[00:00.00]Professor: OK, let’s look at two specific ancient cultures of the arctic, both of which lived on the far northern edge of the continent, the Dorset and the Thule. [00:15.59]The Dorset culture began around eight hundred BC and ranged across most of arctic Canada. [00:21.59]The Thule, well, they lived in the same area, but about twelve hundred years later. [00:26.17]Both groups left some beautiful art behind, really are best evidence that these folks even existed. [00:33.44]And although these two cultures lived in the same region, each group approached their art in very different ways.
[00:40.26]Alright, so the Dorset culture. Archaeologists have unearthed hundreds of Dorset sculptures mostly carve from ivory or bone and sometimes stone. [00:51.27]They were mostly small sculptures of animal or human figures. And our best guess is that they were probably used mainly for religious purposes. [01:01.34]The main subject of Dorset animal sculptures is the polar bear. [01:05.68]Some of these polar bears are represented in naturalistic or realistic ways, but usually, they're abstracted or stylized that is to say less realistic. [01:17.50]Here is a typical polar bear sculpture. [01:20.42]It's carved from ivory, we call these artifacts flying or floating polar bears, because, because they look like the polar bears doing just that flying or floating. [01:31.58]Notice the distinctive markings, they seem to mark out the skeleton or joints of the bear.
[01:37.42]While polar bears were favorite subject, the Dorset created sculptures of other animals too, like seals and caribou which were represented in a more realistic fashion. [01:48.06]We speculate that if the Dorset feared or respected a particular animal, they were more likely to present it in a stylized way, like with the polar bear, which, of course, is a large dangerous predator, maybe, it was a way of dealing with their fear. [02:04.80]We also have Dorset’s sculptures whose meaning is more allusive. [02:10.08]I'm talking about horns with many human faces carved into them. [02:14.40]What's remarkable about these sculptures is the variety of facial types in expressions that appear on the single horn. [02:21.97]If only the people represented on these artifacts could answer our questions, it tells us whether they are ancestors or residents of village or what.
[02:33.56]Okay, let's switch to Thule art, which differs from Dorset art in, in some important ways. [02:40.68]Interestingly, Thule artwork wasn't generally influenced by the earlier Dorset culture. [02:46.36]It seems it would’ve grown out of a separate tradition that originated in Alaska. [02:51.27]Thule artwork was most likely used to decorate common objects such as tools with attractive designs, we can't be entirely sure about this. However, we've tried to interpret the symbolic designs into the art. [03:03.82]But of course, it's impossible to confirm the accuracy of such interpretations. [03:09.11]What we do know is that the Thule people made extensive use of engravings, they drilled the small holes and carve lines into various materials. [03:19.42]These engravings, engraved patterns, rather, are found on the diverse group of artifacts, things ranging from weapons to jewelry to combs and boxes. [03:31.10]Here's some examples. It's hard to see, but most of these objects do have engravings on them. [03:38.48]Thule art was more of a graphic art. Uh, more like drawing. [03:42.67]Many of their designs are geometric and abstract. Others containing engravings of human and animal figures.
[03:51.23]For instance, the long skinny object, on the left, has a face at the top. [03:55.73]We’ve also found the tool handle with hunting and camp scenes carved into it. [04:00.58]As far as Thule’s sculpture goes, there is only a few small objects in wooden dowels like the one in the bottom right-hand corner. [04:08.43]These have either no facial features or very rudimentary ones, less detailed, less individualized than the faces of Dorset’s sculpture.
[04:18.90]One scholar has argued that this difference resulted from the nature of Thule’s society which was built around group hunting expeditions on the ocean. [04:28.51]This hunting approach required a great deal of cooperation which may have led to a kind of an overall uniformity in their art. [04:36.42]And emphasis on commonality rather than individuality, which probably explains why there’re human figures like the faces or had standardized faces that all look similar. [04:48.35]The most famous of the few Thule sculptures are the ones of birds in creatures that are part bird and part woman. [04:56.16]While these sculptures probably had some symbolic purpose, patterns of holes were drilled into them too. [05:02.36]So, in general compared with artwork of the Dorset, Thule art probably had a more decorative or utilitarian function.
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