Well, my trip and fall down this particular rabbit hole started going in one direction, and ended up here. You see, I woke up this morning and realized it was Winter Solstice. You know, that time of year when the days are shortest and the nights are longest. So, realizing this, I thought to myself, "Self, I wonder what it's like on this day in some of the most northern reaches of the world." Of course, this led me to Norilsk, Russia, and Longyearbyen, Norway.
Norilsk, Russia started out as a Gulag, and is now one of the most polluted cities on earth. Longyearbyen started out as a whaling outpost, and then became a small coal mining town, and now, from what I understand, is a sort of Arctic tourism hub.
Anyway, I looked up these places, and then I came across this list of "northernmost settlements in the world" and Frigg's Fjord was at the top of that list. I thought to myself, "Self, what the hell is that?" and here we are.
Frigg's Fjord, the location of the northernmost ruins in human history, is at the far tip of Northern Greenland, as you can see in this map.
Occupied by "paleo eskimo" cultures, Frigg's Fjord and surrounding locals shows signs of human habitation as far back as 2400 BC. It appears that human habitation came in two waves. The so called "Independence I culture" lived in this area from about 2400BC to 1000BC and then disappeared for unknown reasons. The Independence II culture lived there from about 700bc - 80bc (though some dating may go as early as about the 1bce).
These groups are dubbed "Independence" cultures largely owing to the landscape of where evidence of human habitation have been found, around the so-called "Independence Fjord." The geographic nature of this allows the area to be thawed in the summer, though it remains frozen all winter. It opens into the Wandel Sea of the Arctic Ocean. Currently a few intrepid archeologists spend some time up there each summer trying to uncover the ancient societies that called this place home.
According to Wikipedia:
North of the fjord, in southern Peary Land, there are remains of dwellings with elliptical floor plan, built by Early Paleoeskimo Independence Iculture. These people used tools made from rocks and bones, and subsisted from hunting wildlife like musk oxen and Arctic hares. Bones of musk oxen hunted down in Peary Land show that the area was inhabited at 2000 BC. The oldest discoveries are dated at 2400 BC. Discoveries of the time starting around 1800 BC until 1300 BC were mostly made south of Independence Fjord. It is unknown whether the Independence I culture vanished or the people moved south.
Discoveries of a later time, about 800 BC to 200 BC, are related to the Independence II culture. Initially, Independence I and Independence II had been regarded as the same culture, but Eigil Knuth found in 1956 that the two were separate cultures, because of different dwelling constructions, and differences in other artefacts. The residential dwellings of Independence II are more complex and larger than the older buildings in this area. Other than their predecessors, the people of Independence II also settled south of Independence Fjord.
In both cases it is unclear whether discoveries in other areas of North Greenland and on Ellesmere Island should be attributed to other cultures.
And yet, there is some potential evidence of civilizations dating back even further than that. "A few artifacts found in the area proves the existence of older Palaeo-Eskimo groups, but it is unknown whether they should be attributed to Independence I or to the northern parts of the East Greenland Saqqaq culture." (National Museum)
Independence I Culture
Evidence of the Independent I culture shows that they lived in something akin to huts or tents that were circular and held down by a ring of stones. In the center of each dwelling was a square hearth. There was likely enough room in each dwelling to comfortably house 4-5 people. Each group area where remains of these habitations are found, are found in groups of 4-5 huts together. It's unclear if they were migratory, or if they lived in extended family groups or how they structured themselves. There is no evidence of larger structures, or elements of worship or anything so called "special purpose structures."
Most of the Independence I cultural remains have been found on the coast, on islands, or near lakes with very few inland. Middens, or basically trash heaps, show that muskox, migratory birds, arctic fox, seals, fish, and polar bear were important for these people. Archeological and topographical information shows that seal hunting and muskox hunting were essential for survival.
Apparently there has been some evidence of walrus bone found inland, which might signify that there was trade between the coast and inland cultures, but not much more is known about this, whether trade actually existed or what items would be traded.
Independence II Culture
According to the National Museum website, the social structure of the Independence II culture is similar to the Independence I culture, specifically, "The dwellings are mainly tent-rings of the mid-passage type with a solid mid-passage divided into sections by vertical flags. No supra-structure elements have been found. The space left inside has room for 4-6 persons indicating the presence of a nuclear or slightly extended family in each dwelling. There seem to be a tendency at some sites for 4-6 dwellings to form a group. There may be several groups at one site. It is assumed that this indicates a closer group of 20-40 people travelling and hunting together. No ruins stand out as special purpose structures and other signs of status or differences in rank are lacking. Graves are not found either. The extensive site on Île de France might be an aggregation place where groups met at certain intervals. A few objects are interpreted as amulets, but otherwise no objects, which can be interpreted as religo-magical, have been found."
Currently there are two Arctic research stations there, located on either side of this fjord. They are operated by the Peary Land Foundation, and were put in place by Eigil Knuth, then handed over to the foundation for control after Knuth's death. Knuth (1903-1996) was a Danish archeologist and explorer. In the 1930's he was part of numerous explorative journeys across Greenland. Returning in the 1940s, he found evidence of human tools, and ancient civilizations, what later became known as the Independence I and II cultures that spread across the island for just shy of 3,000 years. The sites around Frigg's Fjord were excavated in the 1980s.
Discoveries still continue. In 1993, the largest untapped source of zinc in the world was found up in Greenland. I can't help but wonder what else is hiding under all that ice.
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