungava3d.gif
with the locations of the 'longhouses' and the cairns
interpreted as 'stone beacons'.

For photo's of the 'longhouses' see:
Callum Thomson (1982), "Maritime archaic longhouses
and other survey results from outer Saglek Bay, northern
Labrador" http://tinyurl.com/zdky2
and the Late Dorset page on the site of the Dansk
Nationalmuseet http://www.natmus.dk/sw18643.asp
and this photo gallery http://tinyurl.com/hocxy.

In his article "Contact between Native North Americans
and the Medieval Norse: A Review of the Evidence" (Am.
Antiquity 49(1984)1:4-26), Robert McGee deals with the
arguments which have been used to support the idea of
a Norse presence in Ungava. Here is what he wrote
(p 18-19) about the 'longhouses' (without his references)

[...]
Although in size and outline form, these structures bear a
general resemblance to certain Norse buildings, they bear a
much more specific resemblance to structures known from
several regions of Arctic Canada and attributed to the later
phases of the Dorset culture. One such structure, 32 m long
and 7 m wide, is reported from the west coast of Victoria
Island in the western Canadian Arctic, far from any
possibility of Norse influence.

Whether or not something is possible is a matter of opinion, but see
http://www.spirasolaris.ca/nwp.gif for a map of the navigational
routes into the NW across the top of Canada. This (and one of Peter
Alaca's references) comes from
http://www.spirasolaris.ca/sbb4g1bv.html which is worth reading (at
least once).

Yes, and after that you only come back to pick a map.
Which reminds me that it was my intention to say that
I don't know how reliable the quoted map is.

The author John N. Harris is reliable in one sense. If he says there
is navigable route it is very likely that he is correct. Ditto if he
says there are cairns. His Web-book has been developing for years but
of recent years it has been tidied up rather than expanded. Perhaps
the most contentious of his theories is that the Norse made it to
Vancouver Island (I know it made Philip Dietiker froth :-). Most of
the rest is probably fairly sound.

[...]

There are some excellent photographs and plans of this type of
longhouse in Farley Mowat's 'The Far Farers'. Mowat came up with the
idea that the boats may have been the missing roofs for the foundation
walls. However some of the foundations are probably too wide to have
been covered by a boat.

And too long?

That objection is overcome by claiming the use of two boats end to
end.



Eric Stevens


If you need a roof in a hurry this isn't a bad idea if you have enough
muscle to pull it off.


.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Dorset longhouses
    ... She claimes they are similar to buildings in Scandinavia and ... For photo's of the 'longhouses' see: ... and the Late Dorset page on the site of the Dansk ... and the Medieval Norse: A Review of the Evidence" (Am. ...
    (sci.archaeology)
  • Dorset longhouses
    ... Dorset 'longhouses' ... She claimes they are similar to buildings in Scandinavia and ... with the locations of the 'longhouses' and the cairns ... and the Medieval Norse: A Review of the Evidence" (Am. ...
    (sci.archaeology)
  • Re: Dorset longhouses
    ... For photo's of the 'longhouses' see: ... and the Late Dorset page on the site of the Dansk ... and the Medieval Norse: A Review of the Evidence" (Am. ... Island in the western Canadian Arctic, ...
    (sci.archaeology)
  • Re: Dorset longhouses
    ... She claimes they are similar to buildings in Scandinavia and ... For photo's of the 'longhouses' see: ... and the Late Dorset page on the site of the Dansk ... and the Medieval Norse: A Review of the Evidence" (Am. ...
    (sci.archaeology)
  • Re: Dorset longhouses
    ... She claimes they are similar to buildings in Scandinavia and ... See the map http://www.spirasolaris.ca/ungava3d.gif ... and the Late Dorset page on the site of the Dansk ... and the Medieval Norse: A Review of the Evidence" (Am. ...
    (sci.archaeology)