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Unusual wooden artifacts from
Dorset sites include notched tally-sticks, arrowheads, and other
specimens which bear a close resemblance to Norse artifacts from
Greenland. One wood fragment is ornamented with a geometric
design characteristic of Viking Age and mediaeval Norse
decoration. Several specimens contain holes made with iron
nails, while others have been sawn or morticed. Some of the wood
has been identified as fir and as White pine, temperate species
that occur rarely, if at all, in Arctic driftwood.
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Decorated wood
Balsam? fir (Abies sp.)
Baffin Island, Arctic Canada
KdDq-9:4560
Photo: Pat Sutherland
Illustration: Hanna Kepka
Similar decoration has been
found on combs and other objects from Viking Age and mediaeval
Norse sites.
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Nanook site,
southern Baffin Island
Photo: Karen Ryan
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Wooden tally-stick fragments
Baffin Island, Arctic Canada
KeDe-14:1450, KdDq-7-3:930, PgHb-1:5926
Photo: Pat Sutherland
Notched sticks were used by the
Norse to record transactions. Crude tally-sticks similar to
these Baffin Island examples have been found in Norse Greenland.
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Broken wooden arrowhead
Baffin Island, Arctic Canada
PgHb-1:17626
Photo: Pat Sutherland
Antler arrowheads similar in
shape to this wooden specimen have been recovered from
Greenlandic Norse sites. Arrows have not been found in Dorset
sites from other regions.
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Worked wood with nail holes, sawing and
morticing
Baffin Island, Arctic Canada
PeHa-1:2067 (top),
PgHb-1:8483 (bottom)
Photos: Pat Sutherland
These specimens display evidence
of carpentry techniques similar to those found in mediaeval
European collections. One of the specimens is White pine (Pinus
strobus) and has been radiocarbon dated to the 13th or 14th
century A.D.
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Basket
Arctic willow (Salix sp.) root
Bathurst Island, Arctic Canada
QiLd-1:2331
Photo: Pat Sutherland
Baskets similar to this specimen
from Arctic Canada have been found in Greenlandic Norse sites.
Small baskets such as this may have been used by children.
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