Expedition Relics from High Arctic Greenland


Book Description

"Euro-American explorers reached northernmost Greenland in the mid-19th century. Remoteness, desolate tundra, and persistent sea ice have ensured that many historic sites from early (non-Inuit) exploration remained undisturbed by man. Moreover, as the result of the dry polar climate, the physical remains from these expeditions - even cloth, leather, and paper - are generally well preserved. The hundred and two objects registered and described in this book were discovered at thirty-two sites stretching from Baffin Bay to the Arctic Ocean. They derive from nineteen American, British and Danish expeditions of geographical discovery that reached Greenland between 1853 and 1934. Ranging from commonplace to borderline unique, the artefacts give an insight to conditions, life and mere survival on these expeditions, an insight that adds authenticity to the written annals and to a history that is truly dramatic with at least fifty men losing their lives. Beautifully illustrated with no less than 600 images comprising maps, portraits, scenes from the historic sites and superb artefact photography, this book will appeal not just to students of historical archaeology, but to all interested in the exploration of the polar regions."--




Palaeoeskimo Occupations at Port Refuge, High Arctic Canada


Book Description

Port Refuge is a small bay on the south coast of Grinnell Peninsula, Devon Island, in the High Arctic. Archaeological work between 1972 and 1977 recovered remains of several prehistoric occupations of this area, which are ascribed to the Independence I, Pre-Dorset, Independence II/early Dorset, late Dorset and Thule cultures. This report describes the archaeological material relating to the early Arctic Small Tool tradition occupations.




Literature of Travel and Exploration


Book Description

Containing more than 600 entries, this valuable resource presents all aspects of travel writing. There are entries on places and routes (Afghanistan, Black Sea, Egypt, Gobi Desert, Hawaii, Himalayas, Italy, Northwest Passage, Samarkand, Silk Route, Timbuktu), writers (Isabella Bird, Ibn Battuta, Bruce Chatwin, Gustave Flaubert, Mary Kingsley, Walter Ralegh, Wilfrid Thesiger), methods of transport and types of journey (balloon, camel, grand tour, hunting and big game expeditions, pilgrimage, space travel and exploration), genres (buccaneer narratives, guidebooks, New World chronicles, postcards), companies and societies (East India Company, Royal Geographical Society, Society of Dilettanti), and issues and themes (censorship, exile, orientalism, and tourism). For a full list of entries and contributors, a generous selection of sample entries, and more, visit the Literature of Travel and Exploration: An Encyclopedia website.




Tracking the Franklin Expedition of 1845


Book Description

The Franklin Northwest Passage Expedition of 1845 is perhaps the greatest disaster in the history of exploration--all 129 men vanished, as did the expedition's two ships, HMS Erebus and Terror. Over the next 150 years, searchers found bones, clothing and a variety of relics. Inuit narratives provided some of the details of what happened to the frozen, starving sailors after they deserted their ice-locked ships in 1848. Then, in 2014 and 2016, Canadian researchers found the sunken wrecks, not far from the bleak, windswept King William Island in the Arctic. At last, the mystery of the Franklin Expedition would be solved. Or would it? This book pulls together the various searchers' discoveries; the many recent scientific studies that shed light on when, how and why the men died (and whether, in extremis, they ate each other); and illuminates what we know, and what we don't and may never know, about the fate of the expedition.




Literature of Travel and Exploration: A to F


Book Description

Containing more than 600 entries, this valuable resource presents all aspects of travel writing. There are entries on places and routes (Afghanistan, Black Sea, Egypt, Gobi Desert, Hawaii, Himalayas, Italy, Northwest Passage, Samarkand, Silk Route, Timbuktu), writers (Isabella Bird, Ibn Battuta, Bruce Chatwin, Gustave Flaubert, Mary Kingsley, Walter Ralegh, Wilfrid Thesiger), methods of transport and types of journey (balloon, camel, grand tour, hunting and big game expeditions, pilgrimage, space travel and exploration), genres (buccaneer narratives, guidebooks, New World chronicles, postcards), companies and societies (East India Company, Royal Geographical Society, Society of Dilettanti), and issues and themes (censorship, exile, orientalism, and tourism). For a full list of entries and contributors, a generous selection of sample entries, and more, visit the Literature of Travel and Exploration: An Encyclopedia website.




The Northernmost Ruins of the Globe


Book Description

An important part of the heritage of Count Eigil Knuth (1903-1996) is his archaeological archive contaning contextual information on prehistoric sites gathered during six decades of research in High Arctic Greenland. The finds and observations are a key to the understanding of human life under extreme conditions in a long-term perspective and represent a unique piece of evidence concerning the early cultural history of the Eastern Arctic. Knuth's expeditions from 1932 to 1995 took him to Greenland and Canada, in particular High Arctic Greenland. In a number of important articles Knuth published the findings dating back to the earliest human settlement in Greenland. However, he never managed to present the complete body of information and results from his many investigations. The present authors have thus compiled a computer database on the basis on his archive, which constitutes the starting point of the present book. The book focuses on Knuth's most substantial contribution to archaeology: the prehistory of Peary Land and adjacent areas. In the catalog, emphasis has been placed on topographical and architectural information, site structure, artefact statistics and radiocarbon dates. A total of 154 archaeological sites are presented. Fifty-one sites with a total of 244 features are Independence I sites (c. 2460-1860 cal. BC), twenty-three sites with a total of 416 features belong to Independence II (c. 900-400 cal. BC) and sixty-three sites with a total of 626 features are of Thule origin (c. 1400-1500 ca. AD). This study presents some new information on the faunal material from Peary Land based on Christyann Darwent's recent analyses as well as new data on the dwelling features on the Adam C. Knuth Site, which was visited by a multidisciplinary team in 2001. It also offers an introduction presenting an overview and evaluation of Knuth's remarkable curriculum vitae as an independent arctic archaeologist. In the concluding chapters some basic statistics on the archaeological sites are presented. We evaluate Knuth's radiocarbon datings of the Independence I, Independence II and Thule cultures in High Arctic Greenland, and settlement distributions and settlement patterns for the three cultures represented in Peary Land are discussed.




Arctic Clothing of North America-Alaska, Canada, Greenland


Book Description

In the Arctic, sea and land animals provide the raw materials for garments that allow people to hunt and survive in the world's harshest conditions.




Exploring Polar Frontiers [2 volumes]


Book Description

Covers the entire history of Arctic and Antarctic exploration, from the voyage of Pytheas ca. 325 B.C. to the present, in one convenient, comprehensive reference resource. Exploring Polar Frontiers: A Historical Encyclopedia is the only reference work that provides a comprehensive history of polar exploration from the ancient period through the present day. The author is a noted polar scholar and offers dramatic accounts of all major explorers and their expeditions, together with separate exploration histories for specific islands, regions, and uncharted waters. He presents a wealth of fascinating information under a variety of subject entries including methods of transport, myths, achievements, and record-breaking activities. By approaching polar exploration biographically, geographically, and topically, Mills reveals a number of intriguing connections between the various explorers, their patrons and times, and the process of discovery in all areas of the polar regions. Furthermore, he provides the reader with a clear understanding of the intellectual climate as well as the dominant social, economic, and political forces surrounding each expedition. Readers will learn why the journeys were undertaken, not just where, when, and how.




The Geographical Journal


Book Description

Includes the Proceedings of the Royal geographical society, formerly pub. separately.