Inuit and Their Thule Ancestors in the Arctic

Remember from Grade 3

In Grade 3 you learned how Inuit families lived around 1800: hunting seal at breathing holes, using the qulliq lamp, travelling by qamutiik (dog sled) and qajaq (kayak), and sewing warm clothing from caribou and seal skin. Now let's travel back hundreds of years earlier, to meet the ancestors of Inuit: the Thule.

Who were the Thule?

The Thule (say: TOO-lee) people lived in Alaska. About 800 years ago (in the 1200s CE), they began moving east across the Arctic, all the way to Greenland. They were excellent hunters of the bowhead whale, a huge whale.

The Thule are the ancestors of Inuit. Inuit today are their descendants. Inuit oral history also tells of an earlier people who lived in the Arctic before them, called the Tuniit.

Today, Inuit live across Inuit Nunangat, the Inuit homeland in Canada: Nunavut, Nunavik (northern Quebec), Nunatsiavut (northern Labrador) and the Inuvialuit Region (Northwest Territories), as well as in Alaska and Greenland, and in cities across Canada.

The Arctic environment

• Very cold, with long winters.
• In midwinter, the sun barely rises or does not rise at all for weeks. In summer, it can shine all day and night.
• No trees on the tundra, so wood was rare. Driftwood washed up on some beaches.
• Sea ice covers the ocean for much of the year.
• Rich in animals: whales, seals, walrus, caribou, fish, birds.

The Thule and Inuit used deep knowledge of the land, sea, ice and animals to live well in this environment. Nothing from an animal was wasted: meat for food, skins for clothing and boats, bones and antlers for tools, fat (blubber) for lamp oil.

Amazing technologies

The Thule and Inuit invented tools that worked perfectly in the Arctic:

• Toggling harpoon: the tip turns sideways after it goes in, so it holds tight. A float made from a sealskin full of air was tied to the line, so a whale or seal could not dive away.
• Snow goggles: made of bone, antler or wood, with thin slits to look through. They protect the eyes from snow blindness caused by bright sunlight reflecting off snow.
• Snow knife: for cutting blocks of hard snow to build a snow house.
• Qulliq: a stone lamp burning seal or whale oil for light, heat and cooking.
• Dog sleds: the Thule brought dog teams with them across the Arctic.
• Inuksuk: a figure or marker of stacked stones (more about it below).

Finding the way

Inuksuit (more than one inuksuk) can mark a travel route, a good fishing or hunting place, or a food cache. Some helped guide caribou during hunts. The word inuksuk means something like "acting in the place of a person".

Inuit also navigate (find their way) using:

• the stars at night,
• the wind: in winter, hard snowdrifts shaped by the wind line up in the same direction, so a traveller can read them like a compass,
• landmarks like hills and shorelines, remembered in detail.

Making decisions and solving problems

The Thule and Inuit did not have kings or rulers. People lived in small camps of related families.

• Respected Elders and skilled, wise hunters gave guidance. Such a person is sometimes called an isumataq ("one who thinks").
• Decisions were made by talking together and listening to Elders.
• Sharing was a rule of life: when a hunter caught a seal or whale, the meat was shared so that everyone had food.

To settle a disagreement without fighting, some Inuit held a song duel. The two people took turns singing funny or teasing songs about each other, often with a drum, in front of the whole community. The audience's laughter helped decide who won, and then the quarrel was over. Humour, games and sharing food also helped people get along.

Growing up in a Thule or Inuit camp

Children learned by watching, listening and helping. Young people learned to hunt, fish, sew, prepare skins and read the weather from parents, grandparents and Elders. They learned the stories and values of their people too.

Children played games that built skill and strength, such as string games and Arctic sports like the one-foot high kick. These games are still played today, including at the Arctic Winter Games.